Bye bye Blogger

I feel it's time to move on after 14 months here, and you can now find me at myspace.com.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=71394441

I actually joined myspace about 10 months ago but there was so much on it, I simply didn't know where to start! Just been surfing the past few days, trying to get familiar with it. Also joined a Spurs fans forum which is great & very welcoming.

So ciao blogger.com. It's been fun!

Sunday's mixed emotions

Firstly, a big woohoo to Al who has managed to secure two Take That tickets for us on 1 December - not only is that a Saturday which means not having to get time off work, but also 3rd row so it should be an amazing view of the lads! It's come at a price, mind (£247.50 each) but if you think of it as a one-off and the fact that it's gonna give us one of the most memorable nights of our lives, what the heck - it's only money! I don't want to wish time away but I can't wait.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mum rang me this morning at about 9:30. Very odd I thought, it's far too early for her; she usually doesn't get up till late morning or even afternoons sometimes. Anyway, she rang to tell me that Daniel Bedingfield was appearing on the Heaven and Earth Show at 10am. Thanks Mum! I got the video ready and also got ready to watch him at the same time. He looked mighty fine with ultra short hair, but the reason he was on the show was a serious matter. Dan is campaigning against the human trafficking which is still going on in the world.

At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these, 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking which is now the second largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking. People are trafficked into prostitution, begging, forced labour, military service, domestic service, forced illegal adoption, forced marriage etc. They are recruited in in a number of ways, including abduction, being sold by their parents, being recruited after they've run away from home, and being sold to traffickers by orphanages or care homes. The victims are then trafficked into prostitution, forced labour, military service or forced marriages.

Daniel Bedingfield and Steve Chalke are supporting the campaign Stop the Traffik.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx

At the end of the show, he performed a new song called 'Domestic Silence' which is from his forthcoming album (WHEN?!!) Anyway, it was a very solomn song and I wasn't that enamoured by it. Still, it was grrrrrrrrrrrrreat to see Dan on tv again but I want more please!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chelsea v Spurs quarter final of the FA Cup kicked off at 12:45. We haven't won at Stamford Bridge since 1992 so the odds were stacked against us. I even woke up with a churning stomach; I get so worked up about this fixture, so much so, I almost didn't want to watch! I'm kinda glad I did because Spurs took the lead early on from the God which is Dimitar Berbatov, my fave player of the moment and is very easy on the eye (wink wink)! The team were playing exceptionally well; they really took the game to Chelsea who look lacklustre. However, they came back into it after 21 minutes from Lampard, which was a tad lucky. Spurs took a 2-1 lead when Essien put the ball into his own net, and before half time, we got another from Ghaly. Indecision from 3 Chelsea players let him win the ball on his chest and dribble straight through to goal. 3-1 at half time - I could hardly believe it was happening but I'm always a realist when it comes to us playing Chelsea as it's never over till the ref blows the whistle for full time.

Spurs could have so easily gone 4-1 up in the second half when Aaron Lennon was put through the middle by Berbatov and only had to beat the goalkeeper. Frustratingly he shot too close to Cech. The ball then found Ghaly who chipped it over to Defoe who was free on the left of the goal, however his header wasn't too convincing and was saved. Aaaargh! In the 72nd minute after a scramble in the 6 yard box, Lampard scored a easy goal to pull one back. Chelsea pushed everyone forward (I think they had two real defenders on the pitch), but minutes from time, my worst fears came true when Kalou made it 3-3. Spurs could still have won the game when Defoe rattled the crossbar but it wasn't to be. As much as I respect the manager Martin Jol, I think he made a fatal error substituting Berbatov for Mido. Mido is just not in the same league as Berba and he proved that by playing utter crap.

You could say I was more than a little upset by the outcome, especially after we were two goals to the good. I even had tears in my eyes. I suppose it just goes to show how much the Spurs team means to me. I wish I could tell them.

nb ** Just read today's news, and Berbatov suffered a slight groin injury which caused him to be substituted. It wasn't tactical **

I'm still on a high!

24 hours after the event, I'm still buzzing from the West Ham v Spurs match. I just can't stop smiling and after their fourth consecutive win and scoring four goals in three of the last four games, I can't wait for the next match.

It was only a league game but to me every game is a cup final. To West Ham fans, Tottenham are their rivals, like Arsenal are to us. In the same fixture last year, it was the last day of the season and eight of our players went down with sickness after eating lasagne at a hotel. The game was a crucial one as a win would have ensured our place in the Champions League. Despite desperate attempts to have the game postponed due to the situation, West Ham wouldn't budge so the game had to go ahead with half our team ill. Unfortunately and not surprisingly we lost the game and so finished in 5th spot, which put us into the UEFA Cup competition. It was a real blow considering we'd been in fourth spot since the previous December, but it was still a fantastic achievement.

