Cold Ale - The Blokes' Thread!

[Paulclem]

I won't forget. I'll pop them up as soon as I find the micro-sd converter.

[prendrelemick]

More footballing drama last night. Chelsea are European Champions. They were 1-0 down to Bayern Munich with 2 minutes to go, ( they should've been about 5-0 down on balance of play,) then Didier Drogba pops up and scores. It's still all square after extra time, (Robben failing to score with a penalty) and in the penalty shoot-out it's Drogba who gets the winning goal, with what could be his very last kick as a Chealsea player.

I'm not a big footie fan anymore, but you can't beat it for drama. It has all the classical elements - Tragedy, Hubris, Pathos, it's Heros and villians its Gods and Titans. A match has a narrative too, a story with twists and sub-plots. Chelsea last night were out played and out classed, they were down and out, but somehow managed to win in the end.

Even Halifax Town vs Torquay on a sleet riven wednesday night will have a moment of artistry that makes the spectators (20 cold men and a dog) gasp and remember why they turned out.

[Paulclem]

The manager has done a great job after Villas-Boas made a hash of his time there. It was a good game, and would have been even better if they had not flashed the result onto 5 news, which took me by surprise.

The BBC did that on the last day as well announcing Man City as the winners at the beginning of the news before Match of the Day. I swore.

[Sancho]

I don’t know anything about soccer.

But I did get to go a match a few years ago in Manchester – what a gas. We knew something was going on in town as soon as we hit the ground. The whole place was nervous, on edge. It was in the air. The concierge at the hotel filled us in: England was playing Wales in the elimination for the World Cup, which was a matchup that hadn’t happened in quite some time. I said, “Oh hell yeah! We gotta go.” The hotel man said, “It’s sold out, but I know a bloke who…”

So we called the guy, who probably figured we were alright on account of our Yankee accents, and he told us to meet him under a certain sign in front of the stadium and he would contact us – Oh yes, and have the money ready, in small unmarked bills. I guess they’re weird about ticket scalping in Manchester.

Anyway, it all worked out and we got in (for around £100 apiece). And so we’re sitting there, watching the game, getting comfortably numb, and chatting it up with our section mates. They filled us in on the finer points of the game – I think – I’m not really sure, because between the many pints involved and those crazy accents, I was only getting about half of what they were saying.

What impressed me most was the coordinated abuse heaped on the Welsh by the English fans, the Welsh being ensconced in a tightly knotted defensive position in a small section of the stadium. The English had one cheer in particular that everyone seemed to know. They’d all start chanting something unintelligible (to my Yankee ears anyway), and then, on cue, and in unison, they’d all turn towards the Welsh section and – flip them off. It was hilarious. I was dying.

David Beckham was playing for England, and I surmised it was somewhat of a homecoming for him (he’d already left Man-United). The Fans certainly loved the man. At one point in the game he took a hard hit and was down on the field. Again, I don’t know anything about soccer, but I know a cheap shot when I see one. I also sensed it was probably a vendetta. Anyway the whole stadium fell into a stunned silence for a few moments until one guy, not too far from us, jumps up, with veins popping in his neck and spittle flying from his mouth, he screams at the Welch section: “YEW F*CKING BASTARDS!”

And so it went.

After the game we walked back to town, which was a sport in itself. Everybody was going in the same direction, but the battle line ran down the center of the street. Unwittingly we found ourselves on the side of Wales for this skirmish. My buddy (a former field artillery man) yelled, “Incoming!” and then we dodged a salvo of beer bottles from the other side of the street. We then watched while the Welsh returned fire and the English reloaded. We figured it wasn’t our fight, so we wound up taking refuge in a pub (they didn’t want to let us in until they figured out we were Yanks – “This way, mates.”).

Anyhow, next chance I get, I’m going to another soccer match.

[prendrelemick]

Was it "Are you Scotland in disguise?" A popular chant around that time.

[Sancho]

In all honesty, Mick, I have no idea what they were chanting, but that sounds about right. It says something, though I’m not sure what. If I’m remembering my history, the word for the Welsh evolved out one of the invader’s words for outsider or foreigner. Which is a crackup since they were invaders and they were naming an indigenous people as foreigners. And I’m drawing on a pretty thin education here – my knowledge of history in that area is – spotty. I don’t know if the invaders in question were the Romans, or the Angles/Saxons/Jutes/Frisians, Vikings, Normans, or what have you.

[prendrelemick]

You know as much as any "expert" in the field Sancho. The Tudor kings of England claimed descent from Troy through their Welsh roots. " Welsh "is an outsiders name for the natives - they call themselves Cymry nowadays.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

With only balsa and plywood wrapped around two Merlins, high speed was not difficult to achieve in the Mosquito!

...and here is one of the wooden Wonders (I think I snapped those back in the 80's):



As a bonus: An unusual formation:



/Claes

[prendrelemick]

The Mosquito looks fast when it's stood still.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

The Mosquito looks fast when it's stood still.

Yes, it does, and I suppose that proves the old saying that an aircraft that looks right usually also flies right. It even sounds right: You should listen to the sound of those two Merlins crackling in idle, and then opening up with really throaty roars.

I actually had the great opportunity to listen to one Merlin during the weekend: A P-51D, in Västerås, Sweden. Magic...

/Claes

[Sancho]

Yes, it does, and I suppose that proves the old saying that an aircraft that looks right usually also flies right...

And I suppose there’s an exception to every rule:

[prendrelemick]

Those Tank Busters used to practice over our valley, you always knew one was coming by the whistling noise the engines made.


Saw a TV documentry t'other night about the Japanese military build up before WW2. The narrator mentioned - in a throwaway line kind of way - that the Zero would out perform anything the west had at the time of Pearl Harbour.

[Paulclem]

Those Tank Busters used to practice over our valley, you always knew one was coming by the whistling noise the engines made.


Saw a TV documentry t'other night about the Japanese military build up before WW2. The narrator mentioned - in a throwaway line kind of way - that the Zero would out perform anything the west had at the time of Pearl Harbour.

Was that the one about Singaspore, and the traitor Lord Sempill?

Disgraceful. They wouldn't charge him due to revealing that MI5 had broken the secret of the codes, which is understandable, but when they exiled him to Scotland in some dead end job, the wouldn't force him out of his commission. He then goes on to be a celebrated member of the armed forces with honours and awards.

On 9 October 1941, a signed note from Churchill says: "Clear him out while time remains." The following week the Admiralty confronted Sempill and told him he could either resign or be fired. Sempill protested, and Churchill - unhappy at the action - wrote to the Admiralty: "I had not contemplated Lord Sempill being required to resign his commission, but only to be employed elsewhere in the Admiralty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...h_Lord_Sempill

In 1956 the Swedish government awarded him the Order of the Polar Star.

Anthony Blunt and his mates all over again.

[Paulclem]

I've seen A-10s in action at a big display by the army and air force down in Warminster. The groaning sound they made when they fired those depleted uranium ammunition from gatling guns(?) was unbelievable.

[prendrelemick]

Yup. The Peer of the realm gets away with spying for the enemy. It was a good programme that, though I doubt if the entire Far East debacle was entirely down to him - as it tried to make out .