Hard Rock Calling Paul McCartney

Flying visit to London.
Sunday 27th June Hyde Park Hard Rock Calling 2010 concert:Paul McCartney headlining the final concert of the concerts in Hyde Park and his current tour.The support acts were Elvis Costello,Crowded House,Crosby,Stills and Nash.
The weather was really hot so with no rainclouds on the horizon a perfect day for a summer concert.
Nice summery atmosphere with a mix of young and old people.

On a big screen in the centre of the audience the England v Germany match was being shown.While Crowded House were performing,England got comprehensively beaten by Germany in the second round of the World Cup.Unfortunately the ref made a massive blunder and failed to see Lampard's shot clearly cross the line;which would have it made it 2-2 and a chance for England to get back into the match.

Paul McCartney thrilled the crowd for over three hours,a true superstar.The highlights of the show included the fireworks accompanied 'Live and Let Die' and of course ' Let It Be ' And 'Hey Jude'.McCartney played a good mix of old Beatles classics and Wings material including Let Them In'.

Spain comfortably beat Honduras 2-0

Spain's number 7,David Villa,scored twice to finally get Spain's World Cup campaign up and running;in fact Villa could have got a hat trick if he hadn't missed a penalty.There were many chances to score a hat-ful of goals but Spain lacked the clinical touch and Torres missed at least two good chances to add to the goals.Although the number '7' seemed to feature again,like in Portugal's match earlier today,Spain couldn't match Portugal's scoreline.Villa clearly showed why Barcelona paid 35 million pounds for him,with his dazzling twisting and turning to score that stunning opening goal.However,he was lucky not to get yellow carded when he aimed a petulant slap at Izaguirre.
So a comfortable victory but perhaps that missed penalty and goal scoring chances might be important in goal difference to progress to the next round.

Portugal in Seventh Heaven

The World Cup comes to life! Seven was the key number today as Portugal achieved seventh heaven with an amazing 7-0 victory over North Korea,in 1966 there were also seven goals, 4-3 to Portugal but this time all one way traffic.The two teams were only separated by Raul Meireles' goal at half-time but Portugal produced a stunning attacking display in the second half to score six goals.
Simao, Hugo Almeida and Tiago found the net in the space of seven minutes.Liedson,added another eleven minutes later.Ronaldo,whose squad mumber is '7',scored the sixth and also his first goal in international football since his last one two years ago.Tiago got his second and Portugal's seventh to seal a fantastic victory!
By the way,all the Portuguese substitutions were in the space of seven minutes 70 min,74 min and 77 min.

World Cup Shocks

Sunday is sometimes often a boring day but not in the World Cup,shocks galore!New Zealand held the current World Champions to a 1-1 draw while France are a team in dissaray after refusing to train today in protest of Nicholas Anelka's expulsion from the squad.With the French's team unity in a mess the bafanas bafanas could have a great chance in their last group match against Domenech's team to progress to the next round.
It's been fascinating following the World Cup via the BBC's on line text commentary:the opening goal by New Zealand,the refusal of the French squad to train,the head of the French Football Federation resigning,so almost as exciting as watching the match on TV.
There's a big screen at the Plaza Corniche Hotel but they have the sound off for some bizarre reason so there's a complete lack of atmosphere so better to see the matches in the small local bars where they do have the sound.
More shocks tonight ?Can Ivory Coast beat the mighty Brazil.Unlike the French,the Ivory Coast have,according to their manager Sven Eriksson a happy squad, perhaps they have a chance to cause another shock.
However,Brazil confidently beat Ivory Coast 3-1,with two fab goals by Luis Fabianno and one by Elano,who unfortunately a few minutes later,was carried off badly injured.However,there was a consolation goal for Ivory Coast with a headed goal by Didier Drobga.Up to the few minutes of the game and no shocks but the very physical,hard tackling by some Ivory Coast players niggled the Brazilians and a punch-up was almost about to break up.However,Kaka got sent off for apparently striking Keita in the face.It seemed more a case of Keita exaggerating and fooling another referee to make another idiotic decision.All in all an eventful day's football.

Birthday Lunch at Salle a Manger

Pleasant birthday lunch at the local Tunisian restaurant 'Salle a Manager' with Janet,Laurie,Leanne,Judy,Helen,Jessica,Kaithe,Kristian,Dorra,and Anne Marie.Five of us had the menu du jour with 'the taglitelle avec crevettes 'getting an average of a rating of 7/10 but Dorra gave it a 10 ,the pasta wasn't bad but lacked flavour.Janet got fed up waiting for dessert and left early but just as she left the waiter brought my sorbet topped with a lit sparkler and candle with a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' from everyone.Suddenly my phone rang, it was Janet calling to see if the dessert had arrived.Five minutes later she came back but the sorbet had almost melted away.Kristian seemed preoccupied,he hadn't actually wished me 'Happy Birthday'.

World Cup Fever Hits Tunis American Embassy

The American Embassy in Tunis invited the British Council teachers to watch England's first match against the USA.
Were there going to be enough beers for the Americans to drown out their sorrows?
Could Rooney hold back from swearing and cursing at the referee and getting red carded?
Was Beckham's inside knowledge on the Americans likely to help us defeat them?Well,after promised to be an excellant start with a goal in the fourth minute a dreadful lack of concentration by Robert Green let slip a relatively tame shot by Dempsey into an equaliser goal for the USA.What a blunder!Obviously still a bit green in his international goalkeeping experience.On the other hand the USA's goalmouth was in safe hands with Tim Howard's,despite being injured in a clash with Heskey.England had a few chances but failed in their finishing pass or shot.Well Rooney kept his cool but then on the whole he was subdued apart from an off the target shot and an optimistic header.Crouch came on for the last few minutes but perhaps he should have on sooner.In fact victory was almost snatched by a quick run against play with a shot by Jozy Altidore,luckily for England ,Green managed to push the ball against the post.

Litter Bins on La Marsa Beach

Yesterday on my morning stroll on the beach I noticed many blue litter bins had been placed on the beach,so some environmentally good news but there was still some rubbish.
One of the teachers,Maria mentioned that the supermarket 'Monoprix'were promoting the idea of being environmentally friendly via their new shopping bags and also the reuseable shopping bags that can be bought.

Summer Hits La Marsa

Sunday morning and the seaside resort La Marsa was packed with local weekenders.The beach looked quite nice with the many thatched sun umbrellas,it's a shame there was a load of rubbish too.During my stroll along the shore I nearly stepped on some dog shit - disgusting!

On the green bus back to La Marsa a young woman at the front of the bus opened the window and threw out her empty drink can! I couldn't believe how casual she was about chucking out her rubbish onto the street.
(By the way it was World Environment Day on Saturday but I'm sure not many of the people in La Marsa realised or even cared.)This morning something good was happening,the local workmen were putting blue litter bins along the promenade of La Marsa(but it would be good if they put them on the lower promenade by the beach as well,which is where most of the rubbish is.)

Age of Stupid: DVD: Copenhagen Kids from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

World Cup Fever Hits Tunis

'Les Bleus' ,in a pre World Cup warm up game,last Sunday were held to a draw by Tunisia.With just five minutes after the kick off Tunisia took the lead.However,the celebration was in a half empty stadium.In a few minutes the stadium was crammed with supporters,the entrance gates had suddenly been opened with the many supporters outside the Tunis National stadium allowed in free;this must have really annoyed the fans who'd paid to see this match.
Despite this increase of support,Tunisia let this golden opportunity of beating the ex-World champions slip and France managed to claw back an equaliser.