Lent, Arsenal & Streakers

The morning after the night before and I've woken up to be greeted by a mess in the kitchen and a dodgy feeling in my stomach. This is an all too familiar feeling, but this morning it is not caused by the after-effects of an evenings worth of alcohol and dodgy kebabs. Instead it is caused by an evenings worth of eating too many pancakes and seeing who was the most successful tosser!

On the final day before Lent (the time when Jesus wasn't allowed to eat pancakes for 40 days), it is traditional to use up all the eggs, flour and fat in the house in preparation for this holy period of sacrifice. This may have been successful in 50AD, but in the modern world most people have to go out and buy eggs and other ingredients so they can make the pancakes, no doubt ending up with more ingredients at the end of the day than what they started with! I'm left with a messy kitchen, bellyache and some leftover pancake batter which I will no doubt use for lunch and contradict the whole point of pancake day in the first place. When you consider it further, Lent is just an easier version of a New Year's Resolution, so if you want to make a real statement, then give up pancakes on January 1st and don't pussy about with a 40 day promise. Alternatively, there may be a deeper meaning to Lent that I have overlooked, however I am unaware of this!

This brings me in a completely unrelated way onto the matter of a rather important football match last night. It had been bigged up all week to be a great game and it definitely lived up to the hype. 2 teams in great form, vying for the win and the acclaim that goes alongside it played out a thrilling 2-2 draw, with Southend twice coming from behind against Gillingham to snatch a point. Both teams could have won it, but the battle for a playoff spot in League Two continues.

In a slightly less important game last night, Barcelona met Arsenal in the Champions League gunning for a place in the quarter finals. Arsenal lost 3-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate with players and managers alike criticising the Swedish referee for ruining their chances when he sent off Robin van Persie. Though it was a very harsh red card, it was not as undeserving as this one!

Wearing only a mankini and a wig, a brave fan decided to run onto the pitch and after easily dodging a number of stewards with his silky skills, was then rugby tackled to the floor by Dorchester Town player/manager Ashley Vickers. The referee, obviously a fan of Borat and seeing the semi-nude male anatomy did not take kindly to the tackle and sent the player off, much to the disgust of both teams. Watch the action unfold on the video. All comments welcome!

By Jon Shed with 3 comments