Our Christmas will begin a bit later than it used to do since the kids are grown up now, well kind of grown up going by their behaviour at times. When they were young it was always a 6 or 7am rise with the wife being the most excited of them all. I have to hand it to the wife at Christmas. She is more interested in buying things for everyone else than getting things. The kids always had a bin bag full of stuff and to be honest, so did I. I felt like a kid most years and I probably get more stuff now than I did when I was growing up. This year she has bought me a new laptop and quite a few other things that I can't really think of the now but it will be the regular stuff for a guy like a nice after shave, socks, a jumper, new jeans and lots more. I think I am getting a few Dallas Cowboys things and I definitely seen a book about their history. She also said, just this morning, that there is a surprise present. Oh the excitement!! She leaves me behind on all this present stuff with what I get for her. To be honest, I don't really have a lot of time to buy stuff and rely on the girls to help me out. I know she loves Estee Lauder, so I have her this Estee Lauder kit thing that has lots of make up and other things in it. At £250 it better be good. I also have her a dressing gown, Lady Millions which is her favourite perfume and a Sandra Bullock DVD set, whom she likes a lot. It will be a good day and I must admit she is outstanding when it comes to Christmas dinner. I do admire her cheek though as we give her help with the dinner, just the small things that need done, and she takes ALL the credit. Not like a woman at all eh? Anyway, as I was saying, we used to get up very early with the kids only having about 5 hours sleep due to Elise being unable to sleep and doing her Dancing Monkey act in front of the mirror in her room, which was really just her dancing like an idiot. We have all done it I suppose although we would be full of the drink. Tomorrow will be much more relaxed and we will probably get up about 9, open presents and then the girls will go back to bed for an hour or two, depending what they have been doing tonight. In fact, just remembered, Janene is working at the stables and we wont see her until early afternoon. I always make the Christmas breakfast for whoever wants it as I must say, I am a damn good cooker of sausages, bacon, egg, potato scone and whatever else has been got from the butchers. After that it is chill out time, maybe a wine or a beer, depending on my mood and also be at the call of the wife when she needs help with the dinner. The girls will set the table with the crackers etc, of which they do a nice job. Night time will be relaxing for me and not too late a night as I am working boxing day with a 7.20am start. So that will be our Christmas Day. Not as hectic as it used to be but still as enjoyable.
Last week I was too busy to do a Thursday blog and it was a shame as I had an event that I wanted to share. In a nutshell, Janene won her first affiliated show jumping competition which was held at SNEC in Edinburgh. This was her third competition and to win one already was a great achievement for her. She has won the odd competition before but they were all unaffiliated, meaning they weren't official and weren't recorded. This was her first win as, I suppose, a professional and she won a grand total of £25. Yep, £25. It's not much but it is the winning that was the big deal and not the prize money. Me being me, couldn't resist the wind-up of course and after she had received her prize, I told her to remember and keep some for the taxman. I told her that you have to pay tax on all winnings and to keep a record of it. She believes anything I say and asked how much it would be. About £7 roughly I told her. She said ok and how does she go about it. I told her it was quite complex but I knew how to do it and if she gave me the £7, I would make sure it was all done. The wee soul handed me a tenner and said to sort it out. I just looked at her and said I was only kidding and the winnings were all hers. She wasn't that amused but more so because she had fell for it. I have a video of her winning clear round on my phone but I have no idea how to put it onto the blog :( so heres a couple of photos of Janene on Piretta IV
It's been all about Janene these last days and you will remember that I told you about her ''boyfriend''. Well, it is still going but I get the feeling that she isn't that bothered about him. She was a bit unwell last night and jumped inbetween me and the wife in our bed last night as she does when not feeling great. I asked how they were getting on and she said ok I suppose. Not that keen sounding if you ask me. She said she liked him but didn't think it was going to work out. That's a bit of a shame as, although I am not that good with so called boyfriends, I still want her to be happy. I had bit the bullet earlier in the day when we were texting and I asked her outright whether they had had sex yet. Now, I think I have said before that Janene is 18 but inside I still think about 15 would describe her better. She replied that they hadn't had sex and that was what I expected as I don't think she is anywhere near ready. To make light of it, I replied 'Ok that's fine. He can live .......... for now'. Of course, I knew she would mention this to her big sister and that Elise would have something to say since she knows everything. Yep, I was right as she said to me that I shouldn't be asking Janene that. I was ready for her big, outspoken mouth though and told her to mind her own business and it was nothing to do with her what me and Janene talked about. We had been talking and it didn't involve her so keep your nose out. Surprisingly, she didn't have an answer for it and hopefully she knows that other members of the family can talk about anything they want without having to have opinion heard.
