Behold! I bring you tidings of great joy, for this writer hath just finished bloody work for the year, after a massively stressful month. If she had her way, certain developers and project ‘managers’ would be strung up by the bollocks (in festively fetching tinsel, of course) and hung from the top of the big pine tree on the village green.
Now able to turn her attention to much more important matters, she finds that there is another round of the European Cups this weekend.
Since nearly all the home sides lost last weekend, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen this week, but let us hope that trend continues for matches featuring teams whose names end in ‘ster’.
Onna telly this week
Friday 18th December
| Pumas v Cheetahs | 17:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Castres v Newcastle | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Scarlets v Toulon | 19:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Wasps v Montpellier | 20:00 | BT Sport ? |
Saturday 19th December
| Leinster v Northampton | 13:00 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| Gloucester v Ulster | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Clermont v Munster | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sale v Edinburgh | 20:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Bordeaux v Dragons | 20:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Worcester v Ospreys | 20:00 | S4C |
Sunday 20th December
| Harlequins v Racing 92 | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Connacht v Bristol | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Cardiff 28 – 0 Stade Français |
Ovally Balls 
When AoD went pop I did wonder for a while if it had all been in my mind. Could do without OB going the same way at this precise point.
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‘Pop’
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Have re-located to the South of the Czech Republic for the festivities.BB, Prachatice if you want some pictures of a lovely square).
2 things have been bugging me since lunchtime. First, OT, Now I think about it Age of Industry is the more likely place for that Hobsbawm thing. Oldham gets mentioned a few times. I re-read the series in the summer and because of OB that nugget jumped out at me. So much so that I had to download and read this beauty, which also features Oldham: http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780233611
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And second, 50, 000 (FIFTY THOUSAND) on a holiday!?!?!?
Still can’t get my head around that. They must have to send a fuck of a load of postcards.
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@tomp
Does that book mention Butterworth’s? If not it’s got it badly wrong.
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It’s more cultural history than anything. No mention of Butterworths from what I can see but a nod of the head to the popularity of a baked spud in 1850s Oldham. There’s a very sketchy idea about numbers of fish and chip shops in Oldham in the early 1900s. The figure quoted is 500, which seems incredible.
It’s an enjoyable enough book. As with all this sort of stuff it makes the point that immigration is a benefit to a society.
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Lordy, fuck fish’n’chips, just watched the BBC 10 o’clock news. Are they having production problems, or are we really looking at 28 Days Later ? Cos that’s what it looks like from overseas.
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Starving Brits fed by Lufthansa :-
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Flat tyre in the tunnel on the A20 just before the Hawkinge junction.
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@sbt
Most stuff is getting over the border into the UK. The queues are for European nationals stuck in Kent but unable to leave because Macron wants to look like a tough guy.
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Blog blocked at Dover………………..
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Oops, sorry bout that Slade. Had a couple of beers and watched news, was giggling about how badly it was put together, like a zombie /apocalypse movie where all the TV stations slowly pack up because of too few staff left to run them. Allied with the general tone of the news, it all looked a bit silly. Maybe just after the BBC newsroom xmas party.
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OT, not sure there are that many European nationals who drive back home for xmas in giant trucks.
Joyeux Noël à vous tous.
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@flair
Thank goodness for the deal. Apart from you and me who could have predicted they’d wait till the last minute to agree it?
I’m particularly delighted you don’t need to set up a special EU-only version of OB and can still use this one.
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From what I can glean from the news reports, the majority of drivers stuck at Dover are east European from EU member states, now wanting to get home for xmas having missed at least one, possibly more, delivery cycle and thus their likely profit margin for the year. I feel very sorry for them.
And on a similar note, I see that the UK Govt. has agreed with the NFU that 30,000 EU and other workers can come to do the harvesting in England next year. Seems like the local population can’t be bothered to get out of bed for te low pay in significant numbers.
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I feel terribly, terribly sorry that the UK cannot commit itself to what is the European peace and social development project from within.
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Chad Stuart RIP
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Plus, the UK will still have to follow EU rules on subsidies, tax, workers’ rights, environment……orsuffer consequences.
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Just as well. Who do you trust on those: the EU, or the Tories?
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Hmmm. Tough question that….
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/24/eu-workers-rights-capital-multinationals
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OT – the choice was between EU and Tories. ;-)
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OT
All the Greeks had to do was make sure that all citizens paid their taxes according to their incomes – not according to a complex but effective mountain of get-out clauses
As ever, it is the worse off that seem to carry the burdens of exploitation.
I have huge sympathy with such people – but not the corrupt thieves ‘above’ them in the pecking order.
I remember watching an interview with a GP in central Athens, who certainly looked very wealthy.
She said she was taxed at an estimated income of 110,000 Euros p.a. but claimed she gained a lot more than that, the margin being tax free – “that’s how we do it here”.
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Slade – ayup, and it’s similar in the US, where tax avoidance is possibly the the biggest national pastime. You get what you pay for.
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A very special, happy, healthy and perhaps unusual xmas to everyone!
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I concur my dear Slade. Make it a good one. This one is traditional at this time of year I believe.
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No Ian, you didn’t mess up my thoughtless pleasures, having a beer and a snifter anyway, and thoroughly enjoying it.
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Right you lot. Have a merry/happy/sad/drunk/sober but above all SAFE Christmas! This goes out to all the lurkers too.
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Merry Christmas everyone! Wherever you are in the world, I hope you’re happy, safe and have a wonderful day despite the circumstances. You’re a special bunch and deserve a special day! A virtual glass of bubbles for all of you! 🍾
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Merry Christmas, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Joyeux Noël, Veselé Vánoce, Nollaig Chridheil / Shona, and… Nadolig Llawen!
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This seems appropriate for the current state of the world. Merry Christmas all.
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New post here
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