July 9, 2008
This is a lovely account of Fernando Torres which reveals a lot about him as a person. Such a short interview, but it has more substance than countless biographies, of footballers, “celebrities” etc, that have been released into the market recently. Shame on some of these people, who are already very rich yet still want to cash in for more.
Some of the stuff he told the journalist, like “(mum) taking me to and from training: every day..did it at eight in the morning and again at six in the evening, just to make her son happy”, “Life’s about the little things..sometimes ten minutes with my dogs can mean as much to me as playing in a big game of football”, “places where the people are exploited, where they have next to nothing..are always those who are willing to give the most”, “in these places, devoid of material things and the envy that we obsess about in our world, I’ve found the people are so generous and prepared to share everything”, really do sound like they are coming from a person who is not afraid to open up his heart and share his thoughts isn’t it? What a breath of fresh air, considering that there are so many egoistical footballers or personalities around nowadays. Life will be so much more pleasant if there are more people like Torres, and that wealth can be distributed more evenly around the world…
Related blog entries:
Posted in Wisdom 
No Comments »
July 6, 2008
It’s Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final today. For the third time in a row, it’s Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal. Can Roger win the Wimbledon for the 6th time in a row? Or is Rafael going to break Roger’s dominance on grass surface? Oh, I’m feeling nervous now. The final is supposed to start in about an hour’s time. But the weather forecast for today is not good. It was raining quite heavily just now in Reading. In fact there’s a likelihood that the tournament organiser may have to postpone the final to Monday due to the heavy downpour.
Here are some photos I’ve taken when we went to Wimbledon on Day 5 last week. We got Court No 1 tickets through the public ballot. Quite lucky. So for the first time we don’t have to queue to get into the All England Tennis Club. And we get to see women’s current world number 1 Ana Ivanovic and Lleyton Hewitt. But we wished we had the Centre Court tickets instead, as Roger Federer was playing there! Sigh, maybe next year…
Related blog entries:
Posted in Photography, Tennis No Comments »
June 24, 2008
“Only God will remove me!”, declared Robert Mugabe. It’s sad to see what’s happening in Zimbabwe. What used to be a booming country is now a living hell. Inflation thousands percent, people living on food aid. The people of Zimbabwe want a change in regime, yet Mugabe still want to remain in power. He seems to still cling on to the idea that he has saved Zimbabwe from colonialism, from the British, and that he has given the land back to their own people. But doesn’t he know that he or his government has done an incredibly poor job since then, perhaps more harm than good to his country and his fellow countrymen? In fact I suspect that he has done so much evil that he’s afraid that he’ll face hell once he lost his power.
If there is any chance that there will be a change in regime, it is the African leaders, most of all Thabo Mbeki, who hold the key. Even Mugabe cannot cling to power without their cooperation. Avaaz is launching an emergency campaign, petitioning these leaders to call an immediate summit, isolate Mugabe, and broker a legitimate government for Zimbabwe. The call will be published in big newspaper advertisements in South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique this week — click here to see the ads and endorse their message.
Zimbabwe’s neighbours supply its electricity and goods, and control the borders. Many Southern African leaders are already calling for the postponement of the election — but there’s a real danger that they will end up accepting this charade. This would be a grave miscalculation: if Mugabe succeeds in his de facto coup, Zimbabwe’s implosion will accelerate, and chaos could spread throughout the region.
The campaign will publicly name those African leaders who hold Mugabe’s last remaining lifeline. If these leaders step up strongly now, they can convince enough of Mugabe’s officials that change is coming one way or another — and set the stage for Morgan Tsvangirai to lead a unity government to pull Zimbabwe back together. Let’s give the people of Zimbabwe some much needed hope…
Related blog entries:
Posted in Politics No Comments »
June 24, 2008
My rear tyre’s tube is leaking air as we speak. But luckily it’s slow enough to last me the journey between office and home with a single pump every time before I ride. Obviously I have thought about changing the tube, rather than wasting my energy pumping everytime I want to ride my bike. But I feel that my rear tyre is almost worn out now after using it for two and a half years, coupled with the fact that it has already suffered numerous punctures during its lifetime, so I thought I might as well replace everything all at one go.
However, turns out that it was quite a nightmare trying to find the correct tyre for my bike. After spending considerable time on the Internet reading about tyre sizing I still think I’m non the wiser. It really doesn’t help when some on-line bike stores use a combination of different metrics to describe the tyres they sell. Especially the French sizes which I find particularly confusing. So I decided to go back to the bike shop where I bought my bike from to get the tyre I want. But annoyingly they ran out of stock! As a result, I’m back to shopping on-line again. Somehow this time I manage to find a few tyres that are of the exact same size as the one specified on my bike’s tyre. What a relief. This is the rather slick tyre I’ve gone for, with plenty of good reviews, and looks good as well 
Surely it will fit nicely on my rim?!
Related blog entries:
Posted in Cycling, Hobbies No Comments »
June 21, 2008
I’ve spent the past week commuting to London for a training course. Compared to 10 years ago when I first started living in London, there’s probably 1000% increased in the number of cyclists cycling in London during peak hours. Incredible, considering that London still has the same old narrow roads, with virtually no dedicated cycle lanes. What has improved is probably the traffic load, with the congestion charging scheme having been in place for a number of years now. And of course the public awareness on green issues, and drivers’ attitude to cyclists. I think it does help when some MPs even cycle to work themselves.
For me it’s quite pleasing to see as cyclists somehow seem to be able to enliven up a city, making it a bit more friendly. This is what I like most about European cities. People can get to everywhere without having to always go on a car. Plenty of walkways, cycle lanes, parks, good network of public transport etc. Would people like to see cars in the city? I doubt it. I hope less and less people drive in the city, as then there will be more chance that cycle lanes will be built in this old world city.
Related blog entries:
Posted in Cycling, Travel No Comments »
content rss
Recent Comments