Sweet FA Cup

A famous underdog victory - Wimbledon lift the FA Cup in 1988

Am I the only person who tired last weekend of those whining through a rose tinted haze about how the FA Cup "isn't the competition it used to be"? It's almost as excruciating as hearing ITV banging on about "the magic of the cup" blah, blah, blah.

I watched televised coverage of 3 ties last weekend (something of a rare treat for a non Sky Sports subscribing, married father) and all three games had that little extra 'je ne sais quoi?' absent from standard Premier League games.

Okay, so I wouldn't call it 'magic' but I might be tempted to call it 'authentic'. Those who regularly follow lower league football would, I'm sure, chastise me, tripping over their tongues to explain, exasperated, how it's always been like this and only a foolish glory hunter such as I would feel need to discuss the issue.

It's simply that, with the all consuming glamour of the nation's top flight, we sometimes forget the rich honeypot of English and Welsh clubs, supported in their thousands, across our unique strata of leagues.

I'm not sure what the average attendance in Italy's Serie C would be, for instance, but I can't imagine a club attracting home crowds of circa 23 000, such a figure averaged by League 1's Leeds United in 2008/09.

For a relatively small nation, it speaks wonders of our continuing passion for the game, our continuing will to follow 'our' club through thick and thin. The heritage of these historic clubs, spawned from the very womb of Association Football, peppering the cities, towns and villages of the UK with such high density, is something of which we should be very proud.

Friends of mine, supporters of Crystal Palace FC, have recently had the ignominy of seeing their club fall into the hands of the administrators. The very thought of a man's team ceasing to exist after lifelong support fills me with a sense of utter dread - it does matter; it's a question of community and identity; it's not just a game - yet, as evidenced by AFC Wimbledon, the fans will inevitably find a way.

Leeds United, Scunthorpe, Preston - none of the 'underdogs' actually won their ties, yet all gave their opponents a considerable run for their money, all made their supporters feel proud even in the face of defeat. A very English quality was on show.

Aiding and abetting

Quite excitingly, I've just become a First Aider. I can now offer initial care for an illness or injury without too much risk of litigation. Hurrah! I even have a pin badge and a little red wallet to prove it (see pic).

I could pretend it was some deep routed desire to help my fellow man that caused me to sign up for the course but you and I both know it wasn't. As it happened, there was a need to fill our quota of first aiders at work and somebody suggested little old me.

"What the hell?" I thought, it was probably worth doing, especially with Baby George around nowadays. Also, I'd heard first aiders got an extra £30 quid in their monthly pay packet. In the end it was simply the kind of offer a tight, Scottish git just can't refuse.

Predictably though, after initial misgivings, I really did find it an empowering and joyous experience. 6 of us attended the sessions at the drearily shabby Europa Hotel in Crawley and, despite the depressing surroundings, I found there was an incredible sense of camaraderie between us, strangers, some builders, some site managers, some teachers, thrown together for 3 days.

We lunched, learnt and as schamltzy as it sounds, bonded a little. By the end of day two we'd discovered one of us was a £120 000 Lottery winner, another had handled poisonous snakes in Africa, a third fainted at the sight of blood (ideal for a first aider) and a fourth bore striking resemblance to the current England Football Manager. By the 3rd day, even the instructor was addressing him as 'Fabio'.

It was fantastic to be learning something new, something practical, something that could potentially save a life. I realised it was probably the first time I'd actively learnt a new skill since taking my driving test a good 4/5 years ago. Most heart warming though, was the support all the students gave each other, politely correcting mistakes and encouraging where necessary - the very essence of being a first aider I suppose - empathy.

I loved it! In fact, I was a little sad to shake hands goodbye. Still, at least I'll be seeing one of them, albeit on screen, during the World Cup this summer. The added bonus being that if anyone watching with me faints from the stress of another penalty shoot-out exit I'll now know what to do - A scary responsibility.

Now is the winter of our discount tent

If ever people questioned the reality of Climate Change, surely this week's news of record temperatures in Melbourne, combined with the UK's current harsh winter, must make them at least think twice?

I want to believe. All the evidence I've seen certainly leads me to think these are times of unprecedented climatic flux. I've seen Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' and, despite being far from the last word on climate change, can't help but feel the overwhelming weight of data presented is too great to be ignored.

I'm proud too that, as it happens, I work for an organisation who, having a vested interest in the world's oceans (or at least those who work upon/under them), take a suitably firm stance, producing their own position statement on climate change.

The problem is that as much as we as individuals, even as individual organisations, pledge to recycle, reduce our carbon footprint and turn to alternative fuels, in reality I don't believe it's enough to have a great effect on the general trend.

People will no doubt bleat to the contary but even if every individual worldwide did all they reasonably could, would we rectify the climate change occurring in our world today?

