Dutch ferry hit by freighter near Amsterdam

Today I've noticed a similarity in reports about disasters. It seems the first aspect is the nature of the accident, then a check on whether any Brits are involved, then a rush to check facts and discard speculative comments. An accident has happened on a canal in the Netherlands that joins the Rhine. A foot ferry was hit by freighter and the ferrymaster is thought to be missing. Maybe it's just one of those things. But I get a sense that, with rolling news, these items are filtered through to find the "Brit angle". Amsterdam is very popular with British tourists all year round, so it is perfectly possible that a British person may have been on the ferry. But in this case it seems not.

I suspect the story will fade from the screens of British TV when the interest angle subsides. But how many foot ferries around the world get hit each day that we never hear of? Just a thought.

Octopus was right! Spain wins World Cup

My daughter came into the room. "I think that octopus got it right", she said, as she heard my wife grumbling about the Dutch misses, fouls and general yellow carding. "No, no!" came the retort, and then things livened up. I really thought that the Dutch would score. Not to be, alas. Then my son started on about the parakeet's prediction. "It'll go to penalties", I gamely suggested. "Are the Dutch any good at penalties?" Then before anymore was said, the Spanish were whooping it up. Before we knew it, it was all over. Look of glum despondency on my wife's face. "Well, the Dutch got further than the English", I ventured to say. No good. My daughter, on going to bed, whispered, "I knew the octopus was right!". Oh, dear.

Psychic octopus picks Spain

So the octopus has come up with a winner has he? I somehow think he may wrong. OK I'm supporting Holland but the octopus seems to pick the mussel from the same tank. I think he's got some kind of tentacle problem. Anyway, I bet he can't predict computer failure. I've been rather frustrated of late with a dodgy computer. All seems perfectly OK for now. Sometimes I get the impression computers have a mind of their own. A one-track mind!

Dutch Delights - Football Style!

Now that England are out of the World Cup our house has moved on to supporting the Netherlands, or Holland, as the football pundits are concerned. Actually, I think we accepted that an Anglo-Dutch household is sometimes more Dutch than English and the lacklustre performance of England slightly tipped the balance. And those Dutch fans know a thing or two about supporting a team.

Well done the Netherlanders! I'm going back now to fixing the gremlins in my computer. I've a veritable mound of advice to wade through. Everyone's a tipster on the net!

Hup! Holland! Hup! (Part 2)

The Euro 2008 shindig is hotting up. Turkey giving the Croats some pain. The French are out. Tonight it is Holland, as the footballing world call the Netherlands, probably because there are fewer syllables in it. The Dutch have done very well indeed. Nine goals - nine points. That's a winning formula. I shouldn't speak to soon. The opposition is Russian. Not a team to be underestimated. They will have "chances" no doubt.

Watching on television I will have to hope the commentators don't gabble too much. When they say something or give an opinion, the complete opposite happens next. John Motson is a prime example - indubitably!

One thing they haven't mastered yet is the pronunciation of the Dutch surnames of the players. My wife winces at the speech patterns. She tries it out on me. "Say Guus", she'll go. I try my best non-Sun attempt.

The sting in the tail in all this is that the coach of the Russian team is Guus Hiddink, described as a coaching genius. Van Basten will need all the wily skills to promote cohesion in the newly-found family friendly Dutch team. Wow!

I've got my Amstel bier cooling down and am ready to go.