The Good The Bad and The Ugly of my week

The Good

I have scheduled this post for Sunday evening as I will be away this weekend to London with Spurs boy. This is actually our first trip away as a couple and we really cannot wait. He was away this week and the place seemed empty without him and it's good to have him back. Our trip to London is a little bit for Valentine's although we have agreed "NO PRESENTS" but I'm arranging Saturday and he will arrange what we do Sunday. We won't know until the day what we are doing. I can tell you now that on Saturday I have planned some shopping (only a little as he'll moan and my leg will hurt) and then a cocktail making class, then dinner and then off to see Invictus. No idea what he has planned for Sunday though, we both hate surprises! 

As I have spent most of my week recovering from my hamstring injury, which turned out to be a Grade 2 tear, only had Grade 1 before :-( I have been very much enjoying comfort food. Not so much chocolate and crisps but jacket potato with cheese and beans, lasagne, pancakes etc Nom nom nom! 

I got another follower to my blog - Welcome!

Bestie came to stay with me whilst Spurs boy was away and it was fab. It's her birthday on Monday, she'll be 25. We are having dinner with her, her family and friends in the evening and next weekend will be the big party! I still need to get an outfit and of course her present. 

Regarding the hamstring injury as a certain Ryan Giggs used to have troublesome hamstrings a few years ago I'm now being referred to on twitter as "Twitter's Giggsy" which I like :-))

My Lakeland order arrived :-), the heated towel rail is fantastic, the Cupcake Cake Pan and Paella Pan will be used next week. The make up caddy has been placed on the dresser, haven't actually put anything into it yet as I need to have a good old clear out of all my make up. Another thing for my to do list this week

I'd been waiting and waiting for the new Sade album and as it's been 10 years since her last album it has been some wait. Soldier of Love is fantastic from start to finish and it's really the only thing at the moment out of choice that I want to listen to. The title track is probably my favourite, check it out here.

My Airline Conquerer USA score is now 324! Whoop whoop!

Totally addicted to Rock Band both on The Wii and my iPhone. Still on medium though, guitaring is my choice of instrument. Spurs boy likes to drum!

As I have been working from home I have been more than sticking to my revision plan and I've actually done more than I had planned for which is very good!

Apparently I will like the new 2010 range of filofaxes as I had sent the Filofax twitter page my link to my recent blog and based on my choices they said I will like the new range! Very excited and apparently it's out from March! Cannot wait...but I will have to!

I saw this picture and it made me want a panda even more! Maybe not at all 16 though

Liking the new England Away Shirt for 2010-2012

The Bad

Ryan Giggs out injured (no not his hamstring, that's me!) for four weeks :-( So he'll miss the crucial Champions League match with AC Milan this coming week and The Carling Cup Final and a couple of Premier League games. 

Facebook has changed again! I know soon enough we will all forget about what it looked like before the changes but honestly WTF happened? And... most crucially my news feed doesn't actually work and always shows things from a day ago. So that's a facebook fail :-(

The golf practice is going to have to wait till my leg is better, for now have been playing Tiger Woods (snigger) PGA Tour 10 on the wii. But I can play it sitting down so it's not really counting as practice is it?

Spurs boys work trip was not very successful and he will need to go out again. Boo! :-(

The Ugly

Definitely my hamstring! It is definitely better now but when it was swollen it was not so good. I swore...LOTS. I felt stupid having crutches but it was much easier with them and although I'm not using them much now it's nice to know they are still there in case I need them. 

Football managers are said to love team selection problems and Mr Capello seems to be having a few with regards World Cup selection. Not just with the John Terry mess but now with Ashley Cole out for 3 months after suffering from a broken ankle. Please Mr Capello could you look towards James Milner or maybe even Leighton Baines as a suitable replacement for Cole. That said though; Milner and Baines you need to step it up a gear and prove you deserve your place too!

Legend Part One

Ryan Giggs won the 2009 Sports Personality of the Year award and whilst he deserves the honour there were a lot of people who were unhappy at the decision as fellow World Champions Jenson Button and Jessica Ennis came 2nd and 3rd respectively. I know as a Manchester United fan that Ryan Giggs is someone who is treasured by the Old Trafford faithful and I am a big fan of his and believe whenever he does decide to retire the game will miss one of its greatest ambassadors. 