The real issue it seems to me is countering the impact of industrial operations and addressing the global demands for fossil fuels. A start would be raising funding for the development of new technologies whilst also committing to emission reductions rather than simply sitting around and agreeing a 'need' without ensuring any 'action'.

Such was the disappointment of the Copenhagen Climate Summit last month. Leaders with a real opportunity to make a difference, unsurprisingly became bogged down in political/economical debates regarding newly industrialised and rapidly developing nations. Frustrating to say the least.

It appears the general trends in consumerism (e.g. public demand for hybrid cars etc.) will still be the only avenue to instigating an iota of change. However, until there's wider, more accessible consumer choice for sustainable heating, power, transport, it seems a somewhat distant pipe-dream.

So as we make our way through the snow, grumbling as the UK's transport infrastructure grinds to a halt, we might consider this could be the first of many discontented winters to come.

On the plus side, it could be good camping weather this summer. Book your pitch on Brighton Beach early. I better buy my bubble tent now!

Some blog housekeeping

The end of a year and I've decided to clear out my lists and start afresh for 2010. To be honest they were getting a bit unwieldy over there on the left hand side of the screen anyway. This year I'll include podcasts in my 'Listening' list as I'm as much tuned into them these days as I am any music.

So here, if only for posterity's sake, is the majority of my cultural intake for 2009 (I really must try and read more)....

Reading...
24 Hour Party People: What The Sleeve Notes Never Tell You - Anthony Wilson
Moab Is My Washpot - Stephen Fry
Tokyo Year Zero - David Peace
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry
First-time Parent: The Honest Guide to Coping Brilliantly and Staying Sane in Your Baby's First Year - Lucy Atkins
Red Herrings And White Elephants: The Origins Of The Phrases We Use Everyday - Albert Jack
A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough - Duncan Hamilton
What To Expect The First Year - Heidi Murkoff
Hi-Fidelity - Nick Hornby
The Liar - Stephen Fry
The Damned United - David Peace
Without Remorse - Tom Clancy
Shadowhunter - Geoffrey Archer

Listening...
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches - Happy Mondays
Trans Europe Express - Kraftwerk
Antidotes - Foals
Falling off the Lavender Bridge - Lightspeed Champion
The Resistance - Muse
Ignore The Ignorant - The Cribs
Humbug - Arctic Monkeys
Mens Needs, Womans Needs, Whatever - The Cribs
La Roux - La Roux
Kraftwerk/Can/NEU!/Faust
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian
Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
Primary Colours - The Horrors
Dark Days/Light Years - Super Furry Animals
It's Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Grace/Wastelands - Peter Doherty
"Heroes" - David Bowie
Low - David Bowie
Years of Refusal - Morrissey
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Do You Like Rock Music - British Sea Power
Stainless Style - Neon Neon
Day & Age - The Killers

Watching...
Doctor Who - BBC1 (TV)
The Royle Family - BBC2 (TV)
Gavin and Stacey - BBC2 (TV)
Never Mind The Buzzcocks - BBC2 (TV)
The Secret Life Of The Berlin Wall - BBC4 (TV)
James May's Toy Stories - BBC2 (TV)
Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany - BBC4 (TV)
Micro Men - BBC4 (TV)
Have I Got News For You - BBC1 (TV)
Harry Hill's TV Burp - ITV1 (TV)
Life - BBC1 (TV)
The Thick Of It - BBC2 (TV)
The Armstrong and Miller Show - BBC2 (TV)
The Electric Revolution Season - BBC4 (TV)
History of Scotland - BBC4 (TV)
Peep Show Series 6 - C4 (TV)
NFL Live - Five (TV)
Reading/Leeds Festival - BBC3 (TV)
The Street - BBC1 (TV)
You Have Been Watching - C4 (TV)
Would I Lie To You? - BBC2 (TV)
That Mitchell & Webb Look - BBC2 (TV)
Psychoville - BBC2 (TV)
Peep Show Boxset (DVD)
Flight of the Conchords - BBC4 (TV)
Flight of the Conchords - Series 1 (DVD)
The Inbetweeners - E4 (TV)
The Apprentice - BBC1 (TV)
Newswipe - BBC4 (TV)
Genius - BBC2 (TV)
Ashes to Ashes - BBC1 (TV)
The Wire - BBC2 (TV)
Red Riding - Channel 4 (TV)
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads - G.O.L.D. (TV)
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - G.O.L.D. (TV)
The Brittas Empire - G.O.L.D (TV)
The Office - Complete Boxset (DVD)
Frank Skinner Stand Up - Live at Birmingham's NIA (DVD)
Bill Bailey - Tinsleworm (DVD)
The Tony Hancock BBC Collection (DVD)