Halo Stickman

Woke up this morning, still buzzing from last night’s result, and thought about how the season’s panning out compared to how I thought it would last August. So many things have happened that I just didn’t foresee back then; perhaps the foremost being the startling emergence of Luke Shaw. To be honest, even when he broke in to the team, I thought some people were going way over the top with this kid; but no - hat’s off to them - how right they were! Is Shaw’s emergence your most unexpected event of the season, so far; or is it Puncheon’s re-emergence, Schneiderlin’s midfield dominance, the ease at which Lambert has transferred his goal-scoring into the Premiership, or something else?

COYSAINTS!!! nights like this are what make me so happy I support you little beauties! Brilliant, simply brilliant!!!

Breaking news. The Lottery's gone bust and refusing to redeem vouchers

No point flogging a dead horse ……. when you can eat it between a sesame seeded bap instead

Even with a first class honours degree in Japanese Studies and two years experience of living in Japan, my son initially failed to obtain a place on the JET programme. He was put on the reserve list and only received a placement in the North of Japan after some successful candidates pulled out following the tsunami and Fukushima incident. Not sure what the requirements are for TEFL applicants but I would imagine they’re fairly rigorous.

If you're applying for a Japanese visa, it may pay to change your 'location' description!

I'm horse with laughter

Thanks for the very interesting suggestions guys. We shall give them - well, most of them - serious consideration!

If you are interested in TEFL in Japan, it might be worth reading For Fukui’s Sake which was written by a TEFL guy. I found it an interesting read, but Tokyo-Saint would obviously have a better idea as to whether or not this is a typical reflection of a TEFL’s experience out there.

Fair point, I did hear complaints from some of the guys that they felt underemployed; but from what I could gather that varied to a certain extent from school to school. I suppose it depends on what people are hoping to get from the experience, i.e. experiencing a new culture, salary, job satisfaction etc

Yes. My eldest son works in Japan as a Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) on the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme. They employ a lot of TEFL people. I met quite a few of them the last time I was in Japan; more or less, all of them loved it out there! http://www.jetprogramme.org/

Ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium, and ununoctium are stutterers’ fafavourites

Now that the kids are off our hands - well, sort of - Mrs Stickman and I were thinking about a beach holiday this summer. Went about 20 years ago with the kids to Rhodes and Crete and really enjoyed it, but some mates of ours who went to Crete fairly recently reckoned the Greek Islands are suffering from the economic crisis in that country. They said that a lot of the tavernas were closed and that the whole place was a bit grubby. Anyone been to Greece lately, or have any other suggestions or recommendations for a beach holiday, preferably somewhere sunny and not too commercialised or too pricey?

There have been a number of cases where hospital staff, because of their strong religious convictions, have whistle-blown on colleagues involved in assisted dying. I can only assume that others with the same convictions have found a way to accommodate their beliefs within their jobs, or have, indeed, compromised their beliefs.... rather like 'good' Catholics do every time they practice non-ordained birth control. Mother Teresa said that ‘suffering was a gift from God’. Others believe that suffering is a ‘test’ to be endured. Each to his own, I say, but having seen my father die from cancer, I, myself, do not share these sentiments; and, if me or one of my loved ones ever find ourselves suffering similarly, the last thing I want is our treatment being compromised by a zealot’s religious convictions.

Don’t nurses whose religion emphasises the sanctity of life compromise their beliefs every time they help out with assisted dying etc? Or do they just wash their hands and whistle-blow on those that do?

Yes. When I went to Japan some of the shopping streets in Tokyo were jam packed with mainly young people. It reminded me of the promenading culture that used to exist in European countries many years ago.

Aye. The moving finger writes and having writ moves on – Omar Khayyám High street retailers don’t help themselves at times. Last week, I bought a printer cartridge from an independent retailer in our town, only to find that it was defective. When I took it back the silly sod who sold it me insisted my printer head must be blocked and just would not accept that the printer head was actually incorporated in the cartridge that he’d sold me. Ended up buying one online 40% cheaper.

You’ve got to love the irony of Oxygen: it keeps us alive whilst slowly killing us. Bit like supporting Saints in some ways

The OP asked for opinions as to whether Ramirez has lived up to the hype existing at the time of his transfer. On a forum with as many subscribers as this one, that question was bound to elicit a range of responses; after all, we are a bunch of individuals, not a herd of dumb donkeys nodding in unison. Why do some people get so upset when someone else’s opinion differs from theirs? As for my opinion, no, I don’t think he’s lived up to the hype, but this may have more to do with the hype than with Ramirez’s ability: the level of expectation generated in the late summer was way, way too high. The lad’s definitely got skill and has the potential, given time, to develop into a very good player. Thus far, however, he’s been prone to give the ball away too cheaply too often. To argue that at least he tries to play killer passes or that the other players aren’t on his wavelength or that he’d be more effective in a better team is all well and good, but, as others have already pointed out, this is an argument that could equally well be applied to others. Couldn’t we just as easily say that Lallana and Lambert etc would be better players if others were on their wavelength or if they played in better teams? I’m not normally one for lies, damn lies and statistics; nevertheless, the stats for my Daily Telegraph fantasy team credit Ramirez with only 2 goal assists, the same as Clyne, Rodrigues and Fox, whereas Lallana, Lambert and Puncheon have 5 each. Consequently, I’ve had to transfer him out of my fantasy team. On the bright side, however, dropping a player from my fantasy team usually results in that player suddenly amassing a wedge of fantasy points, so don’t be surprised to see Ramirez performing like a world beater in the coming weeks.

We lived on the Isle of Wight when I was a nipper and mum and dad took my sister and me to the famous 1970 pop festival. None of us were really interested in music; we just wanted to experience the enormous crowds; estimates vary but some accounts put the numbers at up to 700,000. Anyway, we were picking our way through the seething mass of humanity sprawled out over the hillside above the arena when my mum said to me, ‘son, whatever you do, don’t look down’. Of course, I immediately looked down and there, more or less at my feet, was a naked couple going at it like a couple of steam hammers. It was quite a sight for a young chap! At the time, Tiny Tim was on stage performing ‘Tiptoe Through The Tulips’. Whenever I hear that song, which actually isn’t that often, I’m instantly transported back to that steamy summer’s afternoon. But it’s a real bummer, considering the acts that performed at that festival – Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who et al – that my one abiding memory is of bloody Tiny Tim

Those stats relate to the amount of times he gives the ball away?

Agree 100 percent! Great that other teams are being dragged into the relegation shake-up

Mine would be Lou Reed. I was looking forward to watching him perform some of his old hits like Walk on the Wild Side, Satellite of Love, Perfect Day etc but he just spent the entire session half-heartedly performing stuff no one had heard of before.

Yep, saw Faithless several years ago at the Isle of Wight Festival; they were indeed awesome.

I haven't been through all the pages of this thread, so my apologies if this has already been mentioned; sometimes me and my mates used to fit in a swim at the swimming pool along Western Esplanade on match day mornings. Two things that stick in my mind: first, the amazingly high diving board; second, the window that gave an underwater view of swimmers in the deep end. On more than one occasion I spotted people contravening the ‘strictly no petting' rule