7 People I would love to meet and why

Now today I've gone a bit dreamy. I've had a bit of a hard time at work and some sleepless nights so decided to have a little fun. I remember people asking me “if you could have 6 people over, from throughout history, for dinner who would you have and why?”

Now I thought about it several times and the normal names come up, JFK, Churchill, Gandhi, Bobby Moore, Newton, Alexander the Great and so on, but there are so many to choose from. So I decided to narrow the field a bit but adding in alive people only as a condition.

So here we go, and this is in no particular order:

1. Richard Branson, The guy is a real, breathing case of triumph over adversity. He is dyslexic and when he was young people did not know what it was, he was just stupid to them. I am dyslexic as well but I was lucky enough to grow up in a time when it was started to be recognised and I had lots of help. I would love to chat to him about how he over came it all to create on the the world biggest and well know brands.

2. Boris Johnson, The guy is a legend. He may just seem like a bumbling fool to most people but he is one of the best PR people in the country. He has shown a real human side which as made people like him more and more. He has bought some great changes to London with the Boris Bikes and the upgraded buses and he passion for change and a better London is 2nd to none. I think a certain Mr Cameron could well use some lessons from him.

3. Jay Z aka Sean Carter, The true rags to riches story. Kid from the projects goes on to the biggest rapper in history. What a legend, still seems a really down to earth kind of guy and despite all the fame he still knows where he came from. Could see him happy in a little dinner or eating in the best restaurants in the city.

4. Ridley Scott, One of the greatest directors of all time. Would love to chat to him about going from cult Si-fy, Alien, to massive epics, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. He has brought new life to the cinema. Also if all these actors are as bad as we see in the press or if it is as I suspect, blown out of proportion.

5. Sir Alex Ferguson, the football icon and best know manager in the world at the moment, I suspect Jose may have something to say about it in the future. Just to be good to talk to him about football and all the money there is in it. Also what it like to have lots of people dislike you for being so successful and what it is like to watch the managerial merry-go-round every year.

6. Prince Harry, again another legend. I'd love to go a for a drink with him. He just seems such a lad, again what we mere mortals see in the papers but he also looks like he enjoys life. He dose have a serious side with all his charity work and the army and I'd love to talk to him about all his great work as well as he gives so much of his time to his charity’s.

7. Barack Obama, Again a legend and a pioneer. When he was elected president I was so happy I thought it would be the best thing that could happen to the US since JFK. He went in on a platform of change and is still sticking to his guns. He may have had a few problems but he is talking about the hard issues and will not let people forget about them. He also sorted out a race row with a beer, legend.

Now this is my list, you may not agree with it and you might say why would he want to meet them, so come do your own and let me who you would love to meet.

Quitting before the End

Now in most cases quitting something before you have finished it can be a bad idea, stopping a film before the end, leaving a sports match before the end and so on. You never get to see the very end and sometimes it can leave you feeling a little miffed. An example can be the 1999 Champions League final. Manchester Utd are 1-0 down to Munich and there are seconds left in the game. Now some fans decided that Munich were far to good and had the game sewn up so turned off. Then what happened, 2 quick goals from Utd and a historic treble was theirs. It would not be the 1st or last time a sports team turned it around at the death. England vs Australia in the Ashes at Cardiff in 2009, who could have thought that Jimmy and Monty would survive the Australian attack for 12 overs, and ask any European golf fan of the greatest come back and they will say the 2009 Ryder cup, The Miracle of Medinah. However there are sometimes it is better to quit at the top and the main sports news this week is a great example of it. Sir Alex Ferguson, the most famous face of the Barclays premier league is retiring. He was won 20 league titles with them, 2 champions leagues and a host of other honors, 2 many to mention here. No manager in recent memory has done this and I don't think there is anyone who will any time soon. Now some people are surprised by the timing of this announcement but I’m not. The man has won all the main prizes on offer for a club manager in England even the Europe ones so why not go now. He has built a great team and will all ways be remembered as one of the greats of the game. He is 71, is having a hip operation this summer and has many other hobbies outside of the beautiful game. So I believe he has done the right thing of walking away on a high, leaving a great legacy and calling time before things started to go south. Now some would say why should it go south, well most things do after a while, film series for example, Fast and Furious was very good 2 was great but now 6 that’s getting a bit naff, Resident Evil is the same 1st one good but they should have left it there. So as a fan I would like to thank him for all his has done for the club and the sport and wish him well in whatever he chooses to do next.

How much is to Much?

This is a strange question for an online forum but how much is to much online living?

Most of us now do so many things online line it is unbelievable. We shop, we socialise, many people now work from home online. It seems that we live more and more of our lives though out computers. Now I'm as guilty as the next person at this, I don't send out party invites anymore I just put an event on facebook, but there are certain things I still won't do online. I won't buy fresh fruit and Veg in my shopping for one. I don't like the idea of someone Else telling me this is good enough for you. I like to get to the shop and pick it up and hold it and smell it.

But is seems to me that we are being pushed so much more online, booking driving tests is done online, paying your TV Licence can be done online and so much more. I think that if this continues that we just wont leave the house anymore except for going to the pub or on holiday and we will lose a lot of the social interaction that is slowly being eaten away but the World Wide Web.

An Early Morning rant

Good Morning and welcome to the first post on the Wood Splitters Blog. Now I'm English, and after what happened after yesterday I'm slightly pissed off.

How is it that 40,000 people in a stadium in South Africa can clearly see that a goal was scored yet the two people who matter can't. Now I'm not one who thinks there may be a bit of under the table dealing going on, but what is FIFA'S problem with bring tech into games to sort out critical points such as this. All you need is a bloke in a office with a mic to the ref and the coverage of the T.V. Most sports have it now a days, Tennis has the referral system, cricket has video refs for run outs and they are bringing in the referral system for other dismissals and even the NFL has it. FIFA needs to have a good hard look at it as there were two goals scored today that should not have been allowed, the Germany one and also Carlos Tevas's goal vs Mexico. But hey enough about that.

One a lighter note, I play cricket myself at the weekend and for the 1st time this season both the Saturday and Sundays sides one on the same weekend. The Saturday side did really well as we were all out of 57, I top scored with 20 and I came in at no 10, yet we managed to bowl them out for 53, what a game it was. On Sunday we batted first again and we posted 164 for 8, thanks to Danny and his 87 odd. We them managed to bowl them out for about 120, again thanks to Danny with his 2 for 5 off 10. It was the Sunday sides 1st win of the season. So an up and down weekend. if you want to come and visit us the link is

http://bacton.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp