MW
Oh, no.
It seems that wherever you go in this world, you are never more than a few metres from a Boro fan.
But what a tribute this thread has been to the wealth of collective experience, knowledge and wisdom that exists amongst contributors to this blog, and what a valuable resource it is and always has been on so many different subjects.
I really enjoy the Boro stuff on this Forum, but, for me, it’s even better when it turns into a virtual pub and talk turns to things outside of football.
All this talk of travelling has given me itchy feet - fortunately we’re off to Ardnamurchan next Friday, with a week in Northumberland on the way back. Can’t wait.
I was looking for a picture of the current home strip. And googled with Josh Coburna nd ended up with this story: https://www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk/tunstall-teenager-signs-scholarship-middlesbrough-fc/
Up the Boro!
@werdermouth - For various reasons I have had a couple of days away from the Blog but your post from 13th October was very interesting and the photograph shows the area around Pokhara and the mountains behind it, to be very beautiful. I'm not sure whether it was Kathmandu or one of the local airports nearer to the mountains intended to be climbed (Pokhara? I think that is a fairly new airport) but my friends said that landing and taking off from there was "stressful" in light of the hills around the airport and wondering if the plane would make it.
@stircrazy - Thanks for the links, stircrazy. I hadn't previously realised that Bamber Gascoigne had been used as a "celebrity witness" when the Golden Hare was first buried in its secret lair.
Now let's look at the avalanche of posts which has poured down since yours landed...
@clive-hurren - Great stuff! I know the medical etc insurance goes through the clouds when approaching 70 or so if you have existing health issues. The thing is that you will have photos and memories even if you can't up to the heights any longer. Maybe treks up the Pennines, the Lakes, Cairngorms and the NW Highlands are still within reach (and no need for health insurance). And they will still be very enoyable and can give rise to wonderful photographs.
And Werder's new formatting is, indeed, wonderful.
@lenmasterman - That would be a great epitaph: "...above all, he was proudest to have been considered, when drummed out of the Cubs, a disgrace to the woggle"!
I seem to recall the approach to Katmandu airport involved skimming over a few foothills before a sharp turn and descent so was a bit stressful but flying over the Himalayas from Delhi had stunning views.
I can't speak for the stressfulness landing at Pokhara airport as I traveled there from Katmandu on an old bus after several days of heavy rain. Though that journey was incredibly stressful as the drivers used to drive like maniacs (perhaps marginally less crazy than Mexican bus drivers) - overtaking each other going down tight twisting mountainous roads often with sheer drops of 1000m into ravines. Sometimes you were convinced one of the wheels had gone over the edge only to defy gravity and continue on the road. I remember seeing several battered vehicles being winched out of ravines during the journey - including a bus like ours!
Later as we got closer to Pokhara the roads turned into practically impassable dirt roads with potholes nearly big enough rent out as it became more like a fairground ride than a bus. I was certainly glad we made it one piece but also seem to recall the small internal flights inside Nepal were at the time notorious for their poor safety record so either way it was in the lap of the gods.
I believe the roads have improved since then but not sure if the drivers have - incidentally, the buses looked more like trucks from the front (probably similar too those yellow American school buses) and were adorned with lots of small lights like you put on Christmas trees with various deities and charms hanging in the window to ensure the driver's view was suitably obscured.
@clive-hurren - Great stuff! I know the medical etc insurance goes through the clouds when approaching 70 or so if you have existing health issues. The thing is that you will have photos and memories even if you can't up to the heights any longer. Maybe treks up the Pennines, the Lakes, Cairngorms and the NW Highlands are still within reach (and no need for health insurance). And they will still be very enoyable and can give rise to wonderful photographs.
And Werder's new formatting is, indeed, wonderful.
With regards to medical insurance, this year I used Staysure, I am 72 with pre existing medical conditions, Heart Attack (Stent) and Diabetes Level 2, for an annual Multi Trip Europe (including Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Turkey and Tunisia) it cost £311.44 dates from 01/09/23 to 31/08/24, hope this is useful.
