Football, the spelling thereof

For unknown reasons, Americans are trying to be politically correct with the rest of the world and allowing for "soccer" to be also referred to as "futbol".

Not football. Futbol. Must be a way of reaching out to their Latino residents. Notwithstanding the fact that the sport remains "football" to those of us in English-speaking countries and not some forced Spanish hybrid.

Speaking of Spanish stuff, how about Rafa Nadal... Brilliant match to win the Wimbledon title against Roger Federer.

Congrats to Bermuda's men's cricket team on their first win in the Intercontinental Cup, against Canada. Hopefully it'll be the start of a winning trend for the guys and inspire the public to again support the team in good numbers.
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We're an ungrateful bunch of people ya know

This goes out to all the young diva chicks and men in suits who assume that because I'm holding the door, they're entitled to flow through without so much as an acknowledgment, as if I consider it an honour to be their gofer or something. Ungracious people, hmph.

This isn't a new thing, but I'm seeing it a bit more nowadays on the street, that's the obscuring of licence plates on motorbikes. Either the kryptonite lock or another helmet is strategically placed so it covers up the licence plate, which is illegal of course. You only see it on certain bikes (read: Yamaha V50/80) usually ridden by young fellas. Which means the bike's either unregistered or stolen. No way to read the plate, no way to tell the status.

Police have begun some form of blitz to nail down traffic offenders, but of course they won't be catching the V50 hounds, because they're not going to be knifing through rush-hour traffic, obviously. Pity that Government's still done absolutely zero in the road traffic department this year. Sponsoring a public awareness campaign doesn't cut it.

What is our government doing anyway?

Even this is disturbing. The lines shouldn't be blurred between the official Government and whatever political party has control of Parliament.

Meanwhile, many of the promised initiatives by the ruling party remain in that promised state. Are we going to be waiting until a year before the next election to see them in action?

Major union issues here

Read the threads and follow-ups at Vexed and Catch A Fire...

Essentially the government actions have not met with approval with a large sector of the community. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Literally, it's figurative

People here are excited about Bermuda beating Trinbago in World Cup qualification last weekend and are looking forward to the return leg and a chance to qualify for the group stages (and potential matches against Cuba, Guatemala and the United States).

But anyway, my grammar police radar was on full alert when former Attorney General and head of the Bermuda Football Association threw out this gem:

"Literally, it's a full scale war and so we ask every Bermudian to give their all to make sure we win," he said. "It will be a tall order because Trinidad are coming for war as well."

Whoops... if it was literal then I need to get me some bullet-proof vests. But seriously, people are always misusing the term 'literally' when the correct term should be 'figuratively'. Sigh. Now about that Hopkins report, does it cover these issues?

Chaos abounds

Been away from the blogging for a bit. During this time period I've experienced:

• Internet access malfunctioning (still the case)
• My PC monitor dying (after owning it for less than three years, I'm estimating)
• and my month-old bike being stolen from a open-space parking lot during daylight hours from a Hamilton car park.

Yeah, I've been pretty pissed to say the least.

Meanwhile Bermuda at large has undergone, unfortunately:

• a murder of a young teenager, which is truly an enormous tragedy that's truly depressing and my condolences to the family
• another death on the roads, while Government pats outgoing senators on their efforts in the field of road safety
• Parliamentary sessions become farces with the whole press release claiming to be from the Speaker of the House scenario, followed by pointless and nasty ramblings in the House after the Department of Tourism sponsored an event hosted at the Playboy mansion

Yep, plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about where this country is headed.

Passings

I want to take a little of time to give thanks in rememberance of a former manager of mine, Colin, who passed away on Friday. He was someone who was encouraging and interested in my career welfare. He'll be missed.
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