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 tag “murder”

20 Oct 2012

South Park 0 Met Police 3 FA cup 4thQualifying round


South Park sit high up in the combined counties league just below Ryman. Today was their chance to make it to the first round proper of the FA Cup. The reality was that they were totally outplayed by a decent Met Police team who had some very competent players, especially in defence where Jay Lovett stood out despite looking double the age of some of the younger players.

SouthPark have a small ground that is essentially a fenced off playing area, with concrete to stand on and a small 100 seater stand behind one goal. a neat ground with plenty of off road parking nearby. Nice clubhouse with nice burgers and rather oddly an ice cream van in attendance in the autumn with chilly temeperatures.

South Park almost took the lead early on with a shot that hit the post but from then on it was really Met Police’s game. They looked two divisions above in many regards but especially their defending. Despite saying all that both keepers had equal amounts of work to do but the second goal just after half time killed off the game in reality.

 

james wastell

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01 Oct 2012

Cycling from London to Istanbul for Charity 4500 kms. Aeriel view of where they cycled – sort of.


Just to remind anyone, a group of Exeter students including my son Charles Bushe cycled to Istanbul in temperatures of often 40 degrees this summer. The 13 cyclists did an incredible thing to raise money for Help for Heroes. Below I have reposted what i originally wrote. But today i flew back from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to london and for most of the journey the plane followed the route that they cycled. it took them around 40 days and the plane around 5 hours to do that stretch. I hope these photos remind folks what an epic thing that was to do. the quality is not good as they were taken with the humble i Phone 4S.

A week ago on 26th July 13 students from the University of Exeter commenced a 4500km cycle to Istanbul. Why? To support Help for Heroes. Many of these students had just completed their degree and graduated 2 weeks before. Somehow they found time to train,organise and generally prepare for this strenous trip. Aside from the obvious physical aspects there were numerous other planning aspects to consider. For example how to spend as little as possible on the trip, as this would reduce the sponsorship amounts for the charity. So, they spend most nights in tents and some nights in cheap hostels. The van they were donated is not of the Formula 1 category and rather like a beached whale is not deemed well enough to migrate the Alps, so will go around and meet the cyclists on the other side. To date they have reached Lyons and are having a well deserved rest day. My son Charles Bushe texted that he had spent a good day but things like washing needed to be done. They will have finished and be back in UK on September 8th. They deserve as much support as is possible. Even if you can only donate £1 then please do so and also importantly please pass on this message so that others can donate.

They are all good folks and already it is clear that they have bonded well together and are supporting each other when needed. For example the first day of their cycle down to Folkestone the temperature was well into the 30′s C, and there were obvious heat problems. A couple of them have had minor injuries such as a fall and tendonitis but they all keep going.

The links are below.

http://www.justgiving.com/Charles-Bushe  for Charles

 

for the others they can all be accessed here.

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/London-Istanbul2012

 

So, even if it appears a very small sum of money do please donate and help them to collect a decent sum for Help for Heroes. Do not forget that all the weather we have had here they have had too and have continued to cycle! Even Charles 11 year old sister has donated 5£ of her pocket money. Charles also gave up his olympic tickets to see the weightlifting to go on this cycle. Many thanks and again please pass this on to all that you know.

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16 Sep 2012

Sutton 1 Havant and Waterlooville 1


I do try and be positive about football particularly as it costs good money to get in, in fact this game cost 12£ to get in ( only 2£ for children), 2.50£ for a programme ( not really worth it, full of adverts and little real information or news) and 3£ for a burger. But this really was one of the worst football games that I have seen for some while. Let me try and itemise my grief:

  1. Many/most of the players did  not look fully fit. Some looked considerably unfit and overweight.
  2. The style of both teams was kick and run, followed by kick and dont bother to run. There were significant areas of the pitch that were unused all game
  3. Both goals were of a shabby kind. The own goal scored by Sutton was patently ridiculous. The keeper could and should ( and maybe did) call for the ball, instead the centre half seemingly made a decent finish in his own net. The sutton goal was kind of ridiculous. The ball ricocheted around in the box, hitting random players and the posts and eventually somehow went in.
  4. Neither team tried to play football as I know it

In fact this game was one of the most dire games I have seen for many years. Even at this early stage of the season I can confidently predict that both these teams will be at the wrong end of the table.

On the positive side though, this is a great little ground to watch football in but it does help if you a Sat Nav to help you meander your way to the toilets. They are complex to find. Worth a visit, but maybe on a different day. I will come back later this season and see whats changed.

