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24 Feb 2016

The Clouds Lift Over Griffin Park. Brentford 3 Wolves 0

There is no doubt that Brentford have been a spiral of disaster the last 2 months, and this is reflected in the win ratio of 1 win in the previous 9 games, and in the plethora of negativity that followed the Derby debacle on saturday. Something had to change.

Clouds over Brentford seen while flying in for the game

Fans arrived late as often they do for an evening fixture giving the impression till almost the last minute that there would be no crowd. In fact almost 9000 hardy souls braved a bitter and literally freezing evening to watch an entertaining game.

Griffin Park By Night

There was little agreement before the game on what the outcome might be and even less agreement on the team selection other than something had to change to bring back the fighting spirit and work rate that we saw earlier in the season. In reality the summoning of two of the best players in the club, John Swift and Sergi Canos gave the side width and skill, and Nico Yennaris recovered from a hideous performance in central midfield on saturday to have an excellent game at right back. The work rate in midfield was probably double that of saturday and from the start the elevated work rate and the chances created got the crowd going. In the end a 3-0 victory did not flatter Brentford and it should have been greater. We must not however lose site of how abject Wolves were. Watching the game it was difficult to believe that they had 40 points this season and sitting seemingly in mid-table security. They were poor, very poor. Never the less a good performance that should keep the crowds interested for the remainder of the season. Yet margins are thin in this league, with Brentford comfortably winning 1-0 in the second half, only a superb save from David Button kept the Bees ahead. Conceding a goal then might have led to one of the many Brentford collapses we have seen this season.

Were there any downsides to the game? Only one for me. No cornish pasties. What kind of football catering does not have cornish pasties, forcing me to sample a Chicken Balti pie, which I can sum up as saying could be a vegetarian option lacking anything I could find that resembled chicken. Edible none the less.

Lastly a strange emerging feature of watching Brentford lately. As the crowd streams out of the New Road stand, a group of 2-3 steward looking characters in cheerful fashion thank the crowd for coming and have a safe trip home. Brentford are emerging into the customer service era and will achieve that for me when cornish pasties return.

So the gleaming clouds were an omen and indeed the sun was truly shining on Brentford and their fans at 10 pm last night.

The Skies above Brentford before kick off

Clouds Gleaming over Brentford

Floodlights over Brentford

A final thought. I will miss this old ground when it goes. We know it has to and understand why but the character and atmosphere is what sums up real football , even in the absence of cornish pasties.

Posted in brentford, Uncategorized and tagged brentford, brentford 3 wolves 0, brentford 3 wolves o, brentford fc, brentford floodlights, Brentford Football Club, brentford new ground, brentford new stadium, brentford promotion, brentford v wolves, championship, championship relegation contenders, cloud photo, clouds, clouds over brentford, cornish pasties, cornish pasty, david button, derby county, derby fc, football, football catering, football club, football crowds, football fans, football floodlights, football food, football grounds, football photos, football stewards, griffin park, griffin park photo, griffin park photo lights, john swift, london, molineaux, nico yennaris, peter gelson, sergi canos, sunset brentford, wolves manager sacked, wolves relegation

23 Feb 2016

24 Hours in Urban Madrid

Spain is one of many countries that I love and regularly visit . I always leave with a sense of wonderment as to how so many old men survive into later years to smoke their cigarettes and drink their beer.

A recent short trip to Madrid strongly brought this home. There are few countries and recently I can only mention Switzerland where cigarette smoking is common. Here in Spain most streets smell of tobacco and piles of people are commonly visible outside their places of work puffing away. Even I was caught by surprise and maybe a little horror to find an ambulance parked in a Main Street and some of the paramedics and maybe a medic even openly smoking away.

The alternative way to die young might be through some of the strange fast driving that seems obligatory here. Even the taxi drivers give a good impression of the Indianapolis 5000 and their are plentiful taxis everywhere.

Madrid I am told is a beautiful city but I was reminded that even beautiful cities have urban areas that cannot be described as delectable. My hotel is described as being near the city centre which translates into a 30 minute metro trip I was told . Although this does seem rather long .

Lastly I was reminded of a few of the quirky things that are common in Spain. Serving lukewarm coffee seems the norm brewed for extra strength overnight and lukewarm food. None of the breakfast items could truly be described as hot food.

This is Spain and this is what they do. I love coming here and hope one day to see some of the more beautiful architecture for which Madrid is renowned .

For now some of the more interesting urban architecture will have to suffice. The large office shaped block with an interesting spiral external staircase and the block of flats with colourful balconies.

Making even this urban area look interesting. Finally a Mexican restaurant caught my eye as I was searching for street graffiti and graffiti art of which curiously there was none. The first European city I can recall for some time where these are absent. A large painted mural advertising La CheLinda. No idea what the Spanish version of Mexican food might be like but would be tempted to try based solely on their external efforts.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged barcelona, cerveza, cold coffee, death in spain, europe, madrid, madrid architecture, madrid vacation, quirky spain, smoking in europe, spanish cuisine, things to know about madrid, urban madrid, why do spanish smoke | Leave a comment

23 Feb 2016

6 Comments

Has Iberia breached any safety regulations? And why such awful service?

