Bristol Oil Services

Just reading a review of a new book: "The Delusions of Crowds; Why People Go Mad in Groups." It broadly covers two common kind of (American) delusions, stock market bubbles and end-of-time religions (you know: the world will end next January. No, scrub that, the year after that). The author writes of an American, William Miller, who gained notoriety for prophecy of the end of times. The review goes on: "For various reasons his calculations animated many religious fellow countrymen and women, and Miller would travel from place to place, holding vast outdoor meetings, and even buying a 'Great Tent' that could hold 4000 people, telling of the end to come." He predicted the end for 1843, then 1844. And so on. So, it's all there: the crowds, the estimates of crowds (uncorroborated), the travelling (away) from place to place, the madness and delusions, the promises and predictions of great things to come that never come, the crashes and let-downs, the tents.

We're a "medium" in the Championship. Big in L1. And massive! in L2. They're a minnow in the Championship (I know. It's a stretch, but bare with me), medium in L1, big in L2. We'd be fodder in the Prem. Miniscule. But minted.

I think they are a big club, at the bottom level. I think we can give them that. With their 5-7k crowds (should they win often enough; and perhaps with a generous voucher scheme to boost attendance numbers like they ran following their humiliating relegation from the bottom in 2014), I can see them throwing their weight around a bit and enjoying being "big" for once, as they mix with yer diddy Crawleys, Stevenages, Forest Greens and Barrows. I think they will enjoy it, for a year at least.

Doing ok, thanks for asking. 82 this year, "Granny 82"

Me and my 15 year old, last weekend: Me: "Bristol Rovers have been relegated." My 15 year old:" Have they? ..... How's Granny?"

Yep. So, £12m, do I hear 13?

I don’t. There aren't enough G4s roasters/belters/tossers to go round for all of us to know one each. Maybe every 10/15 of us know one G4s roaster?

Sunderland in the Championship with 40,000 crowds next season, or Lincoln/Blackpool (with 9,000 crowds)? Plenty of good reasons why it'd be better for us for LJ to flop there

Yes, what they might call "half" (63 seasons) of 92 glorious campaigns. The other "half" (19 seasons) in the Second tier. And about a quarter in the 4th, for the Blue six fifths of Bristol.

We weren't? Not in 2016/17, when we set a club record for consecutive league defeats and finished 17th with 15 wins and 54 points? Nowhere near?

Saw their bus earlier, Peter Carol 'Bristol Rovers FC.' On the Portway, under the Bridge, I was heading towards the Glorious High Performance Stadium, it was going towards Shire. I tried to gesture to their Drive that Portsmuff was thataway and that he and they were heading in the wrong direction, but I think he probably thought I was indicating the he and they were a/are manual manipulator/s. And anyhow, I thought, no, they're going the right way, they're going down League Two. And they know the way there. They might not know where the goal is, but they know where L2 is.

sag, 1. Sink, subside or bulge downwards under weight or pressure or through lack of strength. 2. Decline to a lower level, usually temporarily * And 3. (From the Oxford online 'learner' dictionary) to hang or bend down in the middle, especially because of weight or pressure, a sagging roof. 'The tent began to sag under the weight of the rain'**. 'Her shoulders sagged in defeat' ***. "The tent began to sag because of the weight of the rain/League One" So, sag: sink, subside, decline, down.**** * "usually" ** not made up. ***I bet they did. "Goodnight," love. ****and "tent"

....with the ball, ideally

Yes, or Captain Pugwash.

They're a bit shouty, for me. Need to take note of Massive Attack, who mostly whispered, and mumbled.

Reading around about Joe E. Barton, Simon Kuper said in the FT in 2011 about him: "It's easy to mock" and he was right.

TTTT (These Things Take Thyme)

Clocks go forward tonight, and bringing L2 that little bit nearer/sooner in the morning for the Loyal and Few

Play-offs are gone?

And there'll be more in the Championship

12?

Bristol City/Somerset v Sheff Utd/Yorkshire, that. With an emphatic win for us (after they made all the "early running")

If not Lee, then Deano, Nige

.... goading and belittling us. Yes, same in this family. A beloved aunt, no longer with us, but she did like to decry the club in Bristol that had actually reached the top level, and contested an FA Cup final, made it to League Cup semi finals. All this whilst not having set foot in Eastville (never mind Trumpton) since about 1959. Also, used to work with a bloke at Aztec West that "used to go" down Eastville but long since stopped, but he didn't let this get in the way of him spouting off about us. And the bloke next door to him cleaning his car in the rain, I seem to remember. And I am now remembering a quite recent work encounter with what might be termed a "millennial" Fewer young chap, in which we struck up a conversation whilst waiting for an electrician to turn up, and on learning he was from Fishponds or some such, I enquired as to his allegiance, to which he answered "Rovers." I probed further, confident in my years of experience, my sharp wit and the current status imbalance and 18 years and all that, looking for some "sport" while we waited, only for him to reveal "I, er, don't actually go." Oh, right. Where's that leccy to? I pondered, and that was that. This city is a funny old place. If Big Nige manages to work the longed-for but unlikely miracle here, then a lot of people that are Rovers but don't watch Rovers are going to be upset, but not so upset that they aren't in the clamour for tickets to see Liverpool, Man Utd and all their other "Premiership teams" at AG.

It does for the teams that go down