One day!

Ты  можешь себе представить, что однажды я смогу говорить по русски?

Иногда я думаю, что я никогда не смогу!

Can you imagine that one day I will be able to speak Russian?

Sometimes I think that I will never be able to!

Franz Kafka

Jeder, der sich die Fähigkeit erhält,

Schönes zu erkennen,

wird nie alt werden.

 Franz Kafka 

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

HOW TRUE!!!

Golf game 2 of the year . Wednesday 21st May

So here we are at Middlesbrough Municipal Golf Club.

Steven and I on round 2 of our golf matches.

Ok, I lost again! 

But this time it was 12 holes to 6.

What a beautiful day, red hot, a bit more practice and I might get there!,

That really is the problem with this game!

You need to practice and of course a practice game takes at least 3 hours normally!

Edinburgh Park Run

Abigail and I before the Park run in Edinburgh.

Pete and Mark before the run

Cramond at the start of the Park run, what a beautiful place!

Yes another Flag! I love flags me!

Edinburgh Marathon Festival

Finally across the finish line!

What a weekend of running and adventure! I finally made it over the line with the time of 2 hours 45 minutes. To be honest , I am not too disappointed with that time. Was all of the training, early Sunday morning runs, pain, diet, abstention from alcohol worth it? You are damn right it was! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

With Abigail at the end of the race

Abigail was at the finish line waiting for her Dad! She has been tremendous company over the weekend.

Swift Tees celebration after the Edinburgh Marathon Festival

Here are the team, we had entrants in the 10k, Half marathon of course and the Full marathon.

Rigsby the dog

How big is he now?!

Ma nouvelle voiture.

Ok , here it is, I admit it , it's pure self indulgence!!

An Alpha Romeo!

If I think about the cars that I have had in  my life ;Most people of my age have had; A Mini;

This is very like my first car, only mine was black.

And a Morris 1000 with holes in the floor of the car!!

I learnt to drive in a Bedford van, which set on fire!

I am not joking!! It set on fire and a fire engine had to come and put out the fire.

What a driving lesson that was!!

So really, when you look at what I have had to drive in my youth.

I DESERVE MY NEW CAR!!

The value of football?

The most lucrative and important football game of the season is coming up soon.
4 teams are currently battling it out to be the winner of the most important football match of the season.
World Cup?
No, not yet!
Champions League?
No not yet!
Premiership title matches?
No!

What then?

The Championship play offs!
The winner will qualify for the Premier League.
It is said that the winner will earn millions and millions!

More shocking insults to the North East and Middlesbrough!

Yet again, Middlesbrough gets bad Press!

This time it is the Guardian that sends more insults to the North East.

FULL STORY HERE.

The most annoying issue related to these stories and insults is that we know we have problems.

We know that we have child poverty!

We know that we have high unemployment!

We just don't need reminding by ignorant journalists sitting in their London offices!

For God's sake leave us alone!

The whole article has given  more ammunition to endorse every stereotype ever said or written, to those people who have never even visited the area.

Café Pierre Languages. We have lift off!!!!!

Can anyone tell me where the photo was taken on the home page of my new website?
You will be able to comment on the home page of the site.

Have a look at how the site is developing over the weekend.
There will be news about languages in my area of the UK and news from my friends in different parts of the world.

The first news will be related to today's Bank Holiday in Russia.
Victory day.

Krisis ! Was Krisis?

Immer wenn ich sage, dass ich mir ein neues Auto gekauft habe, fragen die Leute, ob ich die Midlife Crisis habe.

When I tell people that I have bought a new car, they always ask me, 'Are you having a Mid-life crisis?'

C"est bizarre! 

That's weird! 

If I am having a Mid -life crisis, how come I have just run a 10k race in 1 hour 1 minute?

How come, Café Pierre Languages, is developing at a rate of Knots! 

[Follow this link to see the website develop!]

Café Pierre Languages.

How come I am running in the Edinburgh Half Marathon in 3 weeks time, at the age of 58?

!Muy extraño!

Very strange!

Simon's Cat-

Brilliant!

Hilarious!

If you don't find this funny, you have NO sense of humour!

Hartlepool Park Run- Pipped at the Post!

Cheeky Susan! Very cheeky!

You sneaked up on me, without a word! And! overtook me with 10 yards to go!

Anyway I got my PB! A new WORLD Record 29/:31 for 5k.

