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 “vacation”

15 Nov 2012

Rant about Marriott hotels. Part 2

There has already been multiple rants over the Marriott policy to charge for wi-fi at the extortionate rate of 15£ for 24 hours, which is unfair on many levels, including how rarely one actually stays physically in a hotel for 24 hours, and of charging to park. Well, here in Edinburgh it is warmer outside than in my room. Despite turning all the dials up like a mad old professor , the heat level seems to have decreased with the added benefit of a hideous grinding noise coming from what might be a fan.

My solution? To find an abandoned radiator in the hallway, wheel it into my room when no-one is looking , turn each dial up to maximum and then hope………

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged cold, edinburgh, internet, marriott, marriott hotels, parking hotels, radiator, stealing, travel, vacation, weather, wi-fi, wifi | Leave a comment

10 Nov 2012

Brentford 2 Carlisle 1

This was one of those games that restores faith in professional football. The weather was right for football, cloudy with a sense of rain in the air. Floodlights on in the second half. The ground had almost 7000 in there, a decent crowd considering not so many had made the trip down from Carlisle almost 400 miles away. The Brentford board and directors also did their bit by allowing fans to buy tickets up to 4 pm friday at only 10£.

But this was a great game of football. Carlisle came to play and not just block up one end for 90 minutes. Brentford took the lead in the first half with a nice finish in the box from Jonathon Douglas and then gifted Carlisle an equaliser following a dreadful defensive error. But Brentford went on to get the winner in the second half and combined with a penalty save by the Brentford keeper Simon Moore about 10 minutes from the end got the 3 points.

So why was this a good game? Well put simply effort and running all game from all 20 outfield players. Great tackles, great saves and decent goals. A few maligned Brentford players had their best games and in fact all 11 might have been man of the match. Great day out, great game this football. And the Cornish Pastie, re-heated I suspect a snip at 2.50£.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged brentford, carlisle, football, league 1, london, london football, mascot, points, travels, vacation | Leave a comment

05 Nov 2012

Met Police 1 Crawley 2. FA Cup round 1

A rather atypical game. Crawley took a two goal lead shortly after half time, deserved, Met Police then battled away and controlled much of the second half, scoring a goal 10 minutes from time. In the last 10 minutes all hell broke loose. Met police hit the post with a shot, had shots cleared off the line, forced Paul Jones into two great saves, but just could not get the equalise they deserved. A very decent crowd too around 1500, compared to a normal crowd usually in the 120-150 region.

It has to be said that Met police are a good team and this is a nice club. I almost forgot to mention that 150 places separate these two sides, with Met Police playing in the Ryman Premier. Altogether a great day out and I will return.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged crawley, crawley fc, FA Cup, football, goal, league 1, london, met police fc, non-league, paul jones, police, ryman premier, travel, vacation | Leave a comment

04 Nov 2012

2 Comments

Scott Perham – Musician

Last week was spent on a cruise boat Navigator of the Seas. A nice way to spend 6 days travelling, mostly at night from Rome to Barcelona. One of the singers deserves a mention, Scott Perham. Each night he had what can be described as a 4 hour residency in the bar on the boat that could most be likened to an English pub. So whilst sipping Amstel or Bud Light , we had plenty of opportunity to listen. This man can play well. He played mostly music in the genre of Eagles, country rock and the suchlike. One song caught my ear that I did not recognise, ” Against the Wind” sung originally by Bob Seger. Sadly spotify does not seem to know this song. But this guy is good. If he were local I would visit regularly. Just saying.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged amstel, barcelona, bud light, budweiser, england, english, just saying, london, music, musician, navigator, navigator of the seas, pub, rome, scott perham, travel, vacation

04 Nov 2012

1 Comment

Met Police FC Mascot. Definitely the most unusual football mascot in the world

Few photos from today. FA Cup round 1 Met Police v Crawley Town. Great game. Will post tomorrow about that but here is the mascot and we now know his name!! PC SO Steve. This has to be the most unusual mascot in the world. He goes around talking to the children and playing football with them!

Sad after losing

: Sad Met Police Mascot after losing today v Crawley

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged brentford, crawley, FA Cup, football mascot, imber court, london, mascot, Met Police, met police fac, murder, new malden, PC So Steve, travel, unusual football mascot, vacation

26 Oct 2012

1 Comment

More photos of the Oddest football mascot in the world

I posted a photo of an odd mascot, a policeman, at the South Park V Met Police FA Cup game last week. I have had an unbelievable amount of hits because of this so am adding a few photos! Dont just look at this stuff but come and read my blog more often!

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged crawley, FA Cup, football, football mascot, london, mascot, Met Police, met police fc, oddest football mascot, police, police mascot, south park, travel, vacation

24 Oct 2012

Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is one of the worlds leading authors. He writes norwegain crime novels about a detective Harry Hole ( pronounced Who Lay). Some of his descriptions of these crimes are graphic and frightening. Thus it was a pleasure to meet him at a book signing of his latest novel THE BAT. In fact this is the oldest book but it has only just been translated into English. Jo was not how I expected him to be but thats just my vivid imagination . Many thanks to Foyle’s for staging this. What was also nice was to see him then come in and have coffee and muffin in the Cafe there. The cafe can be highly recommended. An amusing moment though when someone wondered if Jo Nesbo was carrying a ” Leopold’s Apple” in his hand. It turned out to be nothing more sinister than a chocolate muffin (presumably squirrelled away).

Jo Nesbo. Latest book The Bat

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged bookshop, cafe, chocolate muffin, crime, expresso, foyle's, harry hole, jo, jo nesbo, london, muffin, murder, nesbo, noir, norwegian crime, the bat, the leopard, the snowman, travel, vacation | Leave a comment

21 Oct 2012

Claremont Gardens in Esher. No football mascots odd or otherwise here.

I am gently amused today that having done this blog for around 15 months now, and blogged about all sorts of things, football through to literature and travel, that the most hits on my blog in one day have come from me posting a handful or words and a single photo of a really odd football mascot yesterday.

Anyway today a return to sanity and a nice trip to a National trust property in Esher in surrey. A grey day, rain in the air, mostly drizzle, but a real autumnal feel to the day. Not so many people there, but a nice walk around the lake and through the woods. Lots of mushrooms and the trees looked nice, at least those retaining their leaves. Worth going here? Maybe. as a member of the National Trust it is of course free but otherwise to pay £7 entry, maybe not.

Mushroom Concoction

: Black Swan

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged autumn, black swan, claremont gardens, esher, football mascot, london, national trust, new malden, odd football mascot, travel, vacation | Leave a comment

20 Oct 2012

South Park FC. A football club in the combined counties football league

I had never heard of South Park until 2 weeks ago. they play in the Combined counties League which sits below the Ryman league and I think is hailed as Step 5. Put more simply they need 5 promotions to be in the football league. they have a small ground on the outskitrs of Reigate. Small floodlights. Small clubhouse. Fenced off pitch surrounded by concrete standing and a small stand that holds maybe 100. A nice compact ground. Friendly too.

A few photos to show you what their existence is like. Some more will be found on my website http://www.footballgroundz.co.uk

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged combined counties league, crawley, FA Cup, football, london, nonleague, reigate, ryman league, south park, south park fc, travel, vacation | Leave a comment

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.