Live Chat with Sky TV

I'm currently experiencing a "live chat" with Sky TV. I would like to us their On Demand service. They even sent me a box to help with this earlier in the year. I set it as directed in the instructions. It didn't work. Their online help pages didn't so I just left the box to gather dust.

Earlier this month a flyer from Sky suggested a web address from where I could get an On Demand box. As mine didn't appear to work I thought I'd try a new one. The address didn't work. I got rage and had to "live chat" with an operative who eventually agreed to send me the box and asked me to rate him "10" for his helpfulness.

I've tried this new box and it doesn't work either. The instructions are simple so I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. I've even tried hard wiring the router to my Sky box but no luck which is why I've ended up in "live chat". Not quite sure why it's classed as live as it takes the Sky guy two minutes to answer. He suggested unplugging and rebooting. I could have suggested that myself.

I just want things to work. Is it too much to ask?

Tranmere who?

I blogged at the end of last season about the plight of Tranmere Rovers but things haven't improved. After some brief light at the end of the tunnel things have got worse. A new chairman arrived in the shape of Mark Palios, former player and chief executive of the FA. Before him came new manager  Rob Edwards who spoke brightly of not messing in the loan market for players and playing attractive football.

It was so attractive that most teams have beaten us so far this season. Mainly by scoring lots of goals late in the game. This has resulted in Edwards being relieved of his duties, replaced by former Leicester City manager Micky Adams. Only time will tell on this.

TRFC 'til I die.

Busy busy

I've not blogged in months. The seasons have moved on and I'm still eating sausages and enjoying the odd drop of scotch.

I had delayed a blog as I hoped to have something new to write about but things took longer than I expected. Finally things fell into place and I am the proud owner of a new house. Semi detached and larger than my current place. I'm giving up city centre living for a place in the 'burbs; well 5 minutes from my current place. My offer on the new place was accepted at the beginning of July but I didn't get the keys until over two months later. The lawyers from a previous sale had forgotten to release a charge on the property. Of course the only person at that firm who could deal with the matter was holiday at the crucial time so I just has to wait. Finally I got the keys in September. 

Normally this would be fine and after giving a few rooms a lick of paint, I'd have moved in but things never run smooth. I leave for Australia in a few days. Holiday of a lifetime and new house all in a few weeks of each other. Basically I haven't had time to move before I head down under. I guess that what you call first world problems. I've spent most evening and weekends painting and gardening but its time for holiday prep. Some dvds have been put through Handbrake for uploading to my ipad. It's a long old journey to Sydney. I'm also hitting Melbourne and Phillip Island for a spot of MotoGP and a penguin or two. There's also a short road trip along Ocean Road. I'm not sure what the Oz sound track is for something like this. Men At Work I'm guessing. Or the AC/DC back catalogue.

Human League

                                                                                



I dipped my toe back into the world of live music this evening, I attended the Human League playing in the Royal Hall at the Villa Marina. I don't go to many live shows these days; I'm not sure why as I always enjoy them but when I heard that Phil Oakey and Co were going to play in the Isle of Man I just had to go.

I missed all but the last few moments of the warm up act. Looked like an aged Soft Cell tribute. Anyhow after a short break was the main event. What a fantastic show it was. I've always had love for the Sheffield synth bands of the late 1970s & early 80s. It all stemmed from Don't You Want Me and it's video. Christ, if I could have had a Phil Oakey haircut I would have, well him or a Flock of Seagulls. These days Phil and I share a similar cut.

They opened with Mirror Man and after that the hits kept flowing. Phil's fruity baritone voice has lost none of it's polish over the years and co singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley provided all the accompaniment he needs. There's a lot more to them than backing singing. Integral part of the band.

It was during Mirror Man that I noticed that the guitarist looked familiar. Only 20 minutes earlier I had seen security trying to usher him into the building with a carrier bag. Rider issues I assume. No green Fruit Pastilles. That's what I'd ask for.

Anyway back to the music. It was fantastic as was the lighting and the projections shown behind the drummer, apart from the film that showed Ed Milliband transmogrifying into Barack Obama.I found that unsettling. The third or fourth song of the set was The Lebanon. Always liked this track but ask me to sing it or write down the lyrics? No chance. After a couple of chords I was word perfect if not in tune. It was the same through the show. 

The main performance ended with their most well know hit, Don't You want Me. It started with the previously mentioned guitarist playing an electric keyboard with none of the vocalists in sight. Singers weren't needed. The crowd was word perfect. Then Phil hits his vocal and Susan reacts. I can still replay the video in my mind but seeing it live was great. I thought this would be their encore song but what do I know. Costume change and an impromptu crowd acapella version of Don't You Want Me and they were back at us. 

I saw some familiar faces at the gig and those I spoke to enjoyed things as much as I did. Although I did see an older gent asleep while stood up. 

Together In Electric Dreams. 

Tranmere 'til I die

It's not been an easy season for Tranmere Rovers supporters, such as myself, both on and off the pitch.

                                                                    
                                                         Playing in the shadows    

The on pitch stuff speaks for itself. With one game to go the team are placed 21st in League One. Only a victory against Bradford City will do on Saturday. Even then at least one of the teams in the two places above us will need to loose. I don't like like relying on other teams loosing, destiny should be of your own making but we've had 45 previous games to get suffcient points to stay in the league. We've simply not been good enough. 

