Kingsland Codger

I recall the Brentford game in mid-December when we went 0-2 down after 30 minutes and NA didn't make a substitution until the 83rd minute. Almost Burleyesque. So fair play to NA to learn from that set back and to make the changes when necessary - v MK Dons and now Brighton. Well done Nigel!

Thank you, SiP for posting the above link. I do not know who the author, Gary Vey, is but I'm not sure that relying on someone who, in his own words, has only "read several books on physics, atomic energy and radiation" is necessarily a wholly reliable source. Similarly, I am sceptical when he writes "We need readers "clicks" on commercial ad banners to keep our web site viable." He might be right, he might not. Either way, your thread posed a question and raised some initial points. Many of them are not correct. I have already dismissed the statement about expatriates leaving certain named banks as inaccurate. I can do the same for your assertion that Lufthansa are "diverting flights away from Tokyo". I saw a Lufthansa plane on the runway at Narita. But you don't have to take my word for it. All you have to do is go to the website for Narita airport and check for flights to/from Frankfurt and Munich. The link you require is http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/flight/today.html and can easily be found via the simplest of Google searches.

I was in Tokyo for the first part of this month and returned yesterday. Life carries on in Tokyo more or less as it always has done. There is a concerted drive to use less energy - on the Tokyo subway escalators going down have been mothballed and horizontal moving stairways are also out of commission. Lights are dimmed. However, the most obvious energy-saving policy would be to move to daylight saving time (in the summer it gets light at around 4.30am and dark at 7pm so there is ample scope to save huge amounts of electricity) but so far there has been no decision to do this. There are also fairly frequent aftershocks, some of them relatively large. There was a 7.4 earthquake last week which rocked us around a bit but there was no damage. There are signs in some shops saying you can only purchase two 3 litre bottles of water. My son works for one of the international banks you mention and the foreign staff have NOT all left Tokyo. However, I was in Tokyo during my stay - the condition of the homeless up in the Tohoku region where the tsunami hit remains desperate. Without fail, the most frequent complaint was of the sensationalist reporting of the situation in Japan by the foreign press and there was a genuine deep sense of gratitude from those whom I met that I had turned up to visit and not cancelled my trip.

And big smiles from a couple of Saints fans here in Tokyo. Thank you for the videos.

Whilst raw fish is the bulk of the 'topping' on the vinegared rice, you can also have cooked prawns. Smoked salmon sushi is very good and norimaki is vinegared rice with cucumber wrapped up in seaweed. Similarly, cooked crab meat can be wrapped in seaweed. The true art, as Window Cleaner says, is the rice which should be sticky (pudding rice works well) with clear vinegar added to it.

Here's a thought for you, Alpine. Imagine you have been involved in some kind of Arctic survey or walking with gun-and rod-up the Yangtze or something similar and you have been out of communication since the autumn. You have a look at this morning's League 1 table and see Saints are currently third. Although you note we are only ahead of the team in fourth place on goal difference, we have a game in hand over that team. You also note we are two points behind the team in second place but, wonderfully, we have two games in hand over them and a much superior goal difference. Would you be happy or unhappy?

And had he not participated, he would have been accused of being a tight-fisted dullard who didn't join in the spirit of things.

Think back to the days of the Wise-and-Quashie-Comedy-Corner-Capers and look at us know. A world of difference.

Throughout this thread I have often had a giggle at your posts, rallyboy. Your most recent contribution is another classic. Keep them coming ... please.

I'm fortunate enough to report that my wife, currently in Japan, visiting her elderly mother on the Pacific Coast is safe and sound. My daughter lives in Sapporo and so is some way North of the disaster area. My son, his fiancee and my cousin and his family are in central Tokyo and although experiencing the quake and the many after-shocks, were otherwise unaffected.

Aside from Rickie, who of our current squad has scored a penalty for us? Or for anybody? IIRC, Connelly famously missed one for Ireland in a World Cup shoot-out.

