April and early May are always a difficult time for me here in China.
Because I love football.
Because I don't get to see very much of it out here.
Because I always make a point of trying to watch the climactic matches in the English domestic competitions and the European Champions League in these last 6 weeks of the season.
Because these games mostly kick off at 2.30am over here.
This week, I stayed out half the night on Tuesday and Wednesday trying (and failing!) to watch the European semi-final first leg games. Next week (at least it's a holiday week - or the second half of it, anyway), I will definitely have to make sure that I can see the second legs LIVE somewhere.
And tonight, of course, we have the Premiership title showdown between Chelsea and Man Utd. (but at least that's on early evening, local time).
I am going to be permanently exhausted over the next couple of weeks.
Surviving the European Championships this summer will be hard. Euro 2004 nearly killed me! During the last World Cup, I had to quit the country and go to hang with the British Cowboy in America for the second half of the tournament..... but I don't think that option is going to be open to me this year (too poor!!). There are some gruelling times ahead.
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Talking of which, there was an article in the paper today mentioning that Queen of the South (in Scottish Cup final, improbably) are proud of being mentioned in the Bible (Luke 11:31 in case you're wondering, and no more improbable than making the cup final...).
Having, unusually, some spare time at work this morning, and armed with a Cruden's Concordance, I could only find two teams in the English 92 who qualified- WHICH WERE THEY? And are there any I missed? I've only tried this with the King James, although other translations may yield 'Arsenal' & 'Spurs'. I've also been strict and omitted the appropriate Genesis 49:6, 'be thou not united'...
A good one for taunting Roger with! Although he will probably supply the answer with barely a moment's pause for self-reflection.
Will The Cowboy pitch in here??
Reading, I suppose, is likely - though a bit of a cheat: different spelling, different meaning. Portsmouth is conceivable, though probably not as one word.
Aaargh - too difficult for me.
The penalty looked a bit harsh (and how often do you say that about a decision against the Red Scum?), but I'm glad to see the title race kept alive. And Man U do have a bit of a history of coming unstuck against the Hammers......
Do you have any bets on this, Bookseller?
Does Palace count? Or Villa? I am desperately cheating here. Wolves?
Does Leviticus permit, when hungry, eating small portions of non-Kosher food, but not the entire meal? Would there therefore be a passage imposing penalties for eating a Full Ham Sandwich?
I'm stumped too. 'Villa' is a later Roman word, so I'm pretty sure it won't appear in the Bible. 'Wolves' is a cheat. And I think I'd remember if there were a Crystal Palace in there somewhere. 'Full Ham' is a nice try. I was wondering if there might be a passage somewhere specifically denouncing the ham eaten in the West.
I am hoping The Bookseller will eventually deign to enlighten us.
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