funny month

October has been a funny month. Partly a reaction to September, when we were both working really hard. Alex especially on a portfolio of evidence that she had to complete. So we both came into October pretty worn out . Somethings have been good. Airborne's going well. Had lots of time to spend together doing fun things like watching the Plymouth Raiders (who are slowly coming into form btw.). But there have also been difficult things too. Alex can post about her work, which is difficult at the moment because of government changes to legal aid. but other stuff too.

We've decided to step down from doing the 8-11 year old club that we have been running since January. Most of the people who came are too old now and it was getting a bit dangerous and we just wanted to change the focus of our church time to be more effective. It was the right thing to do, and in some ways a relief, and in others a disappointment.

Other than that, lots of things just seem a bit up in the air at the moment. Feels like our lives are being pruned back a bit at the moment, which is great in the long term, not so much fun in the short.

Still, v. much looking forward to next week, as it is Birthday Week in our house, Alex on Monday and me on Thursday.

spoil sports

Following last week's chess praise. This week, a chess rant. The world championship is still going on, but it has been tainted by accusations of cheating, biased officialdom and behaviour that can only be described as primary school. You can find out all about it on Chessbase.

I'm upset about it, because I was cheering on Topalov, but he has shown himself to be a total idiot. I've always been brought up with the belief that, with sports, you pick a team and you stick to them, however bad or untalented they are. Most of the teams I love are a bunch of losers, but I love them anyway. But here, the only thing that seems rational is to hope that Kramnik sticks it to Topalov in the name of decency and fair play. Things which are still important.

It's been a weird year for sporting controversy. 3 major events that I really wanted to enjoy, the world cup final, the cricket, the chess, all of them spoilt by totally cynical cheating or stupid actions. It's not a big point, just a run of disappointments for a sports fan like myself.