I voted for Jenson and Giggs (admittedly more times for the latter) but I still felt that Jenson would win. 

At the age of 36, Giggs is now starting to get the accolades that have in previous years alluded him, earlier this year he won the PFA (Players Football Association) Players' Player of the Year and he has won two European Cups, 11 league titles, four FA Cups and three League Cups and is still capable of changing the game when he starts tearing into the opposition's defence - yet this was his first Sports Personality Award.

It's a shame Giggs will never reach World Champion status (although for me he has been World Champion 11 times now - lol) and maybe if he had selected to play for England it could have happened?  

Some people say that Jenson had just got into the car at the right time with Brawn and will find next season his hardest yet with his move to McLaren and will team up with fellow brit Lewis Hamilton. 

But for now Giggs has won the award and if you don't like it, ya just gonna have to lump it! 

Happy Birthday Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs is 36 today and yesterday he scored his 100th Premier League goal for Manchester United! He is showing no signs of slowing down or stopping and he is just an absolute legend both on and off the pitch.

He has said 'when' he hangs up his football boots he would like to do more work for UNICEF, he is already an ambassador for them (see the video below) from last month's news.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

I'm sure it won't be too long before it's Sir Ryan Giggs ;-)

P.S. Well done to Rooney on a fab month - he's become a Dad, captained Manchester United and England, and also bagged a hatrick of goals against Portsmouth! What a month!

Old Trafford Tour and Museum

I thought it could be timely to write up about my tour of Old Trafford on the day that there are rumours Manchester United could be facing the same ban on football transfers that has happened to Chelsea Football Club. Also Manchester United have been announced as the World's Most Valuable Sports Team at £1.14 billion according to Forbes Magazine.

With a football club who last year had debt valued at £667 million (I might add this was not mentioned on the Tour), there seems to be nervous times ahead for the club. The spectacular amounts of money that the sponsorship deals have and will be bringing in seem to only be covering the interest on this debt. With the way the global economic climate is at the moment it would only take a breach on any of this debt repayment for United to be in serious trouble.

United of course if they did face this ban, like Chelsea, would survive and have strong youth teams with talented players. The main replacements I would unfortunately forsee in that time would be for Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.



On the tour Rooney was the new favourite player, of course it had been Ronaldo before. My brother has always been a Michael Owen fan, so you can imagine his delight of him coming to Old Trafford in the Summer (his other favourites are Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Thierry Henry). My favourites (in no particular order) Ryan Giggs, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Roy Keane, Owen Hargreaves and Eric Cantona. Also Cristiano Ronaldo is not listed because of his recent transfer but I didn't really like him, he scored some amazing goals and he helped us win many trophies but I never took to him.


Before when I had taken the tour the players changing rooms were roped off, now you can actually sit down on the benches where your heroes sit. Rooney again was the favourite place to sit and have your photo taken!

It is still an impressive tour of the ground and I think the tribute to the Munich air disaster is a very poignant addition. For the week of the 50th anniversary I had just got to the Munich crash in My Manchester United Years: The Autobiography by Sir Bobby Charlton, and it made it even more real when I watched the anniversary programme tributes on MUTV. Charlton says "I thought, 'Why me? Why am I here with nothing happened to me other than a little gash on the head' and all these other friends had been killed? I felt it wasn't fair, why should it be me? It took a long time for me to feel better about it, certainly. It was such a momentous event, for so many young people to die just on the verge of the great success that was ahead of them, and I couldn't understand why?".



I would recommend the Tour and Museum to all those who have not been and to those who haven't been for a while as they keep making changes to it. The Red Cafe is also worth a visit inside, where as if by chance my brother's seat had 'Owen' on it and mine 'Giggs', but of course they are all there.

As we head into international duty let's hope we have no new injury concerns and then can welcome back Ferdinand and Hargreaves (I'm a real fan of his and think he could be pivotal for us and England). Also let's hope England's qualification is over and done with next week, and we'll be heading for South Africa in the Summer.