Rain?

It's Bank Holiday weekend again and the forecast is chilly and wet.

Now I'm not going to go banging on about "it always rains on Bank Holiday" because I don't really care what the weather is like. If it rains I have stuff to do inside, and if it's fine then I have to finish re-building the stream which which runs into my pond, and wash the car and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Anyway, it rained a bit yesterday afternoon and I kind of liked the way the water formed on the irises in the pond, so here are a couple of piccies.

The blue one flowered for the first time this year. A nice supprise as I thought they were all yellow.

Got a new Japanese koi last week, he's called Bob, and was in hiding with all the other Bob's when I took these.

Horses arse.....again

We lost the European Cup Final.

Bugger.

London Wasps stuck to a good game plan, stopped us from playing and were worthy of the win, although it pains me to admit it.

Still, we did end up winning the EDF Anglo-Welsh Cup and we are the English Premiership Champions and I had 2 top days out at Twickers this year with The Tigers so it was a pretty good season in the end.

Roll on the World Cup En France later in the year. Must get tickets, must get tickets, must get tickets...........................

My Babies

Some people put pictures of their babies on their blogs, some people describe their work or their passion or their hobbies.

For me it's all the same.

I started out 30 years ago as an "old lag" mechanic who had to learn how to paint cars because nobody else could be arsed, and someone had to do it.

I'm now Senior Process Engineer responsible for main colour application, critical process, and all aspects of Manufacturing Engineering regarding body and paint.
(Yes, I get paid to watch paint dry).

I also love my job, although it drives me crazy sometimes, so I thought I would post a few pictures of some of the "out of hours" stuff I get involved in along with 4 or 5 of my fellow lunatic colleagues when we are not focused on production.

This is a carbon race car which two of us had to prepare and paint with the usual ample planned timescale, ("you got 4 days cos we have to get it to the docks next Tuesday")!!!

We love the Motor sport guys.

It was a lot of fun although the panels were pretty crap from the tooling but four 16 hour days later we were finished. The car got built, photographed and on the boat bang on time.

Nice ass don't you think.
I'll put some more on soon but it's the rugby final tomorrow so that comes first.

Two down, one to go......

On the 15th of April this year I was at Twickenham to see Leicester Tigers play Ospreys in the EDF Cup Final.
A fantastic game which we won after a tough second half.

Last Saturday I was at Twickers again for the Guinness Premiership Final against Gloucester.
Both teams finished the season on 71 points but Gloucester were placed top as they had one more win than us.
We actually got 72 points but were penalised a point for fielding a player before he was eligible. (silly buggers).

This was set to be a hard fought final as we had lost scrum half Harry Ellis, one of our key players, in the semi-final the previous week end.

Below we find the boys having a warm up before getting into it.

We were down by 3 points after 5 minutes and a shaky start but then got it together and just blew Gloucester away.
Awesome is about the only way to describe it, with apologies to any Gloucester folk, they were simply no match for The Tigers on the day.

Final score Tigers 44 Gloucester 16.

It's another trophy in the cabinet, fireworks and champagne and a quick celebration before next Sunday.

We are again at Twickenham in the European Cup Final. I have to satisfy myself with watching on T.V. as I was too late to get tickets for this one.

The first all English European Cup Final against our old enemy London Wasps.

Keep all your bits crossed for me on Sunday and you should hear the cheers if we win.

No team has ever won the treble so no pressure !!!!!

Antwerpen part 2

It's been a shitty couple of weeks, not the squirty tummy type but the phenomenally busy and hassle filled type.

Still, it's a long weekend and Leicester are still on for an historic treble after a tough semi-final against Bristol on Saturday afternoon. So Twickenham beckons again for me next weekend, organic burgers, Guinness and hopefully victory against Gloucester for the 2007 Championship Trophy.

Anyway, it's time to conclude the Belgium saga, as I had a bunch of them over here last week contributing to the hassle.

The spectacular building in the background is Het Steen. One of the earliest stone buildings in the City, dating back to the 13th century and first known as Antwerp castle, it was re-named around 1520 after significant re-building by Charles V. This led to the name "Heeren Steen" (Kings stone) later shortened to Het Steen.
The castle made it possible to control access to the river Scheldt running through Antwerp and was also used as a prison between 1303 & 1827. Part of the building was later demolished to provide materials to make roads to connect the North and South ends of the port and today Het Steen houses the National Maritime Museum. (sorry Lynn, no carrots but just for you here is the link to the carrot museum again).

