Leyton Orient Football Club

There is a football club in the East End of London known as Leyton Orient. If you go into their history you find the Orient part comes from the Peninsular & Orient Line that had many ships travelling on the world seas some 40 years ago. I should know I worked for them for a year as a clerk when I left school. Anyhow, drifting away from all of this I used to watch this team when West Ham United were playing away. Some time ago I wrote a blog about West Ham United which were and are still my team, reasons being in this blog. However, my best school friend (it was an all girls school), was a faithful follower of Leyton Orient for the same reasons that I loved West Ham United - her father was a fan. We were both totally in the ban of football at the time. Cutting out newspaper cuttings about our teams, sticking them in scrap books and collecting all we could for our teams.

We both had the same problem which we solved together. Two young teenagers not working had no income, just the ten shillings weekly pocket money from our parents. Although in those days football was a game to be shared by everybody and the entrance fees were reasonable enough, there were other expenses. We could certainly not afford to see the so called "away" matches - today it seems the world is smaller and all faithful fans travel to see their teams. So what did we do. West Ham United and Leyton Orient were in the same part of London, East London. West Ham's tube station was on the District Line, Upton Park, and Leyton Orients was on the central line, Leyton. As Mile End was on both lines, I would usually bus it to where my friend lived and we would alternate with the football matches. Leyton and West Ham always played at home on alternative Saturdays so this was the solution.

I knew as much about the Leyton Orient team as I did the West Ham team. Of course the Orient were a 2nd Division team and did not have the stars at their matches. They did get promoted to the 1st Division once, only to be relegated again the next season. It was also a team that had big financial problems, and almost went bankrupt once, but were saved by a business man although this was after my time.

Ok so we also found that we could even save more money. Although West Ham was too far to walk, Leyton Orient was not, although we needed a good hour to do it, but we did. Every second Saturday we would save our train fare money and walk to the ground. I can't remember the exact route but somewhere along the way it was open country along the River Lea. At that time the River Lea was a meandering river through London and was nice open countryside. It seems over the years it got neglected and was full of all sorts of rubbish. Then someone got the bright idea of turning it into an area to hold the London Olympics, so at the moment it is being developed, built on and transformed. The East Enders are not happy, but that again is something else. Their captain was Ken Facey, I think the right half, and there was a player called Syd Bishop. I remember this player particularly well as I saw him score a goal twice from the half way line through the goal posts, an amazing feat, very impressive. There is also a player called Cyril Lea - he was Welsh and had a red sports car (the things that come to mind).

So back to the Orient, the photo above is the team we would watch. Although the goalie is shown as Frank George, they had another goalkeeper called David Groombridge who was one of our favourites. As you can see we would stand behind the goal, it was cheapest. Eventually we had a bit more pocket money and could afford entrance to the place where the players entered the field. This was very interesting if your were an Orient fan. One of their directors at the time was a certain Les or Lew Grade. I am not sure which one, but they were both show business impresarios and through this connection there were often well known people at the matches.

Arthur Askey, a well know British comedian of the time was often at the matches. The stadium was small and if the "O's" as they were called, managed to have an interesting cup match then it would be packed to the edges. Arthur Askey would take the microphone, stand on the pitch and tell the people to "Move along please" is his amusing way. He was so popular. Through this show business connection I also saw Cliff Richard in the stand once (our standing place was in front of the director's stand) and upon the visit of Pat Boone to England, he was also there.

Just to prove it here is a photo taken at the time. I received most of the photos by e-mail, but I don't know where they were available. Even the 2nd goalie David Groombridge can be seen in this photo. Les Gore was the manager at this time.

Here is an action photo of the team. The goalie shown, Harry Gregg, may well be a memory for the Mancunians amongst us. I remember in the school holidays, with lack of something intelligent to do, my friend and I might take a walk to Brisbane Road with our autograph books and if we were lucky the team would be having a training and coming out of the ground. No problem, they signed. Although the Orient never really made it big, they are still in the English football league and I still have fond memories.
I am probably one of the rare claret and blue West Ham supporters that got to know this team so well. Now and again they even transferred players. One name that comes to my mind was Phil Woosnam. Woosnam was actually a physics teacher at one of the local schools and was born in Wales. West Ham bought him in 1958 for thirty thousand pounds from Orient, seems cheap when you compare it to the prices paid today.

