Hamilton Saint

Canada has a very different culture than the United States. It is not a gun-loving society. Most of the hand-guns used in petty crime here are imported illegally from the U.S. And U.S. citizens crossing into Canada by car are often surprised that they are required to relinquish their weapons at the border. People are not allowed to carry around hand-guns here - whether concealed or not. We also had a "long-gun" registry (for rifles and shotguns), which required owners to have those weapons registered by the police. Farmers and hunters (especially in the west of Canada - where the American spirit of individual liberty and frontier enthusiasm is strong) resented the fact that "law-abiding" gun-owners had to go through the hassle of registering those weapons. Canada doesn't have the same kind of rabid pro-gun lobby group, like the N.R.A., active here; but the federal government - which has a Republican-styled, libertarian approach to most social issues - eliminated the registry, even though most police forces were opposed to the idea. The majority of Canadians deplore the pro-gun attitude of many Americans. They see handguns as a symbol of freedom and a means of protection; we see them as safety-hazards and the tools of criminals and sociopaths.

fingers

Glastonbury. http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/02/20/years-glastonbury-line-revealed/

Sarnia is in Ontario.

Here, I added some paragraphs to make it easier to read. Perhaps it’s the sunshine. Or the fresh air. Whatever the cause (and with apologies to Portsmouth), the south coast of England has produced two clubs this season who are threatening to shake up the establishment. Bournemouth are riding high in the Championship and Southampton have defied everyone to become the surprise package of the Premier League. Last summer, the Saints sold Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Rickie Lambert for a combined total of £92 million, leaving most observers predicting that the Saints would be facing another relegation scrap. But under Ronald Koeman, and with the latest crop of exciting young players making a big impression, Southampton remain in the hunt for a top-four finish and Champions League football. Former striker James Beattie is one of those thrilled by the club’s unexpected rise. "I think the best thing that happened last summer was that the owner Katharina Liebherr gave Ronald all that money to go and reinvest. That’s a huge step. The club then recruited some fantastic, largely unknown, players because the manager knows the European market very, very well. Recruitment is probably 90 per cent of your success in football, employing the right people and getting them to work in the same way, whether it be the manager, the coaching staff or the players of course. How the hell they got Alderweireld on loan I’ll never know. It takes time to spot a player like that. Outside the club, people were making assumptions, but talking to people inside Southampton, Koeman was always full of confidence and that dripped through to the squad." Beattie himself made 235 appearances for Southampton, scoring 76 goals. He moved to Everton in January 2005 before rediscovering his goalscoring touch in the first of two spells at Sheffield United, but as we talk in a seaside restaurant near Bournemouth, it’s clear his heart still lies with the Saints. “I’ve seen 10 of the last 15 games, home and away. I speak to a few of the lads in the dressing room and they say Koeman’s training is top drawer, he’s personable and gets his message across. To go to Old Trafford for example and play 3-5-2 was great. I thought it was really ballsy to have so much faith in himself and his team. The players in that tunnel must have thought ‘he really thinks we can do this, so let’s go out and do it.' They are punching above their weight and it’s a great thing to see.” Beattie turns 37 later this year, but it was as a fresh-faced 20-year-old in July 1998 that he was forced to leave his hometown club Blackburn Rovers and head south as part of the deal that saw Kevin Davies move in the opposite direction. "It was a disappointment to leave Blackburn initially because I grew up in Blackburn and was a Blackburn fan. I was upset to begin with, but what came afterwards and the way my career developed at Southampton is something that dreams are made of and I owe a lot to Dave Jones. I’d lived at home until that point so I had to grow up very quickly and become independent. I lived in the Hilton hotel for four months which is where I met David Howells who had just moved from Tottenham. We struck up an instant relationship and we remain good friends even now. I spent six-and-a-half years there and I look on those years very fondly. "It was probably at the right time in my life too…to live on the south coast, with the fantastic weather and all that. The club moved from The Dell to St Mary’s and it was a great time to be there, hoping that one day your performances would contribute to the progression of the club." In 2003 under Gordon Strachan, Beattie scored 23 goals and helped Southampton to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and a place in the FA Cup final. “We overachieved basically because of the atmosphere that Gordon Strachan had created and the way the lads approached their profession. There were no real superstars in our team but sometimes as a team we were unbeatable." Beattie’s 23-goal haul almost gave him the honour of being the Premier League’s top scorer in the 2002/03 campaign, but he chuckles as he tells the story. “I was in the top three of the goalscorer chart pretty much all the way through that season and we played Man City away on the final day. It was their last ever game at