One of those opportunistic photos where a butterfly maybe a little tired landed on my newspaper and the I Phone was handy. just a cute image really. Maybe it stopped to watch the tennis?
The Sunday Times butterfly
Copyright Chris Bushe 2015
The Sunday Times butterfly
Copyright Chris Bushe 2015
The River Thames today at around 11 am one hour prior to kick off.
River Thames at Brentford
River Thames at Brentford
Almost unbelievable. A slightly subdued Griffin Park watched as miracles happened with Brentford easily marching past Wigan 3-0 and alos missing the obligatory penalty on the way. But a good Bees performance, although they might have scored many more was enough to get them in the playoffs, with Derby losing surpringly at home to Reading 0-3 and Ipswich losing at Blackburn 3-2. So three sides end up on 78 points and only Wolves with the worst goal difference lose out.
A few photos from a semi-pitch invasion that ceased when the crowd were told that the players would not be coming out that friday the pitch was needed for in good condition and they all dispersed in good mood.
River Thames at Brentford
River Thames at Brentford
Fulham 1 Brentford 4. By the end this looked the only way to stop Brentford scoring more goals.
The first thing one realises is that Ipswich is nearer than one thinks, that the ground is a neat ground and that there is ample car parking nearby for 4-5£. Walking to the ground one passes a nice Weir, and not David Weir. A few curious signs like ” drive at walking speed”. The last time I was here I got entry with Bobby Robson telling the officials I was an Ipswich Town player. I can say he was genuinely a lovely man who also cooked a great fried breakfast. The fans and the stewards are a friendly bunch. The game itself is end to end and Brentford although having been on top in the first half were totally under the hammer in the second and only the miss of the century from Darryl Murphy stopped Ipswich taking all 3 points. Man of the match was David button, who has become a really accomplished keeper and most likely best in division, except his kicking game. Brentford played well but on the negative side Liam Moore was a liability and eventually taken off, rare to substitute centre backs in a game. His error allowed ipswich the goal and his many other errors almost allowed them more goals. On the positive side, the team worked well and in a strange kind of way deserved a point. As usual, Jake Bidwell and the midfield impressed with both work rate and skill. This is a Brentford team with a real eye on the playoffs.
Brentford fans woke up tuesday morning 10th Feb to a large article in The Times that announced that Mark Warburton would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Today 11th Feb it seems Sporting Director Frank McParland may well be also leaving. Why? Behind these unexpected and unwanted developments it seems there are two strands of thinking. Matthew Benham wants an all-powerful sporting director who makes all the decisions regarding new signings, unlike the current situation where Warburton does this. McParland is not seen as the man. The second issue relates it seems to the desire by Benham to want to bring in a free-kick coach and a sleeping expert. Warburton does not want to change things when things are moving so well this season. Further confusing aspects that may be primary or secondary problems relate to the news that Warburton it seems is on the radar for the Leicester City job, but seemingly not yet approached, and his name is mentioned in relation to the currently vacant QPR position, where any degree of interest is not reported on.
So what does this mean to Brentford? At the moment it is just a huge fog. Brentford have been in discussions with a potential Spanish manager of Rayo Vallencano, Paco Jemez. Again it is unclear what the sequence of temporal events might have been, but the comments yeaterday by Warburton that he will see the job through this season, is suggestive that he was being pushed before being potentially pulled for other roles.
The last piece of news relates to a posting by Benham on facebook this morning, where he says ” Its been a very difficult 24 hours. I will try to explain the situation more in the next couple of days. I’ve been a genuine fan since 1979 and try to honestly act in the best long term interests of the club”.
So the saga has a long way to go and might unravel in any direction. Lets see.
Mark Warburton
Seems that Sky reckon the Bees have paid around £200,000 for the 20 year old 6ft 3ins 85 kg defender from Blackburn Rovers.He has had two loan spells with League One side Rochdale this season, making 20 appearances and scoring three goals.His only appearance for Blackburn was the Capital One cup defeat by Scunthorpe in August. Other loan spells have been at Rotherham and York. He has also been capped at England under 18 and under 19 level. In total he has made 59 league appearances in his career before the 2014-15 season. This season in 20 appearances in all competitions at Rochdale he has scored 3 goals, the first of his career with only 2 yellow cards. In the 2013-14 season he played 45 games, with 4 yellow cards and 1 red card. And in 2012-13 in 23 games he had only 2 yellow cards.
So in 88 games as a central defender he has only had 9 yellow/red cards, an impressive statistic. Blackburn Rovers signed Jack O’Connell in the summer of 2011-12.He went on to make 35 appearances for the Academy and Reserves sides in an outstanding first year that saw him play a key role as Rovers reached the final of both the FA Youth Cup and the Academy League. Then headed out on loan to Rotherham, York and Rochdale.
Media tonight are suggesting that Calum Ferguson may be on his way to Brentford Fc. His footballing statistics are somewhat curious. He is a 20 year old Canadian yet to make a first-team appearance, but has played 4 times on loan with Montrose last season, 3 starts and 1 from the bench, without scoring. More recently he has been playing in the2015 CONCACAF UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP in Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica 9-24 January, 2015 for the U-20 Canadian.
His height is reported as 176 cms making him around 5ft 9 ins around 64kg and left footed. And he has a dual British/Canadian passport.
So, a curious potential signing, but the Scottish element suggests possibility here. Lets wait and see.
Just a various eclectic mix of food photos taken in various locations. Nothing special. Just enjoy and be hungry.
Coconut Tart
Sliders and Beef Wellingtons
At around the same time Manchester airport was being closed due to snow and bad weather, the weather was not so different in Oslo and flights were leaving on time. Not so many are aware that Norway is the northernmost, westernmost and easternmost all all the three Scandinavian countries and has a population of only 5 million, mostly Norwegian people. And it also is a country without an official religon having separated from the church in 2012. And humble Oslo is only the 17th busiest airport in Europe with 24.2 million passengers in 2014. About half the airport operator’s income is from retail revenue. There are twenty places to eat or drink, in addition to stores and other services including banks and post. In all, 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) are used for restaurants, stores and non-aviation services. And yesterday it felt like an expedition to get through the duty free zone to anywhere near a departure gate. But as Oslo airport is connected to 162 other airports, maybe I can excuse the retail element. This of course has nothing to do with why the airport functions when all others close down.
The reality is pride and equipment and foresight.In Nordic Countries, Skill at Keeping Airports Open Through Blizzards Is a Point of Pride. Winter can last 6 months and airplane de-icing starts in august.Across the chilly water, on the bleak Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian arctic, winter temperatures can drop to -55C. In winter, airport employees work round-the-clock shifts, at the first sight of snow.
Another Nordic secret: pushing producers for absurdly powerful equipment. Oslo Airport runs two of the world’s largest self-propelled snowblowers, built by Norwegian airport-equipment maker Øveraasen AS. Only two other of the TV2000 units operate at airports; they, too, are in Norway.The 2,000-horsepower machines can shoot 10,000 tons of snow an hour more than 150 feet from the tarmac.
So we can say that foresight, effort and equipment play major roles in explaining why Scandinavian airports stay open , but also airport capacity . Heathrow for example, one of the worlds worst airports in my opinion, operates to 98% capacity and thus even small disruptions can be chaotic. Stockholm Arlanda has over 40 people dedicated to snow clearing during the winter.The airport has 18 PSB (ploughing, sweeping, blowing) machines. These are followed by snow throwers which move the line of snow left by the PSBs. Behind these come friction measuring vehicles that test the likelihood of skidding on the runway.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 