Madness pipe up a tune at O2

From Madness 02 December 2008

Rounding out an eventful year with a final visit to the O2 for another rousing evening of Madness - this time not financial - the musical type...

Power sliding round Wembley - Race of Champions style

From Race of Champions 2008

On a crisp winter day I made my way to Wembley Stadium, transformed for the weekend into a motor sport Mecca - with the prospect of race between the two heroes of the Summer - Chris Hoy, the Olympic Cycling hero and Lewis Hamilton the newly crowned F1 champion. As it turned out the combination of damp weather in the days running up to the weekend and the bitter cold on the day meant the track was too dangerous for cycling - so Lewis drove Chris round the track, burning rubber all the way.

The car control from the car drivers was impressive - but the most impressive where the x-cross riders - meters above the ground almost, but not quite loosing contact with their rides. A great days entertainment - even if it was cold enought to force me to buy a pair of Wembley branded gloves to hold off the frost bite!

England fail to put the wheels back on the hand cart

From England v NZ 2008

England where going to need all the luck in the world to pull of a shock recovery after two heavy defeats - and to break my jinx of them failing to win on every occasion I've had the privilege to watch them live! Maybe I'm using all the luck up getting tickets - I'd not expected to be at the final match of the Autumn - but thanks to SUN, I not only had a ticket but a free lunch, and drinks to drown the sorrows of a third defeat to the southern hemisphere. As some had predicted the game started as a kicking match - everything possible kicked from hand - by both sides. Leading to a lack of any flare or entertaining play from either side. Then the ref intervened, and the yellow cards for England started flowing. By the end of the match England would have played half the match with a man missing! Yet again England went in at half time in touch with the opposition, and but for a tap tackle would have taken the lead shortly after the break. But partially due to the yellow cards they quickly lost control in the second half as the All Black disappear in to the distance - but unfortunately not enough for the 30 point defeat I put in the sweep - it would have been consolation for the final nail in the coffin England hand managed to turn the chariot into!

So the conclusions from the three matches are:

• South Africa are currently the strongest side in the world - they are world champions after all.
• England need to learn to play to the interpretation of rules the ref is playing to, to avoid giving away more points than they can score themselves.
• England need to strengthen their defence - in both the Australia and All Blacks matches England had plenty of opportunities to score - but put themselves under too much pressure and relieved the pressure on the opposition by not being able to hold them whenever they cross England 22 - both Australia and New Zealand scored far to easily - and the Boks played as if England U16 where defending the goal line!

The Boks knock the wheels off the chariot!

On a cold autumnal afternoon the Spring Boks showed England how rugby should be played! In defence they where wall like, repeatedly blunting hard fort for good position, and twice quickly returning the length of the pitch to score a try from England's encampment on their line. Every time they entered England's 22 they seamed to simple move straight past the defence put up but a static England.

From England v SA 2008

6-42 was probably a little harsh - but reflected the apparent panic or desperation from England towards the end of the game - throwing caution to the wind with some ridiculous pass attempts - but nothing else had worked against the wall of green. If the All Blacks don't give England a similar drubbing next weekend it will be a small miracle - and might mean I need to re-think watching England live as they've lost every match I've seen at Twickenham!

Autumn Rugby against the southern hemisphere

Much to my surprise I manage to get tickets to two of the Autumn matches against the southern hemisphere sides. Luck in the RFU members draw got me a pair for the match against the Spring Boks, and even more surprising a ticket on Ticket master to the match against the Wallabies ... having witnessed the pour performance of the England team against the team they knocked out of the world cup maybe the normal takers of the tickets simply stayed away. While England failed to play well, it has to be said that the southern hemisphere match officials actually had a worse day than the very poor England. England lost this one because they didn't managed to convert territory to points.