Clarke Masters, Havant goalkeeper. Ex Brentford

Sutton Goalkeeper

Missed the ball

 

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23 Aug 2012

Grand Cayman Turtle Farm. The debate – a great place to go and no-one forces turtle burgers to be eaten


There is an inherent danger in listening to people. People have differing and sometimes odd views on any topic. Our plan to go to the Turtle farm was challenged when we heard rumours that visitors were almost forcibly encouraged to eat Turtle burgers ( they are on the menu here), that there was rampant cruelty to turtles and that it would cost 50$ each ( presumably in Cayman Dollars, so US Dollars 60$).

Over a large and some might say excessive breakfast, we decided to go as we have the hire car ( and they are not cheap) and we would take a chance. We were right. The turtle farm is a great place to go. No-one cared if we went anywhere near a restaurant there, the total price for 2 adults and a child was 92$ US ( and that trust me is cheap for Cayman Islands and is about the cost to watch a Brentford home game) and we saw nothing to worry us at all regarding turtle management. What we did see however was amazing.

A huge lagoon with depths and shallows was nicely set up with various land areas to allow swimmers, with snorkels and masks ( free by the way) to swim around if we wished from 11 am to 2.30pm. One swims with turtles and loads of fish. The turtles swim close to you. My worrying finding was that turtles swim faster than me. So my chances for Rio Olympics have gone, but maybe those for the turtles remains. This was the best 2 and1/2 hours of my holiday. Then there were education centres, pools where the turtles could be watched and handled.

Lastly if you plan to go this is the only place on Grand Cayman that asks for Photo ID when using a credit card. An unusual but occasional occurrence abroad. For some unspecified reason using an American Express card gave a 20% discount. So a positive plug for Amex

Turtles

More turtles

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21 Jun 2012

Get me out of here I am a Doctor


 

I  am not so sure that I would describe this week as interesting but a learning experience it has been. I am not an ill sort of person and indeed do not recall the last time the GP would have had me in his notes for an acute illness. In fact the only reason that I went today was because of this ludicrous strike that is being wrongly perpetrated by Doctors tomorrow. I began feeling unwell a week ago but suddently found myself so tired that I was essentially unable even to stand up for more than a short time. Viral chest symptoms ensued, followed by ear pain, throat pain and no appetite. A real glut of viral symptoms, which I suspect is some type of viral pneumonia. It has taken 4 full days to get even up to 10% of wellness but today now am starting to feel a bit better. I went to the GP to have a second opinion and also in case I needed at some stage to have some illness letter for whatever.  This is what I learnt

  1. No chance of getting an appointment on the day one phones. Fully booked. Stage 2 is then demanding to be seen and there is a triage service whereby a doctor rings you back, questions you in the format of Paxman and then allocates or not a slot. Being a medic I am aware of the right things to say. Others may not be
  2. On arrivial at the practice one speaks not a single word before being seen. the check in is via a screen. The receptionists sit around speechless to the patients,  busy around doing whatever, but not speaking, doing anything but communicating to patients waiting.
  3. I spent 2 minutes in the surgery room. The examiniation was a perfunctory version of perfunctory. I could not believe how inadequate it was. Despite having never having had a chest infection before, my chest was not examined other than superficially.
  4. The aim was to get me out of there quickly. A prescription was what was needed, even though by their own admission it was not needed ( antibiotics do not treat viral infections).

I came away quite sad that professional service levels have sunk so far since I qualified in medicine in 1981. Little/no professional eqitquette, little/no skill and little/no attempt to hide this shambolic state of affairs. Finally, having not done what should have been done, my blood pressure was checked, am I being too cynical to even think that this was done to meet some NHS metric?

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01 Jun 2012

Darlington Football Club . All football fans should read this story


The story of what has happened to Darlington is so well written that I am not going to even paraphrase anything other than to say it makes sad reading and could apply to any football club. just click the link

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/news.php?NewsID=923

 

My own photos of Darlington are all on my website

http://www.footballgroundz.co.uk

 

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31 May 2012
1 Comment

Angry Dentist and Angry Birds. A new App


As always these things happen just before going away, so I suppose thats good, better than happening when away. I do recall a visit to a Greek dentist 20 years ago, whose surgery was the living room and having to trample over people, family maybe, to get in. So,an excruciating pain equals an emergency visit. Three hours of drilling, sanding and filling, with huge sighs. Essentially though he wanted to take the tooth out and give me an implant, and having had an implant that for me was not an option. So Root Canal work it was. As one lies there things flit through the mind. Why cannot the drills be silent? Why does the dental nurse always get moaned at? Why does it cost so much…..but as the pain recedes none of these matter at all. He even tried to explain the dental x-rays to me. I am sure that a chest x-ray or a bone,I might reasonably still interpret, but teeth? were medical students ever taught about teeth? I do not recall such a thing…..