UNDER 30 MINUTES AND OVER THE MOON!!

Park Runs are Popping up all over the country.

This was the first at Hartlepool, have a look at where you can find your nearest Park Run in the U.K. on this link.

PARK RUN.

Golf is a good walk spoiled?

On Wednesday  afternoon this week, I played my first game of golf of the year.

It was also my first game with my Son in law Steven.

I agree with Mark Twain!
Golf is a good walk spoiled!
[Only joking!]

We went to a course that I played many years ago. Saltburn by the Sea.

In this photo you can see Roseberry Topping in the background. The course is just spectacular, set on the coast with superb views all around.

The views compensated for my awful golf, but as we say;' it is not the winning that counts but taking part'.

What a load of rubbish!

I got hammered! 17 holes to 1!

I played like a man with no arms!

Wait till the next game Steven! You'll see!

Love Middlesbrough Blog / interview with Rob Nichols,

Follow this link to an interview that I did recently about a course that I am managing.


Love Middlesbrough Blog

Football round up

This week saw the first legs of the Champions League semi-finals.

Chelsea managed a draw away to Atletico Madrid, no mean feat!
Real managed a 1-0 win at home to Bayern Munich.

Mourinio is now saying that he will rest certain players for the second leg against Liverpool!
Who is he trying to kid! ?

Are you telling me that he has given up  the Premiership title?

No chance!
He is up to his old tricks again, mind games.

I can understand how big the return game is against Atletico, but I don't believe that he will not try to beat Liverpool!

Anyway, back to the Championship and Boro.
I am going to the last home game tomorrow at the riverside for this season.

Boro v Barnsley.
match report to follow!

Premiership run in and Pak Doo -Ik.

The last few games are coming up for the end of the English Premiership season.

Who would have bet that Liverpool would be in contention?

Not me!

But , it's the people 's choice. Any neutral football fan, or in my case a Boro fan!, would love to see Steven Gerrard lift the Premiership trophy.

The alternatives, Chelsea and Manchester City are wonderful teams full of highly talented players, but somehow they don't have that magic and tradition that Liverpool have.

Liverpool have never won the Premiership, unbelievable really when you think about the way that Liverpool dominated the 70s and 80s, especially in Europe.

Another good reason is that there are a lot of really good English players in the Liverpool setup. Without even mentioning our Captain Marvel Steven Gerrard.

Surely these Liverpool players wil be the mainstay of the English attempt of winning the World Cup in the summer.
God knows, they would become legends, should we get anywhere near the semi finals!

The World Cup has a very special place in my heart, as my very first experience of a football match was at the 1966 World Cup in England.
Ayresome Park was the venue for 3 games in the first stages of the World Cup.  Ayresome Park is the former ground for my team.Middlesbrough FC.

I will never forget my first experience of a big crowd and the big match atmosphere. I was only 10 years old, a wide eyed innocent child who loved nothing more than to kick a ball against the wall in our street. We had our own World Cup , dozens of scruffy little kids playing football from dawn till dusk.

It was the Soviet Union v North Korea. It is only recently that I realised how well the Soviet Union did in the 1966 World Cup, they only just lost in the semi final to West Germany.

But of course the legend of the game North Korea v Italy will last forever in football folklore.
Mighty Italy had been beaten 1-0 by the Soviet Union and were rank favourites to beat the minnows from North Korea and progress as expected to the next round.

The Ayresome Park crowd , the Boro crowd, were behind the underdogs North Korea. My dad told me that in fact he really didn't like the Italian team, too dirty and physical, he said.
In fact, there was a deeper reason why he didn't like the Italians in general, he served in Italy at the end of the War.

The Russian game was amazing, but this game was something else, it was electric. When Pak Doo Ik scored, the crowd, my Dad, and I went mad. Imagine! North Korea, Pak Doo Ik, so strange, so unlikely!
Ever since that match, I have loved football, playing , watching, talking about it, so thank you Soviet Union and most of all, thank you Pak Doo Ik!

Pak Doo Ik scoring against Italy at Ayresome Park.

I love flags me!

With the Russian national flag.

Kostroma song.

This video is just charming! Olga I need the words!

I think that this video sums up my wonderful visit to Russia this year.

Everywhere we went, we were treated with traditional music, dance and just honest , warm wondeful people.

Я люблю Россию