Whispering_Jack

Last night we ran into a couple of characters who resembled the two in the photographs immediately above. We were at The Cavern Club which is directly over the road from Liverpool's original Cavern Club where the Beatles rose to fame in the 1960s. It's a dingy underground club area with an atmosphere pungent with beer smells and literally hundreds of mad fans going off their heads over the songs sung by a Beatles cover band that sounds remarkably like the original which I saw at Festival Hall on 15 June 1964. Let's not forget what happened a little more than three months after that.

Yesterday Redleg hosted a visit to the Beatles Museum and Magical Mystery Bus Tour of Liverpool to locations of note in the history of the Fab Four. The bus guide was a bloke called Jay Johnson, brother of Holly Johnson of the controversial 1980s Liverpudlian group Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I must confess that while I was swept up by the Beatlemania phenomenon in the 1960s, the main focus of my musical tastes remained elsewhere (see avatar) but I still got a lot from the tour. Also, having studied the economic history of the region, I expected all northern England towns to be highly industrialised and ugly. Not so Liverpool. We visited some of the older areas of the city, but on the whole, I found it quite beautiful with lots of green areas (but no banana plantations in this neck of the world), interesting historic and modern buildings and friendly people. Sadly, very few people with who to discuss Melbourne's recruiting developments (Redleg's otherwise heavily distracted at the moment by the forthcoming nuptials) although one of the guests is a Collingwood supporter who's working in London with the groom. This year's events and the loss of Daisy and Heater seem to have knocked the stuffing out of such supporters. The old arrogance is disappearing. It appears that Melbourne's recruiting output in our absence has stalled. This needs to be fixed up to help with our breakfast conversations at the hotel. The Americans here who do nothing but drone on about how the shutdown and debt ceiling issues are afflicting their country at the moment are amazed when I tell them that my football club back in Australia has been in that condition for seven years.

Don't worry about him. He once aspired to be a great method actor and even got a role as a river person on a movie called "Deliverance". Last role he ever got but still lives it every day.Meanwhile in Liverpool, I've made another startling discovery. Nobody here has a Beatles haircut.

And it's a very good morning from Liverpool, England and I have some sensational news for followers of this thread. We now have our own poet laureate in the form of one of the great female voices in contemporary Japanese literature, Tokyo's own (and now our own as well) Banana Yoshimoto . The author of a dozen novels including Kitchen and her latest, The Lake was featured in the British Airways in flight magazine which I read on the way from London Heathrow to Manchester last night. The sun's about to rise in Liverpool, the place we're staying at is right on the Mersey River overlooking the port. Can't think of a better spot to discuss Japanese literature and the fascinating developments of Melbourne's trade week over breakfast with Redleg.

In London en route to Liverpool via Manchester. Got every British newspaper in the BA lounge and I see they haven't improved a single iota since I was last here. Not a single word about trading and free agency. Who do they think they are?

In Honkers en route to Liverpool via London and Manchester. Could someone please briefly list all of the trades we've done before we board for Heathrow (about an hour's time)?

... and I reckon there's a fair chance you didn't shout.

I've received word from Redleg whose ship made landfall at Valencia, Spain yesterday and he tells me that the first thing he did once he had Internet reception was to head straight over to Demonland where he noted with some disappointment that, apart from losing Colin Sylvia, the Dees have done bugger all so far in the recruiting stakes. I thought it would be cruel to tell him about Shannon Byrnes' contract extension but then I'm sure he'll read about it when his cruise ends at Barcelona later today our time. I did have to break the news to him that a horse in which one of his mates has a modest share saluted at Flemington yesterday and paid $17.00. He was very impressed, particularly that nobody tipped him off or that there was no TAB at Marseilles where he could have gotten on if only he knew. Anyway, he and Mrs. Redleg will soon be in Liverpool for their son Scoop Junior's wedding and the wife and I will be joining them. I'm hoping to get a seat at Sir Paul McCartney's table although his attendance has yet to be confirmed. The fact that he was never invited might have contributed to this fact.

I got this after googling:- I'm sure that's as clear as mud but please don't ask me what that solecism means

I think the problem is that Bucks is very much of the same mould of a person and coach as is Mark Neeld in that he's not connecting with all of his players and his match day strategies don't cut muster. The Pies under Buckley are at the crossroads.

According to my wife, the Redlegs' ship arrives in Valencia, Spain later today. No bananas but plenty of oranges in Valencia which sadly, could trigger off some painful thoughts in Redleg's head given the connection between the colour and the team that Voldemort plays for these days.

A contract won't protect them but a fat man will try (and I'm not talking about the father of you know who).

OD. I think in the interests of Redleg's health, it's fortunate that he's sailing off the coast of France, heading in the direction of Spain and oblivious to today's developments. I reckon he might be saying that the game as we all knew it died today. I found it distasteful when that nameless person jerked the club around in 2011 knowing he was going to GWS but I found the news that Buddy's management approached the Swans soon after last year's grand final rather appalling. I'm sure Redleg would feel the same way. I suppose we have to get used to it but I thought free agency was designed to help battlers get to other AFL clubs. I'm not so sure that's happening the way the Player's Association envisaged things when it was first mooted.

Latest report from Mrs. Redleg is that the cruise continues and the ship has docked at a port in the south of France after initially crossing into Italian waters. There's apparently a storm on the way and I suspect that Redleg himself might be a little seasick. Take this with a grain of salt if you wish but I tracked their course on a map of the Mediterranean and discovered that its shape perfectly matches that of a banana.

So Prince William wore West Perth gear at the wedding? I actually thought at the time that it would make a good alternative strip for the Dees.

Seized by French Customs when he arrived at the airport. Last I spoke to him, he was muttering something like "damn frogs!" under his breath. If I were you I'd stay out of his way when he gets back.

Just heard from Mrs. Redleg. She and Mr. Redleg have successfully traversed the globe and landed in Nice where they start a cruise tomorrow. She reports that Redleg has scoured the local markets and will proudly carry a crate of bananas onto the ship. She also reveals that his shipboard reading is the Paul Roos biography which he has read 3 times since our new coach was appointed. Thought you might want to know.

Meanwhile, Nathan Jones gets bog v GW$ and sets up an unbeatable lead as Melbourne's leading votegetter. And I won't mention who got the 1 vote in that game.

Shannon Byrnes just became a hero of the club picking up first votes for the club in the 2013 Brownlow. Should please Redleg.

And to that, I'll say it again "Go Dockers" Fremantle designers hope Dockers march to the Grand Final boosts the City

It's a mad, mad, mad world gone bananas when I read news stories suggesting that Neil Craig is about to be appointed coach of Brisbane and Dean Bailey a strong possibility for the gig at Essendon (lips please don't unpurse). It wouldn't surprise me if Mark Neeld bobbed up somewhere too (Carlton as assistant to Mick).

Are we talking IQ here or what?

No, we're not allowed to discuss Nirvana or Kurt Cobain on this thread. It's disrespectful.

Right on cue Fawad Ahmed takes the wicket and its 2-1 Australia. Every worker in the country deserves a day off.

And if you have Foxtel you can watch the Aussies finally beat the Poms in a cricket series again.