:dazed: I do hope it is not going to continue on late tonight.... beautiful to watch, but oh, so noisy!!!

:fawkes:

beat your wife up regularly and get sozzled every night, forget your sons birthday every year and hey presto you get your face on a bank note, but then we have to remember this is northern ireland we are talking about

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will
tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you
enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom,
and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours
while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15
minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger,
disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must
learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the
responsibility for your actions even when the
penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm
glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the
meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids
ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.


When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat
sandwiches.


And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all
times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She
had to know who our friends were, and what we were
doing with them. She insisted that if we said we
would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
to break the Child Labour Laws by making us work We
had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash
and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie
awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time
we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had
eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn
when they drove up. They had to come up to the door
so she could meet them. While everyone else could
date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

November 04, 2006 Edition 1


"What's that over there, dad?"

"That's Athlone soccer stadium, my child, they're building a new stand for it."

"For the World Cup games, dad?"

"Actually, no, my child."

"Why not, dad?"

"Because they're going to play the World Cup at a big new stadium in Green Point, my child?"

"Why, dad?"

"Because, my child, they need a bigger stadium to have the really big games like semi-finals."

"So why are they building a new stand at Athlone, dad?"

"So it can be used for World Cup practice matches and later for club games, my child".

"Why can't they play those matches at the new stadium in Green Point, dad?"

"Well, my child, the new stadium will be too big for club matches and not close enough for supporters to get to and the provincial government committed to developing Athlone before it suddenly decided that it wanted to build Green Point and we want a legacy from the World Cup in different parts of the city and sometimes we might need two decent soccer stadiums and Athlone is the traditional home of soccer and non-racial sport in Cape Town."

"I don't understand what you just said, dad."

"Ummm … let's just say it's complicated."

"Why don't they play the World Cup games at Newlands, dad? It's pretty big."

"Not quite big enough for the big games, my child, and it's surrounded by houses which makes it hard to have the type of access spaces which FIFA demands."

"What's FIFA, dad?"

"They're the people who run the World Cup, my child."

"But I thought it was our World Cup, dad?"

"Well it is and it isn't, my child. They're just giving it to us for this one time and they insist on stadiums being big and new."

"Even when we won't need them later, dad?"

"Yes, my child."

"That's dumb, dad."

"No, that's FIFA, my child."

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the buildings round Newlands and flatten them than build a whole new stadium, dad?"

"Maybe, my child, but the World Cup is a soccer event and they want a new soccer stadium for the city."

"Can they play rugby at a soccer stadium, dad?"

"Yes, of course they can, my child."

"So will they play the big rugby matches at the new stadium, dad?"

"No, my child."

"Why not, dad?"

"Because rugby owns Newlands. It's what they call an asset and they want to get all the money from the suites, catering and advertising at their own ground rather than be a tenant at the new stadium."

"So we're going to have three stadiums when we only need one, dad?"

"Yes, my child."

"That's a waste of money, dad."

"You're right, my child."

"What's that over on the other side of the road, dad?"

"That's the N2 Gateway Project, my child."

"Why are those shiny new houses empty, dad, when there are all those people in shacks nearby?"

"Daddy's got a headache, my child, just be quiet and look at the lovely mountain."

November 04, 2006 Edition 1

Peter Bills

The International Rugby Board yesterday announced it is to crack down on backchat from players.

Zero tolerance is the buzz phrase that has emerged from this week's deliberations over in London among the world's top 20 rugby referees. Neither captains nor individual players will any longer be allowed to query an official's decision. They will be told the reasons for the penalty and asked to move back immediately. If they desist, they will concede a further 10 metres. Any further dissent will lead to yellow cards.

Frankly, the decision is long overdue. There have been times in recent years when it's seemed as though players like Sean Fitzpatrick, Lawrence Dallaglio and Matt Dawson have been refereeing games. They've been whingeing, moaning, complaining and berating officials for their decisions. They've given them more advice than a US President gets. It had to stop and it's a good thing it will.

Refereeing any rugby match these days is difficult enough without having to justify most of your decisions. But that's the stage it has got to. And, of course, at the top level, the crafty captains have been querying an official's decision not because they want clarification but to prevent the opposition taking a quick tap penalty and getting on with the game.

The IRB's referee supremo Paddy O'Brien admitted "This has become a significant problem. It's got a lot closer to what you have in soccer; players arguing and complaining at a referee's decision. We can't have that in rugby.

"What worries me is that now, you see a club game at junior level and the players are doing it there, too. Every time a referee makes a decision, someone is querying it. They're getting it from watching the top players in matches on TV. We have to sort this out now."

So a general edict has been issued to referees. They need state only: 'Penalty, No 7 offside'.

O'Brien says that attempts by referees to create communication with players has backfired. He's right. No referee should have to justify his decision to any player. It's not as if he's going to change it after a debate over its rights and wrongs. Most refs have become weary of hearing players moaning endlessly at them, complaining volubly when they're in the wrong themselves. All it is, is a cheap way of pressurising officials and trying to rattle the referee. And it's got to stop.

