Sick as a parrot

The last couple weeks the Haddock house has been struck down with flu. I am fortunately back on the road to full health, but Mrs H is still quite affected by the illness. The Juniorette was lucky, she had an intense 48 hour version which was over quite quickly and didn’t interfere with her week at football school in Frankfurt. Once again she really enjoyed her time there and is looking forward to attending again later in the year.

As many of you know, I am a shift worker and have been so for the last 24 years, but starting next month my own personal nightmare is coming true – I have to work normal days, 9 to 5. I work for an American company (I have worked for a few), and management have decided to outsource the shift element of our job to an eastern European country. For many reasons, which I will not go into here, it is a bad decision. But the decision is made. All I can do now is watch the wheels fall off.

But on a brighter note, I have planted my Tomato seeds for this year and they have already sprouted in the seed tray. Later this week I will plant the Bell pepper seeds.

Girls wanted

On Saturday the Juniorette attended a football event in Offenbach, which is near Frankfurt. It was the Girls Wanted Nikolaus Cup for girls aged between 8 & 14 years old. The event was arranged by Louise Hanson (who also runs the 1.FFC Frankfurt football school) and was attended by 160 soccer mad girls. It was held in an indoor hall and was split into two sessions, divided by lunch. In the morning session the girls were divided up into groups which then rotated through the 14 training stations. Then in the afternoon the tournament session began, with each child player 4 games.

The whole event was very well organised and the kids had a lot of fun. Renate Lingor (member of this years Women’s world Cup winning team) was on microphone to commentate on events and provide instructions. Several other 1.FFC Frankfurt players were in attendance too as trainers and Conny Pohlers made an appearance dressed as Nikolaus.

The mix between training and tournament was about spot on, and the Juniorette was very happy that her group attained first place for her age group in the training stations. What made me happy was the quality of football. If this event was anything to go by then Germany has an up and coming talent pool that other countries would have a problem rivalling.

The tram nutter

This current shift cycle of nights has been a bit of a bugger. Too much work and too much stress. So this morning when I left work my brain was on autopilot. I entered the tram which takes me to the train station and I smelt cigarette smoke. When I looked around it was obvious that everyone was trying very hard not to look at a big bloke in his late fifties with a very large beard, who was holding a lit fag.

Without even thinking about it I made eye contact, then looked at his ciggie, and then shook my head. He said something I didn't quite catch (as I had Mötorhead playing rather loudly on my mp3 player), so I told him its not allowed to smoke on the tram. It was about this point I realised he was a nutter, as he then kept on going on about losing his rucksack and other stuff I didn't understand. I told him not to worry about it, but at the next stop he got off and in doing so wished me a safe journey home (not sure how he knew I was going home and not to work). He then just stood in the road, and I had the terrible feeling that I had just thrown him off the tram. I really felt quite guilty about it, as, after all he was a harmless nutter who just seemed to have lost his rucksack and was probably having a smoke to calm himself down.

A day of football

Wednesday was a day of total football. We picked the Juniorette up straight from school and then headed down to Frankfurt to catch the second half of 1.FFC Frankfurt v WFC Rossiyanka in the quarter final of the women’s UEFA cup. Frankfurt won the tie 2-1 against their Russian counterparts and now advance to the semi final. After the game the Juniorette went autograph hunting and I managed to get a couple of photos of her and some of the players.

In the top photo she is with Steffi Jones who has recently been made President of the organising committee for the next women’s world cup which will be held in Germany in 2011. The middle photo shows the Juniorette with 1.FFC and German national team player Kerstin Garefrekes.

Later we went to an Italian restaurant to eat and warm up, and then drove out to the Commerzbank Arena to watch Germany play out a rather dull goalless draw with Wales in a Euro 2008 qualifying game. The stadium was sold out, and reality of the situation was that Germany had already qualified for the finals next summer. They didn’t play bad, but they didn’t play good either. This resulted in a lot whistling in the second half to signal the crowd’s dissatisfaction. The Welsh fought hard and fully deserved the point. But as I explained to the Juniorette later, to truly appreciate a very good game you have to occasionally experience mediocre ones.

The Welsh fans cheered when they heard the result of the England game. England lost against Croatia and therefore have failed to qualify for next summers European Championship. I think with hindsight this will prove to be a good thing. England have good players but consistently crap management. It’s not just the coaching staff, but the Football Association committee as well. It’s time for some sweeping changes. I just hope someone has got the balls to make them.

Womens World Cup

The Women’s football World Cup 2007 has been underway in China for the last 5 days. All of the favourite teams have done well so far, and Germany (see team photo) broke a few records by destroying Argentina 11-0 in the opening game. Earlier today Germany fought out a goal less draw with England which was a fair result. This means if both teams win their respective last matches then they will both be through to the knockout stages of the competition.