Maine Road. I was on 23 goals, Thierry (Henry) was on 23 as well and Ruud (van Nistelrooy) was on 24. I was shooting from all over the place! I think we won 1-0 and spoilt the Man City party, but I remember shooting from, like, 50 yards and the lads were laughing at me. They knew what I was trying to do and they wanted me to get it as well, but the success of the team meant more." Sadly for Beattie, he didn’t score that day, whilst Henry and van Nistelrooy both did, with the Dutchman taking the honour. “I still speak to a lot of the lads from that 2003 side," says Beattie, "Jason Dodd, Franny Benali, Matt le Tissier, Ken Monkou, Claus Lundekvam … the way they embraced me as a young, unknown quantity from Blackburn was great. That was something I took on with me when I became an established player and I tried to look after the young lads." Over the last 15 years, Southampton have certainly been blessed with some incredibly talented "young lads" coming up through the club’s highly regarded Academy. The list of graduates rolls off the tongue like a production line of teenage British talent. In May 2013, Andre Villas-Boas described the Southampton Academy as "a great school of development," as per the BBC, and he compared its nurturing approach to that of Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon. So what does James Beattie think is the secret? "I think Southampton has always been a family-oriented club and any youngsters who were thought to be really impressive were always shown around the training ground and introduced to the senior players. It was the club saying to them ‘this is where you want to be in a few years’. We always heard whispers about these kids. I remember Gareth Bale being shown around and towards the end of my time it was Theo Walcott, and after I’d left it was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. We were introduced to Gareth and he was only a baby y’know? They had really high hopes for him even at the age of 14 and he was earmarked for stardom even at that point. Theo started playing for the reserves in the September of 2004 before I left in January 2005, so I trained alongside him occasionally. He went on to score some great goals and was only 16. "More recently, they’ve produced Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Callum Chambers…the list goes on. Even now, Matty Target, Nathaniel Clyne, James Ward-Prowse has just signed a new five-year deal. Harrison Reid is a player I’ve seen a number of times this year and he’s really impressed me. He might be a small man in size, but certainly not in stature on the pitch. I saw him do one of the best jobs on Ross Barkley when Everton came to St. Marys. "You’ve also got a manager in Ronald Koeman who’s not afraid to use these lads. He’s got faith in them and he knows he can give them responsibility and they’ll do a good job. To be fair, all of the managers I played for at Southampton were conscious of the Academy because it was so well-respected. It’s about the people who drive it and lead it like Les Reed, the Technical Director." Beattie is keen to stress that the success of Southampton’s Academy is the result of years of planning. “The strategy was always in place. When I first went there in ’98 the club were trying to buy some land and now the training ground covers a phenomenal area," he said. "They’ve got fantastic new facilities. I went to watch an Under-21 match there a few weeks back. When I was training, we had two pitches and that was it. They must have 12 pitches down there now, immaculate, same dimensions as the pitch at St Mary’s so any player who graduates into the first team has no excuse during home matches. Nothing is left to chance. The other element is that the catchment area is so good…Hampshire, Sussex, up to Surrey… Wayne Bridge was a Winchester lad and we also had Chris Baird in our FA Cup final team who had come through the Academy. There was always a steady trickle of young players coming through and it was all about the recruitment. The scouts had obviously done a great job because quite a few of the lads were making the step up from the youth setup to the first-team squad. If a young lad had a choice between Chelsea or a club like Southampton, then it began to filter through that the lad was usually choosing Southampton because the overall prospects of making first-team football were better." The days of Beattie playing first-team football have almost certainly now passed. Although he says he’s had playing contracts offered to him, James Beattie now considers himself a football manager and is eager to get another role, having left Accrington Stanley in September last year. In his first season as a manager, Beattie kept Accrington in League Two and attracted the attention of other Football League clubs. "I really enjoyed it. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t really pass up. I didn’t really envisage that I’d stop playing as early as I did and I do miss playing. But I’ve reinvented myself as a manager now and am waiting patiently for my next job, going to games and spending time at clubs."

In the U.S.A and Canada the terms "America" and "Americans" refer to the United States. North America and North Americans refer to the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Citizens of Mexico are Mexicans, and citizens of Canada are Canadians. In the rest of this region (Mexico, Central America and South America) the term "Americans" refers to the entire region. Spanish-speaking "Americans" refer to residents of the U.S.A. as norteamericano (male) or norteamericana (female).

Yes; it's your tern.

The album is called "Grievous Angel" (1974) - Gram Parsons (with Emmylou Harris). This particular track is "I Can't Dance".

