Cricket and Christmas

As the title suggests, this post is about two topics. I'll go in order and start with cricket. What a turnaround. England lost 6 out of 7 ODI's against Australia, then get on a plane, fly to South Africa and beat Sri Lanka and the hosts to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy! After the "One-Day Ashes" I thought it was game over for the Champions Trophy. No chance. How wrong was I? OK, they lost the last game against New Zealand, but who cares? We're through. And it wasn't a fluke either. Some very entertaining cricket was played at both games, including Eoin Morgan taking over the gloves from Matt Prior, and doing well while the first choice was ill. I am most certainly looking forward to the semi-final against Australia or Pakistan.

Anyway, on to part 2. Christmas. Yes, it's early, but people are talking about it and you can be sure that after all the Halloween things have been cleared from the shop, they will be replaced by singing reindeers and other rubbish like that. I've already got some items in mind to put on my list. Well, there's no harm in starting early, is there? Merry Christmas!

New Music

Well, it seems to be a good time for my sort of music at the moment. Kiss are releasing a new album soon, that should be good. Also releasing a new one is Joe Perry (for you mere mortals that's the Aerosmith guitarist). This is his 5th solo album, but having not been a fan of that type of music (i.e. Rock) when he released the last one, I don't know what to expect. I do know what to expect though from the Stereophonics, when they release their new one, Keep Calm and Carry On, on November 16th. Their greatest hits are a permanent fixture on my iPod and so will this new album. The first play of their new single from the album, Innocent, was given it's first radio play today, although the single itself won't be released until 8th November, just over a week before the album. I've had a listen (it's on YouTube, if you wanna listen) and it sounds pretty good to me, as the comments underneath it reflect. If the album's anything like that it'll be one to look out for.

Back To School

Three words children all over the country were dreading at the start of this month. Back To School. These words strike fear into the hearts of even the most academic of kids. New uniform for most, new bags for some, unfortunately the same old school. Getting up at 7am was unheard of for 6 weeks, now it's back with a vengeance. Freezing cold, standing on the bus stop, willing the bus to turn up, quickly. But, you can guarantee, the second you step into the school building, it's as if you've never been away. Back into the swing of things within 5 minutes, and after a few timetable hiccups, we're away. I'm already counting down to the October half-term, it can't ocme quick enough. Then again, June can't come slow enough. More exams. The school, being informative, thought it necessary to say at the start of the year, rather than nearer the end. Well, that's something to work towards, I suppose!