Sometimes black and white photography conveys far more a meaningful resemblance of a city than colour. Sometimes not. 
In winter Vienna is cold and often a wet place. A few photographs that attempt to convey what Vienna in November is.
On a cold day that is sunny you can see long shadows as the sun sets. Watching Molesey V Ramsgate today in a scrappy though enjoyable 1-1 draw a few photos that show that ghosts can and do watch Bostik league football. My favourite is the Ramsgate player with a ghostly hand on his shorts.
There are hundreds of theatres in uk of all size and shapes. Rarely is there an opportunity to stage a play in pretty much the right environment that is not a theatre. Here is such a thing . 
County Hall was the Home to Greater London Council for many years and is a large grand building that sits in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament and London Eye. 
The main chamber is a rather grand and legal looking room with plush large seats and superb acoustics that lend to a specific theatrical performance. This staging of Witness for the Prosecution is such a play. An Agatha Christie book that has been staged in many theatres since 1953.
The show was beyond brilliant . The acting and staging quite unique giving it a real courtroom feel. The audience are spellbound for 2 hours. All the actors deserve plaudits but David Yelland as the defence counsel and Catherine Steadman as the wife of the defendant really steal the show. 
Tickets are really very cheap and can be sourced online for 37.50£ easily. Just go along. A unique and remarkable staged production
The media are full of the glamour of the FA cup. Sadly for many if not most teams that glamour is somewhat tarnished.
Not everyone is aware that the FA cup starts in August and ends in May. The early qualifying rounds are a god given chance for nonleague teams to make a small amount of money from the moderately attractive prize money on offer. By the time the first round rolls round in November the media suddenly awake with their stories of candlestick makers and funeral directors somehow managing to combine a job and a nonleague football career. Curiously they manage that on each of the other 364 days. As overheard at the recent Met Police FA trophy game a player when asked if he was playing on Tuesday simply answered negatively as was working. As Moriarty famously said in Sherlock “ that’s what people do”.
The glamour of the first round however comes with sadness too. The crowds at many grounds , sometimes famous grounds in FA cup parlor, were poor if not pathetic. The reasons may be varied. Clubs that decide not to offer deals and retain normal charges . Clubs that poorly advertise. Clubs that simply do not care as the league club imagines that the prize money more than compensates.
Let’s take a look at the winners and the rogues gallery. Starting with the rogues;
So where were the decent crowds? The nonleague sides playing at home. Hereford who are a reincarnated club but with great cup history had 4712 watch them defeat another nonleague side AFC Telford. Almost matching the highest crowd of the round at Luton v Portsmouth. 5333.
What realistically can be done? There are three options
To do nothing is not an option.
As with many trips there is never enough time to see a city properly . But if you have an hour just walk down to the quayside area . The choice is walk along the Tyne. Walk over a bridge. There are plenty to choose from. 
The lower level bridge is my favourite for no good reason. One is undercover and the smell of urine is not far away. But a few curious aspects. The padlocks are interesting. To read the inscriptions . Compare the different types. Wonder how many of the couples who placed them here are still together? 
The views are also good of all the other bridges. When you reach the far side you are in Gateshead. And it does seem as though you have left Newcastle.
This is a great city and a friendly one too. Well worth an hour wandering around
After two superb away wins and that curious but positive draw against Sunderland , Brentford fans were in optimistic mood with a nicely positive atmosphere prior to kick off. 
In fact a beautiful evening to watch football. New Road was even treated to a sunset .
Shame the Leeds fans were unable to maintain a minutes silence for remembrance. Although to be fair many were expecting the referee to whistle to start the minute of silence. We were however treated to far too many renditions of his whistle during the actual game .
The game was superb end to end stuff. Brentford worked hard and in most areas for most of the game were superior to Leeds. But let’s start with the negatives. Too often Leeds were allowed space to attack through the middle and far too much time to shoot from the edge of the box. Bees were also slow to close down players again allowing far too many shots from around 20 yards. The good news was that Brentford were technically superior in every area.
Brentford took the lead after a keeper error allowing a simple finish. The luxury of another missed penalty did not put Bees off and if anything inspired Ollie Watkins to have maybe his best game. Leeds equalised curiously in an identical manner. Dan Bentley dropped the ball again allowing a simple finish. In many regards this was a copy of the Reading game except Bees then upped the tempo and deservedly scored 10 minutes from time . A nice free kick from Barbet who had a good game and finished the game off in injury time with a nice move down the left , the ball pulled back to the edge of the box and Ryan Woods scoring the best goal of the game. 
If Brentford fans thought they had defensive issues, Leeds have far more serious issues. Goalkeeper Andy Lonergan looked dubious all game with plentiful handling errors. Defensively there was a lack of talent and skill with the ball going in any random direction often however out of play. When Leeds attacked they showed flashes of good play but so many unforced errors meant that many of their attacks ended as throw ins.
For Brentford this was their best team performance of the season. The side looked quick, skilful, hard working and effective. Chris Mepham looked solid coming on for the injured Bjelland. Yennaris had probably his best game I have witnessed with clever passes combined with a high work rate. Mokojoto was an ideal substitute stretching the Leeds defence with clever runs.
Nine points in a week does not come along very often and we have been shifted acutely from a relegation battle to a potential play off battle. There is a long season ahead but this game showed what Brentford are capable off. And for once Sky was there to capture it all 
Berlin is a fascinating city with history and architecture to rival any city in the world. The question is given the high prices is it worth a visit in the autumn? 
Unfortunately the greatness of the place and the short days with darkness coming from 4.30 pm meant I would not be positive in spending money to come here. 
The city was wet and muddy meaning that walking through Tiergarten was not a pleasure . Queues everywhere to get into any historical building and few smiles to be seen. Prices were also expensive. In a small cafe not in a popular area a cheeseburger cost 10€ and a large Americano coffee 5.90€.
In a lesson for other cities though there were few cars to be seen in the city centre.
On the positive side a good transportation system and decent if wet and muddy pedestrian walkways.
Would I return again in autumn? Definitely not. Cities like Riga and Prague offer far 
more for far less at this time of year .
The street art is not too shabby though tucked away in small side streets.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 