Meteors

On the walk back from the Bunch of Grapes on Saturday night, C spotted some sort of flash in the sky. Wondering whether it was part of a meteor shower C found the relevant book and, yes, 12 August is/was the best day of the year to see the Perseid Meteor Shower.

The Perseids is made up of bits of dust and stuff from the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet which burn up when the Earth’s orbit moves through the debris. Apparently, even a microscopic dust particle burns up so brightly that it’s visible to the naked eye. So we spent a while stargazing. As a result, I saw my first ever meteor, a spectacular bright streak that only lasted a second or so – but well worth the wait.

C Notes

Cath’s recent cover feature and article for the BMJ (British Medical Journal) got a write up in The Times recently. Cath is also writing a regular column in The Times on Office Dilemmas.

Most hated update

I know that Coldplay make a very good case for topping everyone’s most hated list and topped my list the other week – after all Chris Martin is a tediously dull and whiney git with fruit for offspring.

But I managed to forget about Bono, the most irritating man on the planet and my new Number One with a bullet. You know how sometimes you block traumatic memories out? It’s the same thing with Bono. He’s a self-righteous hypocrite wants to change the world whilst flying his hat around the world first class.

Coffeenerdness

A while ago now, having to kill half an hour in Abercynon having missed my train I wandered into the local café and asked for a cappuccino. The lady behind the counter replied “I can do you a milky coffee, love.” And good it was too.

There’s a quantum leap between Abercynon café society and the Starbucks and Costa Coffees of the world. OK, I know that they are overpriced, but the range is enormous and during the recent heatwave the cold drinks have been greatly appreciated.

Two I can heartily recommend are the low-fat Raspberry Frescato in Costa Coffee and the Banana Caramel Frappuccino coffee in Starbucks. Sampled them both on my recent trip to London.

Needless to say though, Starbucks and Costa have yet to crack the lucrative Pontypridd market yet. There seems to be a hundred cafés in Ponty where you can get a milky coffee for a pound (I recommend the café in the indoor market – excellent for coffee and crowd watching), so they are facing some stiff competition if they want to conquer the valleys.

Travel Notes

Aggravating – Thankfully haven’t been caught up in the mayhem that is airport security yet, but I’m taking my mum up to Heathrow tomorrow, so all that’s going to change.

The current restrictions on hand luggage are completely barking mad and unsustainable. Denying people on long haul flights access to a book, iPod and bottle of water is complete lunacy. Shouldn’t there be a bit more profiling of travellers, rather than suspecting every 70-year-old granny of trying to blow up the world?

Enjoyable – I happened to see the historic transport procession through Pontypridd town centre on Saturday. Some wonderful old vehicles – horse-drawn and steam-powered all the way through to Jags.

Cricket Notes

With two games to go, the Haddocks are top of Division 3. All to play for with just two games left – this Tuesday and Thursday.

Dean Jones, the former Australian test cricketer has been sacked as a TV commentator for a comment of Big Ron proportions. Atkinson was famously sacked as an ITV pundit for calling Marcel Desailly "a lazy f***ing nigger" - his excuse being that he did not think he was on air.

Well Dean Jones' comment was perhaps even a touch more insensitive when he labelled the South African Hashim Amla “a terrorist” after he held a catch at slip: "the terrorist has got another wicket”. Switchboards were flooded with calls of complaint and Jones' employers Ten Sports reacted swiftly, sacking Jones immediately.

Rugby Notes

Ebbw Vale won their first pre-season matches at the weekend. They had wins over Cornish Pirates (5 - 0, Kristian Owen try) and Launceston (17 - 12, Kristian Owen, Jon Bowd and Andrew McLaughlan tries and Sam Mills conversion).

Next pre-season game is versus Bristol next Monday.

No Tri-Nations game last weekend, but it’s the last New Zealand/Australia game next Saturday, 6:30 am start. I’ll be setting my Sky+ gizmo to record it.

Football Notes

Here’s a link to how blogging should be done. It’s a sports blog of Notre Dame college football. It has stacks of technical information and behind the scenes news, and a pile of links to other college football sites.

HTV used to show some college football in the middle of night way back before Channel 4 existed, let alone brought the NFL to the UK – perhaps 25 years ago. That was my first exposure to football and how I became a Notre Dame fan. It has always been one of my ambitions to go and see a Notre Dame game at South Bend (a second best would be to see them play at Boston College).

In their first pre-season game, the New England Patriots went down to the Atlanta Falcons 26-23. Nobody reads too much into pre-season games as they tend to be a chance for second and third team players to show what they’ve got.

Link of the Week

My mate Ben Stovold has been blogging for years now, writing of his travels between Australia, the UK and places in between. The photos on the blog and his Flickr site are impressive – clearly an Aussie with too much time on his hands.