Contrary to a few recent comments I am not a negative person nor grumble my way through life. However my flight on Iberia yesterday from Heathrow to Madrid does go down as one of the worst ever. I do not often fly with them and plan never to in future but I would throw out two questions.

A generic first question. Is their service always terrible and terrible beyond belief. A more specific second question. Are they breaching air regulations by having no one seated in an exit row?

Let’s start with the second question. An Airbus 321- at the first set of seats adjoining the emergency exit on the right hand side of the plane there was no one seated there. On the left there was one person. I do not know the specific rules but suspect that someone should be seated on either side to operate the emergency exit doors. During the flight I saw this a number of times and it was not a case of someone temporarily departing for the lavatory. The seats on the left here clearly show no one seated nor apparently in theories in front and behind.

The service was dire. There was no welcome aboard. Okay that will not kill anyone but this was a pattern of the flight. No service. No one offered any food or drink and when a few of us asked other passengers it seemed a trolley had been zoomed so fast up and down such that no one was aware of the service. I noticed as it was one of the few occasions where I did want to buy food and drink. In fact the only other time I saw anything resembling service it was the duty free cart being pulled through .

A visit to the toilets situated at the rear of the plane showed clearly the activities of the three crew. One was eating a nice looking meal that I presume was a business class meal. One had her head in an IPad. The last one was reading. All seated at the back hidden from sight of all the passengers. Zero attention to the passengers. Zero attention to anything except themselves.

I have not witnessed such a pathetic attempt at customer service and plan not to again with Iberia. But again the safety angle comes to mind here.

The last attempt at customer service was almost amusing. A stewardess at the exit to the plane I presume saying goodbye but it sounded like a repetitive chant that one might hear when a record gets stuck. A voice devoid of inflection or effort. Put simply I don’t think Iberia bothered yesterday and maybe that was why the plane was half full at best. My recommendation? Avoid Iberia until they start considering basic customer service as the norm

Anyone with any thoughts?

Posted in Travel EU, Uncategorized and tagged Airline food, Awful Iberia service, british airways, Duty free, Emergency exit row rules, EU airline law, EU flying regulations, Flying rules, football, Heathrow, heathrow airport, iberia, Iberia awful, london, madrid, travel, vacation, Worst airline

22 Feb 2016

2 Comments

The Absurdity of Business Class travel on short haul flights in Europe

When selecting a seat in economy it is an Imprecise art to know where the business class section will end. So on occasions like today one is unfortunate to be sitting in the row immediately outside business class meaning that the ridiculous curtains get pulled across . This is not the happiest nor optimal view of a flapping curtain a few inches in front of ones face. But even this today reached hithertoo unfathomable heights or depths because each time the curtains opened a millimetre the air stewardess rushed towards them to rescue the curtains and pull them closed. This presumably is to protect the business class passengers from visually having to witness their foul economy class cousins or maybe to prevent some supposedly plague ridden air entering the cabin of the elite. This of course is utter nonsense. Business class is dead in short haul and frankly anyone who wastes money on this needs counselling .

What do you get for your extra money? You get exactly the same seat as on this Airbus 321 operated by Iberia the seats are identical. You might get a spare seat next to you. Where I sit in row 6A I have two spare seats next to me as do many on this empty flight. You get a meal of some sort normally a salad related affair and on Iberia free drinks too. But is this really worth paying for? Usually an extra £100 per flight maybe more. All the frills of easier check in become pointless as most are done now on the mobile phone. But even if checking in luggage there is no preference over the frequent flyers who use the same check in and indeed board the same time. So the reality is you get a curtain drawn behind you and food and drink . Not terribly special and uplifting.

Meanwhile my view is almost claustrophobic but I do get to count the number of times the rushing sprinting stewardess recloses the badly behaved curtains. Somewhere in the region of once every 10 minutes on this Madrid bound flight. Comedy and cabaret are free to all on board. However I was able to sneak a view into business through the gap and I could see 30 seats occupied by 4 customers.

These curtains do actually swing back and forth and I can imagine that folks seated in the aisle seats might not enjoy being continuously massaged by the errant flapping curtain.

Business class for short haul is absurd as is the thinking behind it now.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged barajas, british airways, business class travel, club europe, hearhrow, iberia, iberia worst airline, is business class sensible, madrid, photo empty business class, why fly business class

21 Feb 2016

London Malmaison . The Best Sunday Lunch

For around 20£ one can indulge in maybe the best sunday lunch or brunch anywhere. A three course meal in London for 20£ is not so common, but of this quality it is quite exceptional.

