The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Here are some examples of a country going mad for it's National Football Team.

I seriously can't think of many things that would get this level responce in England - hell, even the Queen's Golden Jubilee didn't have such an outpouring of national pride. 

What's even more amazing is that all this is for a bunch of players who are overpaid and underperforming on a regular basis! 

[Click here ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAkkdOqitOk ... if you want to see/hear what hundreds of Englishmen sound like when singing the national anthem. Be warned, it's terrible AND THEY WERE SOBER at the time!]

However, following on from my previous entry - whilst these footballers are getting paid hundreds of thousands each and every week, some of the little things that shows England at its greatest [like the park I photographed on the previous blog entry] are being left to slowly die.

Below is a photo of a sign put up by Nottingham County Council.  Look at it closely and you will see that the 'maintenance' they are undertaking started in 2003 - ALMOST 3 YEARS AGO!  But surely this must mean they are spending millions on the place eh? 

Nah, course not - they are spending 70 grand, a figure which compared to many of the other things the council is happy to spend money on, is miniscule.

Ignoring the fact that this shows the Council's priorities … the one thing I am trying to figure out is how 70,000 quids worth of maintance can take almost 3 years to complete!  Who the hell are they getting to do it?  Stephen Hawking?

OK … OK … 70,000 pounds IS quite alot of money, but when we have a bunch of football players being promised a three hundred thousand pound bonus EACH, if they win the World Cup, it sort of shows [to me at least] why England needs abit of a 'reality check'. [And yes, I am aware how old this is making me sound - and I'm only 36!]