It appears that the Chinese had been spying on the Danish team prior to the match between the two countries in which China won 3-2. One incident included Chinese men with cameras hiding behind a one way mirror in a room where the Danish team were holding a discussion about tactics for the upcoming game. The Danes reported the incident to police and FIFA and it has been consequently decided that no more action will be taken - Intriguing stuff.

The Haddock family were disappointed that Louise Hanson did not play for Denmark against China as we have met her several times when the Juniorette has attended football school in Frankfurt. Hopefully she will play in the game tomorrow against New Zealand.

Technorati Tags: Louise Hanson, Football, Germany, Juniorette

Soccer School

This past week the Juniorette once again attended the 1. FFC Frankfurt football school for girls. This is the third time she has attended now, and she still really enjoys it and has a lot of fun. She also learns a lot and we can certainly see her developing from course to course. The Juniorette still very much enjoys playing with the boys in her local team, but I think slowly over time she will want to change to an all girls team. Fortunately more girls teams are springing up around Marburg, and I suspect the change to an all girls team will probably happen in about two years time.

The Juniorette’s trainers this time at the soccer camp this time were Louise Hanson, Karolin Thomas and Meike Weber (all Bundesliga players with 1. FFC Frankfurt). At the previous camps the Juniorette attained a Bronze medallion in the skills assessments, but this time she managed a Silver and was very proud of herself; and quite rightly so. As usual on the last day there was the Parents v The Kids football match. The kids had the advantage of not only younger legs and youthful spirit, but they also had Karolin and Meike playing for them. Needless to say it was a lot of fun and the Kids won.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Football, 1.FFC Frankfurt, Juniorette

We are the champions!

This afternoon 1.FFC Frankfurt won the Women’s DFB cup final in Berlin against Duisburg. The game was 1-1 after normal time with Frankfurt winning quite convincingly during the penalty shootout. Mrs H and the Juniorette watched the game on TV. I only managed to see part of the game as I had to go to work.

Congratulations to the team on winning the cup and hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will clinch the Bundesliga championship to complete the double.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Football, 1.FFC Frankfurt

Football School

Last week the Juniorette attended Football school with the 1.FFC Frankfurt Women’s Football club. They are the top Women’s team in Germany and are the current holders of the UEFA Cup. She attended the same training school last October and really enjoyed it. The school is now run by Louise Hanson (FFC Frankfurt and Danish International) and provides a very professional environment for girls to improve their skills of the game. Other trainers included Karolin Thomas and Petra Wimbersky who both also play for the Frauen Bundesliga team.

The Juniorette had a great time and had a lot of fun. She managed to pick up a bronze medallion in the training assessments, which was a little disappointing for her as she was hoping for silver. But her team did win the end of training tournament so she did collect an award for that, of which she is very proud. On the final day I played in the Kids & Parents match which was a lot fun but very hard on my legs and lungs.

The Juniorette really wants to go the 1.FFC Frankfurt School again in the summer, so we have already registered her, as several of the kids attending this time had already done so. In fact we noticed this time that there were more girls attending from further away. One girl and her family had driven from East Germany and were living in a mobile home in the car park. I guess this is a measure of how good this training camp is. In the future, if the demand is there, they may offer an overnight accommodation facility, which of course the Juniorette is totally up for.

Picture above shows the Juniorette (foreground) during a dribbling exercise, and the one below is the group photo. Ten points to the person that can spot the Juniorette!

As normal, click pictures to enlarge.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, 1.FFC Frankfurt, Football,Germany

The Knife Lady

Whilst on the tram to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof after my last night shift a mad lady wearing a very bright pink hat got onto the tram. She sat down and then started to talk to her self. Fellow passengers left her immediate area rapidly. It wasn’t the hat, or her ramblings that unsettled everyone it was the king size hair spray can and the big kitchen knife that she was waving around.

Some people looked quite scared, but nobody said anything, in fact most people seemed to try and pretend she wasn’t there. I didn’t find her threatening at all. It seemed to me as if she was carrying her can and knife for protection. I felt quite sorry for her really.

At the next stop she left the tram, and a few minutes later the tram driver walked through the tram trying to locate her. Nobody said anything, so in the end I told him the lady had left the tram. I guess nobody wanted to get involved.

It did remind me of another incident many years ago when a dodgy bloke pulled a knife on me on a tube train in London. Again it was after a work shift, but I must’ve given him a ‘I don’t give a shit look’ as he soon moved on to threaten other commuters instead. I left the train at the next available station. It wasn’t my stop, I didn’t want to get involved, and I definitely didn’t want to get stabbed.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Knife, Tram