The Man, the Legend....the TRIBUTE!

Name: Robert Bernard 'Robbie' Fowler
Born: 9 April 1975
Nickname: "God"

Fowler's career began with Liverpool, with whom he made his debut in 1993. Fowler scored 120 premiership goals for Liverpool in an eight year period. He subsequently played for Leeds United and Manchester City F.C., before returning to Liverpool in January 2006.

As of May 2006, Fowler is the fourth highest goalscorer in Premier League history, behind Thierry Henry, Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.

Liverpool – Standout Moments

• Scoring first-team debut in Liverpool's 3–1 win in a first round Coca Cola Cup tie at Fulham on 22 September 1993.


• Scored all five goals in the second leg at Anfield two weeks later – the fourth player in Liverpool's history to score five in a senior fixture.
  
• First league hat-trick against Southampton in only his fifth league game.
  
• His first thirteen games for the club yielded twelve goals, and he finished his first season at Liverpool as the club's leading scorer with eighteen goals in all competitions.
  
• 1994-95 Season: Played in all of Liverpool’s 57 matches, including the victory in the 1995 League Cup final
  
• Scored a hat-trick in four minutes and thirty-three seconds against Arsenal, a Premiership record.
  
• Voted PFA Young Player of the Year in two consecutive years (1995 & 1996), a feat equalled only by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.
  
• Throughout the mid and late 1990s, Fowler was widely considered to be the most natural finisher playing in England.
  
• Scored more than thirty goals for three consecutive seasons, up to 1997.
  
• Scored twice in a 4-3 victory over Newcastle, a match considered the best of the decade.
  
• On December 14th 1996, he scored four against Middlesbrough F.C., the second of which reached a century of goals one game quicker than his mentor, Ian Rush.
  
• In 1997, after scoring a goal in a Cup Winners' Cup game, he lifted his Liverpool shirt to reveal a T-shirt supporting sacked Liverpool dockers for which he picked up a fine, but greatly increased his popularity on Merseyside.
  
• 1997 – won a UEFA Fair Play award for admitting that he had not been fouled by David Seaman at Highbury after a penalty had been given. After unsuccessfully trying to convince the referee to change his decision about the penalty Fowler took it tamely and Seaman saved, the ball rebounded however and Jason McAteer tucked it home.
  
• 2000-01 Season – Robbie’s most successful season, appearing in three finals scoring 17 goals, and lifting three trophies in a unique Cup Treble – League Cup (where he got the Alan Hardaker Man of the Match award), FA Cup, and the UEFA Cup.
  
• Liverpool’s final game of the 2000-2001 season was against Charlton in which Fowler scored twice in a 4-0 victory that assured them Champions League qualification for next season.
  
• In October 2001, he scored his first league hat-trick for three years, helping Liverpool beat Leicester City 4–1, but was dropped for the following league game. His last appearance was against Sunderland when he was substituted at half-time.

Leeds United & Man City

• Despite his popularity with Liverpool fans, a combination of off-field controversy, disputes with Gérard Houllier and training ground arguments with then Assistant Manager Phil Thompson, led to Fowler's departure to Leeds United F.C.
  
• In total he scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for Leeds; a goal every two games.
  
• In the 2002-03 season, Fowler was transferred to Manchester City following a protracted transfer saga. Fowler ended the 2004-5 season as the club's joint top goal scorer, and gained the approval of the fans, finishing in the top three in the fans' Player of the Year poll.
  
• In January 2006 he scored Manchester City's third goal in their 3–1 win against local rivals Manchester United F.C. after coming on as substitute. After scoring, he ran to the United supporters, holding up five fingers (Liverpool's five European Cup wins vs United's two). Fowler made only one more appearance for Manchester City before returning to Liverpool.
  

Return to Liverpool

• In 27 January 2006, Fowler rejoined Liverpool from Manchester City.
  
• Fowler was in the Istanbul crowd when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005.
  
• Fowler's return against Birmingham City F.C. in February 2006 was labelled by the press as the stuff of fairytales, and he came on to a rapturous reception in his first appearance for Liverpool in four years.
  
• He had three goals ruled out for offside, before finally scoring on 15 March 2006 in a home game against Fulham, who he scored his first goal against on his Liverpool début 13 years earlier.
  
  
  
  
  
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• Fowler's next Liverpool goal meant he overtook Kenny Dalglish in the club's all time top scorers.
  
• Fowler finished the 2005-6 season scoring on a more consistent basis than Liverpool's other strikers.
  
• On the 25 October 2006 Fowler was named as Liverpool's captain for the first time since his return (he scored just before half-time and Liverpool won 4-3)
  
• On 24 February 2007 he scored 2 penalties against Sheffield United - his first in front of the Kop since his return to Liverpool.
  
• In his last game at Anfield for the club against Charlton Athletic FC on the 13th May 2007, Fowler was given the captain's armband one final time. He was substituted minutes from the final whistle and given a standing ovation. Harry Kewell scored an equalising penalty to tie the match 2-2 for Liverpool in the 90th minute. Had Fowler not been substituted, he would have taken the penalty.
  
  Regardless, the crowd still chanted his name as match finished and applauded him for his years of service.
  
  Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Fowler

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, ROBBIE!

You were my favourite player growing up, and I think you will always be my all-time favourite Liverpool boy...

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!

Saucer of milk, table eight (aid)?

What is the story with 'Sir' Bob? Why is it that someone else having a good idea means he gets a bee in his bonnet? Put a little birdhouse in your soul, Bob, and let Gore have his moment! Just because it's a gig to raise awareness of an issue, doesn't mean he is stealing your glory! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, so maybe you should just shut the hell up and let the man get on with a worthy bloody cause.

Or can noone else but you HAVE a worthy cause? Is that the issue here, Bob? I mean, do you not think that starvation and poverty have at least SOMETHING to do with environmental issues (i.e. famine caused by drought, homelessness due to flooding, over-felling of trees using local peoples resources, landslides caused by deforestation)?? Get a grip, Bob, and get over yourself.........

