El Zen

One of the things I appreciate most about living in Norway is state subsidised, quality childcare. £300/month, qualified staff, meals provided. It’s brilliant. Not just for my wallet, not just for the kids, but as far as gender equality policy goes, it’s unbeatable. Anyway, yeah, kids’ stuff is ridiculously overpriced and you should definetely get as much second hand as you possibly can.

There’s a reason why I referenced Anna Karenina earlier. The Wire truly is Tolstoyan.

Well, it’s perfectly possible for it to be both. And it is. Of course it’s overwhelmingly an emotional response to a disapppointing situation. Personally, Jack choosing to leave disappointed me enough to make me not want to like him anymore. Expressing my resentment makes me feel better about the situation. That’s probably childish, but having any kind of emotional attachment to a game is essentially childish in nature. Which is a good thing. It’s healthy to be childish. Life is otherwise serious enough. «Understanding» and «accepting» Jack’s decision is probably rational, but f***ing boring. Football shouldn’t be boring. It should be therapeutically emotional. Then I also contend that there are circumstances under which Jack could have left, that would have been more palatable for many. It’s both. And that’s okay too.

Absolutely. To be fair, he should have had five. Missed a couple of sitters. 12 goals in 15 games for Norway, though.

Hat trick.

It’s funny when your team is up 4-1 and the prevailing impression is «f*** me, they couldn’t hit the proverbial with a banjo!»

Don’t be ridiculous. My wife would never let me do that.

And then he just missed an open goal from a yard out.

Two more goals for Norway today, and it’s only half time, putting him at 10 goals in 15 games. The all time record for Norway is 33 goals. Assuming he plays until age 35, he has 14 more years to get the 24 goals he needs to take the record. He’ll probably have the record by age 25.

I think that’s quite accurate.

Try Gibraltar. On current evidence I’m sure you could field a team of Father Ted, Ronan Keating and the founding members of the Dubliners and still have a chance. Edit: They’ve just scored. Haha. Fair enough, you may have to strengthen with Shane McGowan and Glen Whelan, then.

But he’ll dry his eyes. Mate.

Which is why the thought experiment isn’t really analogous to Jack Grealish. Moving to Man City isn’t financially life changing for him. He was already an embarrasingly rich man with more money than he could spend.

Ty is good on the ball. The fact that he can hit a good long ball into space doesn’t make him less of a good ball player. I’d argue it’s quite the opposite.

Some really good tunes on this one. I said in another thread that Renegade ft. Taylor Swift is a near-perfect pop song. Really, really good.

Definitely a bit of both.

I’m off sick. WFH isn’t really an option for us teachers as long as the kids are back in the classroom. I know it wasn’t ill-intentioned and I have a great working relationship with the person in question, but the principle of it is deeply problematic (speaking as a union activist) and I feel it would be an act of disloyalty to my co-workers to contribute to a culture where being available on sick days is expected, or even an option.

Dunno. I would. But that wasn’t the point I was making anyway. I was saying you can’t really compare Joe Lolley scoring against Villa and Jack Grealish doing the same.

I’m pretty sure Joe Lolley would walk barefoot across a sea of lego bricks to play for Villa, though. Jack chose to leave.

Why leave out generational talent Ethan?

Join us again tomorrow on «Mike’s hot takes» as we discuss topics such as; - Anna Karenina and why ten pages was enough for me. and - It’s really just a book about some old guy and a fish. Thanks for watching, and as we always say «f*** it, life’s too short for patience anyway!»

Hey, I’ve crossed intenational borders on foot just to look at some architecture and old ceiling.

Four days in Copenhagen booked for October. It’s only «just down the road» but it’s international travel and a proper city break for the first time in, literally, years.

Based only on the data provided by the avove map: No, not at all, really.

Teams, Zoom etc is becoming a bit of a threat to work/life balance, and also fundamental workers’ rights. I’ve had to take a rare sick day due to a stuffy nose and slightly sore throat. Not feeling too bad, but y’know, best be careful because corona and all that. This means I’ll miss a team meeting, to which my supervisor asked «do you think you could you join us on Teams?» How am I supposed to respond to that? I mean, yeah I probably could, but should you even ask?