The Inaugural Monday Mix Tape

Well, here it is. The first one. The start of something hopefully special. Ten tracks for your delectation.
I've decided to go with a theme, and that theme is 50's Rock n Roll:

1) Twenty Flight Rock - Eddie Cochrane
The song that got Paul McCartney into The Beatles!!

2) Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
That song that Michael J Fox did in Back To The Future!

3) That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly & The Crickets
The birth of the singer-songwriter, sort of!

4) Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
Powerful piano playing!

5) Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
The King !

6) Ain't That A Shame - Fats Domino
Roly-poly Rock n Roll!

7) Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Hammering the crap out of a poor piano!

8) Be-Bop-A-Lula - Gene Vincent
He was in the US Navy, you know!

9) Wake Up Little Susie - The Everly Brothers
Nice clean-cut music!

10) Move It - Cliff Richard
Just to show that Brits could have a go too!

Hope you enjoy a trip back in time, and good luck finding them in the Itunes store!!

A rare Petrolhead Post

For those regular visitors to these pages, you'll have noted that, for a man, I don't tend to rabbit on about cars a great deal. Well, that's not really my thing. Yes, I watch Top Gear, and I drive a car myself, but on the whole I don't really get excited by cars.

Yet, whilst watching Quentin Tarantino's 'Death Proof' on DVD the other night, I found myself quite taken with the 1970 Dodge Challenger that formed part of the film's fabulous set-piece car chase scene. In fact, I made it my resolution that should I ever have the means, there would be a 1970 Dodge Challenger in my garage. Then I wondered how big my garage would be and felt that there ought to be some other cars in there to keep the Dodge company...


1. The Dodge Challenger (that one over there... on the right. Look up. Now.)



2. Jaguar XK

3. Ferrari 458

4. Aston Martin DB9

5. Ford Mustang (also the 1970 model, cos it's cool)

Admittedly, I'd be spending a fortune on fuel, but boy would it be fun anyway!!!





On Reflection, I may have got it a little wrong.

Back in August, you may recall I made some predictions for the current football season. As the title of this blog suggests, I may have got it a little wrong. Some might say badly wrong, others might even go as far as to say it was all a complete load of tripe. But that's the thing about trying to predict stuff. The folks at the Met Office do degrees and what have you, and they still can't predict the weather to any level of accuracy!

Just to recap, I'll put my predictions against existing standings (as at 20th March 2012), just to make it easier for you to see how horrifically bad I was:

Premier League
Me                                                               Actual
1. Manchester Utd                                      1. Manchester Utd
2. Chelsea                                                  2. Manchester City
3. Manchester City                                     3. Tottenham
4. Arsenal                                                   4. Arsenal
5. Liverpool                                                5. Chelsea

18. Wigan                                                  18. QPR
19. Norwich                                               19. Wigan
20. Swansea                                             20. Wolves

So, as you can see, I had no faith in Swansea or Norwich, and yet they are easily holding their own around the mid-table area. At least I had the sense to see another struggle for Wigan. The two Top 5's are fairly similar in that the usual suspects are there. I didn't expect Spurs to have such an impact though. And Liverpool have let me down. Again.


Championship 
Me                                                               Actual
1. West Ham                                               1. Southampton
2. Reading                                                   2. Reading

Play-offs
Leeds (promoted)                                       West Ham
Birmingham                                                Brighton
Cardiff                                                         Middlesbrough
Nottingham Forest                                      Birmingham

22. Crystal Palace                                     22. Coventry
23. Peterborough                                      23. Doncaster
24. Brighton                                              24. Portsmouth

I got Brighton's season wildly wrong for a start!! West Ham have been around the top most of the season and could still conceivably get back to the top, but Southampton do look unbeatable at the moment. Neither did I compute the problems that have engulfed Portsmouth yet again. Peterborough are near the bottom, but the current bottom three seem poor enough to ensure Peterborough stay up. Leeds probably won't be going up though, even with new manager Neil Warnock. And at least I've got Reading right as potential promotion candidates!!


