A Sporting Chance

I would like to start off this blog with a sincere hope. If anybody saw the crash today at the Hungarian Grand Prix that involved Felipe Massa and was as shocked as I was, I would very quickly like to send out my hopes and best of wishes to the F1 driver and his family. Although every sport has it's successes and pitfalls, even though it is a spectacle for all of us, there are serious and life threatening risks that these men take when racing. This is why they get paid vast amounts of money... they put their lives on the line at immense speeds for our entertainment and unfortunately suffer the immense pressures and consequences of one slip up. Indeed, as was shown by the slow motion displays of Ricky Hatton getting knocked out by "The Pacman" Manny Pacquiao there is a ridiculous amount of money involved with these sports because the repurcussions aren't simply professional but instead to these sportsmen's lives and we should all remember that. Good luck Felipe.



These sportsmen take on these immense pressures and dangers everyday because they are trying to provide a decent standard of life for both themselves and their family. They train hard, have restrictions on both their physical and social lives as well as doing this all under the harsh scrutiny that society and espeicially the media imposes on their personal lives. Unfortunately, negative press sells newspapers and magazines and instigates more people to google the celebrity in question or buy a copy of heat magazine. We invest our own nationalistic aspirations and sporting hopes on each one of these sportsmen and we are all far too quick to judge each one of these men when either their personal or professional integrity are called into question. Could you bowl any faster than Freddie Flintoff, drive quicker than Fernando Alonso or hit a golf ball as far and straighter than Lee Westwood? I know that I couldn't.



Professional sports allow us all to relate to normal people who are simply very good at a game. This is why we can relate, they are like all the rest of us but for example really quick on a bicycle - well done Marck Cavendish & Bradley Wiggins.

A Bridge Too Far

As I sit here looking out across the Thames with the beautiful christmas tree of the Albert Bridge straddling each bank, it makes me think of the amount of people who join this rat race everyday. Everyone in London takes on average 4 weeks of holiday each year, as opposed to the French and Spanish who take 6 and figures published recently show that the Finnish are the chief exponents of the holiday with a massive 8 weeks off each year. This begs the question: has anyone ever met a Finnish person on a mini break or traveling? Bizarrely enough the only Finn I've ever bumped into was Jaws on DVD about a month ago. Indeed, this makes it even more strange thinking that Sami Hyypia and Jari Litmanen would trade this luxury time off for the kop.

Why do we all punish ourselves in this country into not taking more time off? I'm just as bad as anyone. I know that I am going to get paid for doing 8 hours in the day 9 until 6 with an hour for lunch but for some unknown reason I try to make sure that I'm sitting in my drab air conditioned office from 8.30 and still remain eating at my desk over lunch with a no-bread sandwich or a panini. Why? (Furthermore, what on earth is a no bread sandwich - what's that I hear you shout... yep - it's a fucking salad.) 

This rat race is all started by the same pistol unfortunately - greed. It drives society, the majority of people want to "push the envelope", "go the extra mile", hell even give that ever elusive "110%" that we all hear so much about. This all due to the fact that I want to earn more than the guy sitting next to me, add another zero onto the paycheck and have a bigger house than the neighbour. It is clear that greed runs throughout society at a core and basic level. Do we think that Jane would've hopped onto Tarzan's vine if he didn't have such a big treehouse. Probably not.

That all seems a touch bleak but the key is to find a job that you desperately want to be skipping lunch for. Making money from something you really enjoy is the best holiday you can have.

Therefore, I will be walking over that christmas tree of a bridge tomorrow morning like everyonelse so that at the end of the month, I will be able to head into the Mayfair Hotel across from the my office and when the barman asks me what I want for a drink, I can safely declare loudly that I'll be having a gin and tonic at £7 a pop. 

Actually, make that a double.

Peace

Watch the first step

To Blog or not To Blog?


What is a blog? How to blog? Is a blog the way out, is a blog the way in? If Hemingway or Shakespeare were writing in 2009, would they have a blog or is this piece of writing on the internet the complete antithesis of what they were aiming for? Indeed, if the characters of Hamlet, Macbeth and Shylock were first paraded in front of cyberspace to all the Kelly Slater "surfers"out there, would they have gone down in literary history as the most complex and renowned characters ever paraded in front of the general public? No, no they would not.

Fuck, questions aside this piece of writing will hopefully open up everyone's eyes to what the world is like from the opinion of someone who genuinely knows nothing about it. However, the cynic inside wants to open up the world, peel back the envelope just an inch and take a little glance inside. I hope that by doing so nothing will be uncovered or revealed to me that I can't take back. A lot like £32million on Andrei Shevchenko but that is going to be the subject of another one of these little posts.

Anyways, everything aside I have just got back from Salcombe in Devon and feel the need to put out some home truths. These need to be published somewhere and this is the easiest and best forum at the moment. Uncensored.

Uno : Jack Wills & Ugg Boots. Literally we all need to move on with our lives and get over it. Come on people in the vast chasm that is society, strive out and go for something different. It's not tricky just do what you think is going to be best. JW, A&F, D&G let's all try and move away and find something different. Seriously, let it die.

Dos: Service stations. How is it possible that we as a society have decided to focus so heavily on pirates in somalia, silvio berlusconi feeling up every young bambina that he sets his eyes on and oh, of course bloody swine flu but this blatent consumerism and social injustice passes unoticed throughout the ripples of life. £5 for a sandwich, £1.70 for a bottle of coke (also, on that note, if diet coke has less calories that why isn't it cheaper? If I'm the consumer and getting less for my money then why the hell am I paying the same amount? Riddle me this.) How dare they?!

Oh and Three: If you are one of those people on mass public transport, healthy man or woman who doesn't stand up for someone pregnant, then you deserve to be locked in a room and have Moby Dick read to you over and over again. Anyone who doesn't understand that analogy or has never even picked up Melville's "classic" - don't worry. As a public announcement don't try and read hat piece of shit....ever. 600 words of tuna aside, stand up for pregnant women on buses, trains or the tube, always there is no exception to that cause.

So, this blog has to come to an end. Rubbish but true. The truth doesn't have to hurt but unfortunately it really does. A lot like those 118 118 ads.

Peace x