One of the players at the time was Terry Macdonald. When I was in England last year visiting my school friend (she is also godmother to my youngest son) she showed me a book that had been given to her written by a certain Tony McDonald, full of reports and photos from "our" time. It seems that Tony McDonald is Terry McDonalds son and has also written a book featuring West Ham United. I remember Terry Macdonald very well. A left winger I believe and had a wonderful head of blond hair. Memories, Memories - after all this was more than forty years ago. My friend and I celebrated our 60th birthday together, and I think we will be celebrating the seventieth as well. I found another group photo of the club, funnily I found none on Internet.

I am into football again, but it has changed so much. Money speaks the football language today. I just can't get used to the fact that players are loaned out to other clubs for a certain amount of time, and that forwarders are now known as strikers. Where are the days of the No. 5 centre half and the no. 10 inside left? I must be getting old.

They arrived today

What actually did arrive at the local kiosk were the Panini stickers for the EURO 2008 football tournament. You don't know what the Panini stickers are? Well, they are fairly reasonable to buy, but if you want to collect them all, then it can become an expensive hobby.

Actually I did resolve not to allow them in the house since my No. 2 son moved out, but his mum has discovered one of her first loves again, the football. The Panini syndrome has to be explained. Once upon a time there was a man in Italy that had an idea. He took various themes, made an album and issued stickers to go with the albums, each sticker carefully numbered and fitting into the album. The idea is to get the album full. I don't know what the original albums were about, I only know that every 2 years you either collect the world cup stickers or the Euro stickers. There are many other occasions for the stickers, but these are the ones I know. My son had a complete album featuring the world cup in Spain in 1982.

The thing with these albums is they can get a bit expensive. The album itself costs two Swiss Francs, the packets of stickers contain five stickers and cost a franc. The basic collection starts reasonably, but when you start getting double stickers then the fun and expense begins. As you progress with the collecting you might buy a packet full of stickers you already have. So you have to be sly. I bought my album today with stickers knowing that 4 other girls in the office are doing the same (3 being Italians) and our stock room has at least 10 people that are collecting. This is a good backup for when you get double pictures.

I brought my album home today and hubby found it quite amusing. Fluffy got very inquisitive and decided to take a closer look at the stickers, album and packets strewn across the table which did interrupt my concentration. Unfortunately England did not qualify for this years European cup, but the Swiss are there, although my Mr. Swiss told me probably not for very long. At the moment I am sticking photos of East Europeans, Turkish, Russians, Greeks and Romanians into my album as well as some French, which seem to be playing for English teams and do not look very French. I am so glad that the Swedish captain (if not still injured) plays for West Ham. There is also an extra page which highlights the Swiss team in the form of a poster. This will be handy if they do win. Yes, football fever exists again in our home. Up to now I have been lucky, I have stuck half of the stickers into the album and have no doubles. Life at work will be quite interesting for the next couple of months.

There was some sad news in Switzerland. One of our last own brews of beer, Eichhof from Lucern, has been bought from Heineken, meaning that it will now become dutch. The motto of the company was "A piece of home" but this is now finished. It seems that Heineken have assured that the beer will continue to be brewed and sold in Switzerland, but there is many a tear in a beer drinkers eye. As one lady in radio said, her husband always had his glass of Eichhof in the evening. The basic problem is that one by one the Swiss breweries have been sold to foreign companies and the Swiss beer is now practically non existent. Just a little bit of news from Switzerland.

So now Fluffy, move over, I want to stick the rest of my photos in my Panini album.

Tuna Fish Wednesday

So, cats I hope you are all satisfied. It's Wednesday and we all know what happens on Wednesday.

Tabby: I just don't think it is very funny to film me when I am eating my tuna fish.
Nera: Well, that's your fault Tabby. You are always sleeping somewhere when the tuna fish tin is opened. If you were first in the queue like me and Fluffy, you wouldn't be filmed. Mrs. Human is not home so early. You happened to be eating your portion later and was the suitable victim for a short film made by Mrs. Human on how a cat eats tuna fish.
Fluffy: Is there some tuna left.
Nera: Stay cool Fluffy. Yes there is some left, but save it for later. You don't want to show those humans that we only think of food now, do you?

