A girl's gotta a do what a girl's gotta

How could I possibly get this far through the day without passing comment on England's heroic failure in the Euro qualifier they played last night on the artificial pitch (blah, blah) in Moscow against Gus Hiddinck's slavic battlers.

The heroic element in this defeat for the benefit of those unfamiliar the the ebb and flow of the match derives from the fact that England actually led for a long period of the match through a goal scored by that total glamour puss Wayne Rooney. And then they gave it all away in a manner all to familiar to those who understand the quality and nature as well as litteral meaning of the expression 'England Batting Collapse'. All the finest quality EBCs have followed a period of a match wherein England's workhorse bowlers and jelly fingered fielders have somehow negotiated the team into a position of relative strength.

So hats off to Steve Maclaren and the lads. Well done. And a commendation too, to the Jocks who succeeded in tripping over their own bootlaces in Georgia.

Finally, I'm getting a bit anxious about the RWC final this weekend. Short of actually shooting him or hamstringing him I'd take it as a kindness if someone could bring Bryan Habana down: say with a really, really bad flu he can't recover from before Sunday night. I fear this is the only way of putting England in with a chance.

And finally I am very proud of myself for eschewing a nicety so nice as to be beyond pedantic and out in the extremes of linguistic pomposity. I left out an apostrophe so 'no longer required' as to be wrong in its use rather than its absence. I know this because someone told 'me' this on the radio yesterday.

My heart was in the right place, my intellectual development is deficient

I wrote this:

And so we say farewell to the Pumas, who should be known as the Jaguars. You honoured us all with your enthusiasm, your skill and your courage. You did yourselves proud and covered yourselves in honour. You represent the future of the game and it is safe in your hands. We look forward to seeing you at the next Rugby World Cup if not in the Quadri-Nations or the Seven Nations in the meantime.

And it came out like this:

Y decimos tan adiós a los pumas, que deben ser conocidos como los jaguars. Usted nos honró todos con su entusiasmo, su habilidad y su valor. Usted se hizo orgulloso y cubierto en honor. Usted representa el futuro del juego y es seguro en sus manos. Miramos adelante a verle la taza siguiente del mundo del rugbi si no en las Quadri-Naciones o las Siete Naciones en entretanto.

Memo to self: must learn Spanish. When I tried 'spirit' rather than 'enthusiasm' I got alcohol, and even I know that isn't right. Heavy sight.

Things that are annoying me, today, part one.

Pronunciation, what a drag.

Have you noticed how the pronunciation of the word 'book' has slipped in a really weird way? To achieve this mangling one must needs pull down the corners of one's mouth while simultaneously thrusting forward and keeping taunt one's'lips, thus emitting something sounding rather more like 'er' then 'oo'.

It is unattractive. Stop it.

Meh

This is an excellently expressive wordlet of which insufficient use is made.

I have to go to work again, today. Meh.

I got paid today. I didn't get paid very much. Meh.

My daughter has lost another piece of school uniform I'll have to replace (it was her jumper). Meh.

The sunlight has taken on that dismal watery quality it will have from now until, er, June (possibly). Meh

I'm going to phug off, now, and do some housework.