Djokovic beats Nadal in one of the greatest finals

All the superlatives you can think of, spring to mind when talking about last night’s US open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal. It was an absolutely incredible match from beginning to end, with some of the greatest points, one of the greatest games, and definitely one of the greatest matches ever.

For the first two sets Djokovic played some of the most dominant tennis I have ever seen, he battered Nadal to the point of submission, where Nadal was just scratching his head wondering what he could try next to stop the onslaught. Nadal’s games all seemed to last ages, one game lasting over 16 minutes, as he lost his serve time after time. Nadal started the first two sets brightly by breaking Djokovic, then the Serb would come back and break Nadal two or three times to win the set. It was some of the best tennis I have ever witnessed.

By the time they reached the tie breaker in the third set, Djokovic had served for the match and both had played some astonishing tennis, then they played some rallies around the tie breaker that defied belief, one point I wondered how it was still being played, it lasted 21 shots but left like it had been 50, Djoks held off Nadal’s onslaught three times before losing the point. When Nadal won the third set, it looked as if they were going to go five sets as Djokovic’s body started to wilt under this immense pressure. Novak needed a time out to massage his back as he was starting to find it difficult to serve, everyone expected Nadal to come roaring back and take the fourth set. This was not to be the case, as Nadal’s excessive run of four matches in five days started to take their toll and he lost the fourth set 6-1.

If ever there was an ad for how amazing tennis can be this was it, it had everything, greats shots, great rallies, great games, great tie breaker, lots of breaks of serve, and played at an intensity which is hard to imagine. It was a pleasure to watch, it’s just a shame it’s finished.

Even though it was only four sets and not five, I would still put it up there as one of the greatest ever matches, no doubt, hands down. In a way the only thing that let the match down was the fact the guys had played so hard, and at such high intensity, after playing so many matches in quick succession, it meant it could not go five sets without one of them killing themselves. It is definitely up there with Wimbledon 08, as one of the best ever.

In a way it is a shame one guy had to lose, but overall Djokovic was just too good for Nadal, and the strangest of situations has presented itself, because really it should have been Federer in that final (if he hadn’t bottled it) and somehow I doubt Nadal would have lost to him. It just seems that Djoks knows how to beat Nadal, as Nadal knows how to beat Federer.

Now you have to wonder how Nadal recovers from this year’s battering off the Serbinator. One thing is for sure, you cannot use the form of Masters 1000 series matches to determine how well someone will do in a Slam. You can only use the last slam as a reference and you have to wonder how long Djokovic can continue to play this incredibly high standard of tennis, because if he can continue for another couple of years we may be saying he’s the greatest, can you imagine that.

The Shame of the World

Not sure what possessed me to write this, the first line came into my head and it evolved into a sort of song about a homeless person, or someone without hope. It is a terrible indictment on the world that we allow people to live on the streets, we allow people to live terrible lives. We allow people to have nothing when so many others have more than they need. This is the problem with the world, not sure how you change it if I am honest, but it is a simple fact that we as a species are barbaric, because we allow this sort of thing to happen. I will put myself in that category because I am also complicit in this crime against humanity. I would say nearly everyone is, but that doesn’t make it right does it?

We can all be proud of our achievements, but as long as most of the people of the world live in conditions similar to the middle ages, and in some cases far worse, then we will never be an truly intelligent species. We can never truly be an enlightened species, or a shining example of how an intelligent species, should or could act. We still harbour deep instinctive values that allow us to look past the pain and suffering that covers our planet like a festering puss filled sore. We can shut off our empathy towards the weak and feeble, the misbegotten masses. We can all sub-consciously pray that we will never end up like that, but the strange fact is that as long as we allow it to happen, then we are all living in fear that it will happen to us. And when or if it happens to you or me and anyone else, how will we feel then?  Would we want the world to forget us, to pretend we don't exist, to allow us to descend into misery?  You would hope not.

Many Not Few

I am curled around a lamp post; with no shadow can I see,

Freezing cold I’m shivering, agonizing misery,

No one sees me down here,

No one feels my pain,

All around the world continues,

I sense no empathy only shame.


Sleeping bag of boxes and newspaper if I’m lucky,

Dirty grimy insulator that makes me look quite mucky,

Face and hands are terribly swollen,

Baring the scars of the past,

Mentally I’m totally broken,

I hope my body will not last.


What do I do?

What can you say?

Will I ever get to wake up,

And smell a brighter day.


What can I do?

What do you say?

It is easier to forget me,

So is doesn’t spoil your day.


When I wake up in the morning, I try to drink away the day,

There is no shave and coffee dawning; only for death do I pray,

My mind passed boredom long ago,

Living silently in a dream,

I watch the silent walkers,

Flowing by a steady stream.


As the day it passes through to night, I feel the biting chill,

Had no food apart from scraps for days, nearly lost my will,

Only friend I have is alcohol,

How much longer will it last?

No emotion left inside of me,

Just a ghost fading too fast.


What do I do?

What can you say?

Will I ever get to wake up,

And smell a brighter day.


What can I do?

What do you say?

It is easier to forget me,

So is doesn’t spoil your day.

