Arsenal and Stewart Houston

When it comes to Arsenal, we look doomed and for now, are in free fall.  Watching the highlights on Match of the Day, we appeared to give Everton a game, but this view has not been shared by all.  I do remember a terrible run when Stewart Houston was given control of Arsenal after George Graham, an amazing manager for the team, was sacked for corruption.  We managed to pull things around then and given got to the final of the European Cup Winners Cup, before the loss to THAT goal.  A goal that the Spurs fans at my work will remind me about from time to time.  

"It's bleak."

What can Arsenal do to get out of their rut? #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/Gg3tKjOAYj

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 20, 2020

I am not sure if this is just very bad luck or if we need a change in manager.  Ideally, it should be the team that are changed, but I am not sure that the mentality in Arsenal can be changed easily and due to this, Mikel Arteta may need to leave.  He is a great manager in many ways, and I am forever grateful to him for his service as a player and manager, especially when it comes to the team winning the FA cup last season.

At least the women's team are showing the men how to win!

Bill and Oti

Congratulations to Bill and Oti. I loved them and was amazed and the improvement Bill showed throughout the series.  It was nice in that my daughter watched it with us, as did Leia.  My son however has grown out of it.

We had hoped to go for our first walk with Leia, but as my son is in quarantine, this was not possible.  Instead she met the puppy of a friend of my daughter. Leia loved meeting another dog and had to be dragged away especially when the other dog started to growl on occasion.

So it will be Wednesday when we take a family walk with Leia who I am sure will love it more than we will.

Bubbles, my son and COVID

My son was sent home from school today.  One of the children in his bubble at school has been diagnosed with COVID.  My wife went to collect him and only remembered that he cycled in when she got there.

While it is a concern, we just have to cross our fingers that he does not get it.  If he does, being so young, the odds are that he will have no symptoms.  We will probably not be so lucky.

He has no concerns about being trapped at home as this means he has an excuse to play on devices and watch television. If it was not for the official call from his school, one might think that he faked it! 

Arsenal and alien abductions

Mikel Arteta has been great for Arsenal as a player and manager.  Winning the FA cup in his first season in charge was amazing, and as an Arsenal fan, winning it for the 14th time was astounding.  

But things are not good now.  He did well to motivate a team that had lost its drive under Unai Emery, despite his early success.  But that team has lost the motivation and drive that it had last season, and for the early part of this season.  The simple facts are that the team is producing results that could mean relegation.  Teams do not seem to need to fear us any more and I fear for our team in the next game.  Unai Emery has shown that he is a great manager at Villarreal which means that I suspect, the issue is with the team. 

Before Arteta was employed, I had wanted José Mourinho to join us.  I felt that we needed someone to reorganise the team, and like he has done in other teams, he has won titles and trophies, and almost always has left the team in a better position than when started there.  The difference there of course is with Manure but even there, he won the league and Europa cups.  I am grateful to Mikel Arteta for his service as a manager and player, but now in hindsight, it may have been better if we had taken on José Mourinho instead.  A manager like him would have been able to reorganise the team, motivate them and change the mentality that they had.  He would have annoyed them and like in all the other teams he has been in, would have been sacked after losing the dressing room, but I would have taken him for what he could do for our defence.  

But it may not be the fault of Arteta for not being to reinvigorate the team.  It may be that the some of the players have been abducted by aliens.  We have a striker who has only scored in our own goal recently, and Willian who has been great before has now appeared to vanish.  Another explanation, other than alien abduction is that they have identical twins who are playing for them.  Personally, I think that it is the first part of an alien invasion with the players being replaced by alien clones.  

Hopefully I am wrong and the form of Arsenal will pick up.  Starting on Wednesday.     

Pots within pots

Yesterday was my first day back at work.  My wife looked after Leia who had a step backwards in toilet control.  On getting back of all the members of the family who were glad to see me, Leia was the one who was the happiest.  My wife loves it when she licks my face with happiness.  She does not allow this to happen and I am going to have to consider following her lead on this.

I did get to start watching The Mandalorian with him only to find that during it, Leia had done a wee and a poo on the floor before retiring to her crate to get some sleep.  While disappointed that she has relieved herself in the floor, I was so proud to see that she has decided the crate is where she sleeps.  Sadly we did not get to continue the tale of the evil little green man, but I am hoping to watch it with him tomorrow.

Today was flu clinic.  Due to COVID-19, it was as socially distanced as we could manage.  Patients had appointment times and there was a one way system through the surgery.  It went on a lot longer and needless to say, it was exhausting. Ideally l social distancing should limit the spread of influenza as was seen six months ago in the Southern Hemisphere but as seen with the rise in numbers of those affected by COVID, this may not happen.

Leia was happy to see me.  The family took her to have her vaccinations while I was vaccinating others.  When on one of her garden walks with me she had eaten a slug, for which I have been told off.  One way of stopping her eating all in the garden is to get her to carry a flower pot.  She appears so proud to do so.  This evening before putting her to bed on her last toilet walk she decided to put a smaller one in a bigger one.  I was amazed that she was able to comprehend this, though she did get frustrated later when trying to repeat the feat.  I know that Cockapoo’s are smarter than the average dog thanks to their poodle heritage, but I was surprised to see this.  I did not expect to see attempts at problem solving and it will be interesting in the next few days to see if this was a fluke, or something that will continue.

The Bad Education Movie

I watched this with my daughter.  Not sure it was the most appropriate film to do so and at times, she averted her eyes.  We had watched the series and had enjoyed it.  We are also watching Jack Whitehall in Fresh Meat (my daughter self censors herself when it comes to this) and the characters are similar, but with his accent, playing a part other than being posh and entitled is a bit difficult.  But he plays these comedic roles well.

Normally, I would say that the film is too predictable and corny and if you are watching this without watching the TV show, it may not be as enjoyable.  But taken in context of the show, this is enjoyable and full of laughs.  If you do not enjoy the series, you will not enjoy this.  Saying that, it is a bit more slap stick than what I am used to with the BBC show.

It was nice to see bits of Cornwall such as the Eden project which we had visited in the past.  My daughter was not able remember this, but she was very young when we had been there.  I would like to take them back, but with the plague being an issue, I am not sure when this will be possible again.  One day...

My last day of pupternity leave

The kids adore Leia.  And she adores them.  It has been great being at home over almost the last two weeks.  Tomorrow I return to work.  I have been keeping myself up to date with the COVID19 vaccinations, which despite what the media has been told, will not be rolled out in a major form this week.  But being at home with my wife, children and puppy has just been amazing.  Leia has made it exhausting as well (she woke me up at 0430 today) but she is worth it.  She gets hold of me now if she needs to wee or poo, though we need to get her to make it clearer as there was one accident with me in charge.  Not counting the night-time ones that is, but that is to be expected as her bladder has not grown to the level it is needed to keep her dry.

My wife cannot believe what has happened to me and laughed long and hard when Leia licked all over my face earlier, including my (closed) eyes.  It did mean that my face was washed, though it was with dog slobber!

Anyway, night night.