Amazing News!

It was with great pleasure that Rucker read of septuagenarian John Goldman.
Mr. Goldman continues to turn out for his home side, Mill Hill, even though he's in his seventies.
The way he sees it is that he'll keep going until he starts to look a bit ridiculous.
His philosophy is that if he stops, he'll turn to mush:
"It seems to be a kind of philosophy or a train of thought [that] when you get to a certain age, you are looking to retire and looking to wind down. Why?
"I think the brain, the bones and everything else are much stronger.
"When I start to look pretty ridiculous - probably I do already - but when I can't get a game, that's the time to stop."
Rucker salutes you, Mr. Goldman, keep it up!
Rucker only wishes his career hadn't been cut short by devastating injury!

Velux 5 Oceans

I am currently lying in 11717th place in the Virtual Regatta, Many Players, Velux 5 Oceans Race.
My real life sailing skipper (I am the summer foresail trimmer on Zanzara) is currently in 3831st, having touched the heights of 6th only a few days ago.
In our little occasional conversations on the chat line, I suggested that that was the reason why he does all the helming and tacticalising, and I muscle the sails in to a nice shape.
He said that I did make the sails a very nice shape! 
Obviously not alluding to the fact that I couldn't get a boat from A to B round the cans, even though with me on board it might be the quickest!
Cheers,
Rucker.

Something's missing...

Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm sure there was another company involved in the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
Nope, completely slipped my mind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12005240
Got it! That's right! HALLIBURTON!
Funny how Dick Cheney's mob evade 'prosecution'...
Hmmm...

Quote of the Day

Thanks to cricinfo for:
"... and Ponting planned to have lunch with Beer to talk tactics."
That's right, Ricky, get stuck in the day before a decisive Ashes test!
Cheers,
Rucker

Quote of the Day

Rod Stewart in response to hearing who had won the X-Factor:
"Thank goodness the public saw through it, they're not as dumb as people think, the public."
Good on you, Rodders, sorry I missed your Dubai show earlier in the year, I was away.
Cheers,
Rucker

Brendan Venter

Did you see his post-match interview after the Sarries loss to Racing Metro?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FgchHlaSQE


Venter was disciplined to the tune of EUR23000 for speaking his mind after the away defeat to Leinster. This was his retaliation.
If the ERC don't want him to voice his opinions, apart from using the official channels, then this is what the interviewers can expect.
Rucker salutes you, Brendan Venter, shame the European rugby authorities can't handle a little criticism.
Enjoy your time back in South Africa.

Strictly Come Saracens

Now that His Orangeness has been voted off Strictly, he can settle back into his rugby life.
He claims to want to get back in favour with the Welsh National Coaches, and break back into the Wales Squad. He says he wants to be the best player in the world. (Didn't we all?)
There is only one man who can get in the way of that dream - the former Mr Church, himself.
In his prime, he was a precocious talent, only he can dictate where he goes from here.
An exciting prospect - Rucker hopes he can light the stage once again.
Cheers

Quote of the Day

Stolen from the BBC Website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11954932

Tina Baxter was driving home when she spotted the meteor-like streak.

She told the BBC: "It was heading north and it appeared directly in front of me. It was travelling east to west."

Make your mind up, love, East to West, or North?

George North

How young do you have to be before major injury puts a promising rugby career on the ropes?
Seems 18 is about the age when rugby starts taking its toll, as youngster George North undergoes surgery on a damaged shoulder. He's out for up to three months, and is set to miss the start of next years RBS Six Nations.
Such a shame.
Rucker

Statement Due On Scotland's Snow Road Chaos

"Well, I'm sorry, but there's a strange Jet Stream flow at the moment, pushing the cold air, normally flowing around a latitude of about 60N, further south, as far as 50N at our longitude."

Or, maybe:

"It's cold and snowy, get over it."

Misread Headline of the Day

Imagine my surprise when I glance at the computer screen, and my minds eye registers, "Climate Change Threatens Archaeological Trousers"

CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES

Melting ice can help unlock ancient secrets, but warming temperatures could imperil many more historic sites.

Blogging

Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

Optimists

Rucker is very proud to announce the arrival of his daughter on the international sailing scene.
Over the course of Eid Al Adha, she took part in, and excelled at, her RYA Youth Beginners Stage 3.
Next stop, well, Stage 4, and then who knows?
She took a healthy interest in Rucker's online Vendee Globe race last year...
Cheers,
A very proud Rucker

Foreign Students

Increasing UK students fees, and reducing those of foreign students? Aren't you supposed to be looking after UK citizens, not everyone elses? Sorry, Dave, you've got it all wrong on this one...

England Australia

Had they played the way they played the week before, England would have had no argument than to walk away with a defeat.
But they played out of their skins, and put on a memorable show.
Well done them.
I particularly liked the huddle before the start, seeing the evergreen Lewis Moody shouting at the rest of them, "Enjoy it, JUST F@#&ING ENJOY IT!!!"
Cheers,
Rucker

England New Zealand

They really are, aren't they?
New Zealand, I mean.
The team du jour.
They seem to be unbeatable, unstoppable, incredible.
Heaven help us at the RWC on their home turf...
Cheers,
Rucker

Desire 2

Congratulations must go to the England Rugby team for preventing an Australian whitewash on the rugby field.

