The Special One

I am annoyed

I was hoping that José Mourinho would come to Arsenal.  Do not get me wrong, I think that Unai Emery is a great manager, and his record in Europe with his Europa cup wins shows that as well as the progression of Arsenal to its final last season.

But he has inherited a terrible defence.  Arsène Wenger was an amazing manager and in his last season at Arsenal, we had an astounding home form.  But he left a despairing legacy when it came to our team being able to defend.

Changing that it going to be a hard task.  The signing of players like Kieran Tierney will hopefully change that, but I do not know if he will be able to retain the confidence of players, especially with the way that some have reacted to the abuse that has been hurled at them.  (For the record, if a player is in an Arsenal shirt, then my view is that they should not be booed.). But the quick, but short term route (for he would only last a few seasons) would have been to hire a manager who has a great defensive record as well as one for imposing order and obedience amongst the players (until they rebel against him).

Anyway, while he is expected to succeed, José Mourinho is a manager who likes to be in control of transfers, and he is now working for a chairman who likes to be in charge of that as well.  It will be interesting to see how that works.

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want (November)

A post about Pokémon GO and some of the Pokémon that I am after.

Blastoise
Nidoqueen
Nidoking
Clefable
Vileplume
Primeape
Arcanine
Alakazam
Tentacruel
Golem

I will update the list on another date.

Tory Police Cuts

The Conservatives have said that they will increase police numbers. And to be fair, they have started to do so locally.  But they have cut them in the first place.

While many of the cuts had occurred in the years of the ConDem coalition they had been continued once the Tories were in power without the Liberal Democrat’s.  In fact when my MP, Will Quince, posted about increased police numbers in Colchester, I had to ask him if he had voted for earlier cuts.  And despite always being polite when doing so, he blocked me.

So, the when it comes to police numbers, I do trust them to increase the numbers.  But I do not expect that the increase will be just full time police officers, but will include Special Constables and PCSO’s.

The cold

The weekend has been infuriating.  My brother, the one from up North, drove down from Manchester so my side of the family met up.  My son, who is prone to colds decided that it was too hot to dress up warmly.  Now to put things in perspective, on Friday, when I was late for work, that was the day frost delayed me getting to work even more.

Anyway, my son, refused to dress up in a decent jumper.  He was cold in the pub where we all ate, he was cold on the way to the car and was cold in the car as we set off for home.  

This morning, I was to walk into town with both kids, but my son refused to wear his coat.  So we did not go into town, which was sad for him was we were to get his mobile phone sorted out.  

Now you would think that this was bad, but worse was to come.  We all went out later, and not only did he refuse to wear a coat again, but he said that he was not cold yesterday!  Needless to say, this resulted in an ‘interesting’ discussion.

Things have been smoothed over now, but I am hoping that he will not are similar claims in the future like having the largest presidential inauguration audience in history...

Wagamama

I forgot to mention the cookbook that my son wanted yesterday.  Before seeing my mother, we had gone to Costco to shop.  When there, my son saw a Wagamama cookbook.  He wanted it, and while we got it for him, the deal was that he has to help me cook with it.

And on a different note, I have finally watched the football and our 2-2 home draw against Crystal Palace.  And the big talking point was not just our inability to defend, but was how our winning goal was disallowed.

The grandparents

Not much to say today.

Yesterday I was at work catching up on paperwork while my daughter was recovering from the plague that she had given me the day before.

Today, we saw my mother, brother and the parents of my wife.  We had travelled down to London later than planned, and took a trip to Costco to stock up on supplies.  After that, we drove to collect my brother to see my Mum.  I had not met his two dogs in a while, one of who had labyrinthitis recently.  I also got to meet his partner, Jess, who I have not seen in ages.  My Mum loves seeing the kids, and sadly does not get to see them often enough.  And then it was to her parents.

Anyway I am at home and am too tired to watch the Arsenal draw. Time for bed.

Thorpe Park October 2019

A quick post before I retire to be.  My daughter had a non-pupil day today and I took her to Thorpe Park.  We were only able to stay a few hours as she started to feel unwell.  Sadly I have now got what she has!

She only got to enjoy three rollercoasters, one being Swarm, which my son did not get to go on, but she also tried Colossus and before she left, Stealth.  Needless to say, the last one terrified me.

I am not sure when I will return, but I suspect both kids will want to visit here again.