After a very promising start to last season the team fell away badly in the past third of 2012-13 season and this has continued into 2013-14 as well. Young,promising players such as Max Power and Cole Stockton have hardly featured. It's only the goals of bearded veteran Ryan Lowe that have given hope of survival.
                                                                      


I've been invited to a pub to keep track of the game by a friend who is no doubt concerned about me sitting at home with Radio Merseyside providing a background to Sky's Soccer Saturday.

The on field shambles is nothing compared to that away from the pitch. The club as been up for sale for some time and was once even offered on ebay much to the owner's surprise it must be said. The hope of a sale seemed realistic this year with the club giving positive vibes. The take over talks broke down with the potential purchaser annoucing had he been successful former Chelsea, Barcelona and Spain defender Albert Ferrer would have been installed as manager. By then we needed a new man at the helm.. 

When this fantasy footballer club owner news broke I was still realing from the news that team manager Ronnie Moore had been suspended by the club over alligations of breaching FA betting rules. He was later found guilty by an FA panel and dismissed by the club.

Unfortunately this wasn't the first betting scandle to rock Tranmere this season. December saw news stories breaking about far eastern betting syndicates and spot fixing in the lower leagues. Two of the clubs players were implicated and later arrested. One of these was club legend Ian Goodison, with over 400 appearances for the club. Although his celebration of this was marred by a sending off in next home game after this milestone. At the time of writing Goodison remain on police bail.

None of the above will sway me from The Rovers. I can only hope the newly install chief executive can stop this off field rot and give the club the chance to improve on the pitch.

Saturday and League One survival seems a long way off.

Scotch Egg

I was meant to go hiking last weekend but the foul weather put me off. I don't mind a spot of rain, which is handy as I live in the Isle of Man, but there's no point setting off in a deluge. The upside of this was that I had a couple of scotch eggs I bought for my lunch to consume during the day.

I'm not sure where the scotch egg came from but is there a better bloke food? A hard boiled egg covered in sausage meat, dipped into bread crumbs and deep fried. It's easy to eat and only leaves a few crumbs.

 I used to think that they were a cheap supermarket food which to be honest it mainly is but there are some good ones to be found. Pictured above is one from the local farmer's market. Quine's Poultry hand make a few and with their own eggs and Gloster Old Spot pigs provide the sausage meat. A tasty snack. There's even the possibility to have a warm version. The yolk of the egg slightly runny. I first discovered that they could be served like that at a gastro pub in Fulham; The Durrell Arms. It's just a pity a local options for this isn't available.

A word of warning though, a colleague once made some after a few drinks. It was only when they were served up to her family that is was discovered that she hadn't shelled the eggs. 

Still here.

The whole of February without a blog. Not much has happened during the shortest month to pass comment on. Here in the Isle of Man we've had wind and rain but that's nothing new. I'm hoping for a little less rain as I've a few garden tasks to carry out and I would like to get out onto the hills for a leg stretch.

I should probably be getting on with organising this year's holiday. In a radical change, I'm heading south and east rather than west. Australia. I can't lie, I'm going to miss Las Vegas, what's not to like?
                                                                     



But Australia can only be good. I'm not sure what the plans are apart from seeing the MotoGP at Phillip Island.

Right, it's Sausage Saturday so I must get going.

Citizen Journalist

Citizen journalist was a phrase heard a lot a couple of years ago. I think it was meant to signify the rising number of members of the public exposing things via blogs whether true or not and without the safeguards and checks of a newspaper. Readers of this blog will note I only expose my love of sausages and vodka martinis. 

The world of social media has move on quickly with micro blogging and photo sharing sites coming to prominence. Everyone has an opinion and loves to share it on twitter. This is mainly a good thing, I really enjoyed seeing the photos of the storms and high tides in the Isle of Man. It's just a pity that some stray away from this and get into muck raking and libel. The case of the recently deceased Lord McAlpine and those who tweeted and retweeted libellous allegations against him when he was alive show that a limited knowledge of libel laws and other aspects of court reporting laws is needed before striking out into the world of self publishing and a quick look at any comment section of online publications reveals a lack of knowledge does not hold anyone back.

Into this world leaps Isle of Man Newspapers with their kind offer for their readers to contribute directly to their publications with only "light editing". A journalist would normally have a few sources to help provide leads or back ground to articles. The recession has been tough for newspapers and especially local ones. The drop in advertising revenue has been dramatic. Papers used to be full of adverts for jobs and house but these have been in short supply recently and the rise of the web as seen many move there adverts on line. What estate agent doesn't have a significant web presence these days? Even personal classifieds have moved to sites like Gumtree while those with stuff to sell are likely to use ebay amongst others.

This loss of revenue has seen substantial job losses at IOM Newspapers over the past few years so really they are offering the reader the chance to write the paper for free while still forking out their hard earned cash to buy it. Good business sense for the company. Only time will tell if this makes sense for the readers.

Weather

                                  Sea breaking over Queen's Promenade.

This time last week the island was preparing it's self for a wet and windy day. A combination of strong winds, high tides and a extremely low barometric pressure left many low lying areas under threat. In an age of modern technology householder likely to be effected were sent a letter warning them of the danger. Hard luck if you leave for work before the post arrives.

Anyway I thought I'd share a few images of that day.

                                                     High tide in Ramsey

                                                  Ramsey swing bridge

                                                     Castletown harbour

                                                 Victoria Road Castletown

                                                     
                                                               Laxey

Damaged seawall at Castletown