Cheerio Steve...

A great day for soccer, byeeeeee.... The old adage is truer than ever - if they finish 18th, as long as we finish 17th, everything will be fine...

Fight, Fight......Fight, Fight, Fight...

Ellie and Thomas had their first "proper" fight today... After four days of simmering tension between them, things finally boiled over this morning.
It was quite an evenly fought contest, Thomas' determination to be nasty and pull hair versus the more defensive strategies of Ellie, still battling her big sisterly instincts to be nice to her brother. Ellie's long hair prove an early disadvantage and weakness as Thomas went for the early victory. However, by using the "I've got longer arms than you" strategy Ellie was able to keep him at bay for quite a while and a brief period of greco roman wrestling style shoulder grappling ensued, Thomas persevered and managed to get a good tug at one point.
Ellie was stirred into action by this and having waited until Thomas was off his guard, employed a new technique - using her extra agility, she was able to run around Thomas and attack from the rear - she managed to get a good two handed grip on his scalp from behind and yanked it. This proved to be the winning move. Thomas broke and ran to me which I took to be a concession of defeat.
So, the score stands at 1-0 and I look forward to the next encounter. To be fair, Thomas had been asking for it all week and was lucky I wasn't his opponent....
Wish I'd have got some pictures!

Whoooarrrrrr!

Should I or shouldn't I? Currntly on extended test drive, the Jeep TJ.
Cons: Less luggage space than a mini, not the best fuel economy, poor leg room, somewhere between reasonably and completely impractical.
Pros: Look at it! It's ORANGE, it's beautiful, hard top or soft top and it's going to be great fun!
MC wasn't too sure until she crashed it through a couple of long, wide and deep puddles. After Florida I think...

Square Eyes 2

Having realised I watch more TV here than I ever did in the UK it's onto Thursday for my review of the week. Without a Trace kicks off the evening at 8pm with Anthony La Paglia, C4 in the UK, very watchable.
I'd just written about the rest of the week and I've somehow lost it all... So abridged version here we go...
Thu: American Inventor, spectactularly entertaining, the geek version of Pop Idol with "inventors" trying to win the $1,000,000 dollar prize to market their "inventions" we are down to the last 12 now, most of whom have sensible product, but we have seen the "human tail" and the "pac-a-mac" portable plastic coat/toilet eliminated along the way. Several inventors have sold everything they own for their "products" and are living in the their cars. Rather misquided in most cases.
Fri: In Justice, Kyle MacLachlan from Twin Peaks with daft hair in a courtroom drama right wrongs of the past.
Sat: Sportsnet East covers three live premiership games, the 12:45, 3:00 and 5:15 kickoffs perming three out of ManUre, Chelski, Arsenal and Liverpool each week. Us also rans get a look in if the "Fantastic Four" are playing on Sunday. This has allowed me to endure Everton's 4-0 thrashing of Villa.
Sun: More football, no complaints this time though following the screen (TWICE in five hours) of Villa beating Small Heath 3-1.
Sun: Desperate Housewives, more for MC than me but still okay if I can't summon the energy to get upstairs to bed.
Sun: The Soprano's, simply the BEST show in America.
So that's the week on TV and we are right back to the start with episode 18 of 24 of "24" if you see what I mean...

American TV

So it's back to the purile ramblings on life in North America. We have slipped easily into American TV since Christmas and have a busy daily schedule! Yes, forty minutes of action crammed into every hour... I may sound a little derisory as I prattle on, but I really do like all of these shows...
Monday is obviously still 24 night, Jack Bauer takes on the whole of America this time round, how are they going to better this in the next three seasons? Every week he screams into the camera "This is bigger than anything we imagined" and "We're running out of time!" This is followed by Prison Break - totally addictive, totally ridiculous.
Tuesday it's The Unit, fearful pap, truly horrendously scripted macho rubbish about "The Unit", a crack army team lead by Dennis Haysbert (President Palmer no less from 24) who do dirty jobs to protect the American way of life and all that. It's not just about shooting gun though, for the ladies, we get a look and the "life of the wife", the spouses of the Unitees - lead by the "Godmother" - wife of Unit leader and twice as scary. Don't think this one will be back for a second season. This is followed by the awesome House with Hugh Laurie in an American accent, he's brilliant, obnoxious and can cure anything!
Wednesday, recently move from Tuesday is The Amazing Race - a race around the world for a million dollars, BJ and Tyler are my team, the Hippies. They were almost eliminated in Greece this week when they drove for over an hour in completely the wrong direction. I thought it would mentally challenging as well as physically. Apart from assembling a motorbike though it's really just been a lot of running and carrying coupled with some shouting and crying (crying is compulsory on TV here). Then we have Heist with Dougray Scott of MI2 fame doing the second fake American accent of the week. This is brilliant too, the makers have obviously been watching too many Kudos productions as it resembles Hustle right down to the camera work. Finally we come to Lost on a Wednesday, a load of plane crash survivors try to get by on a mysterious island which, whilst I love the show, is turning some people a bit obsessive... Take a look at some of the posts and conjecture on the Lost Forum to see what I mean, in particular posts like these.
So that's Monday to Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday will follow tomorrow... That will be American Inventor, Without a Trace, ER, In Justice, Desperate Housewives and The Soprano's.
It's good to be back even if no one reads...