A Starter of Mixed foods

The starters represent easily a meal in themselves, with various salads, cuts of meat and fish, bread, cheeses and samosas. The main courses range from typical roast meats to smoked fishcakes and the desserts include Sticky Toffee Pudding amongst other delectables.

Chickpea and Chorizo Salad

Mixed Meats and Fish

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Do allow three hours to consume this feast .

The decor is also grand and typically Malmaison with dark themes and somewhat quirky colour schemes.

FullSizeRender

Posted in food, food photos, Uncategorized and tagged arctic tern photo, arctictern photo, arctictern photography, arcticterntalk, arcticterntalk food photo, best food photo, best salad, best sunday lunch, charterhouse square, cheap london restaurant, chickpea and chorizo salad, cold meats, farringdon, farringdon photo, food, food photo, food photos, london, london malmaison, london restaurant, malmaison, malmaison bar, sticky toffee pudding, sticky toffee pudding photo, sunday lunch, sunday lunch london malmaison, sunday lunch mal, sunday lunch malmaison, tulips, tulips photo | Leave a comment

21 Feb 2016

2 Comments

A Lot of Questions at Brentford Football Club

A miserable afternoon ended with Brentford losing 1-3 to a moderate Derby County side. But for many grumbling Bees fans that was not the main issue. More worrying aspects include the recent sale of key players, no replacements, absence of anything resembling a striker who scores goals and seemingly a roulette wheel that randomly chooses the midfield players. And more importantly deafening silence from the hierarchy as to what is happening and what the plans might be.

For some reason that I cannot begin to fathom two of the better players were left on the bench when the team were crying out for creativity and players that in football fan parlance ” make things happen”. Sergi Canos and John Swift. Swift has his critics, but I am not one of them. He is not the box to box midfielder that maybe Douglas was, but he has far superior skill and this is his first season playing competitive football. The roulette wheel was spun and out popped Kerchbaumer and Yennaris.

The first question is what exactly do either of these two bring to the team? Yennaris to be fair shows some promise as a potential wide midfielder , but not I hasten to add as a first-choice, and surely not ever as a combative central midfielder. And anyone who reads the Sky report on the game would have read words ” a lack of presence in midfield”.
The second question is why we persist with a non-goalscoring non-forward, Lasse Vibe? Vibe began the season as a wide midfielder and looked comfortable there and scored goals. Sky report a ” toothless attack” and many fans would say we have an absence of attack.

Frankly Derby outplayed and outfought Brentford all game bar the 15 minutes following a superb solo effort from Alan Judge, who must be wondering what he is doing in this team and how so much can go wrong from 4 months ago. Many fans have that question too. Is Dean Smith not the man for Brentford? I have no opinion on that but am questioning his team selection. The Derby fans also witnessed their first victory since Xmas.

A bigger problem though is the size of the Brentford players, who often looked like midgets when compared with the larger size specimens on display from Derby. Woods, Vibe, Judge, together equal the size of a single large Bradley Johnson. Physicality is needed in this league and in this regard Brentford are not competing .

In fact in general Brentford are neither competing nor explaining to the fans how they plan to compete. If ever a time for a Fans Forum it is now. But there is a deafening silence from the owner and his minions.

Many worried faces today and few signs that anything will improve soon. And who chose these players and on what grounds were they chosen. There was clear evidence of fan disenchantment today that is increasing by the game. One win in nine games is not acceptable. Not to the fans anyway.

Posted in brentford, Uncategorized and tagged alan judge, bradley johnson, brentford, brentford fc, Brentford Football Club, brentford new stadium, championship, derby county, derby fc, douglas, jonathon douglas, KK, konstantin kerschbaumer, lasse vibe, matthew benham, phil giles, rasmus ankersen, ryan woods, vibe

20 Feb 2016

Graphic Designers Who Are In The Wrong job

Whoever designed these toilet signs maybe needs to take a long hard look at their chosen career. These signs were found in Bergen Norway.

Posted in architecture, Uncategorized and tagged bergen, bergen toliet, funny sign, graphic design, graphic designers, norway, norway toilet, norwegian toilet, toilet sign, vacation | Leave a comment

19 Feb 2016

Changing Weather in Claremont Gardens

These three photographs were taken approximately two minutes apart and show the extreme variability of UK weather in February 2016. Claremont gardens are a National Trust property in Esher, Surrey.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged claremont gardens, esher, Free entry NT, national trust photo, national trust photos, national trust surrey, NT photos, NT properties surrey, photo claremont gardens, photo of rain, photos claremont gardens, surrey gardens, surrey NT, the national trust, UK changeable weather, UK weather, UK weather photos, weather photo | Leave a comment

19 Feb 2016

Bread And Butter

Just occasionally one gets lucky with the light. There is nothing special about this photo, no planning and no manipulation. A simple truth of always carry your camera with you. Enjoy.