Come on BORO.
Has anyone been in contact with Ken’s family ref his Boro documentation for a visit by Dr Tosh Warwick so I can pass on the details to him?
OFB
@lenmasterman - "It's cost me a bottle of sherry" must be one of the one of the least worrying examples of jeopardy to be experienced. As it happens, I bought a bottle of PX this lunchtime in Northallerton.
Just as a reminder that people can watch England U21 v Ukraine U21 qualifier, kickoff 17:30 on You Tube free, Hayden Hackney starts again.
Come on BORO.
Further to my post at 5.20pm on 12th October my friends have NOT (yet?) moved to some Chilean wineries but are now on their way to Tierra del Fuego AKA The End of the World. However they have likened their recent food as having been on a "Meat & Merlot diet" and they say I'd be jealous of the BBQs in Argentina. To be a vegetarian in Argentina is probably a criminal offence.
A very long time ago I went to the my first International Law lecture, given by Professor Jennings in my 2nd year at University. It was so long ago that, had the professor still been alive, he'd have his 120th birthday in 2 days' time! He was also a judge and later the President of the International Court of Justice. He began by telling us that he had just returned from having arbitrated between Chile and Argentina in a dispute over the boundaries applying in the waters between some of the many islands in Tierra del Fuego. So, many times, life may bring us back to the same place.
Thanks @exmil for the reminder that Ukraine u21 v England u21 was being shown live on YouTube. I watched some of it at the end of the first half and the early stages of the 2nd half but turned off when Hackney and some others were substituted at 2-0 to Ukraine, only to find out later that England had got back level before Ukraine scored the winner about 4 minutes into injury time.
So, having had a bit of a rest and time to consider the changed circumstances, where are we now on the mountain? A little concerned about the new talent in the support team engaged by Birmingham City* and therefore worried that support team might be able to guide the Blues (they won't change the shirts, too, will they?) up new routes to the summit? Or introduce new strategies to bind the "talent" together to make a better climbing unit? Alternatively you might feel that the recently rejuvenated Boro represents a mountain with its peak standing so high and proud above the clouds that only the very elite Premier League of climbers could expect to overcome its challenges?
Have your intital views changed now that the trip to Sunderland recedes into memory? Still a 2-1 An Teallach or a 3-1 Great Gable for me.
* Sorry! My error. Should have said WRBC.
I hope to see Marcus Forss live at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki tonight. Finland will play Kazakstan.
Marcus was a late substitute at Slovenia when Finalnd lost 3-0. Now the National team needs1 to win the final three matches to qualify. With San Marino (A) and Northern Ireland (H), all is still possible.
It will be cold in the evening with wind from the North. It will be 3 .. 4 degree Celsius at the stadium. I hope Marcus to play more than in Saturday's heavy defeat. Up the Boro!
@jarkko - Good Luck to Marcus Forss tonight.
For those still marking time until domestic League football returns at the weekend, when PROPER mountaineering can resume, there are some European qualifying games tonight:
England v Italy
Malta v Ukraine
Lithuania v Hungary
Serbia v Montengro
Finland v Kazakhstan (as Jarkko mentioned)
N Ireland v Slovenia
San Marino v Denmark
All with a 19.45hrs BST kick off apart from the Finland game which starts at 17.00hrs BST.
In addition to a load of friendlies - Estonia v Thailand, anyone, Aus v NZ and France v Scotland....
My 2 years spent living and working in Argentina were some of the most pleasant and certainly interesting of my professional career.
My first night in Buenos Aires when I was taken out for dinner to a steak restaurant (of course) where a full cow was being roasted on a spit ! The restaurant formed part of the old docks and harbour offices which had been transformed into an upmarket area of bars and eateries. After a starter of carne (meat!) we had the mains more carne only bigger ! We had each consumed a bottle of the local red wine which was most pleasing.