They strangled Australia out of the game, and forced ordinary performances from the team that destroyed them only a week earlier.

Whether it was a bad day at the office for Australia, or it was England playing far better than even they might have thought, is nobodys business but the coaches. Suffice it say that Martin Johnson and his men must have said something right during the last week. England wanted 'it' more than they have shown in the past few seasons, and rewarded the faithful with a win.

Poor old Rocky Elsom, however. No doubt the Australians were completely exhausted after their efforts, but to have to stand up twice (once for the camera, and once on the stage) and thank everyone for their support, when the fickle crowd had left the stadium almost completely empty, must have been a heavy cross. 

Thank you Australia, we might just have turned the corner. Long way to go, however.

Cheers,

Rucker

Desire

It's all about desire for the footballers. The effort put in to these games seems to be inversely proportional to the financial rewards gained. The England team, undoubtedly better drilled, fitter and more skillful, not to mention infinitely wealthier, than their Algerian opposition, clearly thought that it was 'only Algeria', and figured it would be a lot easier than it actually was. 

All credit must go to the Algerians, as they ran their socks off, especially into the dying minutes, where England seemed to be coasting around the park, assuming the goals would come. They didn't, and a 0-0 draw was all they deserved.

In fact, if it went down to effort, Algeria should have won.

Cheers,

Rucker.

Great Headline

USA Wins, 1-1.

Fantastic. With twice as many US employees than UK employees, they'll be saying the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the UK's fault.
You have to hand it to them - nothing is ever their fault, and even when it's a draw, it's a win for them.
Cheers,
Rucker.

Schooled

It disappoints me to say that the Northern Hemisphere was comprehensively schooled in the arts of attacking rugby over the weekend.

Save for the boot of Dan Parks, Scotland would have been rolled over by the continuous 'go forward' of the Argentine attack. 

England taught the Aussies a lesson in scrummaging, but in the wise words of, someone-or-other, 'a scrum does not a team make'. Everything else in the the game went the way of the Aussies. They knocked us back in attack, defence, the kicking game, even the lineouts were no pushover. Only the (reverting to type) power of the England scrum kept us in the game.

Ireland and France were quite simply blown away but New Zealand and South Africa respectively.

If that is the best the Northern Hemisphere can do (French sides currently hold the 6N, Grand Slam, and the Heineken Cup), we might as well not bother next year.

Once again, (I haven't mentioned it in these pages yet, but it will become a recurring theme) we need to shake up the coaching / management staff. The biggest (best) thing to do would be to admit we were wrong with the appointment of Martin Johnson, and get Jake White in. He came knocking three years ago, and was rudely rebuffed. Now more than ever, we need an establish international coach at the helm, and it has been proven that none of our current crop can cut the mustard.

Frustrated now.

Cheers,

Rucker.

Etisalat SMS Spam

Sorry to bang on about this, but I've had enough.

I very much doubt whoever is in charge of these cr4p SMSs is reading this, but it will make me a lot happier if the names of these w4nkers is out there.

My list so far is:

MAVENSPA

SPRINGSHOES

JEANSWEST

NINEWEST

FreeFifaWC (why? I prefer rugby and sailing...)

PFChangs

AHC

FIFASMS

GLafayette

DEWA

Evision (an Etisalat subsidiary)

etisalat themselves bombard me with cr4p, and they say that you cannot block etisalat promotional messages.

Will you all please just @£$% ^&* and leave me alone?
And just to top it off, just as I'm signing off, someone sends me a spam SMS FROM A PHONE NUMBER! No surprises that no-one answers when I call back, but a brief reply stating that the Police have been informed makes me happy!

Cheers,

Rucker

Concept 2

What a bastard of a machine. There is no hiding place. If you don't try you won't make the distance.

Yesterday, I managed a portly 7253m in half an hour.

Today, at what felt like flat out pace I managed 7246m. 7m shorter.

Bit disappointed with that, although I remember about 10 years ago, when I went on my last erg bender, the first few goes seemed to stick at a portly pace, and then after about 3 or 4 workouts, the pace came on hugely. 

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if I smashed the 7500 barrier tomorrow.

Or would it?

Cheers,

Rucker

Holidays

On a lighter note, we're going on our annual pilgrimage to the motherland in a few weeks, where we hope to catch up with all our mates, and do some sailing!

We bought an Optimist last year, and I hope to get my daughter well up to speed before she embarks on a week long sailing course at the end of summer.

Obviously, I don't fit in an Oppie anymore, so I'll be doing a lot of swimming!

Cheers,

Rucker

Etisalat SMS Spam

Exasperated, I have just received my fourth phone call from Etisalat, having registered a complaint that I receive too much SMS spam.

