Yearly Archives: 2008

Football Fans Agree ‘Referee had the better view’

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Despite losing 2-1 to a last minute penalty, Arsenal fans were united in their view that the referee made the correct view in awarding the debatable last minute penalty. As one Arsenal fan says:

“Well from where I was, it looked like there was no contact and Ronaldo just took a dive. But, you’ve got to remember I was at the back of the terraces and from there it is almost impossible to make a fair and accurate reflection on the decision. Fortunately, the referee was in a much better position than me; we’re pretty lucky to have such experienced referees in the premier league.”

The game was played in general good spirits with both managers praising the role of the referee. As the losing Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger said You’ve got to hand it to the referee – “He never took his eyes off the game for a moment. There were a few critical decision, but we all feel he made them with as much care, neutrality and balance as is humanely possible. You don’t really mind losing when you see refereeing of that kind of quality. It’s what makes football ‘the beautiful game’ really.

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The English Tea Shop

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Every country has their speciality. The Italians have their coffee. The French have their boulangerie’s (fresh bread twice a day), The American’s have their Diners and McDonalds. With the English it is the traditional tea shop.

These are some characteristics of an English tea shop:

  • People speak quietly. ‘Children should be seen and not heard’ is one old motto that has a lot to be said for it.
  • Tea should come in a teapot.
  • Selection of homebaked cakes.
  • Tea should be served in bone china. Tea taste’s much better this way.
  • Tea always tastes better in a tea shop. I have never understood this mystery. But, you can never satisfactorily recreate the experience in your own home.
  • Toasted teacakes with jam make the perfect accompaniment for a pot of tea.

Cycling Cafes

Believe it or not, I never drank anything but water until I was 15. It was when I started cycling that I was introduced to the delights of the English Tea shop and inevitably I was pressurised into forsaking a strict diet of tap water to join in the communal tea drinking. There are some very good cafes which welcome cyclists

Is English Breakfast Tea Grown in England?

Yorkshire Tea and English Breakfast might give the impression that tea is grown in England. Unfortunately, this is not true. If you go to the Yorkshire Dales, you will see beautiful scenery and lots of sheep; but, not many tea plantations. Apparantely, the cold rain is not particularly liked by the tea plants. But, for one enterprising Yorkshireman this was no reason not to name a variety of tea after ‘God’s own Country’  By the way, Yorkshire Tea is a very good, strong blend. It actually does taste better in Yorkshire (or anyplace where the water is soft.) than down south.

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Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

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Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was an intriguing and inspirational figure. In truth I wouldn’t have thought much about him, but my Spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy saw in him some very illumining qualities.

Netaji braved all
To build a Heaven
Even in hell’s despair.

– Sri Chinmoy [1]

In particular Netaji embodied great heroism and had the power to unite the Indian people

“In the name of God, in the name of by-gone generations who have welded the Indian people into one nation and in the name of the dead heroes who have bequeathed to us a tradition of heroism and self-sacrifice, we call upon the Indian people to rally around our banner and to strike for India’s freedom.”

– Netaji

There is an article here “Replaying History” by Vidagdha about her recent visit to some significant places in Netaji’s life.

at Write Spirit 

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Statistical Poetry

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There was me thinking checking your stats was a bad habit, waste of time and inefficient use ofresources. But, actually, it is a way to write poetry! see: Keyword Haiku So here is the beginning of my poetic adventure. (I once wrote a poem, but, it was something about a computer being good because it was er.. not made out of wood) so as you can see my keyword statistics are far better at generating poetry than me.

from: tejvan.co.uk/

never give up poems
shambhu sri
never give up poem
tejvan’s blog
poems never give up
sri chinmoy biography
poems never give up
poem never give up

ministry of silly walks
jeeves and wooster theme music

how does the yogi mahasamadhi
poems about giving up
poems about never giving up

ode to joy Bernstein
pictures of the spirit leaving the body at death
2007 national hill climb

who invented crosswords co uk
give up poetry

hill climb training
winter in oxford

kyudo blogs
how to achieve mahasamadhi
picture of a lighthouse

BTW the order of these keyword searches remains exactly the same as it appeared in stats, but some search results were omitted)

Statistics from Richardpettinger.com

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Ave Maria

I have heard many versions of Ave Maria, but, I really like this one. The singing is soulful and humble. Sometimes singers give real virtuoso performances, but, this version sticks to the spiritual essence of the song.
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