Face Of Cheam

Well after moaning about the lack of a social life I manage to make a consecutive Friday & Saturday night out. Alas, Friday was a bit too overindulgent meaning I missed out on overtime Saturday morning. Was a work do that started at 4pm and went on till far too late. After a few beers in the office we went up to the Moon On The Hill for a couple and ended up in the Sutton Arms after being refused entry to The Treasury. Group too drunk and someone (not me) wearing trainers.
Recovered in time for a crawl of Wimbledon. After a couple in the Alexandra we wondered up to the village to find everywhere heaving. Disappointingly we did not visit the revamped Dog & Fox as you couldn’t get through the door, however the Rose & Crown, Brewery Tap and SW19 were done before heading back down back to the Alex. Interestingly, the Rose & Crown have got speed dating on Valentines Day, something I may be tempted by. Only a fiver but I might chicken out nearer the time.

Don’t have to worry about the FA cup this year with Saints going out to Man City. Saw the Man U Skates game, and saw Rooneys wonder chip. David James expression was excellent acknowledging the class of the goal. Sunday I ended up in the Little Windsor for the Arsenal Bolton draw. Wasn’t a great game. Not sure why Wenger doesn’t play Theo up front rather than right midfield. Still with Arsenal getting a draw it is another opportunity for Mr Wenger to moan about playing too many matches.

Big Brother finished on Sunday evening with Shilpa winning. Pleased to see Jack and Danielle get booed. The latters reaction to being shown the bullying was priceless. Shame Davina didn’t tell her that Teddys also dumped her! Strange thing though is who actually goes to the eviction and more worryingly who went to sing the A-Team theme!

So, first gig of the year. Was able to get a First Connect direct to Kings Cross. I do enjoy coming up to Blackfriars on this line where you can see most of London's famous landmarks, The wheel, St Pauls, Houses Of Parliament etc. Had time for a couple of pints before, firstly in the Carpenters Arms where I'm pleased to say they still do Double Diamond (or DD) and Toby! The DD was £2.40. Couple of people in there were playing darts too showing how fashionable the game is getting. Heading back to the venue I head in the Lucas Arms. Fairly pleasant, screen showing the Plymouth game and I manage to win a couple of quid on the Bullseye machine. Off to the venue then.



Id forgotton what a great small venue the Water Rats is. Bar outside, and then walk through some double doors and your 15 yards away from the stage with a step down (ie raised bit at the back). Support were a band called Envy & Other Sins. They were surprisingly good for a support. Jnagling bouncy indie. Nothing too memorable but good enough to see them if they supported anyone else.
The Sounds were the main act. Hailing fron Sweden their new album (UK release in March) was produced by the same guy who has done The Killers. Electric guitars hooks with Keys prominant and a female singer this was good loud rocky stuff. Fortuanately I have their latest album on import so knew some of the tracks. Somewhat disappointingly half their set was older stuff from their Swedish only albums. Still Painted By Numbers, Song With A Mission and Queen of Apology are all strong bouncy songs. Definately recommend the album to people and will see them again when they do a full British tour in March playing the Islington Academy. As I left the venue after their 50 minute set I saw their black tour bus with red writing saying 'the rock bus'. Very Spinal Tap!

Another Friday and Saturday night in. No wonder I’m watching big brother. All of it has been blown completely out of proportion though. When people argue, and one person is white and the other not, racism is always mentioned by someone. The only offensive comments were made by the thick scouser Danielle. Now it is acceptable I can say thick scouser, despite this may be prejudice against people from Merseyside. If I were to refer to Shilpa as the same replacing scouse with the place where she came from it could be interpreted as racist. PC worlds going mad and soon you won’t be able to make any comments about anyone. Still wonder if Teddy will get rid of his girlfriend as the kick racism out of football campaign is being maintained.

Saints got a good win at QPR. A few beers were had before and after in the Bushranger pub next to Goldhawk Road tube. An odd place, with a long thin bar downstairs, they seem to be trying to cater for food lovers and make it look like a trendy gastropub, yet they have screens all over the place showing sport! We went upstairs in a spacious square room. Managed to get Rasiaks goal filmed on my phone although you couldn’t tell what was going on as its quite small. QPR is the only ground I know that has inflatable Pritt sticks on the pitch at half time whilst young kids show off their skills dribbling between them and having a one on one with the opposing goalie (also a young kid).

Sunday saw Arsenal beat Man Utd. Thierry Henry was completely anonymous until he scored in the last minute, yet somehow Sky named him as Man Of The Match. Presumably just so they could interview him.

As January comes to a close, hopefully my social life will pick up so will be able to report on more interesting things such as gigs and pubs.