Looking around the restaurant with the bare pointed brick walls and exposed steel beams I stared closely as one of the Argentinians spoke to me. “Senor hefe!” (Boss) where do you come from in England? I pointed upwards at the ceiling as he looked at me in surprise. “No not the roof, look at the steel”! I said in Spanish. There proudly displayed on each steel beam was embossed “Dorman Long Middlesbrough.”
I did have a lump in my throat !
OFB
Great story and I have a friend who also spent a couple of years living in Buenos Aires and he loved it there - said it's a bit like a European South America.
I can also vouch for the steaks having once eaten in an Argentinian restaurant when I lived in London where the meat is flown over - biggest steak I've ever had - a slab served on an even bigger piece of wood. Could hardly move after that and felt like a lion who'd just gorged themselves and was preparing to sleep for the rest of the week.
btw My father used to work for Dorman Long a long long time ago...
@werdermouth - Almost on the same page but here goes...
I know and worked in a number of cases over the years with an excellent barrister, not a youngster but a tall, slim "senior Junior" with a wicked sense of humour and also great common sense. Very good with difficult lay clients. Every year he used to take a month (?) or so off work to go to South America where he spent his time at the many mad-keen Tango Clubs there (I think in Uruguay but DEFINITELY also in Argentina). Basically eating and then dancing all afternoon/evening in the clubs in a part of the world where Tango is almost a religion. An ENGLISHMAN expert in the Tango and showing his skills in Argentina! He was even asked by friends to "look after" an hotel in Buenos Aires for them. Nobody in the Family Courts in the North East of England would have imagined him as a Tango master (apparently a "tanguero"). If you have a quiet moment have a look at Stephen Twist Tango Barrister in Google and you'll see his Blogs. He is an amusing writer, too, so perhaps many of us can have more than one string to our bow.
My 2 years spent living and working in Argentina were some of the most pleasant and certainly interesting of my professional career.
My first night in Buenos Aires when I was taken out for dinner to a steak restaurant (of course) where a full cow was being roasted on a spit ! The restaurant formed part of the old docks and harbour offices which had been transformed into an upmarket area of bars and eateries. After a starter of carne (meat!) we had the mains more carne only bigger ! We had each consumed a bottle of the local red wine which was most pleasing.
Looking around the restaurant with the bare pointed brick walls and exposed steel beams I stared closely as one of the Argentinians spoke to me. “Senor hefe!” (Boss) where do you come from in England? I pointed upwards at the ceiling as he looked at me in surprise. “No not the roof, look at the steel”! I said in Spanish. There proudly displayed on each steel beam was embossed “Dorman Long Middlesbrough.”
I did have a lump in my throat !
OFB
One of the great rewards from living in Sydney is to regularly see the Harbour Bridge with its massive steels from Dorman Long.
UTB
@forever-dormo Marcus Forss played only the last 15 min. Finland needed a win to still have a chance to qualify and were winning 1-0 with 20 min left. Then Kazakhstan got a penalty and it was 1-1.
Teemu Pukki was substituted with Forss coming on. Marcus hardly touched the ball and during the added-on time, Kazakhstan scored from a corner and won 1-2.
So most disappointing result for us, Finns. A result nobody expected in among the 30 000 home supporters in plus 3 degrees Celcius.
At least Forss was not injured. But he did look rusty during his two cameos for the National team. Up the Boro!
One of my favourite TV shows used to be Aerobics Oz-style which I used to watch whilst reclining on a sofa.
It consisted of attractive young Australian women doing half an hour of vigorous exercise.
The reason I found it so compelling was that the Sydney Harbour Bridge looked stunning in the background, and, of course, it brought to mind all of the Boro steelworkers who produced it.
I should say that whenever my Scouse wife came into the room she treated this explanation with some scepticism.
She can, very occasionally, be lacking in soul.
@lenmasterman Here, here, Len. Or should it be hear, hear. I don't know.
Anyway, it is hard to understand a Teessider watching a bridge for hours. Or watching paint to dry (Boro playing under Pulis). But we are Boro fans, most from Teesside. Up the Boro!
