The Philanderer
Monday, May 12, 2008
The perfect Ten....
This has no reference to events in Wigan on Sunday, but to the annual ten Tors expedition which has been running across Dartmoor this weekend. The route varies with age, but forces the participants to visit ten of the Tors on Dartmoor as indicated on their joining instructions.
Teams consist of six people and the route has to be completed by 5pm on Sunday, with the participants spending the Saturday night on the moor. You may recall that last year the whole event had to be abandoned as the weather was so bad. Poor visibility, rain and wind contributed to the decision to evacuate 2,500 kids at short notice. The Armed Forces who police the event acted with military precision to complete the task with minimum trauma to the teams.
This years event had already been marred by the death of one girl earlier in the year while her team were practicing for the walk.
This weekends event, however, went much better. Most of the teams completed the course, and those that were removed from the route early were forced off by blisters or heat exhaustion, as the temperatures this year hit 80- degrees.
All six members of the team need to complete the course to ensure they all get a commemorative medal, and I can remember my pal Stu doing it while we were at school, and telling us stories of how they literally had to drag one of their team the last few miles to the finishing line in Oakhampton in order to get theirs.
So well done to those that completed the walk this year, and to the organisers and the military for sustaining the event into the future.
Teams consist of six people and the route has to be completed by 5pm on Sunday, with the participants spending the Saturday night on the moor. You may recall that last year the whole event had to be abandoned as the weather was so bad. Poor visibility, rain and wind contributed to the decision to evacuate 2,500 kids at short notice. The Armed Forces who police the event acted with military precision to complete the task with minimum trauma to the teams.This years event had already been marred by the death of one girl earlier in the year while her team were practicing for the walk.
This weekends event, however, went much better. Most of the teams completed the course, and those that were removed from the route early were forced off by blisters or heat exhaustion, as the temperatures this year hit 80- degrees.
All six members of the team need to complete the course to ensure they all get a commemorative medal, and I can remember my pal Stu doing it while we were at school, and telling us stories of how they literally had to drag one of their team the last few miles to the finishing line in Oakhampton in order to get theirs.
So well done to those that completed the walk this year, and to the organisers and the military for sustaining the event into the future.
Labels: dartmoor, Oakhampton, ten tors, wigan
¶ 12:14 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Vote of Confidence
Footie fans across the Country have been gnashing their teeth with some degree of anguish, as a pre-Christmas merry-go-round of managerial changes have been taking place.Its quite strange though how the managers seem to come off best.
Take Ian Hollowords for example. He resigns from the Argyle, and joins Leicester allegedly for £400k per annum, almost doubling his salary. His wife and kids have just moved into a new house in Plymouth, and now have to leave for Leicester. Not ideal. He gets replaced by Paul Sturrock, who leaves Swindon where he has no money, and no prospects as they stumble from one failed takeover to another. There are no indications of his salary package yet but I suspect he will do better from it than previously.
The rumour mill indicates Steve Cotterill will take over at Swindon. He parted company with Burnley a few weeks ago, with an agreed compensation package, so has not been out of work long. Burnley replaced him with Owen Coyle from St Johnstone, North of the border and Derek Mcinnes has replaced Coyle, a promotion from within the ranks.......
So, all the fans have been frustrated, but the managers seem to have sorted themselves pretty well.
A similar situation is occurring in the Premiership. Wigan part company with Hutchings, who took over when Paul Jewell left the club. Steve Bruce has now left Birmingham to take up the reins. Birmingham have acquired the ex-Scotland boss, Alex McLeish, and Billy Davies, sacked from Derby, indicates he would quite like the Scotland managers job. Meanwhile the aforementioned Paul Jewell steps smoothly into the Derby hot seat, and everybody is rockin' and rollin'.
All we have to do now is fill the England job, but wait a moment Rafael Benitez will get the sack tonight if Liverpool lose in the European Champions League, and the roundabout can start all over again.
Take Ian Hollowords for example. He resigns from the Argyle, and joins Leicester allegedly for £400k per annum, almost doubling his salary. His wife and kids have just moved into a new house in Plymouth, and now have to leave for Leicester. Not ideal. He gets replaced by Paul Sturrock, who leaves Swindon where he has no money, and no prospects as they stumble from one failed takeover to another. There are no indications of his salary package yet but I suspect he will do better from it than previously.
The rumour mill indicates Steve Cotterill will take over at Swindon. He parted company with Burnley a few weeks ago, with an agreed compensation package, so has not been out of work long. Burnley replaced him with Owen Coyle from St Johnstone, North of the border and Derek Mcinnes has replaced Coyle, a promotion from within the ranks.......
So, all the fans have been frustrated, but the managers seem to have sorted themselves pretty well.
A similar situation is occurring in the Premiership. Wigan part company with Hutchings, who took over when Paul Jewell left the club. Steve Bruce has now left Birmingham to take up the reins. Birmingham have acquired the ex-Scotland boss, Alex McLeish, and Billy Davies, sacked from Derby, indicates he would quite like the Scotland managers job. Meanwhile the aforementioned Paul Jewell steps smoothly into the Derby hot seat, and everybody is rockin' and rollin'.
All we have to do now is fill the England job, but wait a moment Rafael Benitez will get the sack tonight if Liverpool lose in the European Champions League, and the roundabout can start all over again.
Labels: derby, england, plymouth, scotland, st johnstone, sturrock, swindon, wigan
¶ 2:30 PM 0 Comments
