Ok, I know lots of people who want to go into the police force, and most of them want to do it to serve the community, not to do the kind of crap I am about to tell you about.
One of my friends got arrested at the weekend for standing and watching a scuffle at a demonstration. His phone was taken, and he can’t figure out why. He thinks they probably want to go through his numbers and sneak on other people. I think they’re probably just being awkward.
Another of my friends, Clare, whose blog is in my links, has given up politics for a few weeks because “a dead activist is useless” - read what happened to her here.
A friend of mine, many years ago, was asked to get up and move by the police. He did. A policeman punched him anyway. Another girl I met - a very small woman, incidentally - had a shield shoved in her face having just shouted “This is a peaceful protest!” at police who were attacking her. I saw my friend Liz being shoved to the ground right in front of me. Police were pushing us from both sides. They didn’t realise two groups of police were trying to move us in opposite directions and assumed we were resisting.
I’m sick of this stuff. I don’t want to disrespect people who decide to give their careers to protect the community, but it’s sad that power goes to people’s heads. My friend Trevor told me that his cousin joined the police force to serve the community, but left after eight months because so many officers were fascist or racist. The kind of people I would like to be around when I have been a victim of crime are forced out of the service by the kind who victimise the citizens they are supposed to protect.
On a lighter note, Dave and I would like to declare 13 February (why? Why not?) International Doughnut Day. I might well dedicate a little web space to this idea:) this conversation started because I told him that in Croatia, people eat doughnuts, not pancakes, on Shrove Tuesday. I will be in Croatia on 24 February, so I will experience this personally!
I wish I had something further to write about my Christian life, but the struggles are the same really. I just don’t want to have a relationship with God very much. Well, not the way I think it works. Here’s how it works: I come in from work feeling relaxed and looking forward to haing breakfast and a little play around on the computer. As I wash up, I decide to pray. By the time I have finished, I feel guilty about wanting to go on the computer and like I should go and pray some more. I then feel angry that God has turned my peaceful good mood into something different. I then rationaise that maybe that is just my feelings, and tell God I will definitely set some time aside from him later. But somehow I feel that this is inadequate, and that putting Him first literally means putting Him first chronologically, and that the time I have just spent trying to talk to Him doesn’t count. I then end up not really wanting to talk to Him because I don’t want to feel like this again. Can anyone help? Please pray for me, if you can. Also, ask me if you would like me to pray for you.
In other news, I had a GREAT time at Ray’s birthday do at Belushi’s, followed by Los Locos. Ros was kind enough to put me up and feed me risotto beforehand! It was great! I seemed to spend the whole night talking to Ray and a friend of his, Jacek. We didn’t have anything in common whatsoever, but seemed to be able to discuss our differences rationally and intelligently. I feel a little bit bad for not being able to wipe the incredibly obvious “you’re fit” smile off my face. He has a girlfriend called Agnieszka, as does everyone else I know.
Wembley has the Champions League in 2011. IMO this is quite boring. I’d rather go to another country if Arsenal are going to be in the final. It wil be impossible to get tickets if the Final is here, if I’m unlucky enough to miss out in the ballot of season ticket holders. Every single person eligibile will apply. I hope Dinamo get an Abramovich and get to the CL final that year:D
I’m going to go, as I’ve been trying to write intelligently for far too long. This week has gone very quickly to me! Have a good weekend everybody.
I love Jesus! I went to church yesterday and sobbed my heart out because my life is so wretched and knackered. Three of my friends came and prayed with me, and I left feeling as if I had experienced God’s love, and feeling a lot more optimistc about faith and life in general. I hope it lasts. Trouble is, I felt yesterday like experiencing God emotionally was something I should be going for: today, that feels like a pain in the backside to achieve and I can’t be bothered, which could potentially make me not want to talk to God at all. I should really want to meet with Him and spend time with Him, but I don’t know if I do. Yesterday’s spiritual experiences feel like 10 years ago! I know faith is a matter of fact not feeling and all that, but I should make more effort to allow God to touch me emotionally. I want to love Him, not just say I do. I also want the things of God - Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, for example - to be more real to me, and touch my heart, and not just abstract concepts which I say I agree with. My faith is very academic, and a minister once told me I have “bandages on my heart”. I want to be opened up to the love of God from now on. Please pray for me on this subject, if you are that way inclined. Hvala!
Trivial stuff:
* Carlo Cudicini is a very naughty boy. Why on earth would you want to go to the T team? That’s worse than where he started!