Ambient 2: "The Plateaux of Mirror" by Brian Eno and Harold Budd. Beautiful and mesmeric!

Yeah, I went up the Montparnasse Tower. Fantastic views of the Left Bank - especially of the Eiffel Tower. Make sure you have a polarizing filter for the camera.

I prefer it when he predicts we'll lose ... 'cause then we win.

Stevie Nicks was a major annoyance in that band. But Christine McVie, on the other hand was ... Perfect. ( )

I was in Paris for a week last summer and the summer before that. A few ideas: - Luxembourg Gardens (fun to watch the children push the toy sailboats around the pond) - not sure if they would do that this time of year, though - Arc de Triomphe (go up to the top - fantastic view) - Saint-Chapelle (small church on the Ile de la Cite, near Notre Dame - superb stained glass, better if it's a sunny day) - for a great variety of restaurants, check out rue Mouffetard (east edge of Latin Quarter - near Jardin des Plantes) - the Bombardier pub (yes, with Wells and Young's ale) - a few minutes walk north-east of the Pantheon - Pere Lachaisse cemetery (Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Heloise & Abelard) - barge trip south from Bassin de la Villette on the Canal Saint-Martin (ends up near Place de la Bastille) - Les Invalides (tomb of Napoleon - very impressive, with a good museum next door)

Loudon Wainwright III - "Man and Dog"

I loved her first 5 or 6 albums - up to Court and Spark. But then she lost me. Her lyrics became too convoluted and the music lost its melodic charm. And then she became precious and arrogant and bitter.

I grew up on Hollybank Estate in Hythe from 1960-68. I used to go down to the local newsagent on the estate every Saturday evening to pick up a copy of the Southern Evening Echo's pink edition - with its detailed description of that day's game on the front and back cover. I went to St. Mary's College in Bitterne Park (John Sydenham was a former St. Mary's boy). My first visit to The Dell was in about 1963 - always stood behind the goal. I think it cost sixpence (6d) for boys in those days. One of the great days of my youth was when Saints were runners-up in Division Two and got promoted to the First Division. And then we got the great Ron Davies. Ron Davies, John Sydenham and Terry Paine. Those were the days! After I emigrated with my family to Canada in 1969 it became difficult to follow the exploits of my team. And then came the wonders of the internet! I started following the Saints closely again in the days of manager David Jones. Now my good friend Tony (who was in First Form at St. Mary's College the same year as me, 1964-65) and I listen to every Saints game together via Saints Player. He lives in Wimbledon; I'm in Hamilton. We text back-and-forth on Skype about the game and chat about how our week has gone. The internet is an amazing and wonderful thing!

As a follow-up to my comment about the AP news agency, here's how they summarize the situation at the top of the table after Sunday's games: "With the loss, City fell five points behind leader Chelsea. Arsenal climbed above Tottenham into fifth place, one point behind Manchester United. In Sunday's other game, West Ham also gave its European ambitions a boost as a superb second-half display saw the Hammers beat struggling Hull 3-0." I rest my case.

FYI, these AP reporters are not based in Toronto. They would be based in London and sending reports back to N.A. And they are not writing for a particular "rag"; their reports would be picked up by papers across the continent. My point is that they ought to write their summarizing articles as an over-view of many games, not just focusing on one of the perennial "big clubs".

The American news agency Associated Press (AP) provides stories on the Premier League for north American newspapers. I read their summary of the Saturday games every week in the Toronto Star. Their reporters invariably focus on the "big clubs". This week's article is no exception. Of the 15 paragraphs in their summary of games, the Man Utd vs QPR match gets 13 paragraphs, with two paragraphs devoted to the Chelsea game. Revealingly, Southampton's one mention (a single sentence) is given as an aside in their focus on Man Utd: "United remains in fourth due to Southampton's surprising form continuing with a 2-1 win at Newcastle." That's it. And so it goes every week.

"... some sceptics laughed..." "... were tipped for relegation ..." "... the grisly predictions made about their fate last summer ..." "... many tipped them for relegation ..." "... they are embarrassing a lot of their former doubters ..." This is Oliver Holt, who predicted on August 16th. that Saints would finish 20th. He doesn't mention once that he was one of the skeptical laughers predicting relegation.

No, I don't mean that. Not everyone lives solely for money. Many do; some don't. Some will go, as I said; some will stay. I also presume that salaries will continue to rise at St. Mary's.

We need one dependable goal machine.

Some will; some won't. For many players money is the #1 consideration.

Thanks for this! Great reaction from Tadic.