Russia - August 2006

OK - so I am currently in Moscow working on the FIFA U-20 Womens World Championships. I love this event - the last one was U19 - in thailand two years ago - there is somethingabout the womens events that is just nicer to be involved with.

Have been here since Aug 6th - gotta say that i really do not think much of Russia. It might be just the people, but they all seem so miserable. OK - i learnt that to smile in Russia is to show weakness, which explains why they all seem so serious all the time, but they will not do anything without first making sure you realise that they are going out of their way for you. Even passing the salt for christs sake - its ridiculous.

The city of Moscow itself seems quite nice. The architecture is amazing - huge impressive buildings and wide streets - and its clean, as far as no litter on the ground. However there is a lot of polution here which has left its dirty gray mark all over everything over the years.

I havent been to red square or the kremlin yet - hope to in the next few days.

Football wise - I had the pleasure of looking after Finland, Canada, China, Nigeria, and North Korea at my team hotel. All home now except China and North Korea, either of who to be honest could win this tournament as they are looking prety strong. Anyway - for the record, a list of games that i have been to:

Aug 18 - SUI vs MEX (2:4) - Dynamo
Aug 18 - PRK (North korea) vs GER (2:0) - Dynamo
Aug 20 - FIN vs CAN (0:2) - Podmoskovie
Aug 20 - CHN vs NIG (3:0) - Podmoskovie
Aug 24 - MEX vs PRK (0:4) - Dynamo
Aug 24 - USA vs FRA (1:0) - Dynamo
Aug 26 - BRA vs NIG (2:1) - Torpedo
Aug 26 - CHN vs RUS (4:0) - Torpedo
Aug 31 - BRA vs PRK (0:1) - Lokomotiv
Aug 31 - CHN vs USA (0:0 - CHN won on penalties) - Lokomotiv

edit: Since I wrote the above the final has now been decided - it will be between China and North Korea - which i predicted during the group stages. I think and hope that North Korea will win it - first it would be a huge shock, and second China have gotten there through the kin of their teeth - they dive, they defend, but they do not attack and are luky to be there at all.

Audiobooks......

I think I am in the process of learning something about myself. I think I am learning that i cannot sit still and just listen. I have to be doing something to keep myself occupied, and it has to be more than just aural stimulation.

I am learning this because for the first time ever I am trying to listen to an audiobook. I recently found a webssite called audible.com which basically sells audiobooks. I joined on a yearly subscription, not for the books, but for all the old radio shows they have on there ("Just a Minute", and "I'm Sorry I havent a clue", for example) However this month, with one of my two credits, I "bought" the audiobook Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I had wanted to buy the book for a while, but I decided - why not have a listen - perfect for long drives, or falling asleep to in the evening....

WRONG! I cannot listen for more than 5 minutes before either falling asleep, or, and this is worse, osing concentration and focussing on something else, like what i will have for breakfast tomorrow, or why did I forget to do my laudry yet again! This lapse in concentration means that I eventually have to stop the audiobook, rewind, and listen again. Easy? no! How do you know where you stopped listening? I invariably end up listening to 2 or 3 minutes of the same part again before it gets to something new.....and then I lose concentration again.

So - is it me? I thought maybe its just a boring book - but actually I am quite enjoying it, when I am listening to it. I just think that I am not cut out to simply sit and listen (something my mother and several girlfriends will probably agree with no doubt!) - I have to be doing something else at the same time. But of course then, I wouldnt actually be listening to the book.

ah well - I got through one hour of the book so far...only another 31 hours to go - I might be finished by 2010!

My World Cup

So - unlike I predicted - England didnt win it - what a surprise.....for my memory - these are the games that i saw live (ie at the stadium)

June 10 - England vs Paraguay (1-0) - Frankfurt
June 13 - Korea vs Togo(2:1) - Frankfurt
June 17 - Portugal vs Iran (2:0) - Frankfurt
June 20 - Sweden vs England (2:2) - Cologne
June 21 - Netherlands vs Argentina (0:0) - Frankfurt - quite possibly the dullest game ever!
June 25 - England vs Ecuador (1:0) - Stuttgart
July 1 - Brazil vs France (0:1) - Frankfurt - this was straight after watching England get knocked out by Portugal on TV!
July 4 - Germany vs Italy (0:2) - Dortmund

I dont know if anyone else felt this way - but I really felt let down by this world cup. A lot of people blame FIFA nad their interpretations of the game, but I blame the teams - they came not to lose - very few teams came to win - certainly Italy did not come to Germany with attack in mind. Seems that this is the way football is going these days - Look at Greece wining in 2004 onthe back of defending for 89 out of 90 minutes.....