Darts has suddenly become fashionable, not least because of the classic final on New Years Day between Barmey and Phil Taylor. On Friday I experianced my first visit to Lakeside for the 'other' not so good World Championship tournament and saw two mens quarter finals and the Womens final. The atmosphere was fantastic and although you were away from the action there were big screens so it was a bit like being at a stadium gig when you're half way back. The first game was a great 5-4 with the dutchman De Vitters beating the geordie Gary Robson. The next game eventual finalist Phil Nixon got through. Then it was the womens final and although the standerd was not great it still was a world title final that I witnessed.
Managed to see the final on Sunday between Martin Adams and Phil Nixon. Another great game, where in the first to seven Adams sailed into a 6-0 lead before being dragged back to six all. He finally got his act together though to win the final set in straight legs. Wolfie as he's known, presumably as he is bearded, is the BDO's world number one and although he deserved his win I don't think he would have much of a chance against Phil Taylor or Barney on the PDF.

Saints had a dull nil nil on Saturday against Burnley. We severey lacked a creative spark in midfield and it shows that when your creative players are all out injured (Belmadi, Dyer, Surman, Skacel, Idiakiez) you are going to struggle. Off to Shepherds Bush for QPR on Saturday which is always a good away trip.

Watched Spurs lose to Newcastle in O'Neills where they have employed a suitably attractive barmaid. (I cant recall the last time I saw a female member of staff in this pub). The match itself was hugely entertaining even with the ridiculous nonsense at half time. Much as I detest the club Spurs, I have to admit a liking for Martin Jol, who remarkably said yeah as his first word in the post match interview. Spurs actually do try to entertain unlike some Northern sides and although not in the same bracket as Arsenal or Man Utd, you do get some good football to watch when they play.

Big Brother has all gone a bit mad. Leo Sayer finally lost it and broke out having run out of underwear. He also tried to fight the security guard who was about five times bigger than him! Much as I hate myself for watching this trash TV, I am intrigued by the general bitchiness by the girls (all of which will cry at least once every two days) and how the blokes remain so quiet especially Jermaine. I stand by my prediction of the faceman to win although he did have to survive an eviction to stay in!

Again, being January I have another quiet week ahead. May go out for the Man City Sheffield Wednesday game as we play the winner. Beyond the weekend I have my first gig to attend, The Sounds at the Water Rats in Kings Cross. Their album is fantastic so should be a good one.

& inevitably people have colds, no money or just cant be arsed to go out so I ended up staying in this weekend. Alas it means you stay in watching rubbish on TV and I now have to admit watching a lot of the celebrities Big Brother. Quite funny that two people have left because of the awful Goody family. I do think that Shilpa is quite fit which makes it ok to watch in my book. Think that Dirk (Face from the A Team) will win though.
Saw Deal or No deal on Sunday where they had the first £250,000 winner. She had the big one and £3000.00 left and the offer was about £40,000. Call me cautious but I wouldn't gamble 37 grand on a 2-1 chance to quadruple it and I would have even banked a bit earlier when the offer was 20 grand. When I watch this programme I always want them to lose out as it brings out the greed in most people on it, a vile characteristic. However, I think the girl who did win wasn't being greedy, just wanted to have fun and wouldn't have cared that much if she lost the big amount so I was happy to see a win for a change.
This weekend saw the best day of the football year, FA Cup 3rd Round Day. Having seen a couple of games that were shown live and Match Of The Day, the standard of keeping appeared to be atrocious. Dudek and Howard were among the high profile poor performances and Saints benefited in their first goal against Torquay by a keeper error. Maybe the new ball has something to do with, or is that just the keepers union clutching at straws.
Because Sutton Utd was postponed I managed to see Jeff Stelling in the Nightingale pub for the 2nd half updates. Although I normally find this rivetting my attention was diverted (as was the only other two blokes in the pub) by a girl in the flat opposite painting in soley a tight vest and knickers! A good way to spend a pint on a wet Saturday afternoon me thinks.

So I bet you're all wondering who won the calender match off referred to below. Well it was another curvaceous 6-6 draw which even went to a female ajudicator who could not choose between them!

For New Years eve, we did a crawl of Wimbledon. So nice to go to a place where there are no tickets to be bought in advance and no dress code (although every one looked smart!)and you were free to drift place to place!

New Years Day did see a thrilling darts match on Sky for the world title. Barney beat Phil Taylor in sudden death after being three down. Was a great, great game!

Not many plans this week, so a slow start to the year. Can't go to Torquay due to distance, so will probably go Sutton Eastleigh to catch up with Saints legends Francis Benali and player-manager Jason Dodd!.

For some reason today, despite a lethargic first couple of days back at work, I am in a bouncy good mood. Probably won't last alas!