From England v Australia 2008

England did manage to hold their own in the first half, even managing to score a try after much huffing and puffing to cross the line - and if the ref had allowed the match to flow, they may have been far enough ahead to survive, what appears to always be the case when I watch them live, not being able to keep up the standard of their performance in the second half. And so it proved to be a drubbing by Australians - I have a feeling the reigning world champions will be far too strong for this fledgeling England team...

Next stop the savaners of Africa and the relaxation of Mauritious

Following my aim to act more on impulse I've booked my next holiday - the attraction of a first class British Airways, air-miles paid for, trip to South Africa and then Mauritius, that will take me for the first time south of the equator was too much! So in the middle of February I'll add Africa as another continent I've visited, and Mauritius to my growing collection of islands. South America, Australasia and the two polar regions are left in terms of continents - and hundreds if not thousands of potential island visits! I will have done both hemispheres and most of the way round the world - maybe I'll manage the round the world trip I've planned in my mind (and using OneWorld's RTW tool) one day soon....

Katie and support cheer a Autumn evening

A trio of artists brought to an end my week of O2 music - Jay Jay Pistolet started an evening to contrast the rock of my last two visits to the O2. Andrea McEwan and band followed, upping the pace, "Candle in a chat room" is a great title and commentary on modern internet life....

From Katie Melua Novermber 2008

Katie Melua then completed a great week of music for me at the O2 with a refreshing set of bluesy jazz that brighten up a rain sweep autumn evening. I should act on impulse more often and enjoy the wonderful entertainment London has to offer. Even a a soaking in the heavy rain in the way home couldn't dampen my spirits...

We Will Rock the O2

From Queen + Paul Rogers 2008

Half of Queen + Paul Roger and assorted incidental musician brought Queen to the O2 and part II of my trip down memory lane, and half way mark of my residence at the Dome. Miraculously my "restricted view ticket" was replaced with a prime view - thanks to a set design that would have meant I could only see the back of a curtain!

Having never seen Queen with Freddie I had no reference point, but Paul Rogers was a great stand in. Brian May can certainly still rock the world - and Freddie also put in a virtual appearance.

Bryan Adams made it a night to remember at the O2

From Bryan Adams O2 November 2008

First night of my residence at the O2 - three events in a week. It began with the first of two trips down memory lane. It was great to re-live the summer of 91 - a summer spent rowing on the Isis, well coxing actually, and listening to "Everything I do" in the beer cellar every evening for 12 weeks!

It was a very nice touch for the concert to start on a mini stage towards the back of the crowd - giving those of us not able to be there as the doors opened a great view - at least for three songs.

NFL @ Wembley

Having extravagantly paid for "expensive" seat a Wembley to continue my goal of watching live most of the sports I've seen on TV - I've added to the list I've "watched live", one I'd previously only seen late at night on Channel 4 or 5 - American Football...

From NFL @ Wembley

The New Orleans Saints played host to the San Diego Chargers. It was very obvious who the "home team" was - the Chargers got little looking in terms of branding or valuable merchandising! It was the Saints' cheerleaders that had to freeze on what was a brisk autumn evening - at least the rain stopped. I've still not been at Wembley when the roof has been required. Having supported the Saints that play football with a round ball all my life - through good and bad time, to a lesser or greater extend, I had no problem supporting the home side. I even supported the systems that hosted the Saints first web sites - before the internet was such a big thing!

Before the real show the number of players involved in an American Football match became clear - each team warmed up separately - there wasn't room on the pitch for them at the same time. The final pre-match entertainment was a few songs from the Sterophonics - promoting there upcoming tour, then the National Anthems. A good rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which is often murdered! Then a bare foot Joss Stone managed to murder God Save the Queen - and there was nothing the crowd could do to rescue her! Then it was game time - and it became clear that this was a sport aimed at TV viewing. Without the replays and close ups it was challenging to follow - not helped by the fact that the PA system didn't work half the time to let us hear why flags had flown. It turned out to be a high scoring match - and despite the lack of a audible PA was very entertaining. The advert breaks didn't impact things noticeably - there where plenty natural breaks in the play. It was surprising to see how little of the Wembley pitch was used - they played on a very narrow 100 yard strip. That left plenty of space for the cheerleaders - great additional entertainment!
Next sport on my list is Baseball...