League 1
Me                                                             Actual
1. Sheffield Utd                                         1. Charlton
2. Sheffield Wed                                       2. Sheffield Utd

Play-offs
Charlton (promoted)                                 Sheffield Wed
Colchester                                                 Huddersfield
Huddersfield                                             MK Dons
Preston NE                                               Carlisle Utd

21. Stevenage                                          21. Walsall
22. Notts County                                      22. Rochdale
23. Walsall                                               23. Exeter
24. Bury                                                   24. Chesterfield

As it stands, I could still get all three promoted teams right, but in a different order. Huddersfield are also up there. Stevenage have proved me wrong in a pretty spectacular way, seeing as they currently lie just outside the play-off zone and played their way to the FA Cup 5th Round just to rub it in!
Down at the bottom, I have managed to guess at Walsall's struggle at least. Which, for a Shrewsbury fan was quite a nice, pleasurable surprise!! Bury are also struggling and might still slip into the bottom four by season's end. Notts County will not though, they are battling for a play-off spot along with Stevenage.


League 2
Me                                                         Actual
1. Swindon                                            1. Swindon
2. Shrewsbury Town                             2. Torquay Utd
3. Bristol Rovers                                   3. Shrewsbury Town

Play-offs
Crawley (promoted)                             Southend
Crewe Alex                                          Crawley
Gillingham                                           Cheltenham
Plymouth                                              Oxford Utd

23. AFC Wimbledon                             23. Hereford
24. Barnet                                             24. Dagenham & Redbridge

First thing's first, I'm happy to say that Shrewsbury haven't let me down this season. Yet. Swindon have surprised nobody, whereas Torquay have. I expected them to have an average season having lost their manager and some star players to Bristol Rovers (who I thought would be up there), but it's turned out the opposite, so what do I know?! Crawley are in the play-off mix, so I could well be getting that right. The big over-estimation is obviously Plymouth. I had them as play-off contenders, but problems off the field have left them floundering at the bottom all season. A bit of a recovery has given them a fighting chance, as other clubs have surprisingly struggled - Northampton and Dagenham & Redbridge namely. Barnet are in a relegation fight, so could prove me right. AFC Wimbledon aren't mathematically safe yet, but I don't expect them to go down this season. Which is quite nice actually.


As for my Conference promotion tips, only Luton are still in with a chance of fulfilling my prophecy, but only just. Fleetwood look like running away with the title, and Wrexham are also dangerously good this season. Lincoln however, are in a huge mess and in danger of suffering a second successive relegation.

There it is then. I will refrain from making any more foolish predictions because I will only get them wrong!

I will, however, say that Celtic will win the Scottish Premier League this season!!!

And The Winner Is...

Back in November, a journey was started that finally came to an end today in my dining room. Twenty two little plastic men, one six year old boy and a thirty-one year old boy fought out the final of Eoin's Subbuteo Cup. We started with 32 teams and slowly ploughed through 8 groups of 4 in the first round and so on until, 63 games of Subbuteo later, we had a winner. But before the winner is revealed, here is the journey in full...

First Round
Group 1
Man City 1 - 0 Ajax                 Vasco De Gama 3 - 2 Celtic
Celtic 2 - 2 Man City               Ajax 1 - 1 Vasco De Gama
Ajax 3 - 0 Celtic                      Vasco De Gama 1 - 2 Man City
Man City & Ajax qualify

Group 2
West Ham 0 - 0 Austria Salzburg               St Patricks 1 - 2 Newcastle Utd
Austria Salzburg 2 - 2 St Patricks               Newcastle Utd 0 - 2 West Ham
St Patricks 1 - 0 West Ham                        Austria Salzburg 2 - 1 Newcastle Utd
Austria Salzburg & West Ham qualify

Group 3
Tottenham 1 - 1 Liverpool                     Charleroi 0 - 0 Shrewsbury
Liverpool 1 - 0 Charleroi                        Shrewsbury 2 - 1 Tottenham
Shrewsbury 0 - 1 Liverpool                    Tottenham 2 - 1 Charleroi
Liverpool & Tottenham qualify

