The Boys Done Good

I said yesterday that last night was going to be make or break for Rafa and I was really pleased to see that the team rose to the challenge and gave a passionate display reminiscent of the old days when Liverpool would never say die.Thanks to Dirk Kuyt's goals we got a well earned win.OK it wasn't the nicest football and skill was distinctly lacking but, what they lacked in skill, they made up for in effort. The crowd responded extremely positively and got behind the team making it a very upbeat night for all of us Liverpool fans.I particularly enjoyed seeing Jamie Carragher making a huge impression as captain. He gave out just the right amount of stick and encouragement to his team and was instrumental in lifting everyone. Keep it up. If we can get Torres back the season might be back on the rails. As for Stevie G. £40m sounds like a lot of money to me.



In the factory the lads are working flat out to get the orders completed for tomorrow.We got a nice order for some special new boilers for a company who are supplying hospital trolleys. This could be ongoing. We are trying to get them finished as the factory closes on Friday for a week's holiday next week. Don't worry, we'll all still be here in the office.



When I saw these wrinkly eyes above the headline "TV's worst shows named" my heart sank as I thought that they might belong to Chris Tarrant who presented "The Colour Of Money" the show developed by son Paul last year. But when I clicked on the story I was relieved to find that they belong to Derek Acorah who presented a seance in which he "contacted" the late Michael Jackson. There were a number of notable stars in the top ten list including Horne and Corden and Al Murray and, I am pleased to say, another game show "Heads and Tails". "The Colour Of Money" probably won't resurface in the near future but Paul has some more shows in development and I look forward to blogging on them when they come out. We've got all the programmes that Paul has been involved in on the SKY Plus. We almost had a disaster last week when the HD box packed in. The engineer came round and said that although we can still play back our recordings we need a new box as several channels have no signal and if he fits the box we will lose all the recordings. So I had to rush out and buy a DVD recorder and am now in the process of copying all of Paul's shows across. I've done "The Great British Village Show" ,"Are You An Egghead?" and " Who Dares Wins" and am now onto "The Colour Of Money". I'm just relived that it was the channels that packed in on the box and not the recordings.



The Hotelymia Exhibition is rushing towards us. However well we plan and however much time in advance we get things moving it always seems to take us by surprise when we get to a month before. We've got a few weeks yet but we are approaching deadlines for samples, for brochures and more. We always seem to make it in the end at the last minute. Two years ago the printers had to deliver the brochures to the stand on opening day (my fault not theirs I hasten to add) and Dave Wilson and Nick were at the factory until midnight on the day before to make sure that a sample sous vide water bath was ready. There's cutting things fine and there's cutting things fine.

And talking about cutting things fine. You know how there's often a big argument about whether the ball crossed the line in football matches. Well here's one to watch. What do you think? Goal or not?

We All Dreamed Of A Team of Carraghers

Oh how we Liverpool fans loved Jamie Carragher. Our rugged hero would lay down and die for the reds as he threw himself whole heartedly into lunging tackles and last ditch goal line clearances.Jamie was our hero and his spirit was such that the chant regularly rang around the ground. "We all dream of a team of Carraghers, a team of Carraghers a team of Carraghers". But I don't think we'll be hearing it again for some time because, after several shaky matches already this season, on Saturday poor Jamie put in the most inept performance of his whole career in a Liverpool shirt. Just two minutes into the match at West Ham he was guilty of dawdling whilst a young Hammers' forward took the ball off his toe and went on to miss an open goal. Not long afterwards Jamie pulled the same player down in the area for a blatant penalty and, later in the same half, was one of several players guilty of poor marking for a West Ham equaliser.I was saddened to see Jamie floundering so badly. He had the good grace to retire from the England squad when he knew that he was too old. With the pace of the Premiership so frenetic,unless he is carrying an injury that we don't know about, now must be the time for Jamie to do the same for the Mighty Reds. I know these views wont be popular but I have been one of Jamie's biggest fans and I don't want our dreams of a team of Carraghers to turn into our worst nightmares.



It's one of our regular board meetings on Thursday so Dave and Nick are busily writing their reports (I've finished mine). It will be interesting to hear everyone's views on pay as the annual review is now due. I hope that we come to a sensible decision - I'm sure that we will.



The mystery of the number of visitors arriving at the blog site using the search term "Nick Neal" has been solved. It seems the guilty party was none other than er... Nick Neal doing a bit of what is known as "Vanity Googling". It seems that when people have a bit of time on their hands they sometimes type their own name into the search engine and look at what comes up. I'm afraid that I'm too sensitive for that type of thing. I'd have to look through my fingers at the responses.