Well, that's been the main events of the last days with the only other thing happening is that the puppies are leaving today. They are just over 8 weeks old and they go to their new homes. Awwww most people say but Thank Fuck is my words. They were very naughty puppies this time and ran riot about the house. They were so fast and trying to catch them was an ordeal in itself. If they weren't chewing someone's slipper, they were in stealing the big dog's food which gives them the runs and they are not supposed to be eating the adult food. Anyway, off they go today with their Kennel Club papers, their five week free insurance and a puppy bag that we make up ourselves. 4 x £650 for us as they had already paid £100 deposit each. Oh happy days!!!
As far as we are led to believe, Soccer Manager will change to the new interface at the beginning of 2016. This will be D-Day for many players of the game who will have to decide whether to quit the game altogether, give the new interface a chance or decide that they are happy with it and the game goes on. Personally I am still in the balance. The only thing I know for certain is that I will not give them another penny of the wife's hard earned money and instead of buying £20 of SM coins, the £20 will go on the first favourite at Chepstow. I have something like 19 days of gold membership left so there was no point in spending time on the gold teams I had left and therefor they are now history. I have 5 custom worlds that I am in including this one and I will give them a chance although I have, now and then, used the new interface to try get used to it but am still of the opinion that it is too much effort just to pick a team. That should be a simple thing but it just isn't. It doesn't look good for the future and I must say that my enthusiasm is definitely not as it was. I used to look forward to getting up in the morning and checking what messages each team had and if players had gone up in ratings or I had beaten someone to the signing of Yaya Banana. I am not excited anymore. In my opinion they have ruined an excellent product and it could be the breaking of them. Either that or the game will be full of 12-14 year olds. Anyway, it's now a waiting game to see if I can get to like it and then decide what to do.
Tonight is a big night in the Top 100 as we enter the final game of the season with lots of clubs playing for promotion or a play off place, or indeed, to stave off relegation. In Division 5, I am glad to say that we, Club Brugge, are sitting in a favourable position. Sunday's excellent 4-1 win in Holland against FC Twente Enschade seen us move into fourth position in the table and our last game tonight should confirm a play off spot for us. I do have to congratulate Bela Guttman (AZ Alkmaar), Son of Pluto (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk) and Rob Ryan (Montpellier HSC) on already sealing automatic promotion to Division 4 this season although I think Son of Pluto obviously had some sort of advantage with his dad being a God.
Club Brugge, as I said, are lying 4th with a 3 point and a 7 goal advantage over Santos FC in 7th place so only a complete disaster tonight would prevent our season being extended. I must say how proud I am of the boys who played in the 4-1 win at FC Twente. The fact that they had to do it without our two main strikers said lots for their character. Pabon and Athanasiadis both missed out with Pabon almost certainly ruled out of the play offs as well after he tore his groin while trying to do Agadoo with a banana placed between his legs. I wont go into the full details but lets just say that Agadoo should only be done with the full supervision of an adult. Those who tried to throw pineapple rings onto the banana should realise that the banana was long gone by that time and the rather excited Pabon soon regretted his party trick. Athanasiadis got himself sent off in the game against Partizan and tonight is his second match of a three match suspension, meaning he could return for the play off Final if we can get there.
Tonight we entertain Celtic, managed by Jens Mourinho-Jairzinho. Is this Jens Litamen in disguise. I fully expect him to win tonight if he is going to include Mourinho in his name. Hmmm hold on .... on the other hand.....
Anyway I know it will be a tough game and our main decision is whether to go out and attack to win the game or play conservative knowing that a point secures our play off spot. That will be a game time decision.
Our opponents in the play offs, as they stand, would be FC Augsburg managed by Dale Piero. I have known Dale for two years now, or so it said on Facebook, and we have had plenty of games against each other and I have to admit, I couldn't tell you who has the better record as we have both won a few with a few draws. Would definitely be an interesting match up but Dale has some work to do if that game is to be realised. It is very close for the play off spots and if Dale wins tonight and I lose, he would overtake me in the table and would be the one with home advantage in the play off should we meet. But that's a big if because my guys are not going to lose to Celtic.
Anyway I have rattled on enough for this week and it's now down to the nitty gritty of the season end games. I would like to wish everyone luck tonight if their game is of importance and I am sure we would all like to thank Frank Hirst for a great set up as the first season comes to a close.
That's it from me. Merry Christmas everyone and I should be back next Thursday with news of our play off situation and also how our Christmas Day went and if Janene's boyfriend has lived for another week.
Ciao
Great read Gordon. I share most of what you think about the new interface. I will give it a chance a little longer as my gold renewal in not up before or a few months, but is seems everything has been slowed down (even my personal computer). Merry Christmas to you and your beloved. Bob.
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