Waylander

Iran does not shock me, more disappointing it took such a radical turn though they went for a less corrupt regime than the Shah's many did not see how the Mullahs would come to control society. Iran through its oil wealth has been able to modernise at least in the cities, it is even building its own fighter planes based on reversed engineered F-14s ( I think) certainly not the current F-35s which appear to have been plagued by problems. Afghanistan did not have oil wealth though some got very rich from opium production under the US occupation. China is supposedly negotiating with the Taliban to get permission to undertaking drilling and mining as it seeks out more resources. In previous times there was a Northern Alliance that would fight the Taliban and Tajikistan is one of the countries that have provided men to fight the Taliban. This has not happened this time, thinking is their lifestyles have improved and not so keen on risking their lives. Always wondered who was financing the Taliban forces and suspect another rich Muslim country. Guns, motorbikes and bombs all cost money.

Allegedly the US made a deal with Qatar to evacuate 8,000 people, with the rapid advance of the Taliban forces that may scupper their plans. I would say politically this is embarrassing for the Biden government. It was always a question as to how long the US could stay there and with Bin Laden allegedly dead arguably the War on Terror was over. Assuming of course this was about terror rather than something else. It is hard not to feel sad for all those Afghans that were looking towards a more progressive Afghanistan which now looks to be heading instead towards a harsh Islamic dictatorship.

Great start to the season continues, the Super League won and now our victory in our first league match. Alonso continuing to impress with a neat free kick goal. Pulisic scores from the breakdown following a Mount cross. Chalobah unmarked scores with a low drive on the edge of the right sided area to the bottom left of the goal. A good start. Palace will need to improve yet should not be judged on this outing as Chelsea played well.

During COV-ID one of the things i caught was Sky Arts with critiques looking at film stars and classic movies. I see some of you commented on the Spaghetti Westerns with Eastwood. One point I picked up was the films were released out of order. In the last film released I think is the Good the Bad and the Ugly you see Clintwood dressed in civil war uniform and he sees grisly corpses and decides to remove his jacket and put on a dead man' s poncho. This sets the scene for the other movies of his trademark he look. They said surely this should have been the first to set the scene yet did not happen and was a shame

I read about an Ebola outbreak weeks ago. May be a different one or not. Apparently not all outbreaks are of the very dangerous category, thankfully.

No missed it due to having family over. Saw the highlights with Ziyech scoring both goals, one with great movement from Werner. Looked like Ziyech was playing further forward. I think we will be top 4 though will hold off placing until September. For me not just about us more our competitors too. Lukaku and Kounde will make me more confident of finishing higher than last season.

Yes that can work against you, I learnt to switch off the Microsoft communicator to off-line status up until 9.00 though if someone came to my desk just had to accept it. Managers are different too, some can be in at 7.30am others 8.45am and another 10.30am. Some are authoritarian most are easy going until things go wrong as they do from time to time. Successful ones for me need an edge, so you automatically respect them and knock on their door when their calendars are free. Normally found this worked though am also able to judge when they are stressed and know that is not the time to approach. One manager I liked early on was in charge of about 100 people, I go on well with him as we went to the same school although about a decade apart. I recall one evening about 6pm the phones were going and I was the only one there, he came out of the office and picked up a phone and dealt with it. When I wanted a move he told me straight he didn't think I could get into that area of the company though added he didn't want to lose me. I later moved jobs and a couple of years later moved abroad and phoned him to see if he would give me a reference, he seemed delighted. The agency later told me he game me a top reference and I got a decent job. When I came back to the UK I went back to that company and on my first day I saw that manager walking through the corridor and nodded and smiled. I never saw him again in the office, he had just been sacked. Bizarrely I saw him five years later at a school reunion and we had a chat and it was interesting, he told me he had fallen out with the client manager. By then he had risen to manage about 250 people yet had fallen out with the client manager and had paid the price. He knew it was a grey area and should have been diplomatic though for some reason he could not explain he decided to stick to his guns and let the other know in no uncertain terms he was not budging. He was philosophical about knowing it was partly his own fault. Said he had had a couple of jobs later though added they did not last long this was about 2005.

Continuing on the Escobar theme, I have heard how he bought a lot of zoo animals and the hippos are still around multiplying and causing havoc with the environment. Its got political one half want to cull the hippos and the other half love them. There maybe a solution if they can find a way of making them infertile.

We were quite strongly linked with that Sevilla defender with a surname starting with K. I thought that looked an interesting potential acquisition as CB was one area we did not look too weak. Thought instead we were looking to strengthen, the chat is Zouma was meant to be part of the deal yet said he wanted to stay in the EPL. So now up in the air. I'm hoping we get at least 2 new faces to keep the rest of the squad on their toes. I find this talk of us having a top squad laughable, we have good coaches our players are a mixed bunch of age and skill. Some of the skill is very one dimensional. I think the sad thing is that due to having money bags RA as owner we are consistently forced to pay top $.