Losing My Memory

One of the fears of growing old is losing one's memory and with retirement rushing towards me like an express train, getting old is something that often dwells on my mind. This morning I arrived at work without the memory stick that contains many important documents that I have been working on recently so I went back home to get it. After searching high and low without success a mild degree of panic began to set in but I knew that it had to be in the house as I had put it in my pocket at work and driven straight home on Friday afternoon. Putting my Sherlock Homes hat on I retraced my steps and eventually discovered the lost memory in the tumble drier where it had ended up after a cycle in the washing machine. Fortunately it hadn't yet got into the ironing or that would have been the end of it and as this is the second time that it has been through a wash cycle and survived intact I think that it is turning into something of a lucky charm. Congratulations Kingston for making such a robust product.

My X Factor predictions on yesterday's blog were somewhat off the mark as Cheryl Cole and Danni Minogue went from the country's sweethearts to Britain's Most Wanted inside half an hour and Twitter went into meltdown calling for the nastiest things to happen to them. Why? For some obscure reason Danni rejected the cinema worker Paije in favour of the annoyingly self obssessed Nicolo (OK it's only an act but it's not one I can endure for too many weeks) and even worse Cheryl rejected the best female singer Gamu in favour of another self promoting attention seeker Katie. I hope that Gamu and Paije aren't asking themselves what must have crossed many a mind last night (with apologies to Sacha Baron Cohen) "Is it cos I is black?". I won't go any further down that route and have to remember that we are watching a television programme that is designed to create interest and attract viewers and if a decent singer wins then that will be a plus for Simon Cowell and controversy fuelled viewing figures will be far more important.

Yesterday's defeat at home to Blackpool must have surprised only those armchair supporters who have not seen Liverpool in action this season. I went to the match fully expecting a difficult game and enjoyed watching a talented Blackpool side who together probably earn less than Steve Gerrard (earn being a debatable choice of word), make the once Mighty Reds look like relegation material. I feel sorry for Sotirios Kyrgiakos who, once again, was the only Liverpool player who looked like he could give a damn about the outcome and came close to single handedly salvaging a point that we did not deserve. There was a time when every player who pulled on the red shirt played with the passion exhibited by Sotirios but those times are long gone. All together now "We all dream of a team of Kyrgiakos's , a team of Kyrgiakos's, a team of Kyrgiakos's".Wonder if it will catch on. In Daz and Gaz Rodwell we've got Blackpool fans here at Instanta. They sent me a good luck text before the game and were gracious enough to send another at the end saying that Blackpool "held on". If coming close to winning 3-1 is "held on" then I suppose they did.


Today I was hoping to include a photo of Assembly Worker Andy Fyles and his partner Claire with the latest addition to their family Alfie John who was born on Thursday but I haven't had the chance to get one yet. Congratulations to Andy and Claire. I have reported lots of Instanta babies on here over the past few years but boys have been a rarity. Let me have a photo when you have a minute.