Geldof snipes at Gore over live concerts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, May 13th 2007, 4:00 AM

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Bob Geldof, who organized the Live Aid and Live 8 benefit concerts, criticized the Live Earth music events Al Gore is putting together this summer, saying they lack a specific goal, according to a Dutch newspaper report Saturday.

The Live Earth concerts will be held in cities around the world on July 7, with proceeds funding a yet-to-be-named foundation to combat climate change, under Gore's direction.

The shows will take place in London; New York; Tokyo; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Organizers have also promised an event in Antarctica.

"I hope they're a success," De Volkskrant newspaper quoted Geldof as saying in an interview.

"But why is (Gore) actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody's known about that problem for years. We are all (expletive) conscious of global warming," he said.

Geldof, former front-man of The Boomtown Rats, organized the mammoth Live Aid concerts in 1985 to benefit victims of famine in Ethiopia and the Live 8 concerts in 2005 for African debt relief. He has dedicated much of his career to advocating on behalf of humanitarian causes.

"I would only organize (Live Earth) if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations," he told the newspaper. "They haven't got those guarantees, so it's just an enormous pop concert or the umpteenth time that, say, Madonna or Coldplay get up on stage."

Geldof also criticized the former vice president's choice of the name Live Earth.
"It sounds like Live 8," he told the paper. "We're getting lots of responses from people who think we are organizing it."
Gore could not immediately be reached Saturday for comment on the newspaper report. He was in Rio de Janeiro, where he implored people to attend that city's Live Earth show.

"An estimated 2 billion people will be watching around the world, but the single largest event anywhere in the world will be here in Rio. I want to invite every person who cares about the environment in Brazil to come to the event here in Rio," Gore said.

Gore said the concerts would mark the beginning of multiyear campaign to fight global warming. He said the concert was a fitting way to kick off such a campaign because "the task of saving the global environment is a task we should all approach with a sense of joy."

Geldof also could not be reached to confirm the remarks, made at a conference in Budapest, Hungary. The Volkskrant is one of the largest national papers in the Netherlands.

The headliners of the London Live Earth show at Wembley stadium are expected to be Madonna, the Beastie Boys, the Black Eyed Peas, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane and Foo Fighters. At the U.S. concert, to be held at Giants Stadium outside New York, Bon Jovi, the Dave Matthews Band, Kanye West, Rihanna, John Mayer, the Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy are slated to perform.

The concerts will be broadcast in the U.S. by General Electric Co.'s NBC network and on more than 120 networks around the world, and streamed live online.Gore wrote the best-seller "An Inconvenient Truth," and later starred in a documentary film of the same name that popularized the science showing a link between human carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.

Come on Bob, why can't we all just get along, eh?

WE DID IT AGAIN!!!

Yet again, Liverpool storm Anfield and power their way through to another Champions League Final.

But the doubters still say nay - that Liverpool are a 'lucky' club, and have got through by the skin of their teeth, and that they have no chance in the final.

What else do we have to do to prove ourselves? We beat Barcelona and Chelsea in this campaign - arguably two of the strongest teams in football at the moment - to take us to the final, yet Liverpool fans still have to listen to the neverending stream of bullshit that comes from other supporters. Yes, we're inconsistent. Yes, we sometimes fall to 'easy' teams. But reaching the Champions League final twice in three years, as well as winning an F.A. Cup in between, is not the mark of a good team - it's the mark of a GREAT team!!

What a match, what a team.....and what a confirmation of greatness. Come on Liverpool!!

Terry cries again!!

And Jose was no better....here's a little sampling of some of his comments post-match:

From Chelsea FC website - 'What we speak now is for today and tomorrow and in a couple of years, nobody remembers. Chelsea was the better team and should have won the first-leg by two or three-nil, Chelsea was the best team tonight and Chelsea was the best team in extra-time.'

'It is difficult but we are strong characters and that is the reason why we arrive in such a situation.'

'We believe always there is a next chance and there is another year. I think we deserve to be in a final.'

From BBC website - "It is a moment when everybody has to be strong, my players have a lot of reasons to be proud. "

"We were the best team today, even against a team only playing for the Champions League."

"In extra-time we were the only team who tried to win, but football is like that and the penalty shoot-out is part of the game. My players did a great run in the Champions League."

"I respected Liverpool always in my words. I don't need to say more and today I think the best team was Chelsea."


And Benitez was his usual magnanimous self, praising both his team and his opponents, whilst showing that Liverpool were the best team on the night:

From BBC website - "We had confidence because our players practice in every training session.

"Pepe Reina is a player who is always good with penalties."

"Every player and every supporter deserves the win - the atmosphere was amazing."

From Liverpool FC website - "Maybe it was better than when we beat Chelsea in 2005 and I am really, really proud of my players, Chelsea are a very good side with some good players and at times it was difficult to control them. They had a lot of free-kicks but we defended really well and worked so hard all through the game."

"Our supporters were fantastic and the atmosphere was amazing and we are going to enjoy this victory."

"Pepe Reina was fantastic in the penalty shoot-out and he is an expert when it comes to that."

"This is a really important victory for the club and for the future."


Steven Gerrard was overjoyed after guiding his side to their second Champions League final in three years:
"The first time round was special but to do it again after being a goal down to a magnificent team like Chelsea is unbelievable," he said. "Together we achieved it.

"The atmosphere helped, the manager's tactics, everything was spot on. But we crossed the line and we stuck together.

"We have the best goalkeeper in the world. But all credit to Chelsea."


Kuyt, who scored the crucial penalty, added: "It was very special for me - it will be my first final in my first year at Liverpool. We just believed in it. Pepe Reina was fabulous."


And the final word must go to the man with the golden finger who, like Midas before him, is quickly finding out that money does not a winner make!!

LIVERPOOL F.C.!!!

