Halo Stickman

Some of these chains are very expensive, it definitely pays to shop around. I've found Cherry Trees Homes For The Bewildered to be very reasonably priced.

You haven't seen his sister with no clothes on – we're all bloody relieved that the minter's not joining our strip club.

The cameraman that I know alleges that the deeply unpleasant prima-donna characteristics you describe are very common amongst successful entertainers; indeed, sadly, he maintains that those capable of displaying any form of humility, empathy or kindness towards others (outside of the public gaze) are very much in the minority. If true, it's quite interesting to speculate whether successful entertainers are genetically predisposed to be this way, or whether they become this way as a result of all those pundits blowing smoke up their backsides. Or maybe cameramen have just got it in for successful entertainers.

Yes, that made me grin as well – slightly more subtle than Bear's normal approach, but very good nonetheless.

I would like to propose Sarnia

Looks like you're gonna be doing the dishes again, Goat

Agree. McKenzie is an extremely talented batsman with a very professional attitude – he always gave one hundred percent effort as far as I could see. One of our best-ever overseas signings, imo.

I stand corrected, Steve! Strange that that didn't show up on the cricinfo site under his recent performances, unless I missed it. I did notice that he also played against us in his last match so I guess we must have been impressed enough to sign him Edit: Actually, I guess that his CCC performance wasn't List A or Ist Class so wouldn't have been listed on cricinfo?

I'm undesided.

His recent record doesn't appear to be particularly impressive. In other news I see that Neil McKenzie has announced his retirement from 1st Class cricket.

There's only one thing worse than a pig leaving before you wake up.

Last Sunday I returned to the place where the Dell once stood – the first time I'd been back since it closed. Over the years I must have walked down Burlington Road several hundred times, but this was the first time I'd done so without feeling a mixture of pre-match excitement, anticipation and tension. Was this ordinary suburban street really the place where my dad had lifted me onto his shoulders so that I could peer over the heads of the crowd cheering on two fans – both women – fighting in the gutter, or from whence I'd heard the roar following Hugh Fisher's never-to-be-forgotten last-minute equaliser against Villa? I turned into Wilton Avenue. No sight of queues forming outside the ground hours before kick-off, street vendors selling rosettes, enamel badges and programmes, police vans prowling along the Milton Road, smoke and mist swirling around the floodlights. No scent of burgers, tobacco, alcohol, Brut, liniment, freshly mown grass. No sound of ratcheting turnstiles, marching bands, tin tannoys, shouting, singing, chanting, 'Milton Aggro 'Ello', wailing sirens, barking police dogs. No lashing rain, piercing wind, glaring sun. No game of football. I'm not normally one for maudlin nostalgia: time passes, people pass on, places change, or, as Omar Khayyám said, 'the moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on'. But, standing there staring at a housing complex and a young couple pushing their child on a swing in a small play-park where the Dell once stood, the sense of nostalgia was palpable … unnervingly so. I'd come for a glimpse down memory lane; what I got was more like a vision of my own mortality. RIP The Dell.

I shall be clocking out from the Fun Factory in a short while. I'm v. illness, It's pretty serious. Everyone is v.worried :rolleyes: ffs Bear! Actually, I'm going to visit my mother, so plenty of burnt meat, boiled-dry potatoes and stewed veg, but no bloody internet access. Anyway, before I go, I just want to say: Enjoy the Farmhouse and Footie tomorrow, fellas*! *Fellas includes you too, Lou (I mean that in the nicest sense, btw )

I don't think that Goat can take all the credit

Tbf, JB he shouldn't have been in there in the first place

You were saying, Bear?

Lou, Lou!! JB's saying that women are like men without balls!

Googling has produced a mixed bag, so for the time being I'm going for Gaston Ramirez Am I close?. Edit. Oh yeah, I'm up to speed now! That is indeed a rather bizarre photo the Hull City Lass has contributed.

Same for me! I'd forgotten just what a good looking chap I was back then, although I have to say that some of my old girlfriends were a bit ropier than I'd remembered

Just a minute, Lou! The bros are getting the sperm, you must content yourself with the micro-penis.