Unscrupulous government / bank / service provider staff have clearly sold lists of phone numbers to marketing companies, who then bombard the numbers they have with meaningless drivel and promotions which, judging from feedback from friends, no-one is interested in.

Apparently, there is a mechanism to block unwanted senders, but it doesn't work at the moment. This is a formatted SMS to an Etisalat registered code, and has been 'active' for quite some time. I even tried using it a few years back, but more messages pour in.

The solution I was given today (and yesterday, and the day before) was to call the private companies themselves, and 'deregister' my phone number. This is only going to highlight my number as active, and invite further unwanted spam SMS. 

I have a list of twenty companies currently spamming me, and I do not have the time or the energy to call each one and explain to the numpty at the other end that I wish my number to be removed from their SMS system.
Sorry, but, no.

A message to Etisalat - create an option for people to opt out of all marketing SMSs, and publicise it. You will win many more subscribers.

Rant over.

Cheers,

Rucker

AGRFU

I read today that the AGRFU had to auction off the major shirt sponsorship deal for the Arabian Gulf side in the upcoming HSBC Asian Five Nations on eBay.

Sadly, the AGRFU will cease to operate after this season, due to a change in IRB arrangements in this part of the world.

On a happy note, I hear the latest result was a good one for the Gulf side, running out 21-19 winners against Korea at the Se7ens ground in Dubai.

Cheers,

Rucker

Give your vote

I'm going to try and keep political views to a minimum on Windy Rucker, however, one story in the last week, leading up to the carnage that was the General Election in the UK, caught my eye, and made my blood boil.

'Give your vote' is a campaign run for individuals in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ghana to cast a vote in the UK General Election, because policies formed by the UK government affect millions of people in these countries and more.

I'm sorry, but policies made in India, China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, USA directly affect me, as a consumer, but do you see me crying out for a vote there? NO. 

I'm pretty sure UK policies do not single out these countries, therefore a vote from there would be unconstitutional, and just plain wrong. 

What a ridiculous idea.

Do you think they'd let me vote in the US, for a climate change bill?

Rant over,

Rucker.

Imagine my surprise...

... when I go down for my dinner, which on a Friday evening is always a curry. Normally with all the peripherals and paraphernalia laid out on one of the tables, so the Chef can have an early evening of it. 

So the galley boy asks me what I want, and I off-handedly reply, "Well, steak, egg and chips would be nice, but I'll help myself from over there, thanks."

Expecting no more, I go over and start helping myself, and the Chef taps me on the shoulder and says, "I have the steak ready, sir, how would you like your eggs?"

Dumbfounded and not a little surprised, I sit down with my first course of salad, and just as I'm polishing off the last tomato, out comes the Chef with a plate of steak, egg and chips.

Amazing.

Thank you very much, Ignacius.

And another thing...

I read with total dismay that the UK government (it doesn't deserve a capital 'G') is with one hand putting a freeze on Military Veterans pensions, while with the other is allowing families of terror suspects, who've had their assets frozen, access to hundreds of pounds per week of benefits.
It beggars belief that in the queue for government handouts, the men and women who put their lives on the line for the good of our country seem to be behind those are prepared to die in the battle against it.

Grrrr.

Rucker.

Wildlife

We've been out here for five days so far, and hardly seen a thing on the wildlife front. Supposedly a haven for lots of marine mammals and fish of all shapes and sizes.

But this morning, a pod, if you can call it that, of about 200, yes, 200 dolphins splished and splashed their way past. Probably spinner dolphins, as some of them would jump, spinning three or four times before landing with a huge fountain of a splash. Wonderful to see.

Then, not half an hour later, a massive whale wallows its way in a similar direction. Judging by its size and shape, it was a lone Minke whale, with a tiny dorsal fin.

And then, a couple of sea turtles playfully come up alongside, say hello, and then dive back to the depths again.

Hopefully that's the start of a great migration, and we'll get to see lots more marine wildlife in the coming days.

Cheers,

Rucker

Exercise

I've been meaning to do some exercise again for quite some time now. It's been difficult to get into any kind of regime since the injury. So I'm hitting the, erm, floor?
I'm using the change of being on board to knuckle down try and eat healthily (trying, when most items on the chef's menu are generally deep-fried to a cinder), and do some home-made circuits.
Hopefully, by the time I get home again, a few pounds will have been shed, and the muscle that has been hiding away for some time now will start to peek out from behind the layers of mid-life which have been building around the middle for the past few years!
Cheers,
Rucker

Starting a blog

How do you start a blog?
I suppose you need a scene setter.
So, I'm out here in the middle of the ocean, working on a ship performing submarine cable operations.
I suppose that's vague enough to keep the authorities happy.
I expect I'll be here for another month or so, depending on how well and how successful the trip is.
So there we are.
The first hurdle.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be dishing out general ramblings, occasional rants, and obtuse mutterings on subjects that interest and affect me.
That is, if I keep these entries going!
Cheers,
Rucker