The art of football

Bridget

Louise

These are part of my series of football paintings - the kind you do while the match is playing at the other end of the room. I do try to be patriotic and support my national team, but football does get a bit tedious after the first five minutes and it annoys me think how much they get paid to pass the ball around (not always very successfully) and hit the post.

For those of you not on European shores, you may have missed the fact that it's the 'Euros'. Across our continent, fans gather by their TV sets biting their nails and chewing their knuckles. After 90 minutes of watching the players running about you'll be lucky to see one goal scored. You are guaranteed though at least one bad referee decision (yeah, yeah, it crossed the line after all - live with it - we remember Lampard in South Africa and the famous 'hand of God). You are guaranteed a spot of high drama histrionics from the players - lots of rolling around the floor in agony clutching their left leg when the replay shows they were actually kicked in the right... then they're leaping up and running after the ball when they realise nobody gives a toss.

There's not even much eye candy on the pitch either to help pass the time. Bring back Beckham I say. A friend of mine saw him play many times. She said he actually 'twinkles'...

Oh well, if he's not playing football this week, maybe he'd like to be my guest at Paint Party Friday. He certainly appears to be dressed for it!

Three Lions, Three Muses and Three Words...

Three lions on the shirt Jules Rimet* still gleaming
All those years of hurt
Never stoppped me dreaming

So many jokes, so many jeers
But all those oh so nears
Wear you down
Through the years

But I still see that
Tackle by Moore
And when Lineker scored
Bobby belting the ball
And nobby dancing...

***

Well, I wonder if anyone else has been inspired with a football song at the lyric challenge of the the Three Muses this week. Last time I did one of these I stuck with the more traditional "I got sunshine on a cloudy day", but hey the World Cup starts this week. England are in it. The radios are full of football anthems. Lads and ladettes shout the words in the streets and dream...

Personally I love a good footie tune but it has to be 'of the people'. I'm sorry, but unless it has a rousing chorus that sounds better when sung by crowds of drunks celebrating that last second goal in the dying moments of the game than it aint no good by my book.

Here's a couple of fine examples ready for this year's upcoming victory.

Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough...




And the best football song ever?
Reworked for 2010



And the three words of the header for this post? Well, WE WILL WIN of course!

* PS: For the last 12 years I had been under the impression that the lyrics of this song read 'jewels remain still gleaming'. What can I say... I'm a girl!

Soft furnishings and the modern man

I was in HomeSense at the weekend. If you don't know the store, it is, as the name suggests - items for the home. Pictures, mirrors, frames, storage, lamps, ornaments, interesting ironwork - a girlie haven. . I love it in there and could happily spend a fortune. For those of you who read my post about Anthropologie - it's very similar products but about a quarter of the price. The place for the 'sensible' shopper.

Anyway, I was browsing on Saturday. Gently fingering fabrics, peering at paints and coveting cushions. They had some real beauties with frills and fancy bits. A young couple were standing in the way of a particularly fetching deep purple paisley print velvet specimen I couldn't wait to get my hands on. The female asked his opinion on two she was dithering over. The poor chap, he looked terrified. "The thing is" he stammered. "I'm just not all that interested in soft furnishings..."

I couldn't help but smile and, seeing as I really wanted to get to that purple velvet, I just had to butt in.

"Of course he's not going to show an interest in cushions" I lamented. "He's a bloke."

Bloke in question looked at me with gratitude and agreement. Here was a girl on his side at last. And I wasn't even finished yet..

"You're lucky you got him in here at all" I continued (receiving a nasty look from the cushion coveter). Then I returned home to my man who was on the edge of his seat in the closing minutes of the big game. We had tuned into the radio on the way home just to check if it would be safe to cross the threshold, but needn't have worried. His team won.

Clearly the girl hadn't a clue how to handle her man. I mean, seriously, you don't take them shopping for cushions for one very good reason. No, not because they don't care; they get bored in 2 seconds; or would rather be watching sport. The reason is simple... they will never find out how much you just spent on two squares of fabric stuffed with fluff!

What's it all for?

As stated, this blog is about me becoming a writer. I will detail my journalistic exploits, my verrryy-sloooow-toooooo-progressss-novelll and have a good old time writing posts in here. But it's something else too... a conversation starter! I know you're reading this, I can see you there you know. So how about a comment or two? Of course, it's partly my fault that my conversation is a little one-sided (apart from my sister and a fellow stationery lover who I accosted when they were least expecting it). What is missing in my missives is a call to action - a question like... what do you think? Not just about my blog but about my musings - what's your view on Gok for example? By the way I bet Torres and his chums were cursing the football schedules last night. That's two Tuesdays in a row they've had to go to work at the same time Gok is on! I'm going to shoot off on a tangent now, mainly because I am very tired and my mind is all over the place. Let's talk football. Why is it that when I sit down to watch a match with my boyfriend, inevitably it proves to be a dull run around by 22 over-paid grown men failing to get the ball in the back of the net, then when I'm watching Gok (and don't have SkySports anyway) what happens? I'll tell you what... 8 goals and 2 in the last couple of minutes. Now that's what I call a football match. Boyfriend, aka Arsenal obsessive, kindly filled me in on many of the goals by phone update (which was very entertaining as, every time he called, Liverpool equalised) and then, I have to confess, in very small type, I did actually put on SkySports News to catch the final moments and see the goal replays ... Well... what can I say? A closet Gooners fan!
Right, 6 minutes until the Apprentice starts. I am allowing myself an hour's slob on the sofa and an early night. So, if my some miracle you are still managing to follow this - how about joining in with a bit of writing of your own?

Liverpool and Chelsea vs Gok - let battle for the remote commence...

Next week, I shall be entering the world of broadcasting in my new contract as Internal Communications Manager for Arqiva, so I may just get this question answered for me. While scanning the TV listings for next week, I was most amused to discover the ultimate televisual clash on Tuesday evening - for, at the very same time as Liverpool play Chelsea in the Champions League second leg quarter finals on ITV1, so does the legend that is Gok (no surname required, every woman in the country knows who he is) begin his new fashion show on Channel 4. How the planners at Channel 4 must have chuckled when they scheduled this one, imagine the sadistic grins as they envisaged the wars breaking out in front of TVs across the nation. It's almost a shame that we have catch up TV, Sky plus and DVD recorders these days... Yes, that's right - it'll be the football that gets watched later boys...

PS - Come on you reds!