* Lisa’s party was great fun and I met another Croatian guy, Tom. Typical: I’m wearing my Croatia shirt and a Croatian appears!
* If someone who isn’t Ros can tell me what this is, I’ll buy them a drink. I’ll give you a clue: it’s not a bishop hanging upside down, but if it was, Chris Perry would be involved.
* I am into the idea of watching Wisla Krakow v Legia Warsaw somewhere atmospheric in London. It’s the day before Arsenal v Chelsea, so I could go up to London after work on Saturday to get my kicks in a hhhh heavy, mentalist atmosphere. Back into the football adrenaline junkie syndrome for me!
* Croatian Word of the Day is “Umirem od gladi”, which was my sister’s desired answer to “Kako si?”. It means “I’m starving!”
* I’m against the BBC’s decision not to show the Gaza appeal. I think humanitarian appeals should be shown irrespective of politics - saving lives and livelihoods is more important that remaining impartial!
That’s it from me, I think. I have to go to bed now. Goodnight and God bless. Jenni xx
This is a cocktail we refused to order in Ljubljana. It’s a shame cos it sounds like it might taste quite nice, and where are we ever going to get hold of passion fruit liquer? But seriously, what was the name inventor thinking?:) Has anyone out there ever ordered it, or an equally dirty sounding treat?
We were in Ljubljana with Zvone. This means we had to ask him to say “Ljubljana” over and over again because it sounded so good:) Practice this on a HHHH person near you today! (Doesn’t that sound like I’m advertising for Sainsbury’s?)
Child footballers
We found out what various people looked like as children. You can guess which one I shrieked over.
Proof that there is hope for everyone, like my mum, suffered the indignity of National Health style reading glasses as a kid! I wonder if he wears contacts now? Like me, you will find yourself ignoring the kid pictures and just looking right eventually:) Enjoy.
What a goal!!
I don’t only like football for the players’ looks! I found this by accident after delving into the world of Kickette, which is worth a visit. Following their links led me to this goal. Wow! I like the person scoring it:) Btw, WHY is there a realmadrid.pl?! That should be Hhhhreal Hhhhadrid.
I think that’s it for today. Looking forward to Lisa’s party tonight now. I am going dressed as a Croatian witch:)
1) Here is the promised Janko Tipsarevic picture. It carries a severe health warning. Janko’s looks can lead to hhhhospitalisation and so can his accent.
Also, Marat Safin has retired from tennis. Aww, poor Ros! Here is a present for you!
2) A naughty Dinamo player has made The Sun! I couldn’t believe it when I saw a Croatia shirted man in the FRONT part of the paper Nigel was reading at work. The account in the paper was better than this one which doesn’t actually mention that he plays for Dinamo and has at least 2 typos. However, the paper one was shorter and didn’t mention that he might be going to the T team (no, don’t do it!) and that his son had been mistaken for Madeleine McCann! It was on the unpronounceable Krk (which should be calld hrh!), as well. Sinisa has been on holiday there recently.
3) You need to watch this video of Lazy Town, around the 4.40 mark. We tried to cut out 10 seconds of it using this tutorial, but I couldn’t work out how.
Of course, I’m never guilty of doing this banana eating, purple shoe wearing sort of thing. Never at all.
It took me ages to find Artur doing the L sign and now I’ve found it by accident!
Now I am annoyed with computers. Thanks Caroline and Ros for all your help and patience at this difficult time! Who knew making 1 blog entry could cause this much pain?! I’m going to play Albert Tatlock now.
I haven’t written about much religion or politics or any of those things Caroline describes as “spaghetti”. So, here’s a report which appears to criticise my first post: Suffragettes boycotted the 1911 census, arguing that if a woman was able to fill in a form with her details, she was able to mark an X on a ballot paper.
Glad I found this as it enabled me to add both the blog which produced this post (The F Word) and my friend Clare’s Socialist blog to my links. Now, no more blogging for the day; not even the Janko Tipsarevic picture, which will have to wait another day. Ladies should take beta-blockers in preparation:)
Soccerway is the most amazing football portal ever. I’ve been searching for AGES for a site which gives you football fixtures in other countries, not just results. This one not only covers Poland, which I was looking for, but places like the Bahamas! If you get a page which is only showing results, just click Next.
The Poland page on SoccerWay has informed me as to when the next Wisla Krakow v Lech Poznan game will be. Tomasz says that this is the best Polish game to watch. I wonder if the Mitre or another Southampton pub will show it?
