Simple message

he coach has spoken

“The message is quite easy. We need the perfect game because they are the best team in Europe in this moment,” Maresca said in Tuesday’s press conference.

“They won the last two Champions Leagues, so that shows how good they are.

“So, we need the perfect game but at the same time, if we play our best we can beat them.

“I think we are for sure a good team, no doubts about that…

Kick-off one hour from now.

I heard their hordes of very loud fans an hour ago, marching towards the stadium.

Hopefully they won’t vandalise the city after they lose (or win).

Seems like a pattern at BBC today

rench fans congregate around the stadium today, but BBC has nothing to say today except things like these in the SPORT section of BBC:

Seems like BBC bias. Manchester envy?

There’s an appeal, this is about something that’s not news, and all eyes are on a very important match between two major clubs.

Mancunian influence-peddling? Or BBC (London) trying to change focus? No ManCity story today, except the one below.

oday BBC reports: “The head of English football’s independent regulator says he will resign if he encounters any political interference over the future of Manchester City.”

He probably refers only to the former mayor who is now a Prime Minister with a rather Mancunian cabinet.

There’s also an appeal in the making. It’s not over.

Tonight there’s an important match here against PSG. The weather is perfect (sunny; I even managed to sunbathed for an hour, warmed up by a litre of coffee) and the impact of a ManCity win would be profound. ManCity has won every game for months already; an impact of a win against the European Champions (CL) can only be lessened by antagonistic media like the BBC [1, 2].

he “tropical mode” in the fish tank is now activated. Overnight, there was a lingering concern about the safety of the heater, so we turned it off and decided to wait a while. Just to be on the safe side.

Basically, it seemed like something may have been cracked and the thermostat, moreover, kicked in to deactivate the heater a lot sooner than anticipated.

After 3 test runs it’s finally off to a warm start. It seems visible or visibly obvious that the fish all seem happy (all species), they are accustomed to warm water and given the weather changes this is no longer possible without some electricity.

Last night, at 10PM, moving all the tropical fish to the same tank was feasible and could be done with minimal stress to the fish, maybe a maximum of 5-7 seconds inside the net.

Fingers crossed.

If all goes well, we’ll just look forward to springtime, then remove the heater and store it away, safely.

No more sunny days in the garden

oday I wanted to sunbathe but it was too cold, partly sunny, and even if it was fully sunny (bright and clear), it would be too cold to sit outside comfortably.

So I suppose my last post that said “end of 2026″ or “goodbye, 2026″ was right. It’s too late now. Soon the clock will change (it should not, DST is nonsense) and then it’s too late to get a tan.

“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” — George Bernard Shaw

he (former) President Barack Obama will be here this week to give a talk. Across the road from us.

I have had many bad things to say about him (the drone strikes, NSA spy programs etc.), but he was nowhere as bad as the mobster who came after him.

One thing I liked about Obama’s attitude is that he didn’t fall for bait from Faux Noise (Fox News), e.g. heckling over the colour of his jacket.

Obama was “smooth” enough not to be easily provoked, not even by Putin.

The current demented dictator is like a marionette with temper and attitude.

If the current dictator changes the rules to end a two-term limit, then Obama can become a US President again.

Feels a bit festive already

he winter or autumn here has gotten cold (tried to find heater for the fish; there’s a plan B) and Xmas is just two months away. The days will get longer again, not shorter.

This year, unlike last year, both Rianne are available (no other engagement that day) to shop together on Xmas Eve.

What will we buy this year? Well, I still need to find a new Xmas sweater for Rianne. The Sunday Market has none until it’s nearly Xmas; they say it’s very hard to sell these once Xmas has passed.

I miss the days Xmas had some real “charm” (maybe 80s and 90s).

Due to lousy economies a lot of habits have changed.

To many people, expectation of extravagant consumption became a pesky burden. Social media (popularity contest) makes that worse.