Top of the league for New Year!!!

The mighty reds march on towards their nineteenth title, top of the league, three points ahead of second placed Chelsea going into the New Year!!
Parts of the game at Newcastle yesterday were so one sided, Liverpool could easily have scored eight or nine, but for the heroic efforts of their goalie, and my man of the match, Shay Given. Newcastle for the most part of the game were extremely poor, I think they have very serious problems for the remainder of the season ahead. No premiership team should concede five goals at home, no matter how good the opposition. Yesterday Newcastle's defence was non existent for the majority of the game.
Even Lucas had a good game for the reds. In my view yesterday was the best he has played for Liverpool, he has rightly been criticised in the past, however yesterday he put through some good piercing passes, and was very unlucky not to score on two occasions.

christmas 2008

Well there it was gone!!! Christmas 2008!!
I really enjoyed a restful Christmas this year, even though on Christmas day I did all the cooking, and made a round trip to Runcorn twice (superman or what??) to bring my sister to my house and take her home in the evening. Everybody enjoyed the food I cooked, only a basic Turkey crown for Christmas day lunch, but it was really juicy and tasty. Toby finished the last of his this morning.
The only negative was trying to set up the wireless router for Davids new laptop.
It was partly my own fault. I have been with a new Internet provider since mid November, and I left the router in the box, having no need for it. When I tried to set it up yesterday, I discovered a fault on it. A very helpful guy from Virgin talked me through the fault finding for three quarters of an hour. The upshot is the router is faulty, and he has ordered us another one. Hopefully we will have it Wednesday, and David will be online.
The other downer was I nearly sliced my thumb off last night opening a tin of Corned Beef!! My thumb was cut really deep, and it bled for ages, but it will be fine in a day or two.
I am now looking for some me time before new Years eve, going to the gym, swimming/sauna and relaxing.

Merry Christmas from Scouseboy

Can I, David and Toby the dog wish my readers ( or reader, which ever category fits!!) in Liverpool, the U.K. and worldwide, my friends and enemies( of which there are only political ones!!) a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year to you and all your families.

my christmas table.

Had my mum round for lunch today. She laid my Christmas table. I do all the cooking and driving on Christmas day and boxing day. This year I am bringing my sister from Runcorn. For several years my mum has come round on the sunday before Christmas and laid the table. She enjoys doing it, and she feels she is making a contribution to the Christmas.
It is also the only time of the year when my bone china dinner service comes out. I received it as a twenty five year long service present from my firm. I have had it for six Christmases, and so far it is still totally intact!

the recession deepens

Today the firm I work for announced it was cutting its shift pattern from two shifts to one shift due to lack of orders surrounding the credit crunch.
If this single shift pattern remains in place in my workplace for a full year, I estimate that this would equate to around a £6 million loss to the Merseyside economy in lost wages alone.
That is just from loss of earnings from my work colleagues. When you take the suppliers and service industry that provide us with goods and services into account, you can multiply the loss to the Mersey economy several fold.
The devastating effects of this to our region are becoming more apparent on a daily basis. Just look at the banking sector and see what is happening at the Alliance and Leicester in Bootle.
I hope some of the government initiatives that are currently in place reap dividends soon, or some far sighted individual comes up with a solution to this issue, or else I fear Merseyside will take a long time to recover from the worst effects of this recession.

Sunday lunch

We went to the Mersey Pride (formerly the setter and vine) for our lunch today. I spotted an advert for sizzling pubs, and so decided to try it. I went there with some slight trepidation, as the setter and vine had a less than salubrious reputation.
I needn't have worried. I was pleasantly surprised. The food was good and plentiful, the service efficient and the cost was reasonably priced.
The new manager has taken a stand against the people who dragged the pub down, and the result is a pleasant, family orientated pub. We will definitely visit again in the new year.

Saturday night out

Went to town last night with a mate of mine from work, Churchy. We started off in the Liverpool arms on Castle St, then went to the famous Grapes on Mathew Street, a pub made famous by the Beatles. We then went to Tess Rileys, and ended up in the Big House on Lime Street. There was an excellent group called the Detroits on there, and they performed all the Motown and Soul classics. A very enjoyable night.

a crisp cold morning

This mornings walk with Toby was the coldest of the year so far. The sun had been up for more than an hour, yet the grass in the park was very thick crisp icy white. The air was lovely and fresh, I found it particularly relaxing as I took in the sights and the fresh smells of the woods.
It could have been a Labour Party convention, as I bumped into a Labour councilor and two party members walking their dogs also on this freshest of mornings.

the saga with David!!!

David gave me a fright on Saturday night. He had been to visit someone in Rainhill, and I said I would meet him in my car at Lime Street, I didn't like the idea of him using Merseyrail on his own at around 10/11pm at night. He phoned me as his train pulled out of Whiston, about twenty minutes from Lime Street, so I left home to pick him up at the agreed place. I waited for around three quarters of an hour. I saw the Empire theatre audience let out. Still no sign of David!! I then realised I had left my phone at home!!
I had no alternative but to drive home and retrieve my mobile!! When I got home and phoned David, he had just arrived at the meeting place. He told me the train was delayed due to an incident. I then went back into town to collect him.
A happy ending despite the worry and stress it caused me.!!!

liverpool one

Went to town shopping on Saturday. I take back what I said on my blog the other week, town was jam packed, right from the standing room only on the train into town!! (Credit crunch??? what credit crunch???)
Had my first proper look around the new liverpool one development. The last time I visited, only phase one was open. I was totally blown away with the development, I had to remind myself I was actually in Liverpool!!!
Manchester, the Trafford centre and Cheshire oaks now has serious competition!!!