And who thinks that PMQs without Blair and Cameron is dull?

This is funny. John Prescott lowers the tone of an argument about pensions. Go HERE and start watching at exactly 21 mins

Typical...

For anyone who wants an idea of what the culture is like where I live in Sunderland, read this BBC news article. This event took place down the street from me...

Is this man Wolverine?

Or is he a gorilla? Or both?? The debate continues...

My brother, sister, brother-in-law, and baby niece are coming over from the U.S.A. on Friday, so we have been frantically trying to make some last minute alterations to the house. These have included painting, waxing, taking apart, repairing, cleaning, etc.

I have been spending most of my time reading Theocritus. Not sure when I will be going back to St. Andrews yet, although I imagine it will be some time during Freshers' Week.

I get the train to work every day. The journey takes about 30 minutes, which gives me plenty of time to glare at all the people around me. There are many people who catch the same train as me every day, and I have wondered many a time what their stories are- where they've come from, where they are going, whether they have any latent mental defects, etc. For some of them, I have tried to construct a picture of who they are when they aren't on the train, based on observations I have made about them- the way they dress, the newspaper they read, whether they do or don't listen to music in the morning, the list goes on.

This morning I find myself at quite a loss, since, as this is my last day of work, there is a good chance that I will never see any of these people again. We've been on the same train day after day for weeks and never said a word to them, and yet I feel like they have almost become a part of my life. Living in Sunderland has, however, given me plenty of opportunity to go out and observe the people around me. For any of you who are lucky enough to have visited this wonderful city, let me assure you that there are many, many interesting specimens to glare at.

So I don't know exactly how many people actually read my blog. Perhaps more than I realise; or, perhaps less than I think. Sometimes I feel like I should be ashamed of myself if I find myself reading peoples weblogs too frequently, or checking out peoples' profiles on the Facebook. But at the same time I want people to feel like they can visit my blog without living with the worry that I might come up to them and say 'you've been reading my blog, haven't you?!'. So, if this is a particular worry of yours, namely that you might think of yourself and/or have others think of you as a bit of a loser, fear not.

My time the last few weeks has mostly been spent at work, from about 8.45am, up until I get home, at around 5.30pm. My evenings, sad to say, have mostly been spent reading Theocritus. I'm looking forward to getting back to uni. I have really missed a lot of people in St. Andrews. Perhaps this is an early indication that I am not quite as detached from that place as I once thought. Just think, only 2 more years to go. I have a feeling that saying goodbye might be quite hard.

Footballers certainly aren't payed £100K a week for their skills in critical analysis

I have been following the Ruud Van Nistelrooy transfer-saga with only partial interest. I find that when a story like this is dragged out and given an unnecessary amount of attention, I tend to keep up with it only out of habit. I certainly don't think that the story has deserved the coverage it has received- given, V. Nistelrooy has scored a lot of goals for United, but he is an aging striker, entering the final years of his somewhat illustrious career.

One thing that I don't understand is comments like this- Van Nistelrooy claims, as quoted on the Real Madrid website, that he is

"very happy to be at the best club in the world",

that for him, "To come here is a football dream and it has finally become reality",

and that "When Real Madrid come looking, you do not have to think because they are the number one".

This isn't the first time that an advance from Real Madrid has prompted a player to make such a swift decision to switch shirts, as well as such overblown and quite blatantly untrue comments such as these. Basically, V. Nistelrooy has chosen to give up playing with some of the brightest, most talented young football starts on the planet (i.e. Rooney, Ronaldo, and now potentially Carrick), so he can fight for his place in the starting line-up of a squad full of geriatrics. I mean, come on, talk about an over rated team. What have Real Madrid accomplished in the last 4 years?

I suppose I just don't understand why so many players keep deluding themselves into thinking that Real Madrid is the best team in the world, and that a move there will in some way actually help their career. Not that I'm particularly sad to see V. Nistelrooy go- his time is up, and he didn't fit into Sir Alex's 1st team plans any longer. I think it is just symptomatic of one of two things- the complete delusion with which some players view the football world, or the desire of a has been to save some face.