Group 4
Nott'm Forest 0 - 1 Everton                    AFC Wimbledon 0 - 1 B M'gladbach
Everton 1 - 1 AFC Wimbledon               B M'gladbach 0 - 0 Nott'm Forest
AFC Wimbledon 4 - 4 Nott'm Forest      Everton 1 - 1 B M'gladbach
Everton & Borussia Moenchengladbach qualify

Group 5
Milan 0 - 0 Portsmouth                        Man Utd 1 - 1 Fluminense
Portsmouth 2 - 1 Man Utd                   Fluminense 0 - 0 Milan
Fluminense 0 - 1 Portsmouth              Milan 2 - 2 Man Utd
Portsmouth & Milan qualify

Group 6
Arsenal 1 - 0 Bolton                            Bayern Munich 0 - 1 Aston Villa
Bolton 2 - 1 Bayern Munich                Aston Villa 2 - 2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 1 - 1 Bolton                       Arsenal 0 - 0 Bayern Munich
Aston Villa & Arsenal qualify

Group 7
QPR 1 - 1 Benfica                           Swansea 2 - 1 Graz AK
Benfica 3 - 3 Swansea                    Graz AK 0 - 0 QPR
Swansea 1 - 0 QPR                        Benfica 0 - 1 Graz AK
Swansea & Graz AK qualify

Group 8
Rangers 2 - 1 Juventus                  Charlton 2 - 4 Chelsea
Juventus 3 - 5 Charlton                  Chelsea 0 - 1 Rangers
Charlton 2 - 2 Rangers                   Juventus 3 - 3 Chelsea
Rangers & Chelsea qualify


Second Round
Aston Villa 2 - 1 Ajax                     Swansea 1 - 0 West Ham
Liverpool 1 - 0 Graz AK                 Portsmouth 2 - 1 Tottenham
Man City 2 - 1 Chelsea                 Austria Salzburg 3 - 4 B M'gladbach
Everton 3 - 4 Milan (aet)               Rangers 3 - 2 Arsenal


Quarter-Finals
Man City 2 - 0 Liverpool (pens)         Swansea 0 - 3 B M'gladbach
Milan 4 - 5 Rangers (pens)                Aston Villa 3 - 2 Portsmouth (pens)


Semi-Finals
B M'gladbach 1 - 3 Rangers            Aston Villa 0 - 3 Man City


The Final

                    Rangers vs Man City











                                                     AND THE WINNER IS...

In case you were still unsure, City won 3-1.

This is all dedicated to Eoin Moore, without whom I wouldn't have spent most of our time together holed up in his bedroom or, if we were lucky, in the dining room. Oh, and yes, he IS a City fan! 

More exclusive writings...

In honour of World Book Day, here follows yet more of my unfinished work, following on from my post of 2nd February. And just so you know, it starts to get a bit racy towards the end. If you want to read more, let me know and I will oblige... There's 27 pages of it!!!


*                                      *                                     *                                          *

My mum came home at about six thirty, having had her hair done. She came through and asked me what I was up to that night.

“Probably head into town. Meet up with some people.” I said casually.

“What people?” She was not purposely nosey, but didn’t always come across that way. The end of my marriage had given her extra cause to worry about me, whether I liked it or not.

“Just some work people” I lied through my teeth.

“Oh. You’re not going to be back too late are you? You’re helping Marie move into her flat tomorrow, remember.”

How could I forget? Along with worrying about me excessively, she was also planning my spare time for me these days.

“I hadn’t forgotten. But I’ve done nothing all week, I need to get out.” Lord only knows why I felt I had to justify this at the tender age of twenty eight years old. Marie was four years younger, and had a boyfriend and a mortgage, and as far as I can recall, she never had this.

Seemingly satisfied, mum left the room, only to return minutes later.

“Do you want some tea before you go out? It’s casserole.”

“Nah, it’s okay, thanks. I’ll get a pizza or something.” Anything other than the old classic casserole.

Mum looked at me with scorn in her eyes, but let it pass and left the room again. 

