30 Day Song Challenge - Day 15

Here we are at the half way point, and today's theme is "songs that describe you". This should be weird, so let's dive on in....

Track 1 - "Driving In my Car" by Madness



I only got my driving license in 2009, mainly because Prague has an incredible public transport system and so having a car was completely pointless. However, moving to the States made it a priority to learn to drive, and so at the age of 33 I finally took the plunge and did so. The exam itself was a bit of a joke really, a ten minute spin round the block and hey presto! Admittedly I failed the written exam first time round, mainly due to getting confused between metres and feet - the sooner the world goes metric, the better.

Track 2 - "Fields of Anfield Road" by The Kop



I love the original song, The Fields of Athenry, but being a Liverpool fan, I prefer this version.

Track 3 - "Wild Rover" by The Corries



Since I left home at 19, I have lived in England, the Czech Republic, Belarus and the US. As a kid I lived in England, Scotland, Wales and Germany. Even now, I am sure there will be other places to live and experience before I finally find a place to stop and put down some roots.

Of the three, it is Wild Rover that I think best describes me and my life.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 8

I sing in the car quite often, usually when Mrs Velkyal isn't there and I can put the volume up to an indecent level and just kind of let loose. Today's theme is songs that I know all the words to, given my singing habit, I know the words to an awful lot of songs, so I will give you just three favourites and leave it at that for today.

Track 1 - "Embarrassment" by Madness



Track 2 - "Black Velvet Band" by The Dubliners



Track 3 - "You'll Never Walk Alone" best sung by the Kop



If I had to choose one song of the three it would be You'll Never Walk Alone, for obvious reasons to those that know me.

Soul-less soccer

Yesterday was the final day of the summer football transfer window - the month long period that clubs have to buy and sell their players. Liverpool bought in three players, one of whom had been on loan last season and has now signed a permanent deal. Probably the biggest sotry of the day though was Manchester City being bought by the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi royal family. As if that wasn't enough, Manchester City go out and immediately splash over $60 million on the Real Madrid forward Robinho. Robinho had been courted by Chelsea for much of the summer, and had even told journalists that he wanted to leave Madrid for the London club as late as Saturday.

This summer has seen once again football transfer fees spiralling out of control, with utterly obscene figures being quoted for various players. apparently Kaka of AC Milan was wanted by Chelsea, who were willing to pay in excess of $150 million, even Liverpool splashed $40 million on Robbie Keane. In order to pay for these exorbitant fees and the salaries which players receive, ticket prices continue to rise, the cost of a replica shirt goes up and more and more ordinary working fans are being squeezed out of the game.

It is getting to the point where you juts have to accept that football has lost its soul, gone are the days when a club like Celtic could win the European Cup with the majority of players coming from with 5 miles of Parkhead. Clubs as famous as Nottingham Forest, who themselves has won the European Cup, have faced bankruptcy in the face and plummeted through the divisions. Today there are teams such as Oxford United who I remember watching on TV as a top flight club playing in the Conference.

It is getting to the point where I often wonder why I bother going along to the pub twice a week to watch a game to watch a group of millionaires flounce around the pitch. Perhaps I am getting to the point where football has outlived its usefulness, no longer is it a conduit for my bad days, no longer doesn't Liverpool beating Manchester United leave me buzzing for days.

But then at the same time the romantic in me can still enjoy the wonders of football. I must admit to having something of an affair with another club, Charleston Battery. Mrs Velkyal and I went to see a match when we were in South Carolina last year, the Battery versus Houston Dynamo. Since then I have kept an eye out for their results, doing very nicely in the USL1 - the American equivalent of the Championship - and tomorrow they will play in the Lamar Open Cup Final against D.C. United of the MSL. This is the American equivalent of the F.A. Cup and I am hoping that Battery will take another scalp and be the first USL side to win the Cup in many a year.

End of a hectic summer

This summer has been somewhat hectic, but this week my wife starts her final year at the school she works in (how strange is that, saying “my wife”?) and so I guess the summer is coming to an end. Naturally it has been a momentous summer, we got married, jetted off to Tunisia for our honeymoon and one week after we came back my wife went into hospital for a scheduled operation to remove a lobe of her thyroid, on which there was a rather large tumour – thankfully benign.

I must admit that my wife being in hospital just a few weeks after the wedding wasn’t one I particularly relished. I am not very good with medical things at the best of times, unless of course it is medicinal whisky. The day of the operation was quite possibly the longest I can remember – the wedding day went by in such a flash. I was practically on a knife-edge waiting for news that everything had gone ok. Everything went very well, and although for a couple of days she looked like the bride of Frankenstein, she was soon up and about. Even just a few hours after the operation, in between vomiting, she was bright enough to crack a few jokes.

As for the wedding itself, as I already said, everything went by in such a blur – but it was the happiest and best day of my life – yes even better than May 25th 2005 (for those not sure, I will give you a hint, Istanbul). But everything went so well. The ceremony was wonderful – although when the official declared that we had considered our “property rights”, we both almost giggled. Everyone seemed to get one famously, the reception was a blast and Chris made it from the wastes of Kazakhstan, happy days.

Our honeymoon was spent in Tunisia, one of the most liberal of Muslim countries on earth and officially one of my favourite places. Any country that can effortlessly mix North African cuisine with a French attitude to life has to be a good place. Part of me was a little nervous, the wife being American and there having been some Islamic fundamentalist activity in the country. But everyone we met was awesome and genuinely seemed happy to meet an American – usually followed by the question, “but why you come to Tunisia”? I sometimes wonder if politicians and idealists cause more problems in the world than they solve.

This week is also the beginning of the official end of summer, or as I prefer to call it, the first day of the football season. I am not a big fan of the summer, mainly because of the absence of competitive football – and before anyone says, “well what about the Euros?”, Scotland weren’t there so they don’t count. The first day of the season also has a greater meaning for me this year, it marks the beginning of my final football season in Prague. Hopefully by the end of it Liverpool will be celebrating number 19, an FA Cup and a Champions League. We can dream.

Riise's goal last night did somewhat take the wind from my sails - but the more I think about it the more I am convinced that Liverpool have the firepower to get a goal at Stamford Bridge, which would turn the game into winner takes all.

Fernando Torres has had a phenomenal first season at Anfield, and hopefully that will continue next Wednesday, but first up is Birmingham City - and I for one would give a few reserves a run out. In light of the injury to Fabio Aurelio (how unfortunate can that guy get?), I think it would be time to give Insua a run in the team until the end of the season. I would also love to see Nemeth get a couple of turns on the bench. Resting the big players is an option for this weekend's game, so I would expect a recurrence of Gerrard's neck injury, and maybe even a hangnail for Mascherano, allowing Plessis another opportunity to impress.

Despite the gloom of an away goal at Anfield, and the constant bickering of the owners, and DIC waiting in the wings let the hangman, the future is still bright for Liverpool, as long as Rafa stays of course.

Champions League again

So tomorrow is another Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, and already I am nervous and a little distracted by it all.

Two more tight and nervy games, a hoarse throat on Wednesday for sure and hopefully at the end of it a final in Moscow against Barcelona.