Oh go on, I just had to try it. I just typed the name Brassey in. When I asked for pages from the entire web I found the first mention of son Paul on page 24. Niece Lisa was on page 38 and where was I? Nowhere. 755,000 entries and not one was anything to do with me. So I narrowed it down a bit and typed in Brassey again and this time just pages from the UK. This time son Paul turned up on page 7, Lisa was on 11 and finally there I was languishing on page 40. And why? Because I write a scintillating blog? Because I'm an upcoming unpublished author? Because Instanta boilers are the best in the world? Because I was on the Antiques Roadshow or Treasure Hunt? No. Because I've got Skype. Exit stage left followed by a bear.

When son Paul devised the exciting Game Show 'The Colour of Money' for ITV little did he know that within twelve months his idea would have turned into a smash hit in Italy of all places where thousands are tuning in just to see the comical little bespectacled 'professori' offer words of advice on mathematical game play to the contestants.At least I think that's what they are tuning in for.......honest!

Supermariontakestheplunge&cutsthestephanotis

It's a sad day today as, after years of cultivating a magnificent stephanotis in our conservatory we have cut it down to just one shoot and started all over again. Visitors never failed to notice the beautiful plant with its waxy white flowers and glorious scent but it was taking over. We spent an hour unravelling it with the intention of a good pruning but then took the momentous decision to give it the chop. I'm not saying it was big but the lounge which adjoins the conservatory was starting to feel like the black hole of Calcutta and when a Japanese soldier peered through the leaves and asked if the war was over, we realised that its time had come. Tarzan might be disappointed but we're not.




Q What do you do when you find the memory stick that holds your novel, Instanta's accounts for the past twenty years, your entire eBay trading history and your back up of your household finances in the bottom of the washing machine after it's just completed a full cycle.

A Tell Marion you've got a complete back up, get hold of a hair dryer and pray!

And someone up there must like me as I was able to restore the lot. Phew.



An email arrives from son Paul with great news. ITV has sold his creation "The Colour Of Money" to Italy and here is the show's Italian host who does not look like an Italian game show host at all. Does he? And again making sure that they don't follow cliched stereotypes, here is his assistant.







A Couple of words about the new X Factor arena format......... Oh Dear.




I see that the USA has been mourning the death of Senator Kennedy in a big way with scores of bigwigs turning up for his funeral and a plot for him in the famous Arlington cemetery. It's unlike me to speak ill of the dead but, as a father, I could never forgive him for Chappaquiddick. Accidents happen but Kennedy left Mary Joe Kopechne in a car in a creek and did not report it for over ten hours. However forgiving we may be, he should never have held public office after that.I'm sure that her family will not be in mourning.



I've been having a look at the sales for the year which officially ends tomorrow (but as it's a holiday we've already closed the accounts). Our best seller has been the 1500lcd model with sales approaching a couple of thousand.

I'll close with some more of the hip exercises that the consultant recommended to keep the op at bay.

A Great Christmas Stocking Filler

Our "The Colour of Money" board game arrived yesterday and ,although you might think us biased (as the TV programme was son Paul's concept),it's really impressive. I haven't seen it in the shops yet but it's available on Amazon. Give it a try. It will make a change from Monopoly.



Natalie brought little Olivia in to see us this morning. She's growing isn't she?



And Nat had some more good news with her engagement to boyfriend Dave. Here's her ring. She tells us that she is going to get married in 2011 in Mauritius and, while she's on honeymoon, Olivia is having a break in the Seychelles. Nat is going to New York in November and South Africa and Corfu next year and is one reason why British Airways are still in business.



Orange Wednesday tonight and we're off to see Inglourious Basterds. The reviews have been awful so we are going to reinforce ourselves by a visit to the Warehouse for a meal beforehand so the evening won't be a total flop. I loved Kill Bill so maybe we'll enjoy this.



I've had over twenty comments on my novel on authonomy so far. It's been on the site for a few days and has risen over 3000 places in the charts to reach number 1034.It's quite nerve wracking every time a comment arrives but so far they have all been helpful and the criticism has been constructive. The consensus seems to be that the book will have to increase in size but I have a few ideas to help me achieve this. If you want to support me you can do by joining authonomy and clicking on my book here
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Sorry to see the trouble at West Ham last night. I thought this sort of thing was history.