In three weeks time I have Round 2 and he is muttering about using lasers and poking wires into holes, sounds more like Angry Birds to me, now there is a thought. A new App. Angry Dentist……..what a great idea.

In case you are wondering, here is an Angry Bird, a baby owl up the top of a mountain in Benalmadena Costa in Spain

An Angry Bird. Baby Owl in Spain

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23 May 2012

Barcelona and Bar Obama


I have mixed views about Barcelona. Firstly it is a fantastic city but to see these fantastic bits does need a little bit of detective work. The weather has not been great at all since sunday, raining, thunder and windy at worst and grey and gloomy at best. Today however the sun shone. Due to work reasons my only excursion has been for dinner in the city last night. A Tapas bar at the entrance to Las Ramblas. A serious amount of people were in and half out of the restaurant/bar when we all arrived. Somehow we got a table and were served by a waiter who might have an alternative career as a mexican bandit in his spare time, and probably does as he needs the money, our leader I think forgetting to tip him………

Tapas does not excite me but this was fine. Tapas seems to mean a cholesterol death event mostly but again this was not too bad. The best part of the evening however was Bar Obama next door. This is a place that is highly recommended. Empty at 11.30 and packed beyond belief at 12.30. A singer and guitarist were superb and she had one of the best voices I have heard for a long time. Powerful and effortless.

Sitting here this evening having a quiet evening preparing for a talk tomorrow ( no alcohol and lots of sleep ) I can see the cruise boats on the horizon………………wishing maybe I was onboard

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16 May 2012

Lucinda Belle Orchestra . Another priviledge to have been at Southampton


I first heard the music from the Lucinda Belle Orchestra about a year ago and was impressed. During this last year I had never seen any concerts advertised and very little in the media generally about LBO. The very occasional tweet but that was it. The album is fairly unique featuring harp music that can best be described as replacing the guitar. So when about a month ago I was told that they were playing at Southampton the chance to get tickets was an easy one to agree to.

The venue is the theatre TurnerSims that is part of the main campus at Southampton University, this means easy parking and a nice venue. The band were amazing. Lucinda Belle held the stage for the whole set with comfort and the only criticism might be that the set was not long enough. She mostly sang and ” harped” but for a few songs took to the microphone to sing. Her outfit was interesting. Striped tights that caught the eye and heels that placed her 6 inches off the floor. The band also were good to watch and listen to. A Serbian double-bass player was making his debut and looked like he would take off with excitement at times. The hall sadly was not anywhere near full and I may be imagining it but was Lucinda Belle a little glum? She deserved that place to be full. Afterwards the band members came out and they were selling CDs etc, which in a funny sort of way seemed a little desperate. For me people should be queueing to buy the CDs.

The band are in the studio for the next few months working on their next album but they are playing some gigs at Pizza Express in London. If you go onto the website you can download a free couple of tracks. This band is good and it will be a shame if they eventually call it a day.

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10 May 2012

Hotels and WiFi and What will hotels do with all those extra foam pillows?


 

Recently I seem to have travelled a lot and in each hotel it is costing £15 for 24 hours wi-fi. Now a couple of things to mention here

  1. How often does one ever actually stay in a hotel for 24 hours? It is more like 12 hours as the norm. Ever an option to pay 50% of the price? no…..
  2. Wi-fi is free in almost all USA hotels, MacDonalds and various other hostelries
  3. Rarely is one given the option to buy a hotel package that includes wi-fi

This is a total disgrace. I will specifically cite the Marriott hotel in Glasgow because not only did they charge 15£ but the wi-fi reception in my room was appalling and hardly worked.

 

So Mr Marriott can you please give us free wi-fi, free car parking and in fact everything else that you should give us free ( breakfast in my opinion) and stop ripping us off. One day a hotel chain will do the EasyJet version and provide all this at a knock down price, companies will insist we stay there and then your lovely hotel will be empty. What then will you do with all your extra foam pillows?

End of rant……

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