Above the entrance is a relief statue depicting a man with spread legs who at one time also had a huge penis. It was visited by women in the hope of providing a cure for infertility. This oversize member didn't go down too well with the Jesuits and in the 17th century they gave him "the op" and removed his naughty bits, (no sense of fun those Jesuits).

There seems to be something about giants in Belgian folklore. Maybe it's the chocolate that makes them grow so big, but I saved the best one until last.

The big guy in front of Het Steen is Lange Wapper, Antwerp's version of the boogie man. A mythical demon known in many folklore tales in the Antwerp area. He appears here to be farting at some peasants but he was known for more than that.



Lange Wapper liked to live near water and loved to stroll along the banks of the Scheldt in Antwerp.
He could make himself as small as a child or as big as a giant and had a penchant for picking up fishing boats by the mast and throwing them around.
He liked to play "stamp on your hat" with children and enjoyed teasing drunks then vanishing with a devilish laugh.
He was also a bit of a "perv" who liked to get intimate with the ladies.
Using his powers, he turned himself into a white handkerchief in order to be picked up by a passing beauty and was tucked into her "under garments". He also took the form of a new born baby and laid himself on a stone bench outside the butchers hall. a woman who had just had a baby took pity on the crying child and put it to her breast. At this point Wapper returned to his true form and gave the young mother the fright of her life. Sounds like a top bloke to take for a night on the piss with the lads.

I have been promised a tour to Bruges with Anne, one of my Belgian conspiritors next time I get over there so this may not be the end of the Phlegms. Ja manekes.

Poo in the eye

This just caught my eye on the news page so I thought I should share it.

Making paper from roo poo is a great idea.
Wonder if we could make it by using all the crap that tumbles from the mouths of our "leaders"?
An inexhaustible supply there I think.

Tigers

I have to interrupt the Phlegmish ramblings to celebrate an all round top day on Sunday.

I drove down to Twickenham with a few like minded mates for the final of the EDF Energy Cup between Leicester Tigers and The Ospreys, who are an amalgamation of the old pre-regional Welsh clubs, Neath and Swansea.
The weather was fantastic. First job was to grab the best burger outside of the Goodwood Revival fare, which is on the car park at the college opposite the stadium. These are made from finest organic beef and are best savoured medium/rare. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
Next stop, the loo for a well earned "comfort break", then on to the Guinness trailer with it's gorgeous girls behind the bar.
Wonderful atmosphere as we all wandered around sipping beer in glorious sunshine, 25°C and chatting with the Ospreys and Tigers fans. Something unheard of with football followers. (can't bring myself to call them fans).
Got into the ground and found our seats to watch the second half of the game which preceded the main final.
This was a cracking match between Exeter Chiefs and Penzance & Newlyn, also known as the Cornish Pirates.
The Pirates finished on top at 19 - 16 and as we were sitting next to loads of Pirates fans, we added our support to theirs.
There then followed a "sing-off" between The Treorchy Male Choir and The Odd Fellows & Huntingdon Male Voice Choirs to mirror the Wales v England make-up of the final. The Aveley & Newham Brass Band played for both Choirs and all 45,000 of the crowd joined in. It was bloody brilliant.

I raised my glass to Sassy just before kick-off as promised and wished her good luck with The Move.
Hope your day was as rewarding as mine Sassy.

As you can see, they haven't finished putting the roof on the south stand yet, which explains why I had such a bastard job getting tickets. There were about 35,ooo seats which were off limits.

The main final started with a bit of a worry as we went 6-0 down to two early penalties but then we cut loose and ran in three tries to go in at half time leading by 28-6.

The Ospreys obviously had a good talking to at the break because they came out and hit back with three tries followed by a penalty and another try.
They played some fantastic fast, free flowing rugby and made a superb contest of the second half. Tigers finally managed to get a grip with a penalty and then a late try to seal the win at 41-35.

All credit to the Ospreys for a wonderful display and it is a pity someone had to lose. I am glad it was us who won in the end as we have not had much joy in semi's and finals over the last 5 years. We got to lots but always lost, having won 4 Championships in a row and consecutive European Cup Finals during 1998 - 2001 it's time we had some success.






The Tigers above, waiting for the stage to be built on the pitch before collecting the cup.
About bloody time too.

We have a European Cup semi-final this Saturday and the play-offs to qualify for the Championship Final to be played on May 5th. I have rather optimistically got my tickets for that final so I just hope we make it. (We lost in the final to Sale last year, and yes I was there with a good friend who used to play for Sale, not that he mentions it much).