Memorable things about Far East Holiday

In keeping with "random thoughts" - what will be my outstanding memories of Hong Kong/Singapore?

Condensation in Hong Kong - but on the outside of the windows, not the inside where I'd expect it - most strikingly on the windows of the air-conditioned public buses...

The inequality in living conditions - the difference between the gleaming tower blocks in the centre of Hong Kong and the "social housing" not to far away, and the rural villages was striking - whole families living in a space 3 metres by 4 - with a mezzanine to provide a sleeping area. Even where that had progress, it was in the form of building 3 or 4 stories on the same 12m2 plot! And then there where was the ex-British army accommodation - siting empty - slowly rotting away because of the high humidity.

The density of the population in Hong Kong - every where you look round Victoria Harbour there are tower blocks - and not just single blocks - in some places, blocks of tens of identical 20+ floor tower blocks. Getting 7 million living in such a small area demands this density - and the people appear to like living so close - there is space in the Special Administrative Region.

By contrast Singapore was slightly less dense in terms of building - at least until they finish building! The quality of the public housing was also a significant step up - the gap between the haves and the have nots seamed less.

The amount of "countryside" in Hong Kong - outside the immediate surrounds of the tower blocks around Victoria Harbour, the land quickly becomes very lush with greenery.

Singapore was if anything even greener - every public space had some plants - covering road bridges with flowering shrubs certainly softens them. It lives up to the title "garden city".

In both Hong Kong and Singapore it was great to use the familiar three pin plug - shame neither culture adopted British queuing or organisation on the underground. The wonderful underground system in Singapore was missing the standing on the right and walking on the left on escalators and keeping left when walking - being faced by a wall of people in the interlinking tunnels touch the edge off the great organisation.

Singapore made a great impression, wonderful climate, clean, safe. I'll certainly be back for more Grand Prix if I can muster the funds, and it would be a great place to be an ex-pat! I'm not sure I could cope with the humidity and population density in Hong Kong.

Singapore down pour

If it had rained like this on any of the three Grand Prix days it would have added considerable spice to the race. 10 minutes of tropical rain, then the sun was out again and the normal wonderful climate restored.

Race Day

	From Race Day

So race day had arrived, not as hot as the previous two days - but more humid. My prediction of rain never materialised - but a glorious race did. After the support races completed, the bay stand filled with 32,000 people ready for the 800th Grand Prix - but the first under lights.

In a packed stand, the inability of my camera to see thought people wasn't going to be over come by the size of the lens I was using! The best opportunities for pictures of the cars at speed where on the previous days, with less people at the track and before the organisers had got wise to the unofficial places to observe the track from - such as under the stand as the track past below it!

Nelson Piquet walked away, eventually, from an impact right into the barriers in front of my stand. The exact timing of the resulting safety car would eventually lead to Alonso's victory. The fact that he was walking is a testament to the safety of the cars - for a while everyone in the stand was concerned something had punctured his safety cell.

Then the pit stop that ruined Massa's day/night and possibly his championship - all on the big screen right in front of me - like watching at home, but with added sound effects every few seconds!

The race continued to enthrall - another safety car put everyone back into a snake, with close racing to the end. Alonso's early pit stop immediately before the first safety car proved decisive as other dropped away in front of him - and a near perfect drive from 15th on the grid gained him a deserved win. Lewis drove conservatively to the points that come with 3rd - with both Ferraris out of the points pushing for more would have simply been greedy. 3 more races with 30 points up for grabs - if Lewis comes 2nd in every race he is champion by a point even if Massa wins every race.

Then they opened the track to smooth the journey home; and for lots of photo opportunities...