Hull City 1 - Crystal Palace 1

Peter Taylor returned to Hull and we didn't deserve to win, but we certainly didn't deserve to lose. Palace had one shot on target in the ninety minutes and typically, Leon Cort drove it home from 20+ yards; unbelievable. They were the better football team, they moved the ball well and were comfortable in possession, but provided very little threat. If anyone can remember a game when Boaz hasn't made one save, let us know. We had a bright enough first half and hit a few decent efforts from range. Yeates looked a big threat and Marney and Ashbee tidied up well in midfield.

The manager made two good substitutions and showed good intent. Personally, I would have gone with France for Fagan in a straight swap, but the manager chose to use France at right back, which gave us a bit of attacking emphasis from the right. He also threw on Forster for Bridges, which worked well. Bridges had played off Parkin and really struggled to get involved. He hit two good shots when running from deep, but when Parkin was winning the ball up the pitch, Bridges was too deep to take advantage.

It was an amazing response from the boys and showed true grit and determination not to leave empty handed. That was our best quality today. At times we were silly, we were rash and we were outplayed, but we have bottle and lots of it. Last week must have hurt them deeply.

Hornsea Cottage Hospital Saved Again!

Mounting pressure from concerned residents means that Hornsea Cottage Hospital's inpatient ward has been saved from closure!

Yorkshire Wolds and Coast Primary Care Trust had planned to close the ward on October 1 for six months because of staff shortages.

But the PCT has bowed to people power and agreed to keep it open, after a campaign from residents and the threat of legal action.

Scouts!

Went to help at my local Scout group this evening which is always good fun!

Way to Park!

Hull Universities semester has started, so the campus is full of people again. I really like this. Although the peace and quiet of summer is rather nice, I don't really think that things are right unless we have students around the place.

The semester starts with a "Fresher's Week" with all kinds of fairs and events. There is a marquee set up outside the union where various organisations are touting their wares. I was walking back to the labs when I noticed a brand new, shiny, Porsche Boxster parked right across the footpath in the way of everybody. In the windscreen was a handwritten note "Driver on the Barclays Bank stand" (or it might have been Lloyds-TSB - I can't tell banks apart).

I'm not sure if this is impressive or not. Random thoughts sprang to mind:


*I work for a bank and drive a Porsche so I can park where I like;

*I must be a good banker because I have a posh car;

*Bank with us and you can have a car like mine;

*Bank with us and you can help pay for my car;

Hornsea Scouts back from summer break!

Scouting 2007 conference call first and then I did the usual Thursday thing and joined the Hornsea Scouts for their first meeting after coming back from camp and their visit to Brownsea Island earlier in the Summer, during the camp at Marlow! Hopefully there should be a report coming to the Hornsea Scouts website very soon.

Overall, it was a pretty busy evening with everyone seeming full of energy after the summer period! We will just have to wait and see what the period up to Christmas brings as approximately 25-30 Scouts attended the meeting, so it looks as if Scouts in Hornsea may be as popular as it was before the Summer break, I personally hope so anyway!

After Scouts their was the usual explorer meeting which all went to plan and was enjoyable once again, at present we have approximately 15 explorers in Hornsea even though one of our longest serving explorers left this evening (after completing cubs, scouts and explorers in Hornsea). But that as they say is Scouting, you have to get new members to replace people as they leave!

Hull City 1 - Leicester City 0

**ABOUT TIME THIS HAPPENED**

A spectacular strike from Michael Bridges gave bottom-of the Championship Hull City their first win in 12 league games. The last time the Tigers tasted a victory was when they had overcome Leeds United on April Fools Day.

Their winner tonight arrived against the run of play in the 58th minute when Bridges latched on to a loose ball and with Leicester defenders backing off the former Sunderland and Leeds star advanced to let fly with a 25-yard drive which rocketed into Paul Henderson's top right-hand corner. It was his first goal for the club since arriving in a £350,000 move from Carlisle on transfer deadline day.

Although Leicester dominated much of the game they failed to make significant headway against a resolute Hull side whose defensive tactics included fielding two holding midfielders. On the half hour mark Boaz Myhill was Hull's saviour when he bravely blocked a Stephen Hughes' close-range effort.

