Monday, July 18, 2005
Homes abroad

My parents are just about at retiring age so they've started looking for a place in the sun where they can rest their feet once their time is done in work.I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this because it all seems a bitfrightening to them - there are somany cowboys out there and the placethey want to get a place is a small village so it's not like these places get advertised on websites or in the localproperty guides etc Other than that - two days to test match 1, really looking forward to it :)

Oh and sorry Keg I haven't got round to that script yet, I've been up against it mate, I'll get something done about it by the end of the week hopefully. SA to turn OZ over in SA? :)

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-18 17:22:40

Sunday, July 17, 2005
Golf

I don't like golf, I don't count it as a sport nor do I have any desire to waste hours of my life watching it (unlike cricket :) - Ashes on thursday, can't wait) but I have managed to watch every Tiger Woods Major victory. Tiger is a highly interesting guy not just because of his name but his whole background and relationship to sport as regards multiculturalism is pretty interesting reading. More than that though I think he is one of those players - there are rarely more than one or two in each sport (I'll let it slide in this case ;))who manage to escape the limitations of their chosen game. Ali in boxing, Pele in football, Gareth Edwards in rugby, Jordan in basketball and Woods in golf. Yes Nicklaus has 8 more majors butstill in his late twenties Tiger has already written large chunks of the records book. What's so intriguing is that your watching a little bit of history, a genuine moment in time so to speak. In the last few decades sport has gone crazy - we have men running the 100m in less than 9.8 seconds, Michael Johnsonhas set world records that may not get beaten for decades, we have seen the explosion of prefessionalism in several sports, multiple gold medal winning swimmers and athletes and stories/events that continue to persuade us that these are wonderful times.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-17 17:15:34

Saturday, July 16, 2005
Sport and bombs

So I saw the future of British boxing tonight and it was Amir Khan. What a disturbingly mature performance for one so young, Barry McGuigan said he looked a bit like Thomas Hearns - I think he looked a lot like Naseem Hamed only with better defensive technique. The boy has class written into everything he does, turning what could have been an embarassing night for ITV- Skelton fight for a world title? The guy iscrap, he isn't even a boxer, he's a brawler/bully who wouldn't live with Klitchsko or even Holyfield. Why was DannyWilliams scared of this guy?Anyway despite the hype and the inevitablenon-boxing commentatorswho will go overboard, the kid looked good against a nobody yet the questions will begin - does he have a chin, can he punch powerfullyat higher levels and how will he fare over 12 rounds once his legs run out. So many interesting topics to discuss and then an alarm goes. The building is emptied and a high-level emergency warning is given, possibly regarding a bomb. I hope not but once again the nation's mood is destroyed by those pathetic few. Something needs to be done by the government about our immigration and border controlpolicies, stuff the EU and it's stupid, bureaucratic nonsense - lives are now in danger. Worse than that the largest groupings of people are .... at sports events, a bomb going off in Old Trafford, Highbury, Millennium Stadium, anywhere is just too big a nightmare to consider. I hope I never havetowrite 'sport' and 'bomb' in the same sentence again.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-16 19:34:12

Friday, July 15, 2005
The songs that haunt us

I'm not a particularly musical person, in fact I'm tone deaf. I sing like a screeching cat with dull bass tones for testicles, I am pathetic at remembering the names and words to songs and could not tell you what chord is which on a musical bar. I think there was some way rhymeto remembering it but damned if it stuck. Despite all that there are certain songs that stick in my mind as representing certain periods of our life; good, bad or plain ugly for every memory there is likely to be a song playing over the top of it in your cranial media centre. Whether it's 'Play bouzouki or Zorba's dance' for your holidays in Greece orthe cold longing of Avril Lavigne's 'I'm with you' for wintery Chicago, some songs just stick and I've just added another one: Finley Quayeand Beth Orton - Dice, check it out but be warned it may have a life all of it's own.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-15 19:36:35

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Climbing Everest

I'm not sure if it was the heat, madness or a touch of both but lats night I had the most vivid dream I've ever had in my life. I was on a holiday (that I was unsuprisingly looking at on the internet just before bed) that takes you to the base of Everest and even to basecamp. So cool the scenery is great, large snow-capped mountain in the distant - a bit like Mount Doom in LOTR without the lava :) So I'm talking to photo-fit woman I've invented in my imagination when all around basecamp is this communal expelling of breath. One of the climbers who was going to attempt the climb is injured, he can't carry his pack and equipment so the leader of the group starts offering a thousand dollars to anyone who will take the injured climbers kit and share of equipment (I know nothing about climbing so I'm not even sure if one person missing out would stop a group going). Inevitably I agreed and like a sherpa except going up the mountain I started carrying this blue barrel type thing up the mountain. The first few hours are easy, nothing to do or avoid beyond walking at the back of the human snake moving slowly up the mountain.

So I get as far as I'm supposed to go and it was easy, the leader shakes my hand, says thanks and asks me if I'll be ok to get down. I know he couldn't give a rats ass but I smile and say it was fun. He turns and leaves and I lookdown across this stunning vista and think what the hell, how bad can it be. So I turn round and start climbing to the top. When I get there the whole group looks shocked, they start patting me on the back, calling me mad and taking pictures. I have a picture taken using my dad's digitalcamera of me with a sheer drop behind and theland open for km's across the whole plateau. And then we went down and there were a fewjournalistsat basecamp who ask me some questions. I go home, get interviewed by papers, FHM and Parkinson (honestly) I got my own wildlife-esque show andon my firstplacement in Thailand I got attacked by two tigers who slashed my ankles to ribbons and ate my cameraman. At this point I woke up - it's still as clear as day, better than many of my memories. Pretty nuts huh?

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-14 17:09:15