31st October 2005 - 20:09 GMT
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Can I just give a big thumbs up to the online retailer Play.com and two fingers up to Royal Mail…
A few weeks ago I pre-ordered the hilarious book “Family Guy - Stewies Guide To World Domination” from Play.com. It was shortly dispatched and Royal Mail attempted to deliver it on Thursday 20th October. As they came so late in the morning (had it in fact been any later it would be the afternoon) I was out at work and would have missed the delivery.
I rang my local sorting office the next day (Friday) to arrange re-delivery for Saturday when I would be at home. The phone just rang and rang and rang, eventually it cut to the answer phone. I was unable to leave a message though as their message box was full!
Postman Pat - the last honourable employee of The Royal Mail
I then rang the national line for Royal Mail. After pressing a dozen or so buttons on an automated telephone system I finally managed to speak to a human being. I was told that there was no other way of contacting the local sorting office by phone although they would e-mail them for me. I was told that it was too late to get my order in for the next day as they rarely check their e-mail so I would have to wait to the following week! Working full time I had to opt for a delivery on Saturday 29th October.
Saturday 29th came but my book didn’t. I rang Royal Mail tonight to complain and was told that my parcel had gone missing. They did not know where but they suspected it had been returned to sender. I found the operator was harsh, unhelpful and quite frankly clueless.
I rang Play.com and was greeted by a far friendlier operator. When asked what I ordered I was told I had “excellent taste” (well Family Guy is very funny). They were also very helpful and apologetic (even though it wasn’t their fault). The operator said she would look for my order and personally call me back. No more than 15 minutes later I was called back and told that they could not find my order (did Royal Mail really send it back? hmmmm….) but would send me a replacement free of charge immediately. Howzat for service?
Not going to lodge a complaint with Royal Mail as it won’t make a blind bit of difference, not like anyone who gives a toss will see it. I would LOVE it if a rival delivery service was introduced to the UK. It wouldn’t be long before Royal Mail would end up bankrupt.
30th October 2005 - 17:45 GMT
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I went to Reading yesterday for the Leeds game. I have only been to Reading once before, in 2002 for the music festival. Both times I went I got lost. Yesterday, following the instructions from MultiMap I ended up outside “Reading Town F.C.”. Not to be confused with the Championship side. Reading TOWN F.C. appear to be some Sunday League club who play on a muddy field with a tin box as a stand.
Reading was how I remembered it, full of long, seemingly endless roads lined with tacky second hand shops and dodgy looking takeaways. The streets were full of chavs wearing stereotypical Burberry baseball caps. No disrespect to Ricky Gervais or anyone else from Reading but I wouldn’t like to live there.
The Majeski Stadium (where Reading play) was superb. Went to get a bite to eat in the hotel attached to the ground, while a little expensive the facilities were excellent.
The seating was top class as well, although the stadium is smaller than Elland Road (smaller club to be fair) the quality of the stands and seats were very good.
The first half of the game was dire. Reading totally dominated and really should have scored. Some poor finishing by their strikers and excellent goalkeeping by Leeds’ Neil Sullivan kept the scores level.
Leeds picked up more in the second half but Reading still kept bombarding their goal and eventually scored. The Leeds players reacted very well and when striker David Healy came on as a substitute looked like a totally different team. They strung pass after pass together and took the game to Reading. Healy then grabbed a much deserved equaliser for Leeds.
Following the Leeds goal both teams had their chances to grab a late winner. Leeds had a lot of superb attempts saved as did Reading. The save of the day had to go to Leeds defender Gary Kelly who painfully caught the ball between his legs on the goal line.
Final score 1-1, fair result against a team second in the league, don’t think either side can complain. This extended Leeds’ unbeaten league record to six games.
The only downside about the whole day was getting out of the car park. At Leeds there are lots of small car parks spread across Elland Road. While it is still difficult to get out you can expect to be on the main road within 20 minutes. There is only one car park at Reading and it’s huge. We parked at the rear and were waiting for almost an hour and a half to get out! I was kept entertained listening to the commentary for the Man United – Middlesbrough game. ManUtd lost the game 4-1 which is very funny.
25th October 2005 - 20:04 BST
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Leeds play Blackburn in The Carling Cup tonight (should have just kicked off as I type). Have very mixed feelings about this game, while I always like to see Leeds win games, especially against stronger teams (like The Mighty Blackburn Rovers) however I think a long cup run would be detrimental for Leeds’ season.
