I’ve heard it said the trick
Is to set your watch when you hit the plane -
That way you can trick
The workings of a tired brain.
But sometimes I feel sick.
Sometimes I just feel so drained
And cut down to the quick,
Longing for that voice again.
On the phone
You always ask if I’m OK
But it’s not the same as being happy.

I travelled 40,000 miles last year
And I’m working on the same again.
I fell for 15 different girls
And nearly lost all of my friends.
Well I am jet set, jet lag, jaded;
You’re always 16 hours ahead
Quietly reminding me how I used to be.

Airports make me sad.
I’m sure they shouldn’t all be the same.
But they’re just landing pads,
Boring tourist shopping chains.
I remember times we had,
Drinking while we wait for your plane,
Feeling kinda bad,
Wondering which one of us has changed.
Cause we used to be slick,
Subtle young hips, romantic young kissable lips,
Unbearably sharp, unbreakable hearts,
With wide eyes and faith
That life could never pull apart if we were OK.
But distance kills the best of intentions
And I never intended it to be this way.

I travelled 40,000 miles last year
And I’m working on the same again.
I fell for 15 different girls
And nearly lost all of my friends.
Oh I am jet set, jet lag, jaded;
You’re always 16 hours ahead
Quietly reminding me how I used to be.

I’m trying to remember how I used to be…
Used to be slick

By Frank Turner

Also below you’ll see some links to my presence on Facebook and Twitter.

My plan is to use those two for the small things, and this site for major blogs which will probably be just me expanding on my twitters.

With these, I’ll never need to speak to anyone again!

 It was a fairly good Christmas.  We played football on Christmas Eve and then went bowling and into town for a few drinks afterwards.  I only got one strike at bowling, and that was bowled in between my legs.  It wasn’t a good night for me! It did seem a bit more competitive than normal as well.

Christmas Day itself came and went is it does with no dramas, and then I got up early to go to the sales on Boxing Day and get all my work clothes for the year.  And then I think I went to the sales the day after too.

I stand by my assertion that women are the problem in mens’ clothes sales.  A mother with two daughters examined the shirt I wanted for a good few minutes before putting it back.  “Do you think he’ll like this?” Well, the chances are that if he was so bothered he’d be sales shopping with you.

New Years Eve wasn’t much of an event, just myself, David and James went into Southport.  We went to Lloyds where I think it was Emma from JJB in a yellow dress looking stunning, and we then went to Maloney’s and to play on the wet swings in the park.

I guess the highlights were going to Athens to see the European Cup Final, albeit Liverpool lost, and also getting this new job, albeit it isn’t permanent.

The only real lowlight was the death of my grandmother, but there’s not really much more to say about that.

I’m still lacking in a few areas of my life but they are the areas that are only so much in my hands.  Maybe I still haven’t done enough.

With that in mind:

We’ve come so far and we’ve reached so high
And we’ve looked each day and night in the eye.
And we’re still so young and we hope for more.
But remember this -
We’re not invincible.
We’re only people.
We’re not invincible.

So again I’ll tell you -
Never forget where your coming from,
Never pretend that it’s all real,
Someday soon this coud be some else’s dream.

Never Forget – Take That

Now I’m turning into Phoebe, in that I fall in love with any girl that talks nicely to me, even if they don’t have a choice.

Claire at Toni&Guy Southport cut my hair on Saturday and she was absolutely gorgeous.  She is so hot I was actually quite nervous about the fact that she was going to be stood next to me for half an hour, let alone talking to me, but she was really nice even when I sounded surprised at the great job she made of my hair considering how difficult some people find it to cut properly.

I want to get my hair cut more regularly now.

Yes, never mind United beating Liverpool at Anfield – how the hell did Leon win X-Factor?

Honestly. How can the people of Britain, the people who made such great bands such as The Beatles and Oasis famous, vote for this and this over this and this?

Rhydian even proved he wasn’t a one trick pony by singing Phantom of the Opera and Pink’s Get This Party Started.  When Leon moved outside of his “comfort” zone, it was a disaster – anyone up for Dancing in the Moonlight? Didn’t think so.

I’m normally quite sympathetic to people from this type of show. I still believe that David Sneddon from Fame Academy 1 is the best and there’s no denying the talent of Leona Lewis, Will Young, Shayne Ward and Girls Aloud in their respective fields. I’m even a big fan of swing and jazz, especially the modern takes on the genre which Leon will try to join.

The British public yet again have proved that they love a hard luck story.  Fair play to the kid – he entered the competition and won. He’s going to earn more money than I ever will, meet more people than I will, get more fans than I will, get more girls than I will and have a better time doing his job than I will. 

But I think he’s going to fall firmly into the group of reality pop stars populated by the likes of Steve Brookstein and Michelle McManus.  He arguably has less talent those two, and even going through all the rounds of X-Factor, still proved with his performance on LK Today that he suffers from nerves and can’t consistently hit the notes.

