We are now back to indeterminant grey again – the clouds break for a shot while and a bright blue yonder appears only to be quickly enveloped once more by the grey of winter. Because of this it is nice to get out when the weather allows it and enjoy the joys of the winter colours.
Thought I would exercise some different muscles today (I am attending a LIfe Drawing class on Saturday so a bit of practice wouldn’t go a miss.) . It is also nice to use real materials instead of just Apple Pencil against a screen.
What Tory leader wouldn’t want an opponent like Jeremy Corbyn (Theresa May?) . He is an avowed left wing MP who is at the very least very lukewarm about NATO and all it stands for. Corbyn makes no bones about the fact that he thinks that the United States of America is a significant factor in many of the problems the world faces today.
What Tory Prime MInister wouldn’t want to hold the NATO summit during an election campaign? They would be able to rub shoulders with all those world leaders and polish their own credentials as a world leader. What a contrast they would be able to say – the United Kingdom’s most staunch ally (don’t mention the Vietnam war) with the anti American Corbyn. What could be better than a photo op with the President of United States to help bolster you election chances? What more could any Tory leader want? Actually the current one would want none of this because the President of United States is one Donald J. Trump and all he has tweet are three letters N.H.S. and all the months and years of planning will be for nothing. Funny old world isn’t it.
23 days to go and the weather seems to be taking a turn for the cold…it certainly felt a bit nippy this morning. With one great day approaching a more modern day has just passed – Black Friday. Here in Britain Black Friday has only been a thing for the last three or four years however I was able to take advantage of the great pagan festival and bought myself a new lens – a Sony 35mm f1.8 for a very reasonable price. Guess which lens was used to capture most of the images here.
So that was that…Autumn has gone and winter is here. If the last day of Autumn started with frosts and mists it ended with muddy fields and low low sunsets. Only 21 days to go before the days start to get longer…something to look forward to oh an Christmas!
Over the past few days there has been some speculation that perhaps Brendan Rodgers will once more jump ship from Leicester City to become the Arsenal manager. It has been reported that Rodgers has not played down the rumours having refused to deny them at his weekly press conference (whether he actually did that or it is the press twisting the story I don’t know.)
What I suspect is the case is that Rodgers will stay at Leicester until at least the summer. As things stand at the moment they are the only club capable of challenging Liverpool for the title and of course there is the outside chance they might actually win the Premiership once more. In any case Rodgers is more likely at the moment to get into the Champions League with Leicester than Arsenal. Equally, I don’t think that Rodgers would like to be known as someone who is so self obsessed he will jump ship at the first whiff of a bigger club coming after him (I’m sorry to say that Leicester City is a much bigger club than Glasgow Celtic in this modern football world.)
There, I think, is the problem that the so called big clubs face, they’re not that big anymore compared to other Premiership clubs. To prove my point consider the transfer of Harry Maguire to Manchester United in the summer. Leicester were quite happy to keep Maguire unless they got their overblown valuation for the player. In the end United blinked and had to pay the full fee because Leicester didn’t need the money that much. I am assuming that Leicester has got a huge buyout clause in Rodgers’ contract (given his behaviour in coming to Leicester it would seem prudent to do so.) If this is the case then why would Leicester forgo their manager just because a so called bigger club wants their manager.
The time to worry, I believe, for Leicester fans is in the summer. If Leicester’s form continues then second in the Premiership is possible more likely probable. However, it will mean that Rodgers will want a lot of money to strengthen the squad for a gruelling Champions League campaign as well as buying someone to replace Jamie Vardy and keeping many of the current squad happy. We are talking about spending serious money and if Leicester is willing to do that then Rodgers will stay. If not then we may well see Rodgers getting itchy feet and as things stand at the moment Manchester would be my guess for his next port of call.
So expect him to be revealed as the next Arsenal manager next week! This would put a smile on an awful lot of Celtic fans.
I greeted the dawn of the last day of summer with alongside a flatulent horse and I had this idea that I might do the same, only this time with a cow or two. (Boy would that have been smelly!) However, any cows that might have still been out in the fields would be in the milking parlour so it was forlorn hope if not just a bit silly.
Instead the last day of autumn was a portent of what we have waiting for us – frost, mist and fog. The long days of summer never seemed so far away just now.
