Senegal

We watched a couple of minutes of the Senegal v Columbia match this afternoon. We both instinctively supported Senegal now that we know one of the families so well.

Senegal football team

Reading Alan Sugar's rather crass statement about the Senegalese football team in the papers recently reminded me of a recent incident in Naples. We were sitting outside a cafe having a coffee (what else?) when we were approach by a nice looking black African carrying some trinkets.
Hello, he said, I'm Sadio Manés brother (front left above) can I give you a gift?
Sure, I said, and Jan chose something from his hand. Give me something in return, he said. So I gave him 10 Euros. I was mugged by a street seller with a big smile on his face, the so called brother of a multimillionaire footballer currently playing at the world cup. Life is strange sometimes.

Aldi

We like Aldi. Everything we buy is good quality and at a very good price. We don't do a full shop there, preferring Booths, but everything we try we like. Then today what we thought was actual proof that they have made it, we couldn't find anywhere to park the car and decided to go back another day.

It later transpired that they had been closed for the previous three days for refurbishment so everyone was getting their fix when they reopened. It didn't look bad before and it looks even better now.

If anyone from Aldi reads this, I prefer cash.

Wallowing in Sentimentality

Is it me or is this country continually wallowing in sentimentality and ostentatious public mourning. It seems that everyday we have another reason to bang on about some event or other where people died or something awful happened. What happened to the stiff upper lip? We should try harder and search records for every day of the year and have a good old outpouring of grief everyday.
When Kate Spade's (me neither) death made front page news the other day I finally realised that the world (or the media) had gone mad. Even the English football team had black armbands on again the other night. Who the hell were they mourning? It's totally ridiculous.

King Mojo

Reading this morning that Pete Stringfellow has died reminded me that the band, of which I was a singer, 'The Tropical Boot Company' played at an all nighter in Sheffield in the 60's. The headline act was Georgie Fame and the Blueflames.

The club was called The King Mojo. I was probably about 17 years old. I remember it because when driving back at 6 in the morning I had my one and only car accident. I was following a lorry that pulled into the middle of the road for what I thought was to turn right. I started to undertake and needless to say he cut back and turned left. Happy days!