Plymouth Argyle’s hopes of a making the play-off’s are fading fast as they fell to the second successive defeat being beaten by Charlton 1 – 2 at Home Park on Saturday afternoon! This loss means that Charlton leapfrog the Pilgrims as Plymouth drop down to 9th, but amazingly only two points off a play-off spot but West Brom and Wolves have two games in hand and Ipswich have a game in hand over Plymouth. So things are looking grim for manager Paul Sturrock’s play-off aspirations with only four games remaining this season. It’s a game that Plymouth really should have won after Charlton’s keeper Nicky Weaver was sent off in the 3rd minute for deliberate hand ball. And Plymouth looked like they were in for a comfortable win as they were dominating possession but still had to wait until the 60th minute for Jermaine Easter to send Gary Teale’s headed cross goalbound. But Argyle’s lead was short lived as Luke McCormick punched instead of gathering the ball gifting on-loan striker Leroy Lita a free header. It was another goalkeeping error from McCormick that gifted The Addicks the lead as he failed to gather a headed cross to gift Lita the easiest of tap-ins. Plymouth will be ruing this loss as the Pilgrims were denied by the woodwork early on and having a man over, it’s disappointing for everyone involved, I bet that Luke McCormick is feeling like hell right now, I know for sure he won’t be happy with his performance; we all know he is much better than this performance would have you believe!
Liverpool also dropped points being held to a 1 – 1 draw at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon. But I guess that Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will be the happier manager as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would have liked to have capitalised on Manchester United’s draw at The Riverside. Liverpool had the majority of the play in the first half as Arsenal looked lacklustre at best as the teams met for the second time in four days. Peter Crouch was form man today as he looked an ever present threat forcing a brilliant save from Manuel Almunia from 30 yards out. Crouch finally made the breakthrough in the 42 minute with a superb low drive from just outside the penalty area. In the second half, Arsenal looked like a different team looking much more threatening, pushing forward, pinning back the Reds (playing in white) making the breakthrough nine minute after half time. Nicklas Bendtner made an amazing run from 35 yards to meet Francesc Fabregas’ free kick to out jump Peter Crouch to send the ball goalbound to bring the home team level. Liverpool had a chance to win it late on but Andriy Voronin made a complete mess of his shot sending the ball skyward over the bar despite not being under any pressure! Liverpool are still not secure in 4th place as Everton won at relegated Derby County to move within three points of their Merseyside rivals. Liverpool meet Arsenal again at Anfield in the second leg of the Champions League quarter finals with Liverpool having an away goal to their name, so all they need to do is keep a clean sheet to make it into the semi-finals.
The weekend’s sporting disappointments came on Sunday afternoon in F1 as Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous race and lost his lead in world drivers championship. The Briton failed to get off the line quickly and fell back to 10th by the first corner then ran into the back of former team mate Fernando Alonso on lap two losing his front wing. Then to compound his problems he found himself taking the scenic route back to the pits as he pushed too hard drifting off the track as he had no front downforce. After pitting for a replacement nose cone, he found himself at the back of the grid somewhat off the pace of the Ferrari’s and BMW’s, eventually finishing the race well out of the points in 13th. Fellow Brits Jenson Button and David Coulthard tangled on lap 18 ending Button’s race, Button blamed Coulthard for the incident but from what I can see it was half dozen of one, six of the other. Jenson made a lunge up the inside, Coulthard closed the door; it’s a racing incident as far as I am concerned, Coulthard eventually finished in a very distant 18th! So Felipe Massa has finally entered the title race with his win from second on the grid dispatching pole sitter Robert Kubica before the first corner and led the race from start to finish! Kimi Raikkonen is the new championship leader after Hamilton’s failure to score any points while the Finn scored 8 points for second. BMW’s Kubica finished the race in 3rd while team mate Nick Heidfeld followed the Pole home in a formation finish! Heidfeld has also leapfrogged Hamilton in the championship dropping the Briton back to third! Now what is amazing is that BMW are constructors championship leaders because of their consistency over the first three races; who would have thought that before the start of the season. I think that BMW must be on for their maiden win this season, they claimed their first pole position this past weekend. I wonder what they can achieve this season now as they have surpassed everyone’s expectations including their own, could they actually win the constructors title?
My weekend has been excellent despite the sporting disappointments. Work on Friday was good, it sounded fantastic even if the bar staff did moan about the volume levels, but after all it is a live gig, there really isn’t much point if it’s not loud, you need to feel the music. Neither myself, the promoter or the bands thought it was excessively loud! The headline band [Skankt] actually asked if they could take me on their tour as they were so impressed with my work. And I chilled out over a couple of beers with the bands afterwards. Saturday was another good night, two excellent metal bands, No Quarter Given and I can’t remember the name of the other band [sorry guys if you read this]. Both bands were impressed with my sound engineering prowess saying that I was the best engineer they had ever worked with. For one band to say that is amazing, but both bands saying that put me on a massive high. It’s wonderful to hear that people appreciate all the effort I put in making them sound amazing, but having a quality band using quality equipment helps me as an engineer massively. Sunday was a chill out day, watched the Grand Prix, spent time with Erin and Conner and played some computer games, which topped off an excellent weekend for me, I don’t think this weekend could have gotten much better, well maybe if I won the lottery!
The following scene took place on a BA flight between Johannesburg and London.
“You obviously do not see it then?” she responded. “You placed me next to a Black man. I do not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat.” “Be calm please, the Hostess replied. “Almost all the seats on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another seat is available.”
The Hostess went away and came back a few minutes later. “Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy class. I spoke to the Captain and he informed me that there are also no seats in the Business class. All the same, we still have one seat in First class.”
Before the woman could reply, the Hostess continued: “It is unusual for our company to permit someone from Economy class to sit in First class. However, given the circumstances, the Captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting.”
She turned to the Black man and said, “Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First class.” At that moment, the other passengers who were shocked by what they had just witnessed stood up and applauded.
If you are against Racism, please pass this message to all your friends.