No I'm not dead

It's been a while since I posted. Still grinding away on the novel editing, about half done. Trying to pick up the pace and get it completed by end of next month at the latest. I really should have had it finished by now but it's such a picky process due to earlier schoolboy error I mentioned in several earlier posts.

I'll be off on holiday end of June, so it would be good if it was really finished. Then I can look forward to new challenges when I get back, not least pimping the book.

I shortlisted about 30 odd books I'd like to read on holiday. A half dozen or so I'll order via amazon most likely to take and then try not to lose the list with rest of them on it as I'll likely forget that I want to read half the rest.

Anyway It's 20 past 10 in hte morning just now, I've been working since before 9 and had no breakfast yet so I'm off to remedy that.

Football the ugly game....

...well it is if you happen to be a Motherwell fan right now.

We've slid right into the relegation dogfight, lost badly on monday and got two of our best players sent off and another injured. So already struggling and possibly three players down for the last two games of the season. We only need a point this saturday to stay up but even that is looking like a big ask.

We also seem to be on the verge of a new era as our owner is apparently about to do a deal to sell the club for about £10m. A rather high price if you ask me, he bought us for about £2.5m ooh must be almost ten years ago now ran us into the ground and about managed to get us back to where we were when he bought us. So taking into account some inflation he is still making a fair return. Or would be if he hadn't lost ooh about £8m or so during his era, this confirms what a lot of people suspected that he was and has been looking for a return on his investment more than any consideration for the club he's mucked about.

As for who he has sold it to, well Tommy Coakley a property developer. On one hand his son plays for the team(though he's still getting released at the end of the season) and his father or uncle also played for the Well back in the day. All sounds quite good, but from a reliable source who works with the guys sister he says she says we should be worried. For all the Motherwell connections there not a Motherwell supporting family, just happen to be from the area.

Worst case scenario the increasingly valuable land Fir Park is on(There is large new residential development going on and more planned in the area) is sold we get moved to some lego land stadium as he pockets most of the cash. that isn't the worst case, he might just split hte land from the club flog it and leave us high and dry. It's happened elsewhere before and I don't know if there is any provision in Scottish law to prevent it.

The thought of something like that happens outrages me, which is almost a surprise as feel like I could care less about what is happening on the park these days. SPL football is a depressing and dispiriting experience these days and shows no signs of getting better. I still care but nothing like as sharply as I once did, there are more important things. I still feel better when the team is doing well and it nags away when it isn't but in heart of hearts I think the passion has gone. I can still enjoy the fitba but it's almost just something to do. The EPL might be just a corporate wet dream but it's far more satisfying watching those over paid players playing for souless husks of once proud football clubs than SPL dross which I could put up with if I thought the players had a professional attitude and gave there all.

I think I'm paranoid

Someone sent me a text last night totally out of the blue and I spent about an hour wondering why they were texting me. I did reply and more texts were exchanged. It was just a bit of chat, but seemed to me totally odd. Nothing of great import was mentioned or discussed. One of the guys from my fitba team.

Is my reaction paranoid or normal. Trying to think of an analogy to better explain it. The way I see it you have your friends and family that you see and speak to regularly. You have other friends who aren't maybe as close or for whatever reasons outside your immediate circle at any given time. I play football with this guy and see him at the football at Motherwell games, I get on with him well enough but you know wouldn't say good pals. Not that I don't like him, but he's somewhere in between being a friend of a friend and a close pal. To say he's just someone I know sounds a bit cold but he's not my bessy mate either. We don't arrange to do shit outside of the football. I've never and until now neither has he to my recollection phoned or texted me for no reason.

You can see why I'm wondering if I'm paranoid I'm clearly over thinking this, he was probably bored at a lose end, texted a few people for a bit of chat and no more. I not sure I should post this now, your all gonna think I'm a bit weird :-)

Which maybe true I think in general I have a low opinion of people and I can probably seem quite cool in an emotional rather than say stylish way to people. I wouldn't say I make friends particularly easy so I value the ones I do have. I get quite annoyed at myself for friendships I've kinda let dwindle over the years since I left uni, but who hasn't.

Anyway before I get to maudlin think I'll sign off here as I've another topic I want to have a ramble about.

What a farce...

...around 100,000 people couldn't fill in a ballot correctly! Yes I'm sure theres a figure in the thousands of people deliberately spoiling ballot papers in a form of protest, can't say I've never been tempted just to write some rant or single word piece of abuse on a ballot paper. Probably only thing that stopped me is that only bugger to read it would be some balllot counter in Wishaw Sports Centre and they aren't who I'd really be aiming it at.

I can't believe how stupid some people are. It was all very clearly explained, on polling card, at the polling station. If you were in doubt you could find it explained in the media in several places. But given the circumstances of the sudden increase in spoiled votes it's hard not to conclude that we have thousands of complete idiots trying to vote. We either should have some basic intelligence test or just not worry about it as lets face it if someone is so thick that they can't complete a simple ballot paper correctly then you do not want them voting in the first place.

As for the result itself, I was quite pleased. Disappointed the Labour share of the vote didn't really go down much. The blood on the hands and rolling back of civil liberties of this party albeit at a national level is so much I find it hard to comprehend how anyone with the ability to reason would vote for them. Even if I was a hardened unionist I'd have voted SNP at the election as any possibility of Independence could only happen after a referendum and irrespective of my own thoughts on that unlikely as it is I feel whatever position you take a referendum isn't a bad thing. Obviously the SNP has garnered more support that at any time before and it does raise the question of independance but I think you'll find many people voted for SNP for reasons other than their Independence referendum pledge and stated long term aim.

So far it is looking like no coalition is likely to develop, there is still time but the only real coalition option for the SNP the Lib Dems doesn't appear to be happening. How well the SNP will fare trying to govern as a minority party is if not certain likely to be problematic. My worst fear is that they flounder due to lack petty politics or we go back to the polls and the safe option of Labour comes back to comfort the new found SNP converts who possibly don't have a whole heap of faith in them.

Irrespective of independence New Labour needs and deserves a damn good kicking in Scotland, and getting narrowly beaten in terms of seats and popular vote for me isn't enough.

Health and eating etc

For the past few months I've tried to eat more fruit and veg, mostly fruit. Whilst I can eat and enjoy some vegtables I cannot abide them even remotely cooked. It's a texture thing as much as anything else. I can enjoy a bit of side salad, or a carrot. Cooked onion I can just about cope with, that is the exception to the rule.

I still don't really know if I am eating healthily, I've all but cut out takeaway foods, pizzas, chips and cheese, chip shop food. A very rare indulgence. I started eating a bit more fish, not the chip shop variety but despite eating a lot of pasta and rice based dishes I probably eat to much fatty foods. Cream and cheese is a bit of a weakness and it gets fired into to much of what I eat probably.

I still feel mostly healthy, although not noticeably more since I made more of an effort to eat more fruit and veg, it's bloody difficult to get your five portions a day every day. I don't consider myself a health freak, I like to keep fit to enjoy playing football and the like. I'll eat a bit of chocolate or other dessert style dish fairly often and not feel guilty about it, I don't want to have a heart attack at 40 becuase I clogged up my arteries either though.

Maybe I should go for a physical check up, although I not feeling that paranoid to fork out money for one.

An average day lately is a bit of fruit for breakfast, today an apple and some grapes. Lunch would be a couple of bagels with cream cheese or leftover dinner my previous day if there is any. Dinner pasta or rice dish with some sort of meat, chicken, steak, mince, smoked sausage. Maybe a bit more fruit later and possibly some sweet treat.

As for calories, no idea.