As it was still early, I passed some time by playing on my Playstation2 console, taking out my stress on some poor unfortunate computer footballers. Just as I was getting ready to put it away, my dad shuffled into the living room.

“Aren’t you a bit old for that?” he grumbled.

“You’re never too old, dad. Trust me” I smiled and patted him on the leg from my kneeling position in front of the television. He grunted something unintelligible. He hovered for a moment, then went out of the room. I glanced at my watch and decided it was time to go. I left the Playstation2 littered over the living room floor, a throwback to the days when I would spend all night on my own waiting for Lucy to come home. I would eventually go to bed in a mood, and then be expected to be pleased to see her at two in the morning. If you can work out how I ended up being the bad guy in that situation, I’d like to know, really.

I sorted out my clothes for the night and went for a shower. As I stood under the water, watching it cascading down my body, I psyched myself up for a good night out. I got myself showered and smartened up. I shaved off the two days stubble that had accumulated on my haggard face, hiding the stresses and strains of divorce. I’d forgotten how young it made me look. After getting dressed in jeans, bright amber Mickey Brown ‘Cult Zeros’ t-shirt and brown kappa trainers I made sure my hair was tidy and cleaned my teeth. I completed my preparations with a splash of Abercrombie aftershave, a present from my parents on their last trip to the USA. I gave myself the thumbs up in the bathroom mirror and went out through the front door. As I was going down the driveway, my mum opened the front door and called me back. Reluctantly I turned back towards the door.

“You’re going then?” she said, with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I thought you were out the back.” I lied.

“Well, make sure you don’t get into any trouble,” she looked at me meaningfully. “Your dad said to give you this.” She handed me a roll of notes. I took them from her hesitantly. As she watched, I counted out fifty pounds. I looked up to see her face breaking into a smile. I wordlessly hugged her and turned back down the drive. As she went back in through the door I gave her a wave and carried on down the street with a spring in my step.

Chapter 2

I made it into town with no problem. A one way train journey did the trick. I got on with another group of people all going into town for the night. As I sat down on the train, I noticed a pretty girl sitting on the other side of the carriage, a few seats down from me. She was on her own and looking nervous. She looked about twenty years old, but she could have been older, I’m not good at guessing ages. She was wearing a sparkly black vest top with a lipstick mouth logo in red sequins. The man in me was drawn to her breasts, which were impressive, whatever her age. A silver pendant hung tantalisingly in her cleavage, naturally drawing attention. The conductor came and I paid for my ticket, still glancing occasionally at the girl. The conductor went over to the girl, who rooted in her purse for change. She looked apologetically at the conductor. Craning my neck, I could overhear the conversation going on. The gist was that she was short on the train fare. Feeling generous, yet having my mind filled with images of her thanking me profusely, I stood up and sauntered over. I stood at the conductors shoulder and coughed politely.

“Is there are problem at all?”

Both looked at me, non-plussed. The conductor broke the silence.

“This young lady doesn’t have enough to pay her fare. Not that it’s any of your concern.”

Not liking his attitude, I wanted to give him a punch in the mouth, but smiling, I countered.

“Would it be my concern if I offered to pay the difference?”

The girl looked at me puzzled. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders in a ‘can’t do any harm’ way. She smiled back at me. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt a murmur in my underwear. The conductor turned round to face me full on.

“Well, it makes no odds to me, as long as the ticket’s paid for.”

“I-I-I‘m sorry, I usually have lots of change on me” the girl stammered apologetically.

“Don’t worry yourself” I soothed her. “Where are you going?”

“Just into town. One way.”

I got out my wallet, and pulled out a five pound note. I waved it in front of the conductor.

“This should cover it, my friend”.

He took the money and keyed in the ticket on his machine. As the machine spewed out the printed ticket, he snatched it and held it out to me. I gestured for him to give it to the girl. He handed it to the girl with a grunt and shuffled off up the carriage.

I smiled at the girl and went to go back to my seat. As I turned, she leaned forward and grabbed at my jacket.

“Hey, thanks for that. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

I shrugged my shoulders at her.