Fluffy: But I do only think of food really and sleep of course, and in Summer I think of birds flying around outside.
Tabby: Fluffy, your hobbies are not of interest at the moment. Now where can I have a nice quiet sleep somewhere?
Nera: Go in the bathroom on the carpet as usual.
Tabby: I thought I might try another place. Perhaps in the cupboard - it is so comfortable in between the pullovers - no-one sees me and it is so nice and warm.
Nera: I don't care where you sleep as long as you don't take the cushion on the wardrobe at the end. That's MY place.
Tabby: Well I don't see the name Nera written on that cushion.
Nera: Tabby, do I have to prove that it is MY cushion.
Fluffy: Tabby, let her have her cushion, otherwise she starts moaning and showing off. And who wants to sleep in a cushion that smells of dried up snails and full of long black hair.
Nera: I beg your pardon. I do not moan, I just voice my opinion and my long fur helps to protect me from the cold. I will ignore the bit about the snails.
Tabby: Your opinions always seem to be involved with spitting and launching out with the paw. Shame you don't do that a bit more when Roshti is around.
Fluffy: Yes Nera - you always want to be the boss, but when Roshti appears you are the first one through the cat flap.
Nera: That is not true. It just so happened that when Roshti appeared I was on my way indoors to have a lick and a sleep.
Tabby: A likely story.
Nera: And what about you Tabby. I havn't noticed any brave attempts to thwart the Roshti foe up to now. You are always behind me when I go through the cat flap.
Fluffy: Well I think you are both cowards. I have been outside when Roshti arrives and was ready for a fight, but nothing happened.
Nera: That's probably because you don't see him, but only smell him.
Fluffy: So what does Roshti look like.
Tabby: Well he is big, has enormous teeth, paws like barbed wire and his eyes are piercing and wild.
Nera: Don't forget his back legs. They are twice as long as mine and he can push a rock away with them.
Fluffy: Well, if I remember in my seeing days you only have short legs Nera so all cats have long legs for you. And Tabby, you are smaller than me, so everything is big for you.
Tabby: Fluffy fancy a paw punch on the nose?

Nera: And I will ignore the insult about having short legs. Everyone knows I have a long luxurious velvet fur which almost covers my legs but this gives the impression of something delicate and valuable - I do not have short legs. After all Fluffy, you Selkirk Rex cats look like you have put your paw into an electric socket with all that curly fur, not to mention the crew cut you have.
Tabby: Yes looks like something from Dr. Who.
Fluffy: There is nothing worse than jealous cats. The next time Roschti arrives I won't be around to help. Will probably be sleeping somewhere.
Tabby: Well I am off to sleep and what about you two.
Nera: Think I will have a sleep as well.
Fluffy: Well I am off to the computer. When Mrs. Human is finished I can have a look to see what is happening to Mr. Tiddleywinkles and his adventures.
Nera: A good idea Fluffy. Think I will have a look too. It is getting very exciting now. I am sure the cats will rescue England like we saved Egypt in the olden days. Mr. Tiddleywinkles is such a brave good looking cat. Don't you think so Tabby?
Tabby: Snorrrrrrrrrrr.

One of those days where some things go wrong

Actually it all started yesterday evening when Mr. Swiss was making a coffee. We have one of those electric jugs for boiling water (my mum would probably have called it an electric kettle). Anyhow it sort of had an internal explosion - no flames or sparks, but just made a noise and died. The light was still burning on the outside to show a little bit of life was left, but no heat was being produced. We went back to the stone age method of boiling water in a saucepan and decided that today a new water cooker must be bought. Mr. Swiss said he would go into town to get one as it would use up too much of my (precious?) time to get one at the lunch hour. Things never turn out as you think they will.

Here is the next bit of the exciting catastrophe events. I was driving to work this morning as always. I dropped my oldest son off at his workplace and carried on to my company. Just as I was approaching the village where I work an ominous light bulb lit up on the car dashboard, signalising that one of my lights was not working. As a Volvo is equipped with many lights it meant having a good look when I eventually parked my car. Luckily a colleague turned up and parked next to me so she did all the checking for me. We eventually found that it was the back left hand brake light. I phoned Mr. Swiss from the office. He suggested going to one of the garages opposite our company, but I was not too keen on that. Eventually I left work an hour earlier at lunch time and drove home. Picked up my other half and we drove off to the garage which is in the village of Attiswil. Whilst Mr. Swiss was dealing with the re-installation of our brake light, I decided to take some photos. I won't mention what Mr. Swiss said about this good idea, but he did shake his head.

This is the view across the road from the garage. Attiswil is a small village, has no industry but some farms, a post office and of course the usual restaurants. It also has a Volvo garage which also sells Nissan.

