The Ultimate In Cycling to Work
Arriving home to see a bicycle at the top of significant scaffolding was maybe one of the more curious things I have seen recently. Scaffolders and builders are not always known for their cycling prowess.
Arcticterntalk.org
The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world
Archive for the month “June, 2016”
EURO 2016 . Day 5.How is it all going? Will Italy win?
- After 5 days of mostly pulsating football the surprise team for many is Italy who played in a very non-Italian way to fairly easily beat a very disappointing Belgium side 2-0. No surprise that Germany, Spain and France all won their opening games, but at this stage Italy look the most complete team. Spain huffed and puffed their way to a late 1-0 victory.
- Which teams might as well not bothered to turn up? The winner of this competition is Czech Republic, who played from the first minute for a 0-0 draw, and if they got out of their half during the whole game versus Spain then I missed it. With some of the more extraordinary hairstyles floating around their players even looked dull.
- Who is the best supported country? Iceland. Over 10% of their 320,000 population have travelled to France. Their reward was to create a supremely sulky Cristiano Ronaldo with a 1-1 draw against Portugal. Even more impressive when one considers that the Icelandic league only operates for 4 months a year due to the snow and ice that covers the country.
- What are the right clothes to bring to Euro 2016?
- Does anyone in Europe feel sorry even in the slightest for Russia? For 90 minutes this afternoon I became for the first time in my life a fervent Slovakia supporter. Tales of revolting behaviours and violence have filled the news the last few days, and their suspended sentence from UEFA is frankly not worth the paper it is written on. The reality is that it would never be put into operation. The lawyers would be rubbing their hands with glee.
- Should the Proclaimers have walked their 500 miles from Edinburgh where would they have got to? A random thought but actually rather interesting
- Why are the commentators and pundits in shock that if a player pulls a shirt in the penalty area a penalty is given? This is the rule. Maybe if this rule was more adhered to there would be fewer such fouls and better games? The Romania penalty in their game versus Switzerland was the perfect example.
- What information are the media given on their team sheets?
- France are the EURO 2016 champions of last minute goals. On balance lucky to beat Albania who looked a proper football side for 70 minutes tonight. The end of their tournament.
Day 3 of EURO 2016. Meet Sic Kic and Nic Ric. And ITV have been robbed. The Violence continues
- Sadly the football violence continues to make the headlines with the behaviour of some Russian fans being little more than psychopathic thugs together with the ridiculously named Marseilles Ultras. The independent evidence from football supporters there ( videos, photos and observations) supports organised groups of black balaclava clothed groups descending on defenceless England football fans. I have zero doubt that there are some troublesome England fans too who are no angels, but evidence supports they are not the root cause. Two fans remain critically ill. The players may also not be as protected as they might wish with Turkish fans throwing bottles at Croatian substitutes warming up. UEFA have said that ” security will be stepped up”. That might not be difficult if fans can bring firecrackers into a stadium.
- Turkish football is not a style that appeals to me. Far too much unnecessary fouling and elbows all over the place. Within 5 minutes of the start of the game I had become an avid Croatia fan, although they were no angels either. In fact the physicality has surprised me in all the games to date. Some very strange outfits in the crowd
- To be in the Croatian team your name has to end in either IC or A (Badelj being the exception, so he must be good). You can be Sic, Nic, Kic, Ric, Vic or Tic.
- Why is Glenn Hoddle there? Apparently the mumblings and mutterings of Hoddle on Day 1 would have cost around 25,000£. The unanimous views on Twitter were that Hoddle was great at stating the obvious but little more. ITV have been robbed.
- The football so far has been good with the games being competitive to the end and few games are likely to find teams separated by more than a single goal, with some superb goals.
- A thought for the photographers there. At the start of the second half of Turkey v Croatia a firecracker was thrown at some photographers. The loud explosion sound was captured loudly on ITV.
- What might not be reported? England fans who were attacked in an unproked manner in a bar returned there today to help the owner clear up the mess. That is class.
- Best team so far? Germany. My early prediction is that they are the team to beat.
What do we know after 2 days of EURO 2016? There are some bad barbers, bad referees and superb goals.