“I couldn’t let him throw you off the train in the middle of nowhere. I’m too nice”

She smiled warmly at me.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have.”

“Probably not” I agreed. “But I’d rather not have left it to chance”. I smiled back at her. It’s hard to tell in artificial light, but I’m sure she blushed.

“Do you want to sit down?” She patted the seat next to her. I looked at her as though considering her offer. I took in her short black skirt, black tights and boots. She seemed like she had a body to die for.

“Sure, why not.” I gently sat down next to her, angling my legs out into the aisle. She smiled again, and angled her legs towards me. I could read that body language. Or I thought I could. I knew I wasn’t going to chance it.

“I’m Becky, by the way.”

“Hi, Becky. Nice to meet you.” I shook her hand and smiled. I held on to her hand a little too long, without realising.

“And what’s your name?” She probed.

“Mine? It’s Jon.” I smiled. I gave myself a mental telling off. I was falling apart right in front of her. I let go of her hand and put both of my hands on my lap, out of the way. Or so I thought.

“Are you going anywhere special?” I was jolted out of my private thoughts by her sudden question.

“Er, no not really. Just into town for a few drinks. You?”

She smiled coyly. I was beginning to wonder about her.

“Same. Are you meeting up with anyone?”

“At some point.” I admitted. I was beginning to feel out of my depth.

“It’s horrible drinking alone, isn’t it?”

I turned and looked at her. There was a glint in her eyes. Her body language was obvious now. She was playing with her hair. She twirled her long, dark brown hair in her fingers, letting it fall on her shoulders. I was mesmerised. All I wanted to do was take her hand again and stroke it. I was losing my control.

“Yeah. I suppose it is.” I said, trying to fill any silences. She smiled.

“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?” she ventured.

“Er, no. I’m twenty eight. Although I feel about forty six after what I’ve been through.” I tried to laugh it off.

“You don’t look it. Do you want to know how old I am?”

“Well, I’m a gentleman, and they never ask a lady her age.” I smiled bashfully at her. I couldn’t believe how I was flirting with her. It was no wonder I was awful with women.

“That’s okay. I’ll tell you. I’m twenty two.”

“Oh? That’s nice” I said. I prayed for the journey to end so I could go and give myself a good talking to over this. No such luck. The train pulled into a station I knew was two stops from the end. I felt panic start to rise within me. I’d thought that playing the field was going to be easy – this was a rude awakening. All this time Becky was slowly edging closer to me. No one got on or off at this point, and the train started with a jolt. I could be paranoid, but I swear she made more of it than necessary as she toppled into me. I helped her up and steadied her in the seat. One of the straps of her top had fallen off her shoulder. I happened to glance at her and didn’t see a bra strap of any description. I took a more concerted look, in case she had some of those clear straps on. There was nothing, and worse, she saw me. I hastily looked away, waiting for the accusations to start flying. Nothing happened. Except I felt a hand on my thigh. I looked down and saw it wasn’t one of mine. It was too dainty. I looked round and she was watching my reaction. There was definitely something going on. I could feel heat rising inside me. It had been a while, but I was pretty sure I was onto something now.

“You have nice firm thighs Jon. Do you work out?”

“Um, not really. I play football every week. Does that count?” My habit of using small talk to diffuse situations was kicking in, much to my annoyance.

“So you’re athletic, huh? That’s wonderful.”

I nodded agreement. I tried desperately to come up with something to say. She beat me to it.

“I used to do gymnastics when I was younger. I’m still extremely supple you know.” As if to prove her point, she fidgeted in her seat and manoeuvred herself into the lotus position. Her knees were now almost in contact with my crotch. As I took in her pose, I saw a flash of skin between her skirt and what I’d thought had been tights, but now appeared to be stockings. From that point on I was lost. I only had one thought on my mind – see more of that. Images were racing through my mind of frantic sex with Becky. On the train, in the station, in bed, on the back seat of my car. I could feel the beginnings of an erection and self-consciously shifted to hide it.

Etcetera...

So there you have it. Granted, this was written in the early days when I couldn't be bothered to come up with creative character names, so used my own instead.