A Feminist View

I have been picked to represent the office at a week-long Young Ireland conference, joining with those representing Scotland and Northern Ireland, at Stranraer in June. The programme and info are here, but basically it's a collection of people coming together to debate current events and topical issues, and to discuss ways in which change can be affected. You also have the honour of hearing speakers from a broad range of cultural bases, with even broader ranges of experience. Last year hosted Robert Fischer, as well as a man who lost his child in the Dunblane massacre, an ex-Iraqi college student who's speaking out against Saddam's regime resulted in his exile and his brother's execution, the family member of a holocaust survivor, and many more. This year should prove to be just as interesting, and I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm delighted to have been chosen, and feel extremely proud...but still a little apprehensive! Not only will I have to take part in group discussion and debate every day (from 9-7), but I must also prepare a 900-word treatise arguing the case of a subject of my choice, which will be duly picked apart by other members when I read it out at the conference!

I have settled on Feminism and it's relation to modern day woman as my topic. I think that the subject most adequately sums up my attitude to life and general way of living, and will therefore be an easier topic to stand by - since I fully believe in the strength and power of woman.

I came across a post earlier today on The Guardian newspaper's website, which details how Beth Ditto of The Gossip is to be their new 'agony aunt'. She wrote an article introducing herself, which features on the site, and I find it a fitting little karma flit to point me in the right direction...I wasn't completely sure if the Feminism topic was the right one, but I think that this little 'sign' nudges me forward.

I'll leave the final word to Beth...

"I was reading an article recently that suggested I was really wild and crazy and described me as "the woman who puts Courtney Love to shame". I just thought: "What?!" It was really funny to me, because I actually have the opposite of a rock-star lifestyle. I mean, I have to play shows and what not, but outside of that I'm a grandma. I do things like bake cakes and worry about whether I have time to pot my flowers before it gets too cold. I live with two of my best friends in Portland, Oregon, and I'll say to them, "What do y'all wanna do tonight? You want me to make devilled eggs?" And they'll nod, "Yeah, that sounds gooooood."

There have been a lot of times in my life when I wished that someone was around to be really honest with me, to say, "What the fuck are you doing?" Realistically it's often easier if that doesn't come from your friends, but from someone at a distance. That's why I'm so excited about starting this column in G2, addressing your questions and dilemmas. I'd love to be able to help convince people to accept themselves and to let go of what other people think of them - I think that's one of the most important things you can do.

Growing up isn't easy when you're different from other kids. I was physically different, and a lesbian, too, so there was potentially a lot to deal with. Pretty early on I perfected that fat kid thing where, every time someone was gonna say something nasty, I'd try to beat 'em to the punch. Before they could make fun of me, I would go and make fun of me. And that turned out to be a great asset, because it helped me to develop my wit. I think I'm really lucky.

People still sometimes comment on the way I look, but at this stage they can't tell me anything I don't already know. I know I'm fat, I know I'm quirky, I know my teeth are yellow. I do actually have access to a mirror, so this hasn't got past me. When people say things like that, I just feel like saying - "Duh?" Or, "Wow, you're a genius, you should be a photographer. You have such impeccable vision."

I didn't read a lot of teenage advice columns when I was growing up, partly because I couldn't relate to them. I would read them and think: "I don't have trouble with boyfriends - I'm scared that my mom can't pay the rent." I was brought up by a single mom in a poor town in Arkansas and while some aspects of smalltown life were really positive - like the fact that everyone there is really sweet and hospitable - there is also this close-minded mentality, and that naturally made me want to rebel.

Junior high was tough for lots of reasons, one of which was that my aunt was dying, and I was looking after her. High school wasn't so bad though because, by then, I had worked out that there were far more nerdy kids and poor kids than there were rich, popular kids, so, at the very least, we had them outnumbered. Also, the school was really small and I knew most people - there were 65 kids in my graduating class, and half of those were my cousins.

I slowly came out of the closet between the ages of 15 and 18. There were a lot of people in Arkansas that I just couldn't tell - it wasn't that I thought they'd be horrible, just that they wouldn't really understand. At that point I realised that if I didn't get out of there, I was going to stay miserable, and I would never have a life that I really loved or even understood.
Moving away from Arkansas was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I remember thinking - I can buy a plane ticket with my last $200, or I can stay here and get pregnant. Those were my two options. Staying would definitely have been easier, because I had no idea what lay ahead. For instance, until I was 18 I'd never even seen a bagel, let alone eaten one. And I had no money, no back-up at all.

Once I did, though, it was brilliant. I moved to this feminist scene in Olympia, Washington, where everyone was in a band and playing music, and it was beautiful. I had so much support that it was ridiculous. Everyone was talking to each other and teaching each other and making art. They were putting on DIY festivals and it was amazing. At that point I came out kicking and screaming - I was so out of the closet it was insane!

My life hasn't been conventional and it hasn't been linear. I've had to make it up as I've gone along, which has taught me a lot. If you don't accept the obvious options that are laid out for you, it's up to you to work out where you're going and to create your own specific rules and goals. I definitely have my own set of rules that I try to live by. I'm a feminist, of course, and I feel as if I'm very politically correct, although I do question what's PC and what's not - I don't just accept what I'm told. I always analyse the information in front of me and I think if more people developed their own rules to live by rather than just accepting the status quo, we would probably all be much happier.

One rule that I always stick to is to stay away from drugs, which is why this idea that I'm a wild, crazy rock star is so hilarious. I just don't think that drugs are cool. I know there are people who can take them and still handle things, but I've seen so many people destroy their creativity and their lives and I have no desire to be one of them. I also have no desire to be someone who has that kind of influence or effect on youth. I don't mean that in an egotistical way - "If I do it, the children will do it" - but, truthfully, you never know who is watching you.

I really believe in the golden rule: treat other people as you would want to be treated. And also in honest, direct communication. I don't think that honesty is always the best policy, because you can really hurt someone's feelings that way. But I think that, given the right moment, the right situation and timing, tactful, honest communication is everything.

To be honest, there isn't any question I wouldn't want to be asked. Even if it's personal. Even if it's scary. Even if it's, "How do you take in your trousers so that they fit you properly?" I'm up for all of it. Bring it on!"

Friday 27 April 2007, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2066817,00.html

Scientology - the way forward!

