Saturday 13th October 2012

And once again, on a work day, the sun shines down from a clear blue sky, France can be seen across the Channel, and here I am at my desk, procrastinating as usual. At least it should be the same tomorrow, which should mean an opportunity to take some snaps and maybe find a nice Shepherd Neame pub and sup a pint or two of Late Red.

At about lunchtime on Sunday, Vodafone cancelled my mobile phone contract, and I switched it off. I can still surf the new with via our hub or any open access point, if I wanted. So far, my life hasn’t changed that much and I really have not noticed not having it. Of course, when we break down in the middle of nowhere, and I have to hike along lanes to find a farm or house;

Say, didn’t we pass a castle a few miles back?

And then I might regret not having one; and there is always the choice of getting a pay as you go sim if I really want one. We shall see.

And I have so far not been tempted to run back into the arms of Sky Sports either. On a rainy Sunday afternoon, or an exciting night in Europe, I wonder if I might consider it, but then come the weekend it is the same tales of moaning referees, diving players and the general pointlessness of seeing millionaires running around chasing a bag of wind around as if what they do is the most important job in the world. Once upon a time my life used to centre around football, and weekends were better or worse depending on how well or poorly City had done. Now, its easy to say this now we’re propping up the table, but it don’t amount to a hill ‘o’ beans, there are more important things in life.

Really.

And tonight, there is live football on TV, as England take on the might of San Marino in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley. I guess I shall watch, but I will be watching ironically. It’s the post-modern way. Like in the Premier League there is a glass ceiling which means only four or five teams can actually win it, in international, England has reached its own glass ceiling; we’ll qualify for most finals but lose to the first decent team we come across and be on the next flight home. But, that’s OK, we can cope with that, after all, its what we’re used to by now.

Hopefully, my camera lens might be back home this weekend after undergoing repairs. This does show, once again, that camera lenses do not bounce and I have to get a new camera bag to protect all my gear. Dear Santa………..

This week has been the usual mix of coughs, sneezes, cats, work, mice and the such that is your typical week. I am off to the quacks tonight to see if anything can be done about my non-stop flu and colds that I have suffered since the middle of August. I have gone from feeling like death last weekend and on Monday, to top of the world on Tuesday, and then a long slow slide downhill as it feels like I am going down with yet another virus……

We have at least two mice in the house, and that is apart from the four we have caught or found bits from. The one under the cooker was doing OK until I baked some rolls yesterday, there was some banging as the temperature rose, but since then, nothing. The one in the fireplace seems to be OK, though.

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It is now Saturday morning, and so an update.

The doctor could find nothing wrong, and indeed I felt like a fraud sitting in his office saying how long I had been ill for. But within an hour of being back home I was sniffing and coughing as bad as before.

Therefore, we can deduce I have an allergy, we just have to find out what I am allergic to. I'd way work.....

Anyway, so I just have to find the right drug that will make life liveable, and then it should be back to something approaching normal.

And England laboured to a 5-0 win last night. I say laboured, as england are forth in the FIFA rankings, and Sam Marino are joint 207th and last. And the fact that English players could still not pass or keep possession shows just how bad things have come. Jonjo Shelvy made his full début, coming on as a second half substitute, this after what can be described as a handful of 'good' games for Liverpool.

As Paul Ince says, caps are being showered around like confetti.....