Somebody said to me the other day that I haven't written anything for ages and wondered why. Always willing to oblige I offer my thoughts on the batty idea of closing car parks at night to prevent use by young motorists for pleasure. Their idea of fun is to drive speedily around a largley empty car park, braking, turning, and making as much noise as possible. As most car parks are close to residential areas there is the inevitable irritation caused to people in their own homes.

Residents quite rightly look to councillors and the police to solve this problem. Better lighting linked to CCTV coverage may deter some and extra police patrols always help, but officers can't visit every evening, so these measures can only reduce the nuisance, not remove it altogether.

The solution involves the parking of residents cars overnight by offering this service at a minimal charge while allowing on-street parking at a premium rate. Except in The Italian Job no-one races round a full car park.

The streets would become car-free and - here comes the cricket and football bit - children could again play safely in the streets; just like we did before the motor car blighted all our lives. That's the way to do it!  

I'm on leave this week so luckily I was home this morning when the postie delivered my copy of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2008. It's the 145th year: John Wisden produced the first edition in 1864. I have been a fan since 1953 when I was 8 years old.

One of the regular features is 'Five Cricketers Of The Year'. Nobody can be included twice. After his exploits last year I was convinced that Shivarine Chanderpaul would be named - and he is. Wisden never lets you down.

Chanderpaul is a left-handed West Indian batsman from Guyana. As his name implies, his ancestors came originally from the Indian sub-continent, so he is the natural successor to Alvin Kallicharran, also from Guyana and also left-handed.  Also from Guyana was Rohan Kanhai, right-handed but equally stylish, for 20 years a star batsman at no. 3 for the 'Windies'.

I've still got to do 2 of my 3 hours a day council duties but I'm going to leave that until 17.00. Meanwhile, I have 1680 pages to read. Do Not Disturb; or as they say in Bolivia: No Molestar. 

I'm told that my blog is read by some students at Sheffield University. They like my posts about the Laws of Football and this has triggered debates on campus.

I will endevour to satisfy demand in the coming weeks. I might even say something nice about Sheffield United, but not, of course, Sheffield Wednesday. I'm a Len Badger fan.

The worst type of race to bet on is a long-distance handicap steeplechase with 40 runners. The fact that millions of occasional punters choose the Grand National as the one race to bet on in the year is proof that Charles Darwin knew what he was talking about. I studied form from 1975 and 1981 as a hobby and went to Aintree in 1976, where I saw Rag Trade beat Red Rum in a thrilling finish. During 6 years as a form student, two of my favourite horses did win the National - Lucius in 178 and Aldaniti in 1981. Both had previously impressed me when running at Sandown Park, my regular NH racecouse. Lucius won a 2m 6f handicap hurdle in November 1975 and Aldaniti had jumped brilliantly until going lame near the finish a couple of seasons before both he and his jockey made their amazing comebacks in 1981. This was the year I got married so I simply didn't have any spare time for 24 years. Now, and with two jobs, I have even less spare time than ever. I will watch the race on TV but with little knowledge of the runners and riders, it won't mean much to me.

 

 

Just as the light evenings start to draw out, we are told to put our clocks forward by one hour. Tomorrow morning as I leave for work at 07.20 it will be dark. Last week it was light. The government should be encouraging people to get out of bed earlier and light streaming in through the windows is a more natural incentive than any alarm clock. Although British Summer Time (BST) has been policy since 1916, it should be scrapped in favour of permanent Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Science before social engineering everytime.

Easter Sunday morning and it is snowing heavily in Bury St Edmunds, and probably elswhere. Two big league football matches are scheduled for today, one in Manchester, the other in London. At Old Trafford, United host Liverpool and Arsenal travel the short distance to play Chelsea. Either or both games could be off due to the weather conditions, which would be ironic as the sun shone on Christmas Day, so they could have played then.

Victoria and I hope to fit in a snowball fight in the garden later and then prepare a roast chicken supper with potatoes, carrots, leeks, home made stuffing and a rich gravy. We may light a candle.

 

I have perfected over the years my own gravy receipe to the point where it is the crowning glory of any meal I prepare. It requires great concentration in order to get the blend of ingredients exactly right and as most of the work takes place in the five minutes before serving the meal, attention to detail is vital. Sorry, can't tell you any more - it's Top Secret!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructions For Use - to follow in due course.

At about 11.15 this morning I was walking along Sebert Road on the Moreton Hall estate en passant from Mount Farm Surgery to Comet when I heard: Hey, David, if you need any milk, we've got some. I turned round to see a couple of local plumbers who had obviously read page 3 of the Bury Free Press.

At 5 o'clock on Tuesday morning, two pints of milk were delivered at my front door in Cannon Street. Five minutes later two young men stole my milk. Unaware, at about 06.30, I opened the front door to collect my two pints of skimmed milk to find nothing. Having realised that my milk had been stolen, I walked over to Tesco to buy a 2 pint container as Victoria has cornflakes and I have porridge for breakfast,

When Curry's shoe repairs opened I crossed over Cannon Street to examine their cctv footage and this showed the theft. I alerted the police and the BFP and I'm hopeful of an arrest. The SNT don't want to release the cctv footage until next week but I have already told the BFP that these 'cereal' milk snatchers should do 'porridge'.