This is a view of the main road looking towards West, the mountain in the background is part of the first chain of the Jura and known as Balmfluhköpfli (a "köpfli" is a small head translated from Swiss German).The Jura chains of mountains stretch from East to West of Switzerland, starting near Zürich and ending up in Geneva so they are always in the background of most of my photos.

Eventually we made our way off to the supermarket where we decided to eat something and buy our missing water cooking machine. On the way we passed through the village of Flumenthal - this photo shows the local railway station on the left. Nothing special about the village really except that my mother-in-law was born in this village and grew up there. Her father actually spent a few years in the French foreign legion before returning to Switzerland and getting married. She had 5 sisters/brothers, a few of whom I did get to know. My mother-in law died a couple of years ago at the age of 91.

This was the next catastrophe that we met. He was chugging along in front of us blocking the way until he eventually turned off. As if this was not enough, when we approached our village, there was one big traffic jam. We did not see what was causing it, but as the roads are fairly narrow, it was probably an accident or a large transporter. Luckily we have permission to drive up the castle grounds, so could turn off at the back doubles and avoid all the traffic jam.

We arrived at the supermarket in good time and had a meal together. We then embarked on the quest for our water cooker. Surprisingly they had got cheaper over the years. The one we bought does not really look much different that the one we had, but we can now cook our water in a civilised way. As we left the supermarket what did we see. A wonderful car collision at the parking lot. It looked like that someone was backing out and didn't see that a car was driving along the exit path. The cars were still entangled whilst the people were writing the details, plans and all the rest of the insurance stuff. How do I know how that works - that would be a never ending blog, perhaps for when the ideas go out.

I eventually delivered Mr. Swiss back home and drove off to work. Now that was an eventful lunch hour.

If anyone is interested in seeing all the photos, you can find them on Flickr here or in Multiply here.

Monday, Monday

Today was very cold. I didn't really want to go anywhere today, but work called as usual. Luckily it was a quiet day - it seemed to me that Europe was taking it easy. I was glad to get out of the office by five in the evening and made my way home. My cats had quite an enjoyable day according to Mr. Swiss and spent most of the time outside, so when I got home they had decided to wave their tails at me and have a sleep. As you can see Nera was already in her favourite cushion. She is getting a bit too big for the cushion and when she spreads herself out her paw is usually hanging over the edge.

Tabby on the other hand is a real sleeper, spends 23 hours a day sleeping and one hour looking for somewhere to sleep, so this was the only photo I could manage today. Tabby and Nera are still up on the cupboard in their cushions having a sleep.

Fluffy was showing no signs of being exhausted or tired and was waiting for a chance to go out. As it was so cold, although sunny, Mr. Swiss and I decided that he could stay in. He did start singing in his meowy way (notice the open jaw), but we told him forget it. Cats can be like kids sometimes.

And now for something completely different. Our Foreign minister in Switzerland as been a bit in the headlines later. Her name is Micheline Calmy Rey and she is always good for a surprise/shock. I did once show her singing when she was our President last year (the Swiss have a different President every year chosen from our ministers). This lady is a grandmother, but is well known for being very active and quite enjoying trips to other countries. At the moment she is not very popular, especially in other countries. She decided to pay a visit to the President of Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad . Now as we know Iranians do not have many women in their government, so our Mrs. Calmey-Rey decided to do things in a diplomatic way, although I am not sure it was found favourable with the Western World.

The lady in question organised a sort of head dress to fit the situation. When she arrived back in Switzerland she had to give answers to the press and the tv about this fancy dress thing.

She said that when speaking to Mr. Ahmadinejad "I emphasized that corporal punishment, amputations and being stoned is unacceptable and told Mr. A....d that it was not in order to wipe Israel off the map as Israel belongs to the community of states. She also said further that the allegation that she was caught in an Iranian propaganda trap was false. After all she didn't have to go to Iran to meet the people (although I somehow don't think they would have come to Switzerland to meet her). She was in Iran to ensure the signing of a contract between Iran and a Swiss concern for having gas delivered from Iran which is apparently worth Millions (the word used was milliarden - is that something more than a million?) and then she said after all actions speak louder than words. Well her actions certainly did.