I mean, when you think about how CRAZY we Catholics are to believe that someone DIED and then ROSE from the dead? It’s just nuts! Quite obviously, the logical mind should focus on FACTS and FIGURES and SCIENCE when explaining the everlasting questions – who we are, why we are here, and how the hell we got on this stinking planet.

Thankfully, Scientology holds the answer. Here is a description of the beginning of time, as detailed by the master himself, L. Ron da man!!


“The story of Xenu is covered in OT III, part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to advanced members. It is described in more detail in the accompanying confidential "Assists" lecture of 3 October 1968 and is dramatized in Revolt in the Stars (an unpublished screenplay written by L Ron Hubbard during the late 1970s). Direct quotations in this section are from these sources.

Seventy-five million years ago, Xenu was the ruler of a Galactic Confederacy which consisted of 26 stars and 76 planets including Earth, which was then known as Teegeeack. The planets were overpopulated, each having on average 178 billion people. The Galactic Confederacy's civilization was comparable to our own, with people "walking around in clothes which looked very remarkably like the clothes they wear this very minute" and using cars, trains and boats looking exactly the same as those "circa 1950, 1960" on Earth.

Xenu was about to be deposed from power, so he devised a plot to eliminate the excess population from his dominions. With the assistance of "renegades", he defeated the populace and the "Loyal Officers", a force for good that was opposed to Xenu. Then, with the assistance of psychiatrists, he summoned billions of people to paralyze them with injections of alcohol and glycol, under the pretense that they were being called for "income tax inspections". The kidnapped populace was loaded into space planes for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). The space planes were exact copies of Douglas DC-8s, "except the DC-8 had fans, propellers on it and the space plane didn't." DC-8s have jet engines, not propellers, although Hubbard may have meant the turbine fans.

When the space planes had reached Teegeeack/Earth, the paralyzed people were unloaded and stacked around the bases of volcanoes across the planet. Hydrogen bombs were lowered into the volcanoes, and all were detonated simultaneously. Only a few people's physical bodies survived. Hubbard described the scene in his film script, Revolt in the Stars:

'Simultaneously, the planted charges erupted. Atomic blasts ballooned from the craters of Loa, Vesuvius, Shasta, Washington, Fujiyama, Etna, and many, many others. Arching higher and higher, up and outwards, towering clouds mushroomed, shot through with flashes of flame, waste and fission. Great winds raced tumultuously across the face of Earth, spreading tales of destruction. Debris-studded, and sickly yellow, the atomic clouds followed close on the heels of the winds. Their bow-shaped fronts encroached inexorably upon forest, city and mankind, they delivered their gifts of death and radiation. A skyscraper, tall and arrow-straight, bent over to form a question mark to the very idea of humanity before crumbling into the screaming city below…'

L. Ron Hubbar, Revolt in the Stars treatment

The now-disembodied victims' souls, which Hubbard called thetans, were blown into the air by the blast. They were captured by Xenu's forces using an "electronic ribbon" ("which also was a type of standing wave") and sucked into "vacuum zones" around the world. The hundreds of billions of captured thetans were taken to a type of cinema, where they were forced to watch a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. This implanted what Hubbard termed "various misleading data"' (collectively termed the R6 implant) into the memories of the hapless thetans, "which has to do with God, the Devil, space opera, etcetera". This included all world religions, with Hubbard specifically attributing Roman Catholicism and the image of the Crucifixion to the influence of Xenu. The interior decoration of "all modern theaters" is also said by Hubbard to be due to an unconscious recollection of Xenu's implants. The two "implant stations" cited by Hubbard were said to have been located on Hawaii and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

In addition to implanting new beliefs in the thetans, the images deprived them of their sense of personal identity. When the thetans left the projection areas, they started to cluster together in groups of a few thousand, having lost the ability to differentiate between each other. Each cluster of thetans gathered into one of the few remaining bodies that survived the explosion. These became what are known as body thetans, which are said to be still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except those Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.

The Loyal Officers finally overthrew Xenu and locked him away in a mountain, where he was imprisoned forever by a force field powered by an eternal battery. (Some have suggested that Xenu is imprisoned on Earth in the Pyrenees, but Hubbard merely refers to "one of these planets" [of the Galactic Confederacy]; he does, however, refer to the Pyrenees as being the site of the last operating "Martian report station", which is probably the source of this particular confusion.) Teegeeack/Earth was subsequently abandoned by the Galactic Confederacy and remains a pariah "prison planet" to this day, although it has suffered repeatedly from incursions by alien "Invader Forces" since that time.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu

Yes.
It all makes sense, now.

Things to remember on this slightly-dark day!

“League titles: 18

1900-01, 1905-06, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1946-47, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90

European Cups and UEFA Champions League titles: 5

1977 3-1 vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
1978 1-0 vs. Club Brugge
1981 1-0 vs. Real Madrid
1984 1-1 (4-2 in penalty shootout) vs. AS Roma
2005 3-3 (3-2 in penalty shootout) vs. AC Milan

UEFA Cups: 3

1973 3-2 agg (L1:3-0; L2:0-2) vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
1976 4-3 agg (L1:3-2; L2:1-1) vs. Club Brugge
2001 5-4 (after golden goal) vs. Alavés

FA Cups: 7

1965 2-1 (after extra time) vs. Leeds United
1974 3-0 vs. Newcastle United
1986 3-1 vs. Everton
1989 3-2 (after extra time) vs. Everton
1992 2-0 vs. Sunderland
2001 2-1 vs. Arsenal
2006 3-3 (3-1 in penalty shootout) vs. West Ham United

League Cups: 7

1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003

Community Shields: 15

1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared), 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared), 2001, 2006

UEFA Super Cups: 3

1977, 2001, 2005

Screen Sport Super Cup

1986

Intercontinental Cup

Runners-up 3 times

Liverpool's tally of eighteen Football League championships is a record for English clubs, their nearest challenger being Manchester United with fifteen. Liverpool achieved the League and FA Cup "Double" in 1986 and have won two "Trebles". The first treble of League, League Cup and European Cup was achieved in 1984 (the first English club to win three major competitions in a single season) and a cup treble was achieved in 2001 comprising the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

Liverpool's total of five European Cups is an English record and the third highest total overall, after Real Madrid and AC Milan. The fifth victory in 2005 entitled Liverpool to receive the UEFA badge of honour, thus allowing them to keep the trophy permanently.