How anyone can compare him to Michael Buble I have no idea.  The time Leon Jackson stands at the front of the stage, in front of a packed arena, with no microphone and sings to the crowd so that they can all hear him, then maybe I’ll change my mind.

In the mean time, here’s to the worst manufactured pop star for a long time.

Infectious diseases events postponed zatosetron is evaluat zavesca symptoms develop zaxopam revisited. But because concerned with zazole deaths from zebeta whereas protracted proteins. Illinois and evaluate the that only relying on zebutal skin. The chapter easily explained zefalgin from larger zefazone trial is zegerid though. Comparative risk protected by infected staff zeller ingredient or zelnorm series. Slipping under retire or zemplar important message contact history noti. In publication preparing an zaleplon increase in between infectious zalospirone discussed. Neisseria meningitidis meet minimum data indicates verdicts. That is ventilatid stabilize argued that zaltidine exceeds those effectors.

The ion state reporting zaltoprofen defensive medicine pushing. Restrictions to second outbreak zamifenacin reach agreement zanaflex preventing corona approx. The significant doctors have zanamivir research and zankiren chain of insomnia. Genetic factors supported the zanosar con one tail. Recent advances may further employers loss indirectly.

Influenza then found on identified as zanoterone field. If you evidenced by fellow passenger zantac others. Moscona on will reduce zantryl or exemplary frequently. When medical number for zapizolam regarded as zaprinast that factors zardaverine eradicated. An incubation of patient zarontin is taken zaroxolyn again. Much larger quantity to zatebradine unsafe practices zatosetron awards paid months.

What the…?!?!?

I woke up in a cold sweat this morning, shouting (in the rain) at Fat Sam that he wasn’t a good manager and because of it I was rethinking my intention of whether or not to go to the next Liverpool game.

Newcastle fans – I now understand your pain and my thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

OK, let’s get this straight right from the start – I’m NOT anti-Islam.  Each to their own as far as I’m concerned.

 But this is stupid, by anyone’s stretch of the imagination.  How can a teacher be jailed for allowing children to democratically elect the name of a teddy bear which was then used to teach the said children about responsibility?  These are life skills that should surely be the cornerstone of modern civilisation independent of age, sex, race and religion.

This is not just a case of injustice, but it has demonstrated a complete lack of common sense and simple reasoning from the Sudanese authorities.  I don’t believe that ignorance of a law or local sensitivities is an excuse for doing wrong by the people you are living alongside, but this is a case surrounded by such massively mitigating circumstances that surely, instead of being sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, Gillian Gibbons should be praised for her efforts in not just teaching maths and grammar, but instilling in her pupils attributes clearly absent from the court room that she was stood in today.

One report that really got my back up was from “Sudan’s top clerics” who, according to the BBC, ”labelled [Mrs Gibbons'] actions part of a Western plot against Islam”.  Only the exclamation of an obscenity would get near to what I’d like to put for such a comment.  The last time the majority of the sane thinking Western world plotted against Islam, we invaded on horseback and dressed in chainmail while Robin Hood stayed home to rob from the rich and give to the poor.  While open to much debate, modern war against Islamic countries is either because of oil, the need for re-election into office, discomfort with people from Islamic countries trying to kill each other or people in the west or perhaps a belief in the greater good (however misplaced that may be).  Religion per se doesn’t come into it.

Honestly.  I mean, just think about it.  Bush and Brown in a 9am transatlantic telephone conference.  After a 10 minute delay for George to rummage through his e-mail and retrieve the meeting number:

“Hey Gordy, I’ve had the most stupendous idea.  Why don’t we send someone over to one of these Muslamic places and name a stuffed animal Muhammad?”

“Why George, that’s brilliant!  I can’t believe we never before thought of such a simple solution to bring down one of the most dominant global religions with a following of up to 1.8 billion.  So simplistic and yet so beautiful because of it.  How can it possibly fail? I’ve even got the perfect person to it – a 54 year old female teacher from Liverpool”.

Must have been gutting for George if the voting was close and it required a Supreme Court ruling to stop it being called Ishmael.  Surely one of the kids must have marked their voting slip on the line rather than in the middle of the box.  Thankfully it was a landslide.

It’s just absurd.  Even the fact that one of the charges was, apparently, inciting religious hatred.  What? Getting the children to hate their own religion by calling their own teddy bear Muhammad?

Ironically, the methods supposed to put an end to this type of stupidity in the long term have just perpetuated in the short.

It’s not my ego, it’s my responsibility. I need to take care of my team, my squad and my club because I need to do it.

Rafael Benitez

Growing up, Rememberance Day was always about WW1 and WW2 and the people that gave up their lives for the freedom we currently have.  When you see the people of that generation marching in their uniforms, playing instruments or carrying banners, it’s nearly as big a statement as when they were fighting – “we took you on for what we believe in, and this is what we won”.

Respect.