Soccerway now has a date with my links list on the right. Yay!
It’s occurred to me that I’m becoming obsessed with travelling to dangerous football matches. A lot of time has been spent fantasizing about Crvena Zvezda drawing Dinamo in the UEFA Cup, and I haven’t even been to Hajduk v Dinamo yet! I guess I am locating the next big thrill so that I don’t feel that ever going to watch live football again is pointless after my Croatian experiences.
I listened to this properly the other day. Obviously when it came out, I was about 8 and didn’t analyse lyrics. Now it is clear that every verse is about a different part of the United Kingdom and whatever was going on there in 1990. I understand some of it, but not all, and I like the last verse, especially “Love is international”. More edification would be appreciated, especially from those who remember 1990 properly, first hand.
Jocks got a vote in parochia
Ten long years and hes still got her
Paying tax and and doing stir
Worry about it later.
And the wind blows hot and the wind blows cold
But it blows us good so weve been told
Musics food til the art-biz folds
Let them all eat culture.
Chorus:
The past is steeped in shame,
But tomorrows fair game,
For a life thats fit for living
Good morning britain.
Twenty years and a loaded gun
Funerals, fear and the war aint won
Paddys just a figure of fun
It lightens up the danger.
And a corporal sneers at a catholic boy
And he eyes his gun like a rich mans toy
Hes killing more than celtic joy
Death is not a stranger.
Taffys times gonna come one day
Its a loud sweet voice and it wont give way
A house is not a holiday
Your sons are leaving home neil.
In the hills and the valleys and far away
You can hear the song of democracy
The echo of eternity
With a rak-a-rak-a feel.
Chorus
From the tyne to where to the thames does flow
My english brothers and sisters know
Its not a case of where you go
Its race and creed and colour.
From the police cell to the deep dark grave
On the undergrounds just a stop away
Dont be too black, dont be too gay
Just get a little duller.
But in this green and pleasant land,
Where I make my home, I make my stand
Make it cool just to be a man,
A uniforms a traitor.
Love is international
And if you stand or if you fall,
Just let them know you gave your all,
Worry about it later.
Chorus
On the subject of love being international, I’ve been reading about the occupations over Palestine (this is the LSE Occupation blog) which are going on at five different universities: also, the NUS voting through the Governance Review, which I opposed as a student last year. This article is the spin version from the NUS, btw, but you will find countless opinion about it on various blogs. Now, I can’t wait to get back to university and do my MA and get involved in student politics again. It seems like such a vibrant time for student activism.
A request from another workmate, Dave Pike. This song gets stuck in your head and won’t leave, so do not listen if this will be an impediment to your sensible activities today.
And here is the silly 9000 beats per minute version:
In other news, HHHH people should make Tim Cahhhhilll their hhhhero more often, and I should be using my time off to learn some more Polish. I got free software from byki.com. It isn’t bad, but is very sensitive. It shows you one side of a flashcard and asks you to type the other. When you’re typing, you have to get it absolutely right, down to the full stop! Mind you, there is a “typo” option which will accept the given answer as a one off. There is a wide selection of languages to choose from and Caroline’s got the Croatian version, so I can play with that next time I go to her house.
Yesterday, I had a crack at making the Czech onion soup that Ros made for us in the summer, when we had the pre-Euro 2008 dinner at her house. She cooked us Czech onion soup and potato pancakes with a Caesar salad containing Swiss cheese, as apparently all the other Swiss food was too heavy for lunchtime. Thanks, Ros, for the recipe! It was really nice, but my sister said it tasted of gravy. I did not spend an hour making gravy! I couldn’t get the roux bit right - I ended up having to pick dumplings out of the soup, but it was nice in the end. The recipe is here.
I have had Dancing on Ice on in the background during my daily geek session on the laptop. There is a nice Czech skater, Pawel Aubrecht, who caught his partner and gave her a cuddle after she had a bad fall, whilst saying “That was not good!” in an aesthetically very pleasing way which reminded me of someone I know……..
He’s married. BOO! So is the Russian guy, Andrei Lipanov, which brings me on to:
Was he wearing a Zenit St. Petersburg shirt in practice? Did anybody watch?
His partner, Hollyoaks and Eastenders actress Gemma Bissix, just went out, so no more looking at him… probably for the best!
And here is the Word Search solution. Ros wins an expensive drink next time I see her. She got four out of ten. I think she and Caroline would have found more correct answers if some of the words were dictionary standard rather than colloquial. The Croatian football words appearing in the wordsearch were:
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