Wiz we robbed?

Well, it wasn't to be - another heroic failure. You can't fault our team for effort, and you've got to give our wee nation a hell of a lot of credit for keeping the excitement going almost all the way to the end.
Of course the Italian winner should never have been - the award of a free kick to the Italians was mystifying - but you could also point to what seemed like a perfectly good second 'goal' in the first half that would have effectively killed the game off. A couple of dubious decisions then, and it looks like the standard of international refereeing is gettting as bad as it is domestically. I've witnessed more than a few breathtaking refereeing mistakes at Easter Road this season, dodgy decisions that have changed the outcome of games. Mistakes can cost matches, but when it's the officials and not the players who make them it's much harder to stomach.
Anyway, hard luck to the Scotland squad. No-one expected anything from us when the draw was made, and to achieve what this team has is some performance: beating France twice and running the World Champions so close is no disgrace. Watching the much-vaunted Italians running down the clock and their relieved celebrations following the final whistle, showed just how much Scotland tested them.
The draw for the World Cup qualifiers is made next week, and the roller-coaster ride that is supporting Scotland starts all over again. The joy, the tears, the ultimate disappointment - I can harldy wait!

Final Countdown

Just 90 minutes until the big kick off in Scotland's biggest game in years - I can't remember a bigger one. Can we do it? The head says no, Italy are too professional and will play for and get the draw they need ... and yet the heart says yes, we can rise to the occassion with one last great effort, beat the World Champions and take our rightful place in the European Championships next year.
We'll know soon enough - either way our publicans will be rubbing their hands; it must be like Christmas and New Year rolled into one day for them.
Cheers!

Three Car Trick!

Friday was a strange day: three jobs to cover which made it difficult to get any writing done, then, when I was finally able to get started on writing up my stories, a ghost from the past appears in the office (after closing time, too). Stan Lawson, the self proclaimed rebel champion from Pennywell who fought the local council (and, inevtiably, was evicted earlier this year), has returned from exile in Bury, Lancs, and called into the office.
His travails have clearly affected him - there's still all the old bluster and the defiance, but what you see in front of you is a frightened old man who sadly got carried away with all the publicity and who found his life spinning out of control. Everyone, save Stan, knew it would end in tears - and it has. It's still very sad to see the end serult, though.
As I ushered Stan out of the office to attend another job we banged into Billy Fitzpatrick, who lost his council seat in May and has been a bit of a lost soul ever since. Billy was a councillor for 23 years and he's found it very difficult to find work since his enforced 'retiral'. I feel for him and I hope he picks up something soon.
Felt a bit down after these two encounters and perhaps my mind was elsewhere when I had a wee mishap. I am in the fortunate position just now that I can use any one of three cars - my wee Citroen, which I use for work; a Picasso which we use for all othe rthings and Gail's Saxo (lying idle til she comes home from New Zealand).
Anyway, to cut an increasingly-long blog slightly shorter, I must have left the Citroen in gear when I switched off (something I never do) so when I turned the engine back on it ploughed into the Picasso. No great damage done (wee Citroen is a wee tank and shrugged it off, elegant Picasso suffered the indignity of a broken number plate) but quite a shock. Running late for the final job of the day now, jumped into Gail's car only to find the battery dead! Back into the PIcasso and just made the job on time. Too many cars, too little time!
Wasn't sorry to see the end of CHildren in Need Day, but we all get days like that from time to time ...

New Arrival

Well my new niece arrived this week after an anxious wait of nearly two weeks (great niece, actually, but that makes me sound ancient!) The baby - Laura - and her mum Carol are both fine. Visited on Thursday afternoon - baby handled all the fuss like a real wee trooper and didn't even bother wakening up for her visitors. It's amazing looking down on a new wee person that's just hours old. I wonder what life's got in store for wee Laura ...

Out in the cold but bouncing back

Like a lot of other people I know I've been incapacitated (i.e. floored) by a really irritating cough and cold for the last ten days or so. I don't want to be over-dramatic here, but it's certainly affected the energy levels and it's really frustrating to feel so listless when there is so much to be done.

As a rule I keep fairly good health - helped I suppose by a daily regime of a twelve mile run followed by a cold shower - so I shouldn't really complain about getting the odd cold, but I'll be glad when it's over. The sore throat is affecting my enjoyment of my Embassy Regal and I don't suit the red moustache that accompanies the runny nose!

Anyway, what's been happening outside my own sad wee world. Well, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir (what's the knighthood for?) Ian Blair doggedly refuses to resign over the shooting of an innocent man - and the subsequent attempted obstruction of an inquiry. No real surprise there, sadly - Blair seems to be very much your modern 'public servant'; very media-savvy, well up on diversity and equalities but not quite so well versed in accountability, taking responsibility or doing what he's actually paid to do. The more soundbytes and polished presentations I hear from Blair the less I trust the man, and on the available evidence his position is untenable. Strangely though he appears to enjoy the support of the government - I'm not too sure why. If he refuses to go - and he's clinging on like grim death - he should be gently pushed. No doubt there's a sparkling media career just around the corner, and a bumper book deal too I would wager - we won't have heard the last of 'Sir' Ian, and perhaps that's what the government is afraid of.

Glasgow, as expected, won the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games amid great national rejoicing (well, there was if you believe BBC Scotland - saturation coverage and even an overseas appearance from the ubiquitous Jackie Bird to help the celebrations go with a swing). The Commonwealth Games didn't have a lasting impact on the quality of life in Edinburgh when we hosted them - Cap'n Bob Maxwell even had to bail us out last time) - but I sincerely hope for the poor communities in Glasgow's East End that there is a better result for them through regeneration. I still feel though that the Games should have gone to Africa, though - it's criminal that no African nation has hosted the Games since they were introduced in the 1930s.

So sorry about the recent silence from this blog site - normal service has hopefully been resumed. I know you'll feel a lot better having heard that ...

To buy or not to buy?

I'm not a Nat, but congratulations must go to the SNP for ending tenants' right to buy for new housing built by councils and social landlords. Given the ongoing housing crisis, it's a move that's long overdue and a an issue that should have been tackled by Labour long before now - the best of our public (yes, it belonged to us all) housing stock has long since gone. Labour consistently shied away from making what might have been seen to have been an unpopular decision, however, and once again the SNP are seen as an active, energetic government who are willing to get things done.
The SNP are also giving help to first-time buyers, and a phrase I hate - 'housing ladder' - is used again. Yes, more people now aspire to own their own homes rather than rent, but does it have to be a 'ladder' with people aspiring to bigger and bigger and more expensive houses, all about making profits? Personally I would prefer to see support for those who are unlikely to be able to afford their own homes - those people for whom a house is a roof over their heads and a safe place to live, other than those who see bricks and mortar as a nice little earner.
Critics trot out the line that the SNP are simply adopting 'populist' policies, but honestly - what's wrong with taking decisions that are popular with voters?
Six months into the new parliament the SNP have hardly put a foot wrong. Opposition in Holyrood has been - let's be kind here - fairly weak, and Salmond's biggest challenge appears to be a media hostile to independence. Things won't always be so straightforward for the SNP, of course - some tough (and unpopular) spending decisions will be made later this month as the SNP tries to get it's budget through parliament. There are toughter times ahead.