Supercilious Git

One of my commenters accused me of being pretentious, and she may have a point. But I wonder how many other people think that I’m a bit of a supercilious git? Probably quite a few. I have a slight suspicion that I may sometimes come across as being so, so if my writing evokes such a thought, sorry, but, alas, I think I may be.

I mean who am I to go criticising Italy and its ways? Nobody really. I just say things that I want to say. I suppose I like to think I’m making a slight difference, trying to make the world/Italy a better place. An arrogant aim if ever there was one.

Don’t hold back, if you think this blog stinks of superciliousness, tell me. I won’t be offended, and I may even try not to be so supercilious in future. No promises, but if someone confirms my suspicions, I’ll have a go at doing something about it. Although, I’ll probably slip back into my old ways. Leopards and spots and all that.

Lovely word though, ‘supercilious’, sounds so, er, pretentious. Oops!

End of navel gazing.

800 Posts!

I started off this blog back in January 2005 – this is the first ever post, and I’ve just noticed that my previous post was the eight hundredth. Sounds quite a large number.

I’m quite surprised that I’ve managed to keep this thing going for so long! Who knows when I will run out of steam.

Oh well, here’s to the future. And thanks to one and all for reading and commenting – these things have undoubtedly encouraged me to keep chuntering on.

Have a virtual one on me! – Alex, the guy who writes all this stuff.

DIESEL

Nope, I’m not going to waffle on about eco friendly fuels, but in my continuing micro-attempt to raise the feel-good factor for Italy in these troubled times, I’m going to have a look at an Italian brand, which, at first, for quite a few years, I did not know was Italian. Not a surprise; I did not even know how to pronounce Versace until a more fashion conscious friend corrected me. … Continue Reading

New Fields

This is interesting. Well, it is for me. I’m putting together a short English course which will revolve around the theme of sports management. This is a new ‘field’ for me, but through the magic of the world wide web, I’m starting to get an angle on this quite specialist management discipline, and, more importantly, just what aspects of the English  language people working in this relatively new environment will need to know.

That is the challenge for me. First I need to obtain an overview of this sector, and once I feel I’ve more or less understood what I think I need to understand, I can then boil it all down into what should be the most useful elements. I already have a standard game plan, which I have developed over quite a few years of observation and as a result of working out what works, and what does not. But this standard game plan is not going to help me on this occasion, at least not much.

I’ve yet to work out the specific goals, if you’ll excuse all these terrible puns. But what I have learnt is that sports management is not solely a case of maximizing income for football teams and their players, oh no. It also has a community related function, and the targets are not always financial but quite often social. As you may realise, playing sport can have quite a few social benefits, such as reducing obesity and all the associated medical costs, and if someone is doing some sport or other, he or she may not be tempted into petty crime. This keeps people out of prisons and can make the streets safer for everyone.

Of course, there is a big difference between the personality driven sports businesses and the business of encouraging people to take up sport, and a line between the two types of sports business probably needs to be drawn. Professional sports revolve around income, just like any other business, whereas amateur sporting activities are more like health education programmes. At least I think so. And at an amateur level although business practices can be used to run things in the background, for those on the field, the business aspects need to be kept well hidden, so as to keep all sporting activities as interesting as possible.

I shall be interested to discover how many of the sports management course participants are going to be focusing of the business side of sports as opposed to the social aspects.

This is going to be an interesting new course.

Wifi Driving Me Mad

Blasted signal is dropping every two seconds. Don’t know why, but it is bugging me. Coupled with everything else, this is the Monday of nightmares.

Busy Times

I’ve got a lot on at the moment, what with courses kicking off right left and centre. Mix that in with a workshop, lesson dates and times which seem to be moved every other day, and things become complicated. Then there is the sausage project….

I need to think things through, so I’m off out for a walk and to drop off/pick up stuff from the cleaners. I’m feeling a little like a juggler who is in danger of having all his balls fall to the ground and bounce off in random directions.

A nasty cold and annoying cough are not helping matters either.  Yes, I’m feeling sorry for myself.

I will overcome, I will overcome – I shall have to start repeating to myself…

Hope you are having a nice quiet day.