Liverpool's total of three UEFA Cups is an English record, and equal to the overall record, which is shared with Inter Milan. The tallies of seven League Cups and three European Super Cups are also English records.”

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_F.C.

Next round?.....Anfield!
Advantage?......The Pool!

WE CAN DO IT!!

America talking sense! But who will listen?

New York Times, April 13, 2007


America is watching Don Imus’s self-immolation in a state of shock and awe. And I’m watching America with wry amusement.

Since I’m a second-class citizen — a gay man — my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It’s daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities.

In fact, I get a good chuckle whenever someone refers to “the media” as an agent of “the gay agenda.” There are entire channels, like Spike TV, that couldn’t fill an hour of programming if required to remove their sexist and homophobic content. We’ve got a president and a large part of Congress willing to change the Constitution so they can deprive of us our rights because they feel we are not “normal.”

So I’m used to catching foul balls up here in the cheap seats. What I am really enjoying is watching the rest of you act as if you had no idea that prejudice was alive and well in your hearts and minds.

For the past two decades political correctness has been derided as a surrender to thin-skinned, humourless, uptight oversensitive sissies. Well, you anti-politically correct people have won the battle, and we’re all now feasting on the spoils of your victory. During the last few months alone we’ve had a few comedians spout racism, a basketball coach put forth anti-Semitism and several high-profile spoutings of anti-gay epithets.

What surprises me, I guess, is how choosy the anti-P.C. crowd is about which hate speech it will not tolerate. Sure, there were voices of protest when the TV actor Isaiah Washington called a gay colleague a “faggot.” But corporate America didn’t pull its advertising from “Grey’s Anatomy,” as it did with Mr. Imus, did it? And when Ann Coulter likewise tagged a presidential candidate last month, she paid no real price.

In fact, when Bill Maher discussed Ms. Coulter’s remarks on his HBO show, he repeated the slur no fewer than four times himself; each mention, I must note, solicited a laugh from his audience. No one called for any sort of apology from him. (Well, actually, I did, so the following week he only used it once.)

Face it, if a Pentagon general, his salary paid with my tax dollars, can label homosexual acts as “immoral” without a call for his dismissal, who are the moral high and mighty kidding?

Our nation, historically bursting with generosity toward strangers, remains remarkably unkind toward its own. Just under our gleaming patina of inclusiveness, we harbour corroding guts. America, I tell you that it doesn’t matter how many times you brush your teeth. If your insides are rotting your breath will stink. So, how do you people choose which hate to embrace, which to forgive with a wink and a week in rehab, and which to protest? Where’s my copy of that rulebook?

Let me cite a non-volatile example of how prejudice can cohabit unchecked with good intentions. I am a huge fan of David Letterman’s. I watch the opening of his show a couple of times a week and have done so for decades. Without fail, in his opening monologue or skit Mr. Letterman makes a joke about someone being fat. I kid you not. Will that destroy our nation? Should he be fired or lose his sponsors? Obviously not.

But I think that there is something deeper going on at the Letterman studio than coincidence. And, as I’ve said, I cite this example simply to illustrate that all kinds of prejudice exist in the human heart. Some are harmless. Some not so harmless. But we need to understand who we are if we wish to change. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess to not only being a gay American, but also a fat one. Yes, I’m a double winner.)

I urge you to look around, or better yet, listen around and become aware of the prejudice in everyday life. We are so surrounded by expressions of intolerance that I am in shock and awe that anyone noticed all these recent high-profile instances. Still, I’m gladdened because our no longer being deaf to them may signal their eventual eradication.

The real point is that you cannot harbour malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.

By Harvey Fierstein
(Actor and playwright)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fierstein.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Working 9-5, what a way to make a living!

The reason for my delayed posting? Disappointment city, and I'm the mayor.......

The trip is postponed until the first week of September. It's a good-news/bad-news situation....the bad news is that I now have to work through the summer. The good news is that I'll be here for the birth of my brother's new baby in September, and we bought our tickets for Electric Picnic - Beastie Boys and Bjork? Serious good news, eh?!

My other reason for disappointment is that I am DYING from working 7 days a week!! Five days in here - which is no bloody picnic (electric or otherwise) let me tell you, and then both days of the weekend in a pub in Baltinglass, Horans. The upside of that is that I get to watch all the weekend footie, and have met some lovely people.

Sylwio, who I work with, is a fabulous Polish girl of the kind to make you blush at complaining at your lot.........she is a fully qualified social worker and teacher, and is earning a living here in Ireland working in a grotty pub. Once her English is sorted, though, she'll be right as rain and hopefully earning what she SHOULD be earning with those qualifications! Sophie, another Polish girl who works there sweeping the floors, is a fully qualified midwife. Scary, isn't it? The EU will really have to sort out work permits etc. that allow skilled migrants to work at their profession in other countries!! Of course, I'm hoping that their English skills are all that stands in their way - hopefully, once they get a firm grip on that, they'll move on to bigger and better things, because they are WASTED in that pub.

As am I, to be honest.......I'm knackered tired, and it bloody kills me that I'm missing out on LIFE whilst working there!! I don't want to be dead by the time we travel, so I'll try get a different job that maybe only has me work 1 day a weekend, so that I can have some down time each week.

In the meantime, here's a photo of Sylwio, from her website (http://www.goldenlion-kennel.com) that showcases her gorgeous dogs, which she enters in dog shows....and they're champions, by the looks of them!

Dream of Dreams...

