Like It Is

Ghana 2 Czech Republic 0. The better team certainly won in this one. In the match between Ghana and the Czech Republic, Ghana put on a powerful performance, simply and neatly outplaying the Czech team. Again, what an upset. Not a lot of people expected this turn of events. Ghana more than made up for their 2–0 defeat against Italy. I think they could have won by even more goals, but for the Czech goal keeper Petr Czech. He probably was the best player of the whole Czech team.  It’s wide open now  for Ghana. Next Thursday they play the USA.

For upsetting the apple cart big time! Despite Mexico being the favourite going in, despite being 1 man down, ending up playing with only 10, despite Mexico having possession around 50% of the time, Angola still managed to hold Mexico to a goalless draw.

Shocker for Mexico, whom I am sure were probably expecting to have a near re-run of the Argentina– Serbia-Montenegro game earlier. It was not to be. I was very proud of the Angola team. Could hardly believe at the 80th minute Mexico had still been unable to score a goal. Despite the very real troubles of Angola amongst the wider troubles of the African continent, they came to the World Cup and did themselves and their country proud. They didn’t score a goal, but they got their point – their first ever World Cup point. Well done again. Felizidade!

There is an unpleasant side to blogging. I saw it today and I felt for the recipient.

Bloggers are all different and a blog is whatever the Blogger wants it to be. In my opinion, although people are trying to make money from blogging (and I am told some are successful at it), this isn’t essentially what blogging is all about. It’s about having something to say and saying it in a public forum. It’s about first and foremost interaction and conversation with people who share your interests. It’s about enriching your knowledge and understanding and more.

So there you are blogging away, as an acquaintance of mine was, enjoying people commenting on your blog. You don’t necessarily agree with every comment, but that’s fine, viewpoints are valid and disagreement is o.k. Or is it?

One day you post something on your blog that someone, somewhere does not agree with, does not like. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, England is moving on to the 2nd round in World Cup 2006. We fans at home and abroad can breathe a sigh of relief. After a rather irritating first half today, where fans were left wondering what was up with the team missing all the chances they had to score, at half time the score was 0–0. We were getting a bit nervous. Oh no! They were going to score soon… weren’t they?

Then two great goals in the 2nd half. Phew! They left it a bit late – 83 and 90th minute. But they did it. Not that I wanted Trinidad and Tobago to lose (sorry T&T) I just wanted England to win more. Football, or soccer as it’s called in North America, or foottie, is indeed the beautiful game. On to the next game, when I’m sure the England team will keep us in suspense to the bitter end. Well done England team!

Is a Cannon Powershot SD 630. It’s bright and new and shiny and I got it today!! There is just something so, well, so GOOD about getting a new gadget. At least for a gadget girl like me.  Having had a Nikon 990 for  a few years I was going for the Nikon S6, however changed my mind on comparing the processing power of the S6 with the PowerShot. SD630. I think I’m going to be very happy with my PowerShot. Can’t wait to take it for a spin.

The Head of London’s Metropolitan Police is coming under fire again for the raid on a house in Forest Gate, London. The area has a very high Muslim population and relations between the community and the Police are strained in the wake of the raid.

The Police raided the house acting on a tip-off and arrested two brothers who have now been released without charge. Nothing yet has been found, and so now the Police are being pilloried for both the raid and the fact that someone was shot and wounded. If they act on a tip off they get blamed for not coming up with anything. Never mind that the bulk of intelligence is less than 100% accurate anyway. But if they ignore the tip-off or intelligence and a bomb goes off and people die as they did on July 7th or September 11th… well guess who gets the blame for NOT acting on a tip-off when they had it? Of course – the Police.

Of course the Police must act with the highest integrity. It’s worrying enough that they now have to carry arms. And the British public has always been right up there with criticism of the police and politicians should they step out of line. Think John Prescott. Think Ken Livingstone. Think Tony Blair – not that he listens.

It’s healthy and necessary to be able to criticise our public servants and we Brits are very good at it and very vocal.

However I think people should at least wait for the Independent Inquiry into the unfortunate shooting before passing judgement and demanding the Police Chief’s resignation with information that currently seems to be based on gossip,media reports (more gossip?) innuendo and very little fact. Difficult and changed times indeed, where your enemy could be your next door neighbour and when politicians are abrogating their responsibility and relying on the polls. Sad.

But it does seem as if whatever they do these days, the Police are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They have a difficult job. We’ll see what happens.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a mention of World Cup 2006. Today was England v Paraguay and England won by the skin of their teeth. It was a struggle to victory for the England team – but for the own goal from the Paraguay defender the match probably would have been 0–0. Worrying.

I was mightily relieved when the whistle went after extra time, expecting any minute that Paraguay would equalise. Even if England don’t make it into the final at least they have the victory in their opening match!

Toronto Skyline, originally uploaded by TownieBrit.

Are words necessary? Toronto is wonderful by night. Many people leave the Downtown after work and head for the suburbs, but not me! I’m definitely a Townie (a Downtowner at that). This is one of the many photos of Downtown Toronto that I love. I was thrilled to be able to take this photo, because it’s one that you’d normally only see on postcards. It’s actually impossible to get this view again - because now more condos have been built in the space you see in front. We got this breathtaking, uninterrupted view of the Downtown skyline from our condo roof.

It is really great to be recognised at work. Even nicer is when you don’t see it coming.  So, imagine my surprise when in our quarterly team meeting at work today I was awarded Top Achiever for the quarter in recognition of my hard work and contribution to the team, the unit and the company.  I sat there stunned for a moment a myriad of thoughts running through my mind. Then –  “Wow!” I thought. This is a huge honour, not just for me but for the team.

There is something special about recognition, reward and encouragement. It spurs you on to find even more ways to excel, more ways to contribute, to do even better, even if a little bit. Well, it does me anyway! And I still have a big grin on my face! 

You may have to search for it, but it is there to be found.

In one of my previous posts I asked how child-free people deal with some of the issues they face as a result of their decision not to parent. Here are some of my contributions, which have either assisted me in coming to my decision, supported me in making it or, once made, validated it.

I hope you will add your own ideas and things that have helped you.

1. Find support from like-minded people. Don’t underestimate the importance of this. You may need to find and connect with a new network of friends and this can be daunting. You may have accepting friends, in which case you are fortunate. You will also probably be in the minority if you do. You can’t always rely on your family to be supportive, but if they are you are fortunate.

2. Search – thanks to the Internet there is now more information than ever for those who are or want to be child-free. Find a group like “No Kidding” in you area, or start your own if there isn’t one already.

3. Get clued up about what the child-free life is like. Educate yourself, because Knowledge IS power. Reading was enormously helpful to me, as I was then prepared for some of the reactions through reading about others and how they had dealt with Read the rest of this entry »