Bye Bye Wet Spam



Add to My Profile | More Videos


Anyway, back to yesterday....The Hammers played exceptionally well in the first half and went 2-0 up despite Berbatov having three clear chances to score for Spurs. Their keeper definitely kept them in the game. In the second half, the lads upped their game and after a dashing run into the box by Lennon, he was brought down by Bowyer and the referee correctly pointed to the spot. Defoe took charge and made Green dive the wrong way to bring the score to 2-1. Spurs equalised in style when 'Berba' crossed to Lennon who somehow knocked the ball into the path of Tainio off the side of his boot in mid-air, who then sliced it into the right side of the net. West Ham then made a substitution: Bobby Zamora (a Spurs reject). They won a free kick taken by the impressive Argentinian Tevez, which found the head of Zamora to make it 3-2 after 85 minutes. My head was in my hands at this point; I thought all our hard work getting back into the game had gone to waste. However, how wrong I was? 17 year old French kid Taarabt came on and made an immediate impact. A surging run forced a foul against Ferdinand and so we had a free kick right on the edge of the penalty area. 'Berba' placed the ball down and then as casually as you like, gently curled it into the top left corner of the goal. 3-3 at 89 minutes. Wow! I couldn't believe it. But what followed was even more unbelievable. There was five minutes of injury time to play and it was almost up when the Hammers got into our box with our players defending desperately, ending up with Tevez missing the goal by a whisker. Phew! They pressed again for a winner, but YP Lee managed to intercept which lead to a five on one break. The ball was fed to Defoe on the half way line who went for broke, shooting across Green, only to be parried to Paul Stalteri who had continued his run up the pitch. He slotted it into the open goal to make it 4-3. OMG! What a feeling - a rare one at that. Things like this only usually happen to Man Utd! I was so ecstatic I ran round the room and then jumped on John and kissed him. The buzz I get from a winning game of football is crazy - I couldn't live without it.

Billy Eliott

Last night, John, my Mum and myself went to see the west end musical Billy Elliot. I was one I'd been wanting to see for a while as I thought the film



was really good. When my Mum hinted that she also wanted to see it, I'd arranged to get her a ticket as a Christmas present. Through my good friend Suk, as one of the perks of her job, she can get discounted tickets for any show or concert. So instead of the standard £55 per ticket, it worked out at about £42. (Thanks Suk!)

Billy Eliot The Musical is an award-winning show based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music for the show was composed by the one and only Sir Elton John so you always know it's going to be good. The musical revolves around motherless Billy, who lives with his Dad, older brother and Nan whose lives are affected by the coal miner's strike of the 1980s. Billy decides boxing isn't really for him and trades gloves for ballet shoes. Dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson sees some talent in Billy and gives him private tuiton which leads him to an audition for the Royal Ballet School. Despite his father's protests, he comes around after realising his son may have a future.

The leading role was played by Leon Cooke, who only joined the cast in September 2006, and is one of four Billys. He was clearly a very talented young man and in particular the part of the show where he dances to Swan Lake shadowed by an older dancer (supposedly an older Billy), was spectacular. There were very funny moments too and all in all, I think it was an entertaining show. However, if the Swan Lake part had been at the end (as it was in the film) when Billy had become a professional dancer on the stage, it would have been slightly better.

Take That frenzy!

Take That's comeback is the best thing to happen to pop music in a long while, in my opinion. During the 90s, I wouldn't say I was a 'fan' but I did enjoy their songs. However, this time around, without Robbie, I think they are bigger and better then ever and I'm so into everything they are doing.

Tickets for Take That's UK tour went on sale at 9am yesterday morning and it was obvious they were going to be difficult to come by with their immense popularity. Al and I had planned to go to one of their gigs together but with both of us working, we wouldn't be able to make any phone calls or go on the net to try and get tickets. Fortunately, John was off work so he agreed to try for us.

He phoned me at work at 9:20 to say that he hadn't managed to get through yet but would keep trying. Hopes were fading fast because on Richard & Judy they had predicted that the tickets would all be sold out in ten minutes. Anyway, when I got home, John said he had had the phone at his ear for hours and at about 2:20 he finally managed to get through, only to get a recorded message saying all tickets had sold out nationally. Hmmmmph! It's a wonder ANYone managed to get tickets if this is anything to go by.

That now means hunting for tickets elsewhere on ebay or other websites and paying over the odds. In fact, I've just read an email Al sent me with a link to an ebay auction which has already finished with a winning bid of over £20,000 for two tickets in the fronk block. It didn't even state which row! However, I'm not convinced this was a real auction.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Take-That-Tickets-Saturday-1st-December-07-x2_W0QQitemZ200084777498QQihZ010QQcategoryZ1306QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think we should let the frenxy die down and not jump in with any rash and stupid bids for tickets. They say all good things come to those who wait. Let's hope that's true.