The trip is coming together!! A round-the-world LIKE NO OTHER (Sony-style!!). So, the flights are as follows:

Dublin - Mexico City
Santiago - Auckland
Auckland - Sydney
Sydney - Bangkok
Bangkok - Dublin

The bare bones of a round-the-world! We will have to make our own way from Mexico to Cuba & the Caribbean islands, then down to Venezuela, into Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and back to Chile. From there, we're back on track for the flights, and it's just a matter of picking where we want to tour in New Zealand, Australia and South-East Asia...

Sounds good, muchachos!!

We will buy them soon. They will be mine - oh yes - they will be mine.

Dreamers of Dreams

Some friends of mine have recently managed to do the improbable and release an album. Their band, Unite Tribe, may not play my type of music, but they are friends, and I will always wish them well...plug to follow!!

The band, Unite Tribe, have gone from strength to strength – though some nostalgics long for the days that they were called Rastafenians (a name some very smart, intelligent, beautiful and talented woman came up with). These days they play regular gigs to big audiences, and have created quite a following! Their debut album, Enlocarai, was launched in the Temple Bar Music Centre last Thursday, and garnered a huge turnout from friends, family, fans and well-wishers. It was a very successful night, which will hopefully encourage them to continue with their chosen path.

The album is on sale in Tower Records at the moment for €14.99, and will be available in a more nationwide capacity from March 29th.

I truly wish them the best of luck, and I hope that things continue to go well for them in the future.

“One good thing about music – when it hits, you feel no pain.”
Bob Marley.

Good Luck Brian, Barry, Glenn, Sean, Ciara, Sean and Pierre!!

Got myself a weekend job in a pub, so the money-saving is well-ish on its way!

I’ve told them in work now, so there’s no going back.

I informed my bosses that ‘myself and Alan are in discussion about the next phase our relationship should move to, and we’ve decided to either move in together or go travelling. I have now gotten a weekend job in order to pay off my debts (credit union and credit card), and when my debts are gone, we’ll look at our financial position in regards to what we can do’.

It’s a roundabout way of doing it, but at least they now know that in the summer, I will be making some kind of major move.

Phew............

My Man has gone to Sweden....

....to be a businessman for a few days. And I miss him already....

What if he changes while he's away? What if he turns INTO the establishment, becomes a member of their private club and suddenly doesn't care about little old haphazard me?

Imagine if Alan suddenly morphed from The Boombox Prince into some kind of working stiff??

What would that be like???????????

Perfect example of how true fans should behave

"It’s easy to lose faith in football when the constant talk is of sky high salaries, super-inflated egos and sour grapes, whenever things go wrong.

But surely even those who have long since given up on the game will have felt a glow at seeing the behaviour of the Barcelona supporters at Anfield this week, and the response they drew from Liverpudlians.

Because it was refreshing, not to say uplifting, particularly as at the same time back in Spain, Valencia and Inter Milan players were serving up some of the most disgraceful scenes seen on a European stage for several years.

As players threw post-match punches and kicks in a mass televised brawl at the Mestalla which then spilled into the tunnel, Barcelona and Liverpool supporters reached across the divides of victory and defeat in the Anfield Road end to shake hands, swap scarves and slap each other's backs. The Barca fans sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' while being stripped of the European Cup they won in Paris last year, while in return, Kopites chanted Barcelona's name to register their appreciation and mutual respect.

Of course, Anfield was on show at its inspirational finest on Tuesday night and the display and the din clearly stunned new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. But the Americans attending their first game were by now surely the only ones surprised by sights and sounds which have become customary at Anfield on such big European occasions.

In truth, what was just as impressive in its own way was the warm display of sportsmanship by the Barcelona fans who did their great club credit – and proved that born winners don't have to be bad losers, too. Sadly, there is increasing evidence that the two aspects go hand in hand these days, when they do not and should not.

It is one thing to hate defeat and never countenance it mentally while a contest is alive. But it is quite another to refuse to accept defeat when it happens and behave with distaste or disgrace, rather than dignity.

The Barcelona supporters in Liverpool this week did themselves proud on that front. They had thoroughly enjoyed Liverpool during the day – even their president, Joan Laporta, headed for the Cavern Club – and continued to try and do so after they had won the game but lost the tie on Tuesday night.

They mingled good naturedly with Liverpool supporters in bars around the ground and the city centre, without a hint of malice or ill feeling before or after the match on either side.

It can be argued it was easy for the Reds supporters to smile and engage them having claimed victory and less so for the Nou Camp faithful who had been shocked and hurt at defeat and it's clear prospect beforehand. The sportsmanship, friendliness, warmth and respect which they brought from one great city in Catalonia to another in the north of England will not be forgotten.

It is how the game should be. But how it too often isn't."

John Thompson, Liverpool Echo, 9 March 2007
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/

International Women's Day - 8 March

THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY COLOURS

Purple, green and white are the official international women's colours. The colours originated from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), in the UK in 1908. The colours were said to represent:

- white for purity in public as well as private life

- purple for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (and representing the women's vote)

- green for hope and new life.

The colours unified the women's movement and emphasised the femininity of the suffragettes. The tricolour of the WSPU soon became a visual cue for the women's movement in other countries. Purple, green and white were worn on International Women's Day and were used for other women's movement banners and posters.

More recently, two changes have occured:

- the use of the colour white has more recently been rejected as 'purity' is a controversial issue and attitudes towards the role of 'purity' from women differ greatly

- the introduction of the colour gold representing 'a new dawn' has been commonly used to represent the second wave of feminism.

Check out www.internationalwomensday.com for more information on why feminism is not dead, it is merely taking a breath....

______________________________________________

There is still work to be done:

- whenever Britney shaves her head and enters rehab
- whenever Amy Winehouse thinks it's OK to exit a toilet with coke on her nose
- whenever excuse of consent is used in rape cases
- whenever eductation is lacking for women
- whenever female babies are abandoned simply for their sex
- whenever only male witnesses are accepted in gang rape cases
- whenever women are paid less for doing the same job as a man
- whenever pop singers dress in sexually explicit outfits to titilate a male-dominated field
- whenever anyone who expresses an opinion differentiating them from a doormat is vilified
- whenever men think it's OK to grab or grope at strange women in bars
- whenever 'emotionalism' is used as an excuse to ignore a firebrand woman
- whenever opionions count you as someone to avoid
- whenever men don't accept that women are different, but equal....