Frustrated though I was for a brief period in the second-half when we found it almost impossible to keep possession, I was seriously impressed with how things changed after the substitutions. There was a move towards the end of the game when we passed the ball around, leaving the Swindon players flummoxed and eventually a fine cross from Lambert saw Lallana put a loping header just wide. I hope I'm not exaggerating when I say even the Arsenal would have been proud of such patience, movement and fluidity.

Wjilst I realise the event is being run by UEFA, since it is being held in London couldn't the Office of Fair Trading have a view on a £26 admin fee? It can't be legal to charge such an outrageous amount in this country ... or can it?

Two from Glasgow Rangers - David Healy and David We're

Intriguing ... and all the more memorable for the use of the word 'trequartista'.

I didn't read it that way. The information on the OS states " ... if you have already bought a ticket for the visit of the Cumbrians, then you will not have to purchase any additional seats for that game". Season Ticket holders have clearly "already bought a ticket for the visit of the Cumbrians" so they are, presumably, included along those who have purchased an individual ticket.

I shall try to find one of their fans' message boards and advise those Season Ticket holders in Row ZZ and higher to purchase a tin hemet for their own safety.

Mmmm ... the article to which you kindly gave the above link - dated 19 January 2007 and so therefore before the financial crisis hit - serves as much to confuse as to enlighten. The headline and opening tells us the National Debt is at record highs but later on the article also tells us ... "As a percentage of the economy, however, the national debt is far lower than it has been in the past. It is currently at 38.1% of gross domestic product, lower than the 43.6% than Labour inherited in 1997". This would suggest Saintandy666 was right in some of what he said and you are right in some of what you say. Either way, the latest figures are a huge disappointment and it would appear none of the established parties have a cure for our economic ills.

Whilst I don't doubt what you say, one should also acknowledge that with the policies the Coalition are applying we now have ... rising inflation and a rise in interest rates quite likely. The very things you say would have happened had they failed to implement their austere policies. I'm prepared to give the Coalition more time as it will take decades to sort out the mess Labour have left us with (again) but with the recent VAT hike it is quite likely the current quarter will also show negative growth and two consecutive quarters of negative growth will therefore meet the requirements of the full definition of a recession. Should the Coalition attempt to dilute their policies, the forex market would fear they are losing their nerve and then the Sterling crisis we have so far avoided might well come to fruition. As things stand, it looks like we are stuffed. Batten down the hatches and prepare for even harder times.

After learning French and German - not to any great standard; a good (but not great) 'O' level - I then lived for many years in Japan. I studied/picked up the language so I could get around easily enough, buy a train ticket, order a meal, buy stuff in the shops - that kind of thing. A fair bit of this requires being able to read kanji (Chinese characters) and I guess I was about two-thirds of the way to being 'literate' by the time I came to leave. I could slowly decode (rather than 'read') a newspaper provided the topic wasn't too highbrow. Back in Europe I find speaking French a bit of a problem in that from time-to-time Japanese words slip into my sentences without me realizing what I have done which serves to confuse the listener and leave me similarly puzzled as to why he doesn't understand what I've just said. Which raises a question - if one is stronger in one foreign language, does that language come to the fore when speaking another foreign language in which one is not so strong?

And I see Charlotte Edwards and her girls didn't let us down yesterday, either. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/womens_cricket/9358789.stm

Probably the most heroic example of the use of the F-word was when Bryony Shaw was interviewed live on the BBC after her bronze medal in the sailing at the Beijing Olympics. Mercifully the sound track has been uploaded to You Tube for all of us to enjoy.

Not all is lost. Australia still has world class spinners. There's the redback, the funnel web, the white tail ...

Several comments above about how little Kelvin had to do (which is mostly true) but let's not forget his wonderful save in the first half when he had to leap very high, very quickly to tip a goalbound shot over the bar. Another thing about KD - before we scored out first, Kelvin was kicking the ball up the pitch. The defenders were all heading towards the halfway line and he had no opportunity to pass or roll the ball out. Once we had scored, the defenders then made themselves available with the CBs dropping into the FB positions to accept a pass/roll out. This was clearly a policy rather than mere happenstance - but for the life of me I can't think why ...

Microsoft Works