Egypt won - Ghana didnae

By -
But that was over an hour ago, and fans are still driving aimless circles round Doha, beating the timeless tattoo on their horns: Baa! Baa! Ba-Ba-Baa! - Baa! Baa! Ba-Ba-Baa! The same rhythm as favoured by the strutting playground gangs in my primary school, all of fifty years ago, except, for lack of horned cars, it was a vocal exercise: Oi! Oi! Oi-Oi-Oi! - Oi! Oi! Oi-Oi-Oi! It didn't achieve much then either.
Still, a win for Ghana would have been nice. Ghana was one of the first African countries I knew by name, because, as a fledgling stamp collector (all of five years old) I was given a few Ghana postage stamps by a neighbour shortly after they gained their independence. Of course, my Stanley Gibbons 'Gay Venture' Stamp Album (a name they probably abandoned long ago) had no page for Ghana. Stick them under Gold Coast, said my Dad. I did, without knowing why.
Outside my window, the cavalcade continues...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to weigh a car using a tape measure and a tyre pressure gauge

By -
There are two pretty good ways to weigh a car: Drive it to the nearest public weighbridge and wait your turn. Look up the manual under General Specifications, ‘kerb weight’ But let's suppose the nearest public weighbridge is fifty miles away and you've lost the manual (and temporarily forgotten how to use public libraries and the Internet) and the burning urge to weigh your car just won't go away- what can you do about it? The good news is, you need hardly any equipment. All you need, for a reasonably accurate result is: a hand-held tyre pressure gauge which can be analogue or digital a retractable steel measuring tape a calculator, pencil and paper, or a good head for mental arithmetic The method Park the car on some clean, level concrete Observe that the car is held up by its four tyres (!) Measure the width of the tread of one tyre: e.g. 6 inches Measure the length of tread in contact with the ground: e.g. 7 inches Work out the area of tread touching the ground: e.g. 6 x
Read more

A Dangerous Species

By -
 Beware of the Financial Advisor. It hangs around in ex-pat haunts such as Doha's Champion's Bar, listens in to conversations for hints of affluence, and ingratiates itself with unsuspecting individuals who might be looking to invest some hard-earned money. It is likely to use a pseudonym, like Decent Bloke, Helpful Guy or John Hunt. But what it is really trying to do is scam you with some  dubious investment scheme   Having received its commission, it won't want to know you any more.
Read more

The need for pragmatic politics

By -
Personally, I see no convincing evidence for the existence of supernatural beings. But even supposing I am wrong and the firmament is positively teeming with spirits, ghosts, angels, demons, saints, archangels, deities of every flavour, even that would not be reason enough for our political life to concern itself with anything other than immediate secular pragmatism. Politics, like ethics, should not ask "How did we get here?" Apportioning credit or blame for the status quo is an exercise for armchair philosophers. Government should address two questions: "Who is suffering genuine hardship?" and "What can we do to help?" There is work enough in a programme based on these two questions to keep politicians busy for years. If in doubt as to the meaning of genuine hardship, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a good starting point. As long as we have people struggling to find food, shelter and basic security, we should not even give ear-time to the complaints o
Read more