O'Brien says common sense will be used by referees and he believes players will toe the line. Fine if they do. But a few yellow cards here and there early on, would probably ensure the trend dies out. And the referees had better adhere to the new instruction too. The top 20 officials in the world were in London this week for the meeting. But only 12 will be selected for next year's World Cup.

As O'Brien says "The heat is on the referees as well."

November 04, 2006 Edition 1

Gavin Rich

The controversy this week over the election, or non-election, of Luke Watson as the South African Players' Player of the Year comprehensively blew out of the water the theories that he would be bad for Springbok morale as he is an unpopular player.

For those who did not follow the latest Watson furore on the internet, it was alleged by a rugby website that the Western Province captain was chosen by his peers among the professional players in South Africa as their Player of the Year. This poll was conducted via sms, and last Friday Watson was the clear leader before a call was made for more votes.

In an email sent to the website, the South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins confirmed that he was called in to make a casting vote when the Players' Player poll delivered a tie between Watson and Kabamba Floors of the Cheetahs. Hoskins said that he felt the award should go to Floors.

Quite what qualifies Hoskins, who is definitely not a player, to make this call is difficult to understand. Surely then the award should be called the Players' and President's Player of the Year?

But as these awards should never be taken too seriously, and are not akin to winning or losing a Test match, that is not the issue. What is interesting though is that Watson was one of the top two favoured men when the players voted. So much then for him being disliked and unpopular, a legend that was propagated by the Bok camp during the home leg of the Tri-Nations.

And whichever way you look at it, the prominence enjoyed by both Watson and Floors when the players' views were canvassed is an embarrassment for Bok coach Jake White, for these were the two players who most critics felt were the most unlucky not to make White's tour squad.

Both of them are, of course, players who are cast in the mould of fetcher flanks, which has become a subject that White has had to debate with rugby media more than anything else.

White may have felt that the debate would be forgotten when Pierre Spies excelled in the No6 jersey in the last games of the Tri-Nations, but if his forwards do not attain dominance against Ireland and England over the next three weeks, then the subject of the fetcher is going to be a spectre that will haunt him throughout the tour.

You don't have to have a particularly long memory to remember occasions where a fetcher style flank has won Test matches against the Boks on recent northern hemisphere visits.

While everyone blamed poor Andre Pretorius for the defeat to Scotland at a wet Murrayfield in 2002, it was in fact the little known Budge Poutney who won that game for the Scots.

And even though the Boks had Schalk Burger at No6 against Ireland at Lansdowne Road two years ago, the man-of-the-match for the winners was openside flank Johnny O'Connor.

For the fetcher debate not to rear itself again on this tour, White is going to have to hope that the Bok tight forwards can make the same big impact on their opponents that they did against Australia and New Zealand in the home Tri-Nations matches, thus enabling forward momentum to negate the necessity for having a ball chaser.

In the different seasons, do you find your reading habits change or even what you read ? For eg would you read a lighter book in summer or in winter get engrossed in a thriller ? Do you read more in one season than another ?

Would be interesting to see the different replies -

It costs at least 10p to clean up each piece of gum spat out on pavements and roads, and councils sick of this unsightly mosaic of trodden-in gum are desperate to find a solution.


Read more

I discovered I am rare ....

Spesjil brekvis:



Ek het 'n spesjil brekvis vi jou vidag:

'n glas fol omgee,

'n borkie fol lievde,

'n lepel fol vrede,

'n furk fol vitroue,

'n bakkie fol gebede

& niks mak vettie!!

Maggi Jirre jou so seen dat jou toointjies vuissies maak, jou ruggi nooit jukkie,

jou badwater vi ure warim bly & jou traainkies van blygeit ytkom.

Hair sacked from elite ICC panel
November 04, 2006 Edition 1


The International Cricket Council has sacked controversial umpire Darrell Hair from its elite panel, ending his international career.

The decision was taken on the opening day of the two-day Executive Board meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Mumbai.

"It has been decided to remove Hair from the elite panel," a source said, adding that a formal announcement would be made today.

"The Asian bloc comprising India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh tabled a motion at the meeting that Hair be taken off the panel," he said.

"The motion was put to vote and was passed by a 7-3 majority.

"The four Asian nations plus South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies voted against Hair.

England, Australia and New Zealand wanted him to continue."

The Australian was at the centre of controversy during the infamous Oval Test between Pakistan and England in August this year when he accused Pakistani bowlers of ball-tampering and penalised them five runs.

The ICC also did not include Hair in the panel for the ongoing Champions Trophy tournament in India, saying it was doing this for "safety and security reasons."

Hair, a 56-year-old veteran of 76 Tests, courted controversy earlier in his career when he no-balled Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing during a tour of Australia in 1995-96. - Sapa-AFP