Time to forget

Ok Ireland seems to be finally over the Thierry Henry handball incident. I think I need to move on from it too. The draw for the World Cup finals was yesterday, and with Ireland out, I think we all need to choose a new team to support. Who do I cheer on next year in South Africa 2010? Here are the Groups.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
South Africa	Argentina	England	Germany	Holland	Italy	Brazil	Spain
Mexico	Nigeria	USA	Australia	Denmark	Paraguay	North Korea	Switzerland
Uruguay	South Korea	Algeria	Serbia	Japan	New Zealand	Ivory Coast	Honduras
France	Greece	Slovenia	Ghana	Cameroon	Slovakia	Portugal	Chile

Tne 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Book is now out for anyone that's interested.

After much thought, there really is only one logical choice. England. Yes England remember that old enemy. That’s just it, they are the old enemy and that’s all history. The new enemy is France! I personally have more reasons to get behind England. For one I live here in England and it really is a great country to live in. Reason number two my little boy Tiernan is half English, and of course the other reason is that my future wife is English.

I think putting it all together, I and a lot of others will see many reasons to support the English, in next years World Cup. We watch English football week after week, we know the players, we speak the same language and we both hate the French.

It's time to forget. Leave your potatoes at the door!

Thierry Henry Cheats Ireland out of World Cup Finals

This is a game I'll be telling Tiernan about as he grows up. After a 14 month campaign it all came down to a French goal that was the result of a Thierry Henry handball. Henry clearly controlled the ball with his fingers and actually handled the ball twice. You can plainly see it in the above photo and the video below.



After playing so well throughout the game, it is just sickening. Robbie Keane was the man again and brought us level on aggregate in the 33rd minute. It was 1-1 after Robbie's cracking goal. All we needed was another goal and they would have needed two, due to the away goal benefit.

I really think now its high time we brought in the same kind of video technology they use in other professional sports like Rugby. The linesman missed two of the French players in an offside position and then the handball. It's almost unbelievable that he could have missed the blatant handball. Thierry Henry needs to hang his head in shame.

Northbrook Street Newbury Closed

The main shopping street was closed on Saturday the 14th of November in the busy lead up to Christmas. I approached the town centre with my son Ben after just seeing Night at the Museum 2 in the Newvuebury cinema , yes that pile of pants from a previous post.



We could see a two fire engines and a police car. It looked very serious. The road was cordoned off from pedestrian access with police officers and firemen all around the scene. It looked to me as if there might be a fire above one of the shops. I thought this to be the case as I could see the crane of the fire engine move close to a window above Robert Dyas. Ben and I moved in for a closer look and I spoke to a police woman. She told me that one of metal cables that had been holding up a large banner that spanned the road, had sheered off the side of the building.



It had been whipping around in the strong winds, lashing against the ground. Thankfully no one had been injured, I was also relieved to find out that there had not been another fire. I say another because only a few months before the nearby HMV had been gutted by fire.