- We have not seen the winner of EURO 2016. Opening games can be notoriously unpredictable but none of the teams so far seem to have the ability to go and win. A few decent goals, Bale and Payet as examples, but the overall play has in many games been a little scrappy.
- The refereeing is poor. Any number of poor decisions have been made, mostly failure to give penalties or free kicks. The value of the official behind the goal is zero. In the Wales V Slovakia game the official was 2 yards away and missed an elbow to the upper shoulder from Skrtel. Albania can feel aggrieved not to have had at least one penalty in their game.
- The riots/disturbances seem to be initiated by Russian and French “ultras” ( whatever they are, I prefer the term psychopath). There are clear unbiased reports of fans sitting drinking peacefully and being attacked by groups of men in balaclavas, clearly premeditated. The reports are that the French police seem not to be effective and are ignoring a lot of violence.
- There are some truly ridiculous hairstyles, and in the main the perpetrators of bad hair should be spending more time on football practice and less time in the barbers chair. Slovakia are the winners of the bad hairstyle Euro 2016 currently. The worst one? Easy. Kuco from Slovakia.
- There have been a fair amount of hard/dangerous tackles. Many of these in the Albania v Switzerland game. The first serious injury awaits, and referees have been poor in recognising the dangerous from the simply bad tackles. A number of two footed tackles have gone seemingly unseen and certainly unpunished.
- The best team performance? Another easy one. Wales. A real team reminding me of Leicester City. The sum of the parts are greater than the individual components.
- Fans are determined to enjoy themselves whatever.
- Street Art now recognises football. Thierry Henry. Just superb.
- England are going to give their fans a rollercoaster ride. They played well but did they really look like a great side? Not really. Maybe quarter-final material, and maybe not.
The Best Photos of 2014. Maybe.
This is the time of year that I frantically try and complete a calendar for 2015. Here is the short list of my photos. It has been a strange photographic year really. Some memorable shots but maybe not as many as in past years so it has been relatively easy to get down to a final set of 22. all help appreciated in helping me choose the final 12.
A Shadow That Is Wearing Shoes
An unusual and unintended photo taken in Madrid. The shoes appear to be part of the shadow.
A shadow that is wearing shoes
Muhammad Ali. Some Photos. A Memory
As thousand prepare for his funeral in Louisville. A few photos from photographs shown in the VIP lounge at Madrid Airport Barajas. For me these capture the man perfectly. There is no reason to repeat what has already been said and written more eloquently but I will share a quote from Barack Obama that maybe says it all.
“This week we lost an icon. A person who for African Americans, I think, liberated their minds in recognising that they could be proud of who they were.”
England Euro 2016 Song? Might have found one. Lions by Carl Olander
All successful football teams need a song behind them and England will need all they can get at Euro 2016. A random song, but a great one, called Lions by a band fronted by Carl Olander, who happens to be Swedish from Gothenburg.
See what you think and spread the word!
I did a short blog on the band also here with links to their Soundcloud songs.
https://arcticterntalk.org/2016/04/16/carl-olander-a-singer-and-guitarist-to-be-reckoned-with/
Painting Of Corpus Christi Festival Benalmadena Pueblo By Vincent Van B
Corpus Christi is the Catholic holiday in honour of the presence of the body of Christ in the holy water. It is celebrated throughout Spain and is held in either May or June depending on when Easter occurs. To calculate the next Corpus Christi date, look for the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday (the eighth Sunday after Easter) and you’ll know when the fiesta is set to begin in towns and villages throughout Andalucia.
This is a painting from Benalmadena Pueblo by Vincent Van B from Corpus Christi 2016. Today it is still typical to carpet the streets of towns and villages with greenery for the solemn Corpus Christi processions. This adds a special ambiance to the processions. The Corpus Christi parades also tend to attract all the local authorities, and in some cases, military personnel as well.
What can be seen here is not the petals that adorn the smaller streets but the greenery that is essentially decorative only.
A Great Place
The rants and warblings of an active and some would say disturbed mind. A Brentford Fc supporter and a psychiatrist and photographer. Welcome to my musings and rants.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 