Camping trips and adventure sports require copious amounts of equipment which has to be transported somehow. Most cars won’t accommodate everything in the boot so it is often necessary to expand the storage capacity of the vehicle. That is all well and good as long as this is done properly but sometimes it isn’t and that can turn a car into a weapon of mass destruction! Continue reading
Author Archives: Sally
Grass Roots Football at its Worst
Many years ago I became involved with a local pub football team, if you could call it that. It was basically a group of beer bellied, aging and rather lazy blokes who turned out on a Sunday morning when they could be bothered. I have never been a person to do things by halves and believed that much more could be achieved with a little effort. I found myself working with the ageing accountant who has designated himself the manager and together we started to effect significant change. Continue reading
Changing Room Security
If you visit a sports or fitness facility of any kind then you will probably be using the changing rooms. In an ideal world this would be a safe place to leave your personal possessions but we don’t live in an ideal world and locker room theft is extremely common in public facilities, private clubs, schools and colleges. Sadly even a lock can be no barrier to the experienced thief so how do you avoid becoming a victim? Continue reading
Use Your Parks!
The developed world is heading for a crisis with obesity levels rising and fitness levels falling. I am sure that there are a variety of excuses that people use to explain their poor lifestyles and two of them are certainly money and time. It is true that preparing good food and exercising do take time and if you want to participate in sports or go to the gym then there is a cost involved. However, it is possible to use your local neighbourhood to keep active and this is free and a real time saver because it is right outside your door! Continue reading
Tackling the Tango
Many moons ago I was a keen Latin American dancer. At a time when most of my 14 year old peers were spending their evenings trying to persuade the local barmen to serve them alcohol I was in a dance studio strutting my stuff with an instructor who was at least 60. We practiced the jive and cha cha cha under the watchful eye of his wife and I was scoring top marks in my exams. Continue reading
An Incompetent Musician
My mother was obviously desperate to find something for which I had any talent. By the age of seven I had already been route marched to ballet classes, tap lessons, horse riding classes, swimming clubs and Piano lessons. Whilst I proved to be a competent rider, reasonable dancer and proficient swimmer the musical odyssey didn’t quite go according to plan. Continue reading
What’s In a Japanese Name?
Today it is hard to imagine that there was a time when we couldn’t record TV programmes or create our own video footage but there was and it wasn’t that long ago. I can still remember the excitement that ensued when the first video recorders started appearing. Being able to record and keep TV broadcasts seemed really out there and technologically brilliant but initially the equipment was extremely costly and beyond the means of most people. Continue reading
DIY Deficit
A recent survey by Netvouchercodes.co.uk suggests that Britain is a nation of incompetents when it comes to DIY. If this is true then a strange paradox has emerged. Whilst a raft of television programmes dedicated to home improvements is fuelling borderline paranoia about the qualities of our homes we appear to have lost the skills to do anything about the inadequacies. Continue reading
Helmet Cams and Law Enforcement
Sports enthusiasts will be familiar with the benefits of Go Pro and similar cameras which can be mounted to your helmet or body to record video footage of your exploits. Cyclists have adopted the practice in large numbers in order to gather vital evidence of bad driving causing accidents and now the police are trialling the use of the cameras to aid law enforcement. Continue reading
The England Squad Has a Familiar Look
There is a great deal of discussion at the moment as to which players will be selected for the England World Cup squad. Personally I don’t think it much matters who is finally chosen because it is unlikely that any permutation of the current crop will result in England winning the world cup. We seem to have lost the winning habit and with the Hodgson brand of safety first football the team is more likely to bore us all to death than win anything!
Forward Thinking
If he could bring himself to indulge in a more expansive style of play with quick and mobile attacks we might get somewhere but I am sure that he will ultimately resort to the usual conservative offering of experienced players and measured build up. Whilst we focus on passing ourselves to death the likes of Luis Suarez will have walked through our defence, scored the winner and retired for the day.
The Liverpool Factor
Talking of Luis Suarez there is one pleasing aspect of the Current England group of hopefuls for me if nobody else and that is that so many of the potential picks are from the Liverpool team. It reminds me of times past when Liverpool dominated domestic and European football. In those days there were few foreign players in the English league and the only members of the Liverpool team who weren’t in the England side were the Scottish ones! There were times when seven of the eleven on the pitch for England were from the Reds. I can still remember the day I went to see England play World Champions Argentina at Wembley. England miraculously won despite the presence of one Diego Maradona and Liverpool’s David Johnson scored twice. Those were the days when footballers weren’t such stars and were more likely to be seen in the local pub than advertising designer watches and hair products on TV.
The Foreigners
These days the top premiership sides are packed with foreign players meaning that aside from Liverpool each club has only minimal representation in our national team. It is also doubtless the reason why we are struggling to produce the required volume of talent to win trophies. It is hard for English talent to break through at the top level because their potential places are taken by foreign imports. You can’t help thinking that the talent is out there and more outlets would lead to better returns.
English Winners
England may not win the world cup but watching Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and possibly Jordan Henderson in action will fill me with pride. It would be even better if Liverpool do now go on to win the title because it would be great to see a side with so many English players succeed rather than watching teams who manage to field precisely none win the day. English football needs English winners if we are going to prosper.
Another Englishman
I am also hopeful that next season yet another England international will join the Reds. Adam Lallana would be a fine addition to our squad. Who knows by this time next year the entire England team could be Liverpool players because there are precious few of them at any of the other top clubs.
Byline
Article by Sally Stacey