Way da Hussle

As I was at a loose end, and they were short of players, I told the company in Toronto I would turn out for them in a game.

This required me to purchase some new boots, shin pads and socks seeing as I hadn't packed them, but I needed a new pair of boots anyway so I didn't mind too much. Turns out I might as well not have bothered with the socks as I forgot them anyway, luckily they had a spare pair there.

Unfortunately I couldn't wear the number 7 shirt as it was taken, but I got the 8 so it was close enough.

The standard, to be honest, was pretty poor (which was good for me as it made me look good), the pitch was hard and bumpy which made play difficult anyway, but on the plus side there wasn't a lot of tackling which did mean there was time to get the ball down and try to pick a pass.

I started on the wing, was moved to centre midfield and then finally up front (which is where I wanted to play anyway). I had a few chances, one very good one which I fluffed (although I maintain it's because my own team was shouting at me to shoot when there was nobody around me and I could have taken my time) and I was pretty disappointed. I did set up both goals in a 2-2 draw, but it felt worse as the opposition scored in the last minute to equalise.

I did enjoy it though, my first full game for about 10 years, I'm glad I played....

...oh, and the opposition team had a girl playing too....

When we came out it was raining....

On Sunday me and Albert went to the matinee of the Cirque du Soleil.

I can't remember the last time I went to a circus, but I'm sure it was some dodgy thing over Wanstead Flats. Anyway, the show we saw was Kooza. We were front row right in front of the stage, which is strange considering we only bought the tickets on Saturday.....

....however, being front row did have it's drawbacks, as, before the show the 'clowns' were play acting in the crowd....one guy was pretending to be a tourist, another a delivery guy etc. One guy, however, was pretending to be a builder, and he had a blower, which he basically used to blow all my popcorn away, and it didn't get replaced, although I didn't mind too much as I wasn't enjoying it. The guy next to me appeared to be very angry when they were near us, almost wrestling with a couple to prevent them getting near him.....I don't know what he expected at the circus.

This guy as well, when he wasn't wrestling, was either moaning about something, or breathing. Now breathing isn't normally a problem, but he had some kind of a nasal isue which meant that he was snorting pretty much constantly, it was very annoying.

The show itself was pretty good. The clowns basically performing skits in between the main acts which were...

- three very bendy girls, bending and balnacing on each other. some of their contortions looked pretty amazing, but their spines must take a hell of a beating, and one of them must have been only 12 or so as she looked very young
- a trapeze artist, who was ok but wasn't anything great
- a couple who performed some dancing and balancing acts
- four high wire balancing guys (two wires on top of each other) who did some run of the mill balancing, back and forwards on feet and on a bike
- a juggler of balls, clubs and rings. I like jugglers, Albert was disappointed at the lack of fire.
- a magician who performed the trick using a member of the audience and misdirection to remove things like his glasses, watch and tie without him seeing. I think I might have been more impressed had I not seen a "how the magicians do it" show once.
- a guy who balanced several chairs and then balanced himself on top of them
- some acrobats who used trampets to launch themselves in the air, or onto the shoulders of their colleagues, sometimes three high
- a couple of guys who used a piece of spinning aparatus with two circles at the end, and performed acts both in and outside the rings. These were possibly the best act in my opinion

and the clowns were pretty funny. The dog who was with them not so much, although he did 'wee' on Albert.

all in all though, it was pretty good

Not the one on MTV...

On Tuesday I went on my own to see the Cribs at Lee's Palace. I walked up from the hotel, about a 45 minutes walk, and it pretty much rained for the whole journey....oh well.

It was a pretty small place, which I expected, but it never actually filled to capacity as both the Fratellis and Snow Patrol were playing in Toronto on the same day so I guess anybody who liked British music might have chosen them over this one. Didn't matter to me.

Support came from the in-joke spouting Hollerado, who it seems might not have actually played a proper concert before, or at least not many. They were OK, some songs sounding good, some sounding not-so-good.

Being so small, it seems there are no toilets backstage, which meant that the guys from the band actually had to come out and use the same ones as the rest of them. I spoke to Gary and Ryan Jarman whilst they were milling around, nothing exciting. They thought the venue was pretty cool (being so small), they asked me what I was up to in Toronto, and told me they never tell anyone (cab drivers etc.) what they are doing in town as if they tell them they are in a band it's highly likely they will not have heard of them anyway. I knew anyway, but they have pretty strong Yorkshire accents, which I struggled to understand a bit, so god knows what the Canadian public made of them.

I was speaking to some girls about the band, and one of them was a big fan, not just of the Cribs but of several other British bands (which meant we had a lot to talk about). I don't know if she had been drinking, but during the conversation she asked me if I'd seen them before about 4 times.....oh well. She also said that she doesn't really like any Canadian music, which makes sense I guess, and is coming to England to study (in Oxford, not at Oxford as it is too expensive) and work if possible and was hoping for a Libertines reunion....not too likely in my opinion but you never know.

Another weird thing that happened was in the toilets. I was going about my business when a man came in singing. But he wasn't singing anything in particular, just "Mens....Mens.....Meeeens......Mens......Meeeeeeeeens". It was a little disconcerting.

The concert itself was very good. I was just in front of the stage, in a pseudo mosh pit (I mean, it had about 4 people moshing), as there can't have been more than 50 odd people on the floor in front of the stage, the rest standing and sitting around the edge. I sang my heart out, danced around and waved and pointed like a weirdo....it was great.

Oh, and here's the conversation from the cab ride home...

Me: "Can you take me to the Marriott on Wellington?"
Cabbie: "There is no Marriott on Wellington"
Me: "Yes there is"
Cabbie: "No there isn't"
Me: "OK, just take me to the Soho Metropolitan then"
.
.
Cabbie "I picked up a couple the other day and they took me to the new hotel on Wellington, and that's when I realised there was a Marriott on Wellington"

I couldn't reply.....the big freak....he was either lying or stupid or both

Can he swing, from a web?

No he can't, he's a pig.....

Check out what is number 24 in the charts this week....

for all those who have seen the Simpsons movie (which we did just before my birthday, and it was very good by the way) they will know what this is all about, and for everybody else it just won't make any sense