....THAT'S when feminism counts.

Support International Women's Day for the sake of every woman who still hasn't found her voice....and for those who had the courage to use their voice to take us as far as we have gotten today.

Just because it's not in the papers, doesn't mean it's not still happening!

Justice for Darfur
By Angelina Jolie
Wednesday, February 28, 2007

BAHAI, Chad -- Here, at this refugee camp on the border of Sudan, nothing separates us from Darfur but a small stretch of desert and a line on a map. All the same, it's a line I can't cross. As a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I have traveled into Darfur before, and I had hoped to return. But the UNHCR has told me that this camp, Oure Cassoni, is as close as I can get.

Sticking to this side of the Sudanese border is supposed to keep me safe. By every measure -- killings, rapes, the burning and looting of villages -- the violence in Darfur has increased since my last visit, in 2004. The death toll has passed 200,000; in four years of fighting, Janjaweed militia members have driven 2.5 million people from their homes, including the 26,000 refugees crowded into Oure Cassoni.

Attacks on aid workers are rising, another reason I was told to stay out of Darfur. By drawing attention to their heroic work -- their efforts to keep refugees alive, to keep camps like this one from being consumed by chaos and fear -- I would put them at greater risk.

I've seen how aid workers and nongovernmental organizations make a difference to people struggling for survival. I can see on workers' faces the toll their efforts have taken. Sitting among them, I'm amazed by their bravery and resilience. But humanitarian relief alone will never be enough.

Until the killers and their sponsors are prosecuted and punished, violence will continue on a massive scale. Ending it may well require military action. But accountability can also come from international tribunals, measuring the perpetrators against international standards of justice.

Accountability is a powerful force. It has the potential to change behavior -- to check aggression by those who are used to acting with impunity. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has said that genocide is not a crime of passion; it is a calculated offense. He's right. When crimes against humanity are punished consistently and severely, the killers' calculus will change.

On Monday I asked a group of refugees about their needs. Better tents, said one; better access to medical facilities, said another. Then a teenage boy raised his hand and said, with powerful simplicity, "Nous voulons une épreuve." We want a trial. He is why I am encouraged by the ICC's announcement yesterday that it will prosecute a former Sudanese minister of state and a Janjaweed leader on charges of crimes against humanity.

Some critics of the ICC have said indictments could make the situation worse. The threat of prosecution gives the accused a reason to keep fighting, they argue. Sudanese officials have echoed this argument, saying that the ICC's involvement, and the implication of their own eventual prosecution, is why they have refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

It is not clear, though, why we should take Khartoum at its word. And the notion that the threat of ICC indictments has somehow exacerbated the problem doesn't make sense, given the history of the conflict. Khartoum's claims aside, would we in America ever accept the logic that we shouldn't prosecute murderers because the threat of prosecution might provoke them to continue killing?

When I was in Chad in June 2004, refugees told me about systematic attacks on their villages. It was estimated then that more than 1,000 people were dying each week.

In October 2004 I visited West Darfur, where I heard horrific stories, including accounts of gang-rapes of mothers and their children. By that time, the UNHCR estimated, 1.6 million people had been displaced in the three provinces of Darfur and 200,000 others had fled to Chad.

It wasn't until June 2005 that the ICC began to investigate. By then the campaign of violence was well underway.

As the prosecutions unfold, I hope the international community will intervene, right away, to protect the people of Darfur and prevent further violence. The refugees don't need more resolutions or statements of concern. They need follow-through on past promises of action.

There has been a groundswell of public support for action. People may disagree on how to intervene -- airstrikes, sending troops, sanctions, divestment -- but we all should agree that the slaughter must be stopped and the perpetrators brought to justice.

In my five years with UNHCR, I have visited more than 20 refugee camps in Sierra Leone, Congo, Kosovo and elsewhere. I have met families uprooted by conflict and lobbied governments to help them. Years later, I have found myself at the same camps, hearing the same stories and seeing the same lack of clean water, medicine, security and hope.

It has become clear to me that there will be no enduring peace without justice. History shows that there will be another Darfur, another exodus, in a vicious cycle of bloodshed and retribution. But an international court finally exists. It will be as strong as the support we give it. This might be the moment we stop the cycle of violence and end our tolerance for crimes against humanity.

What the worst people in the world fear most is justice.
That's what we should deliver.

The writer is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

And the Oscar goes to.....(how I did on predictions!)

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson), Peter O'Toole (Venus), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

SHOULD: Leonardo DiCaprio & Forest Whitaker
WILL: Forest Whitaker
DID: Forest Whitaker

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

SHOULD: Djimon Hounsou & Alan Arkin
WILL: Alan Arkin
DID: Alan Arkin

Best Actress: Penélope Cruz (Volver), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Kate Winslet (Little Children)

SHOULD: Helen Mirren
WILL: Helen Mirren
DID: Helen Mirren

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza (Babel), Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

SHOULD: Abigail Breslin
WILL: Adriana Barraza
DID: Jennifer Hudson

Animated Feature: Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House.

SHOULD: Happy Feet
WILL: Happy Feet
DID: Happy Feet

Cinematography: The Black Dahlia, Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Prestige.

SHOULD: Pan’s Labyrinth
WILL: Pan’s Labyrinth
DID: Pan’s Labyrinth

Costume Design: Curse of the Golden Flower, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Marie Antoinette, The Queen.

SHOULD: Dreamgirls
WILL: The Queen
DID: Marie Antoinette

Best Director: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Queen, United 93.

SHOULD: Martin Scorsese
WILL: Martin Scorsese
DID: Martin Scorsese

Documentary: Deliver us from Evil, An Invonvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Jesus Camp, My Country My Country.

SHOULD: An Inconvenient Truth
WILL: An Inconvenient Truth
DID: An Inconvenient Truth

Film Editing: Babel, Blood Diamond, Children of Men, The Departed, United 93.

