My visit to Sandwood bay … plus
Almost spring. Has alternated from cold and grey to wet, warmer and windy. But we are almost there. Traveling in France by rail in March. Noticed Nitter is back, no longer liking Nim and preferring Go, maybe a rewrite in Go. Sunderland have lost touch with automatic places and lost form at home. Players need to be rested / rotated. So need to use squad to do that and get back in form for playoffs. Can be done, but will it ?
Christmas is officially over today, suffering with cold / flu so staying in and weather has been wet and cold. But not too bad from relaxation and results. TV was mainly Wallace and Gromit and Gavin and Stacey. Football results mixed in that they could have been better i.e. conceding late equaliser and Blackburn and late defeat at Stoke but thanks to 2 home wins over Sheffield United and Portsmouth we are now 50 point (2 games over half way) and just 2 or 3 behind Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley. FA cup next week. The real plus is playing 2 quick strikers Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda and despite missing chances we often look threatening. With injuries to come back it puts us in with a chance for the race for the automatic promotion places.
Had a great break in October in Crete. Really a summer holiday in mid October. A real contrast to the weather in the UK. Hot and sunny for all 10 days. Arrived in Chania, stayed in Rethmyno. Beach side hotel, just a quick walk to the old town. Two trips, Spinaloga / Knossos and Previli palm beach / gorge on the south coast.
Managed to catch the Sunderland Leeds game where the goalie error secured a late point. Leeds fans with head in hands in the bar. Also England vs Greece.
Ten games in and top is better than I thought we would do. The two away games I have been to Plymouth and Watford were lost so can see how it could go. But they do seem to have recruited some players that could see it through the season unlike last year, Chris Mepham and Alan Browne look good. Wilson Isidor is scoring and I look forward to seeing Abdul Samed when fit. Chris Rigg and Jobe getting better at present. So far so good. The young squad could fade and injuries take their toll but fingers crossed.
Below are a selection of snaps from the Crete break. Greek food is healthy and tasty, so now a convert.
Its been a long time with no update, so here goes. Travel wise after Bruges, trips to Prague and Vienna and the Scilly Isles were the main trips. Bryher (pictured) is my favorite. So remote. Sunderland finished 23-24 poorly, hardly scoring or winning, but have started 24-25 better, still early days mind. New manager Regis Le Bris took an age to be appointed but seems fine, some early wins but with Jack Clarke about to leave, this is the model, who will step up? But early season hope is there . Coding no update as cannot justify time during summer months.
Visited Bruges by Eurostar, good quick travel, good architecture and good beer. Whats not to like. Sunderland on the other seem to be self destructing. The new coach did not last long, they are now basically waiting for next season already. No longer are we looking above in the table but now looking nervously below. Lack of experience and injuries costing us dear. Faith in the model is now very very thin, but what is the alternative?
Winter moves from wet, (pictured River Pinn at new year) to dry and freezing cold. Although when its cold with clear blue sky’s @ midday it’s glorious.
Sunderland are meandering both on and off the field. Fans are non too not happy with off field events in the cup game, moving season ticket holders, decorating Black cats bar plus appointment of the new Head Coach. Results are patchy at best. Transfers in the window absent. There is still time to turn it around but optimism is scarce. A young squad do make mistakes and would hopefully learn from them but the season is now in the balance. Its the hope I can’t stand.
Trying to work with both Rust and Python at present. Looking at Mara’s blog posts on the development of the inline-python crate, RustPython and PyO3. This Info world article covers PyO3. Also seen The Data Quarry::blog.
Visited Bristol at the weekend, met an old friend. Saw Sunderland at Bristol City. Lost 1 nil. It followed good results over West Brom and Leeds. The fans fans seem to like temporary coach Mike Dodds. But it was a mistake and we conceded a penalty. Maybe we should have conceded an earlier one also. But with 67% possession, 18 shots, 9 on target (3 time Bristol) we had enough chances to win. It highlights the issue, not taking chances made.
Many changes at the club at present. Tony Mowbray was removed. He had done well in the year he was there, but results had dropped off and I can see why they acted. They have appointed Michael Beale who had been at QPR and Glasgow Rangers as Head Coach. Most fans seem unhappy. He may be a good coach, he has to work in the model with Mike Dodds and does not do recruitment. Time will tell, interesting time over Christmas period, many games, transfers and the small matter of FA cup 3rd round tie vs Newcastle.
Yesterday walked around Ruislip Lido and took the below picture. You can see the steam from the Steam train. On the Rust front, stopped for now and looking again at Python. Don’t ask me why. Looking at my resources on Python I see 3 currently:
I am also looking at Python Distilled . Will review and see where I get.
Spent most of this week in North Devon and North Cornwall. Stayed in a rural Country house hotel and Spa in Devon and a coastal hotel in Cornwall. Visited RHS Rosemoor gardens and Clovelly in Devon while in Cornwall walked the beach at Mawgan Porth near Newquay. Swam most days, good break.
Just to say I am back posting after a period 9 months without. This was caused by a family event in the Spring and a Summer of beaches, walks and other family events.
Re Rust:-
I stopped rust work on Zero to Production in March 2023 due to a family event. I did return to it briefly in the summer to get to a logical stop point. Now before I resume I am now going through the The Rust book as a reminder of Rust, then when confident again will go back to Zero to Production.
Re Sunderland :-
Having failed to get promoted via the playoffs, we seem to have doubled down on the promising youngsters route, with mainly good results. Away form seems better than home. I attended another away win at QPR, but it is still early days.