Teams who have been chasing promotion in the past and also had successful cup runs have ended up not being promoted ( Sunderland in 2003/4 and Sheffield United in numerous seasons are good examples). Some Leeds players are also carrying injuries and although can just about manage their league games, I think a cup game could flare up any potential problems.
Chelsea can keep their Mickey Mouse Cup for all I care
Therefore I am pleased to see that Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell has fielded a somewhat weaker team for this game.
Anyway, good luck to Leeds, hope you can do the best with the team you have fielded. Not too bothered of the result though, would far rather beat Reading on Saturday, a game which I will be going to!
24th October 2005 - 22:03 BST
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So the infamous Grrrrrant and Phil Mitchell returned to EastEnders tonight. This is after major hype from the BBC desperate to recoup ratings to make their major soap’s viewing figures respectable compared to ITV’s Coronation Street.
I used to be an avid viewer of EastEnders since the early 90’s although I completely stopped in late 2003/early 2004 when Barry was pushed down the hill (that was FUNNY!). The reasons I stopped viewing were predictability and boredom.
Still, I gave tonight’s episode a go (well, I only watched the last 10 minutes!), I have good memories of storylines involving The Mitchell Brothers. Said to a friend that Grant and Phil would turn up, surprise Peggy, say “’ello Maaaa!” and that would be the end of the episode. Anybody who watched it tonight will know I guessed right – just too predictable isn’t it :o)
Needless to say I will not be watching it tomorrow. Sorry Beeb you’ll need to do better to get me back.
23rd October 2005 - 18:57 BST
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Well it’s been a whole week since my last blog, not that good as I usually like to keep Sparkster.net as up to date as possible.
In the week I went to see the Wallace & Gromit movie “The Curse of the Were Rabbit”. Lots of people have been raving about this movie and having enjoyed the previous TV outings I was expecting a lot. While I did like the movie I wasn’t overly thrilled, maybe I expected too much from it.
It was however full of gags, film references and lots of laughs. I would recommend taking the trip to the cinema and watching it. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have done because Leeds were playing at the same time and I was worrying about them!
The Mighty Whites have been doing well the last week. They beat Southampton 2-1 on Tuesday and drew 1-1 against high flying Sheffield United. Considering The Blades are top of the league and they beat Leeds 2-0 and 4-0 last season it is a good result and shows how far Leeds United have come. Still serious promotion chasers.
Some fans and Southampton manager Harry Rednapp say that Leeds didn’t play well on Tuesday and did not deserve to win. I disagree, the Coca Cola Championship is a crap, scrappy league. Even if you play really well you are not guaranteed to win. It’s the team that gets stuck in, takes their chances and play with the most amount of grit that gets the points. No room for fancy football in this league.
16th October 2005 - 15:32 BST
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The football drama series Dream Team returns to Sky One tonight. The previous series ended with Harchester United winning the play off final and promotion back to The Premiership. In typical Dream Team fashion the whole team were killed when ex-manager Don Baker drove his car, full of petrol and a dead Karl Fletcher in the boot into the clubs coach causing a catastrophic explosion.
With some many deaths it looks like the series is in for a whole new cast although a few old favourites are set to return. Whoever is in the new series you can be sure of one thing – controversy, over the top stories and probably the odd fatality thrown in for good measure (I cannot see why any footballer would want to join Harchester, life insurance premiums must be sky high!).
The new series starts at 8pm on Sky One with a special show “Dream Team Stranger Than Fiction” at 7pm where real life, bizarre football stories are looked at and how they inspired the shows writers.
16th October 2005 - 00:16 BST
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I stayed round at a friends last night and was forced (in exchange for a cooked breakfast) to watch part of Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow on BBC1. All I really knew about this show up until Saturday was that it was a highly popular and fast paced children’s television programme. It wasn’t until I actually experienced it myself that I realised how disturbing it actually was…
The show is extremely erratic and there doesn’t seem to be any structural basis to the way it is produced. It is presented by two grown men, presumably named “Dom” and “Dick”. These employees of The British Broadcasting Company behave like they have either stayed up all Friday night smoking crack or have a serious Attention Deficit Disorder.