SHOULD: Babel
WILL: Babel
DID: The Departed

Foreign Language Film: After the Wedding, Days of Glory (Indigénes), The Lives of Others, Pan’s Labyrinth, Water.

SHOULD: Apocalypto
WILL: Pan’s Labyrinth
DID: The Lives of Others

Makeup: Apocalypto, Click, Pan’s Labyrinth

SHOULD: Apocalypto
WILL: Apocalypto
DID: Pan’s Labyrinth

Best Picture: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen.

SHOULD: The Departed
WILL: Little Miss Sunshine
DID: The Departed

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Children of Men, The Departed, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal

SHOULD: The Departed
WILL: Notes on a Scandal
DID: The Departed


Writing (Original Screenplay): Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen

SHOULD: Little Miss Sunshine
WILL: Little Miss Sunshine
DID: Little Miss Sunshine

And there we have it....another year, another Oscar. Some of my shoulds turned out to be dids, and I was happy to be put right on a few - who could have seen 'The Departed' doing THAT well? I'm delighted for Scorsese...it is a well deserved sweeping!! Disappointed that Pan's Labyrith didn't get Best Foreign Language, and wasn't bothered on costumes anyway. I'm also disappointed that Jennifer Hudson got Best Supporting Actress, even though I haven't seen the movie. Don't really know why!! And as for Best Documentary? It could never have gone another direction - well done Al Gore!!

Can't wait to see the highlights tonight, as no terrestrial channel showed it last night, so I couldn't stay up late to watch them. See how Ellen got on...

Until next year............

Barca bow down to superior Reds!

Bellamy: "You couldn't make up what has happened tonight. "I've not been reading the papers so I've not been too bothered what people say. All I wanted to do was make the most of the special atmosphere and the build up to the game. I've been reasonably lucky in football, playing for my country and other big clubs, but this is my best moment in the game."

John Arne Riise: "We knew we needed to enjoy it out there and believe in ourselves. To be fair we started the game very well. They scored but we knew that if we worked hard we would get a goal back. The boss has shown tonight that, tactically, he's one of the best around."

All Hail Rafa!

Could this be another year, another song needed?

We won it six times........

we won it six TTIIIIMMEEEESSS........

In Atheeeeeennnsss.........

We won it six times!

We all dream of a team of Carraghers!

Carra hoping for another Barca blowout...And so say all of us, J.C.!!

Liverpool's excellent record at the Nou Camp sets us up nicely for a confident game tonight!

From www.liverpoolfc.tv:

'The club have never conceded a goal on three previous visits to the famous stadium and Carragher knows a similar shut-out in the first leg of this year's last 16 clash would provide the Reds with a great chance to progress.

"We've had some good results in the past and I'm sure 0-0 would be considered a good score this time as well," he said. "We're playing against the European champions and against a side who went close to becoming world champions as well, so we know it's going to be difficult.

"We've had ten days since our last match and we went to Portugal to prepare for this game, so we are ready. The important thing on the night is to play well and stay focused because Barcelona have top quality players. "It's going to be a great occasion for everybody involved and we are all looking forward to it."

Despite Barcelona's poor result at Valencia at the weekend, Carragher isn't subscribing to the thought that this is a great time for the Reds to be taking on Frank Rijkaard's men. "I've been watching them a lot lately and I don't see much wrong," he said. "They controlled much of the game against Valencia and were probably a bit unlucky. They're still top of their league so there can't be that much wrong.

"They're a top side but, as with every side, they have weaknesses and that's what we've been working on trying to exploit. We know what we have to do on the night and now it's up to us to enjoy playing in one of the world's great stadiums and make sure we get the right result."

COME ON THE POOL!!!

Shame on you BAFTA!

Memories of school come flooding back....it's not as if I've ever had to find 'x' in my adult life.

On the upside to life, watched 'Pan's Labyrinth' on DVD last night, and a brilliant episode of Top Gear on BBC.

Then watched the BAFTA's. I've to write a thingy on it for the BBC website, and had a 'winning' line, which Alan says I can't use..."ugly back-slappery that rears it's colonial head at times like these"

...because, basically, he says that I'm being 'down' on the British, and the BBC is pretty much Britain's flagship of media.

Ah well, I have a blog to vent, so vent I shall!

Paul Greengrass Best Director? The ugly back-slappery that rears it's colonial head at times like these completely invalidates any further awards the BAFTA's see fit to hand out. To say that United 93 - a 'made-for-telly-tearjerker' - was the best directed movie of 2006 calls doubt on any system of encouragement the British establishment creates.

Shame on you, BAFTA!

Ode to the train journey that is slowly slipping away from me...

Train 4 from Moscow to Beijing was surprisingly modern, clean and comfortable. With at least 50 westerners aboard, as well as plenty of people from Russia, China and Poland, there was a pleasant party atmosphere all the way.

For the first 3 days, the train travels across the vastness of Siberia, passing from Europe to Asia 1,777km east of Moscow.

On day 4, the train rounds Lake Baikal, the deepest fresh water lake in the world, with excellent views of the lake. In summer, the countryside appears green and pleasant, though in some parts the permafrost lies only inches below the surface.

On day 5, after passing through Mongolian customs late at night, you wake up to a complete change of scenery: Grassy steppe, covered in dew, giving way South of Ulan Bator (Mongolia's capital) to the open wastes of the Gobi Desert. Look out for camels and 'yurts' - the circular tents used by Mongolian nomads.

Reaching the Chinese frontier at midnight to the sound of triumphant martial music played at full volume over the station loudspeakers, the train is taken away and jacked up to have its bogies changed from Russian 5' gauge to standard (4'8½") gauge. You can remain on board or wander round the station while this is being done.

A Russian restaurant car (left) is attached to the train for the first four days, a Mongolian restaurant car (middle) is available for day 5, and an excellent Chinese restaurant car (right) is available on day 6.

The next and last day, the train crosses the mountains north of Beijing, passing through the Great Wall of China itself at Qinglongqiao.

Arrival at Beijing's main station on day 6.

Adapted from www.seat61.com