Before the half-time whistle Leicester keeper Henderson had been called into action just the once on 37 minutes when he reacted well to beat away Nicky Forster's drive.
It was a similar story after the re-start with Leicester enjoying plenty of possession but failing to carve out decent chances.

They paid the price with that goal from Bridges just before the hour mark. I was also a bit dissappointed to see Nick Barmby having to spend the whole match on the substitutes bench!

A mathematical problem!

This came around today and I thought it quite amusing and a good item to blog about so here it is;

A school teacher was arrested today at Gatwick Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Home Secretary John Reid said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement.

He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the Metropolitan Police with carrying weapons of maths instruction.

"Al-gebra is a problem for us," Reid said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute values .

They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with co-ordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'".

When asked to comment on the arrest, Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking from his holiday resort before the planes stopped flying, said, "If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Maths Instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

P.S. Don't forget to sign the petition to save Hornsea Cottage Hospital available in the sidebar!

Hornsea Cottage Hospital Closure Petition!

Sign the e-petition launched by our MP Graham Stuart to show your opposition to plans by Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT that have been going on for a while to close the 12-bed inpatient ward at Hornsea Cottage Hospital, with verment oppoosition from residents and businesses. The ward was only reduced from twenty to twelve beds recently and I personally think the trust had this in mind all along.

I personally think that this would be a big mistake for the town and the only reason the Primary Care Trust want to do it is to sell off the land to balance their budgets brought about by previous maladministration of our local health authority and the NHS in general!

So, it will be the minor injuries unit next, doesn’t seem to matter what the trust promises us their promises seem to be worthless!

Birmingham City 2 - Hull City 1

Birmingham were given further proof of just how difficult it is going to be to get out of the Championship as they were subjected to a late attacking onslaught by bottom of the table Hull which were surprised by the ease in which they were able dominate the closing stages.

Hull's striker Jon Parkin should have earned his side a point when he raced around everyone and with an open goal at his mercy smashed his shot against the post in the last five minutes. The new-look Birmingham side may have been streets ahead of Hull early on but dogged defensive work foiled and frustrated the Blues to such an extent that they were restricted to only one first half goal in a somewhat scrappy game.

It might well have been different if skipper Ian Ashbee, making his first appearance for 12 months, wasted a glorious chance to make a story-book return when he fluffed his shot following some early pressure with Birmingham's defence all at sea.

Nicky Forster and Michael Bridges made their first appearances together for Hull and it was Bridges who created an early impression with confidence to take the ball forward through a packed defence only to see his shot go just wide. There is little doubt that this incident gave bottom of the table Hull some much needed confidence against a Birmingham side that is still struggling to come to terms with life in the Championship.

Congratulations to all the kids born in the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because, we were always outside playing, doesn't seem to be so much of that nowadays! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned how to solve the problem.

We didn't have PlayStation's, Nintendo, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no dvd movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, few personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........we had friends and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever, hopefully! We were given pastic guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! School sports had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Explorer Scouts!!

Ran another meeting for my local explorer Scouts overall a good night was had by all concerned and Richard even brought a sandwitch toaster with assorted fillings which was good! It will be the last explorer Scout on their own meeting for the time being as next week Scouts are restarting on the same evening. So the HQ hall will be used until 9.00p.m.

Gym!

Today, I made my way to the gym I have joined at Hornsea Leisure Centre in order to increase my fitness!

England 5 - Andorra 0

England cruised to victory in their opening Euro 2008 qualifier against Andorra at Old Trafford. Peter Crouch put England in front after four minutes and Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard quickly added a second with a brilliant finish. Jermain Defoe was on target with crisp finishes either side of half-time as England dominated completely. Crouch headed home his second from substitute Aaron Lennon's cross after 65 minutes to seal an easy win, which was good. Why can't we play like this against better opposition and in major tournaments?

Out in Hornsea & Airfix calls in the receivers!

Tonight I will be going out in Hornsea with some of my friends and I have also been sad to hear the news that airfix has gone into administration, prompting an outpouring of nostalgia for the kit models. For me, and particularly for older people memories of assembling models of Spitfires and Lancaster bombers epitomise a lost childhood.