That she wore a headscarf at the meeting with Mr. Ahm....d brought criticisms from Switzerland and various other states (Israel and the USA to mention two). She said in an interview with West Swiss Television that she held herself to the rules in Iran. If she had not worn the headscarf the Iranian minister that picked her up at the airport would just not have turned up (She could have taken a taxi?). She said she had to wear the scarf to be able to carry out discussions about human rights, the atom question and the support of a Swiss Company. (Must remember that when having the next misunderstanding with Mr. Swiss - if I wear a headscarf he might show more understanding).

Well we might be a small country, but we know how to attract attention. The lady is a year older than me. At that age I start thinking only another year to go and I am retired. I wonder if she is thinking the same?.

Politics is a strange business.

Lazy Sunday

Well it must be a lazy Sunday if I make this bloke the subject photo of today's blog. His name is Stephan Weiler and he has become Mr. Schweiz (Mr. Swiss) 2008 voted by a jury and television public. I was not a member of the television public as while this programme was running I was watching a German criminal series. More exciting and interesting. I did watch the Mr. Swiss contest last year, but is was more by coincidence than purpose, although my choice last year (well you have to take interest in seeing so many "good lookers") was the winner. It seems even in my old age I do have a bit of good taste. I would not have chosen this one this year. He is a student (arn't they all) and apothecary. Now ladies, wouldn't you like to be served by him in the local chemists shop. I suppose it depends on what you are buying. Apparently he nearly lost, as he fell out of the game, sorry voting, and got back again on a so-called "wild card".

If you want to see what the rest looked like then click here. To be quite honest they all look alike to me.

Deutsch: Es muss ein faule Sonntag sein, wenn ich diese Photo zum Thema meine heutige Blog mach. Er heisst Stephan Weiler und er ist jetzt Mr. Schweiz, gewählt von Jury und Fernsehpublikum. Ich war kein Mitglied von der Fernsehpublikum wenn diese Programme lief, ich schaute die Fernsehkrimi auf die deutsche Fernsehkanal. Das war viel aufregende und interessanter. Ich schaute die Mr. Schweiz Wettbewerbe letztes Jahr an aber es war mehr Zufall als geplannt, aber mein Wahl letztes Jahr (man muss sich interessieren mit so viel gut aussehende Männer) war der Gewinner. Es scheint, dass sogar in meinem Alter hätte ich gute Geschmack. Ich hätte zwar diese nicht gewählt dieses Jahr. Er ist Student (sind sie nicht aller?) und Drogist. So Frauen, möchten sie nicht von ihn bedient werden in der Apothek. Es kommt natürlich darauf an, was man kauft. Er hat fast verloren, und hat nur gewonnen durch ein Wilde Karte. Das hat ihn wieder in der Spiel (entschuldigen Wahl) wieder zurück geholt.

Wenn sie die Reste sehen wollen, denn klicken sie hier.

Roschti, the neighbour's cat, seems to be forming part of our outdoor life at the moment. He has found our garden to be a comfortable place to have a lay down - he even squashed one of my tulips. My cats still don't like hime, but there doesn't seem to be such a panic any more. Fluffy doesn't see him as he is blind and Nera just watches him from a safe place.

Deutsch: Roschti, der Nachbars Katze, scheint ein Teil von unsere Leben zu werden am Moment. Er hat unsere Garten als angenehmen Platz gefunden zum schlafen - er hat sogar eine von meine Tulpe zerquetscht. Meine Katze haben ihn nicht gern immer noch, aber es scheint keine Panik mehr zu sein. Fluffy sieht ihn nicht, weil er blind ist und Nera beobachtet ihn von ein sicherer Ort.

The weather was not so inviting for a trip outside over the week-end. Actually I came home from work on Friday evening and have not been further than the garden since. Up to now no snow, but anything could happen until tomorrow morning. Sometimes I wish I was one of my cats - just get fed, have a lick and curl up somewhere for a day's sleep. Fluffy decided to do me a favour and let me take one of those studio portraits.

Deutsch: Das Wetter war nicht so einladend für ein Ausflug über das Wochende. Eigentlich wenn ich zu Hause war am Freitag, bin ich nicht weiter als das Garten seit denn. Bis jetzt keine Schnee, aber alles liegt darin bis morgen morgen. Manchmal war ich gern eine von meine Katzen - das Essen wir gegeben, mann muss nur ein Wasch selbst machen und irgendwo verschwinden für ein Schlaf. Fluffy hat mich ein Gefalle getan und machte ein Pose für ein Studioportrat.