One may be called "Dick" but they're both twats
Most disturbing though is that they are left in charge of twentysomething kids who, obviously fuelled with Smarties and fizzy drinks are also out of control. This is then broadcast on live television to millions of minors across the UK with their parents unaware of what their children are watching.
Myself and friend Dan (of Daninthemix and Hobart’s House) believe the only rational action to take is to warn parents of this show and ask any MP to get it taken off air as it is just wrong. I personally think that Wacaday should be brought back in its place. I used to watch that, presented by Timmy Mallet during the school holidays. While it was amusing and full of kids humour it was far more controlled and instructive. Timmy Mallet actually played word association games and took educational trips around the world. The only trips these Dick and Dom characters seem to take involve taking a pack of acid tabs. For those who have forgotten about Wacaday and want some great nostalgic memories check out this website.
Moving on from D&D guess where Leeds are in the league? They’re up to 4th with WITH a game in hand. They beat Burnley 2-1 away from home. Burnley were originally in the lead after a penalty was awarded on the hour mark. It wasn’t long until Eddie Lewis grabbed the equaliser for Leeds and Rob Hulse (now known as “The Incredible Hulse”) scored the winner. The last time Leeds came from behind to win AWAY from home was against Hapoel Tel Aviv in The Uefa Cup, November 2002. In the league you’ll need to go back to Ipswich in September 2001!
This has been the best result in years, ok Burnley are only an average at best Championship side but to come from behind is an achievement and by this stage in the season you can get some indication as to how the year will pan out. The league tables don’t lie. Leeds are indeed the fourth best team in their league and improving. A return to the Premiership is looking on the cards :o)
12th October 2005 - 22:39 BST
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Well done to the England players, that was so much better, a very positive result for the team who beat Poland 2-1 and won the group.
Excellent performance all round, one that has certainly won the fans back around. Really looking forward to the friendly against Argentina next month.
Only negative is Peter Crouch. I do not know what is going on with this player. He is either somebody you either love or hate. I really dislike him and cannot see how he can get in the team. Not going to focus on this too much as the great performance outweighs the negatives.
We’re going to Germany!!!
12th October 2005 - 19:41 BST
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Come on England!!! They play Poland tonight in the final World Cup Qualifier. They’re of course already qualified for the competition but this game is a great chance to win the group.
Come on England!
They have been very poor the last four games ( Denmark, Wales, N. Ireland & Austria) and must play well tonight. Almost every England fan is unhappy with the team and especially the manager. A good, strong and passionate performance tonight will turn the fans around and get us all excited for the World Cup.
Good luck to all the lads tonight, put out the great performance we all know that you are capable and make England proud again!
Lastly, good luck to Republic of Ireland, hope you win tonight and get your rightful place in The WC. Hope Cyprus win too and stop the French getting through! :o)
11th October 2005 - 21:38 BST
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Think I’m getting to the bottom of this Gary Neville phone conversation story. Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me (whether your genuine or not!), I also found a story on NewsNow which proves the validity of claims.
According to some of the e-mails I have received as well as a story in The Bath Chronicle the calls originally were made by students at Kind Edwards School. A private school coincidentally in Bath where I live!
Funny, the head teacher seemed a little pissed off from the story I read though! Most Bath residents would expect the culprits to attend a school with a far poorer reputation and class so the fact it was this public school makes it amusing!
Fair play to the students who took part although don’t tell your head teacher or Mr. Neville I said that! If you want to send me, a fellow Batholian any more conversations with the assurance I won’t put them on the net feel free to do so (e-mail addy below)
I would like to add that neither myself nor Sparkster.net condones wind up calls. Mr. Neville obviously experienced annoyance which of course he does not deserve… Even though he has a lot of spare time at the moment as he is injured.
Who are ya? Who are ya? Who are ya?
Finally, Gary, if you’re reading take a look at this site. A little bit of info on the famous footballer Tony Adams... :o)
10th October 2005 - 23:13 BST
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Had a strong response to my question about where the Gary Linker originally phone conversation came from… a little too good. While I want to believe that the ManU defender has had ongoing conversations with students from Bristol who are mates with Tony Adams son (as mentioned in the original call link) I am a little sceptical. So, all of you anonymous people who have contacted me already, boasting about more conversations you have on your PC, why not e-mail me them? I PROMISE I won’t upload them.
My address - 
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