It's 'hear, hear" Jarkko ie listen to what is being said, though "here, here", ie I agree, here, with what is being said, is a common mistake because it does make complete sense.
@lenmasterman Thanks for clearing that up. That was not taught at school when I was attending (long time ago). UTB!
@selwynoz I have previously wanted to try and show a picture in a post, but have never found a way to achieve that.
Can you teach this old dog the trick of how you went about including that picture of the SHB in your post?
I Can vouch for the Buenos Aires tango bars as my apartment was in ST TELMO in the centre of the tango Latin quarter. I used to visit most evenings to have a steak ( of course ! ) and some red wine whilst watching the tango.
For my Birthday which was a special one, the project team took me out to an expensive tango bar/ restaurant and copious amounts of wine were quaffed.
This venue was famous for having a tango contest as the cabaret when various members of the audience (@6 couples) showed their skills on the dance floor side by side and were judged by the audience.
I was dragged onto the floor by my secretary who was a slim blonde in her mid twenties and had been an award winning tango dancer. Her skills and long legged display shown off to perfection by the long slits in her skirt drew admiring glances from the audience and cheers from my colleagues who were applauding our every move.
One by one the couples were eliminated and we won, not due to my talents of course but that of Estelle. The prize of two bottles of champagne was of course opened at the table and a memorable birthday to remember!
OFB
@original-fat-bob - If asked to dance a Tango I think I'd want to shrink into one of the cracks in the floor. And to do it in Buenos Aires...? Gulp!
And @jarkko since you mentioned it was 3C yesterday at the football in Helsinki, for purposes of comparison today on Teesside it is 14 degrees Celsius and it is expected to remain no lower than 12 Celsius from 18.00hrs until 03.00hrs tomorrow morning. We do slightly cool but only rarely will we do "very nippy" and even more rarely will we do "cold". When it is cold here, you'll hear people say "It's Baltic outside..." or "It's absolutely Baltic out there...". British sailors travelled the world but the weather in the Baltic Sea region was used as a measure of VERY cold.
I just pulled up some images of the SHB, right clicked on one of them and picked 'Copy Image' and then Pasted it into the text. It doesn't always work but this one did. I'm honestly not sure why.
The bridge is said to have cost Pds6 million in 1930.
UTB
Members might be interested in this article about our former Manager from the Guardian:
I (or rather Mrs Dormo) am currently being hit by an avalanche of pictures of penguins being snapped by our friends trekking in South America, from what looks like the equivalent of a sunny bird-hide in Tuerra del Fuego. The photographer takes delight in pointing out that Merlot is provided as part of their meal and "it would be rude not to...". Asking for more detail on the penguins Mrs Dormo was at first given the descriptor "cute" but, pressing for more, was told they are Magellan Penguins. That makes sense as the Strait of Magellan is the seaway which separates Tierra del Fuego from mainland South America to its north.
Bonus fact: I remember being taught in school that Ferdinand Magellan led the first circumnavigation of the Earth. It is true that, having left Spain on 20th September 1519 and travelled down the east coast of South America to look for a route through to the Pacific Ocean, the remaining 4 out of the original 5 ships in the expedition led by Magellan discovered the Strait and sailed through to reach the Pacific in November 1520. One of the 4 ships in fact returned to Spain after the Strait was discovered but the remaining 3 continued their journey. In light of their rudimentary knowledge of geography it had been expected they would cross the Pacific in a matter of days but in fact took almost 4 months during which many of the crews died (including of scurvy) and Magellan himself was killed in a battle with a native tribe in the Phillipines. When the one remaining seaworthy ship captained by Juan Sebstian Elcano made it back to Spain on 6th September 1522 only 18 or 19 had survived from the 270 crew members who had set out on the 5 ships. So the first to circumnavigate the Earth was not Magellan who clocked-out part-way through the trip, but Capt Elcano and the other 17-18 survivors.