A view from the inside looking out

There once was a time,

The misbegotten did chime,

The Devil did rise,

Before the innocent realised,

He was foul,

He was cruel,

He was cunning,

Greedy men did he fool,

Out of extreme incredulity,

Forced the world into slavery,

Resistance diminished,

Humanity was finished,

Nothing left but faceless drones,

No imagination only clones,

Subjugated, dominated,

Altruism obliterated,

The wise and clever castigated,

The dumb and the stupid obfuscated,

The wicked and evil celebrated,

Rejoicing the hellish world they had created,

Lobotomised automatons,

Walk the planet unaware,

They are slaves to this disease,

Can someone help them, please?

Man

How do you solve the conundrum of man?

As complex as an infinite maze,

An emotional bag of lost confusion,

Driven by desires,

He can constantly improve,

Surrounded by insecurities,

He can cause devastation,

For good or bad,

Happy or sad,

Sane or mad,

He lives the unknown quest,

Some seek out its purpose,

Others exploit its weakness,

He is the anomaly,

The exception to the rule,

He strives for happiness and peace,

Yet causes so much destruction,

He wants a brighter future,

Yet creates a hellish nightmare,

He is either black or white,

He is left or he is right,

Blinded without true sight,

Can we unfurl?

The confusing swirl,

Or is it too late,

He's walked through the gate,

The experiment has failed,

Our Universe cries out in pain,

Will there ever be another chance to shine again.

Nobody Somebody Everybody

Nobody cares,

Nobody listens,

Nobody wants to know,

Nobody bothers,

Nobody worries,

Nobody wants to show,

Nobody likes,

Nobody fights,

Nobody wants a go.



Somebody cares,

Somebody listens,

Somebody wants to know,

Somebody bothers,

Somebody worries,

Somebody wants to show,

Somebody likes,

Somebody fights,

Somebody wants a go.



Everybody cares,

Everybody listens,

Everybody wants to know,

Everybody bothers,

Everybody worries,

Everybody wants to show,

Everybody likes,

Everybody fights,

Everybody wants a go.

Is 2012 a self fulfilling prophecy?

This is not what I was going to write about, but in thinking about what I wanted to write about, it became apparent that there are definite similarities.


Originally I was going to be quite sarcastic by suggesting that anyone who suffers from depression should avoid watching the news at all costs, as they may feel the need to blow their heads off. Then again if you are a real depressive you will just shrug your shoulders and say I told you so.

I watched a fascinating though very scary documentary called “Countdown to Zero”, about the myriad of ways we can use our massive collection of Nuclear Bombs, to destroy the world forever.

They showed how easy it is get to highly enriched Uranium, or HEU, and the fact that blind luck, has somehow stopped this valuable element from ending up in the hands of terrorists, or despotic governments, or worst still mad men. They then said they could be bought and that many countries had tried to buy Nuclear Weapons illegally. Finally it was the good old by accident; supposedly the US has hundreds of war heads on hair-trigger readiness, to be launched in sixty seconds. One minute for all hell to break loose, and the guy being interviewed and ex lieutenant who was the guy whose job it was, to turn the key in the silo that launched the nukes. He said that you didn’t need to be a General to launch the ICBM’s, you just needed to change the coded letters to all zeros and way hay, let’s destroy the world today.

It ended by telling the alarming statistics of devastation and carnage, when one of these despicable devices goes off inside a city. The devastation is total; it obliterates everything within eleven miles or so, by heat, wind and fire.

They say countries like North Korea and Pakistan have Nuclear Weapons, and that Iran wants them also. Their president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responds to the west’s plea for Iran to not go nuclear, his response is very clever and an argument closer. He said, “If it is good then we must have it, and if it is bad then why do you have it?”

After watching this and the depressing Newsnight, I had beforehand, seen a doc about the Riots in Britain, that was equally depressing, seeing the way some people behave today. The lack of education, the growing underlying distrust of society, the resentment, the animosity, the loss of respect for authority, it all seemed as if no one cared anymore, they were sick to death of being degraded, and forgotten, left to rot in a shit hole, shit existence, nothing but misery to look forward to. That is what I thought caused the once innocent people, to turn into mindless, thoughtless, selfish, violent thugs. If you take away humanity all you have left is an intelligent, selfish, greedy, violent animal, unlike any other animal on this planet. And we in the west are breeding them like rabbits, through poor education and capitalistic consumerism, based on exponential growth and profit. The difference between the have and the have-nots is becoming like it was between the wars.

What sort people are we the human race, that we find it acceptable to let someone die because it will cost too much to save his/her life or because they have not paid into some insurance scheme? Why should society think it is appropriate to base an economy around growth and rising house prices, and the market fluctuation, so that it is better to allow people to be sick and ill, because it makes more profit? It is better to not make our schools the best, unless you have the money to pay for the privilege, why should some get this privilege and the rest do not?

What sort of world have we created where most of its inhabitants are allowed to live in poverty, misery, without basic essentials, because it is more profitable for large corporations to keep them that way, or tyrannical governments to steal the valuable resources for its own gain and not its people’s.

It’s like the football fan that backs the rival team to beat his own team so he can win a bet.

This is what causes dreadful situations like the recent riots to occur, add into that our wonderful media and we all know after the recent findings about News International and the hacking scandal, what a bunch of two faced charlatans most of them are. They increase tension by their extreme ideologies which are deliberately created to increase sales and sell more advertising space, so more of their rich friends can sell more mobile phones, holidays, cars, TV’s, you name it. Worst culprits are the tabloids, and as we know from recent history, stupid deluded nations, shut off from reality, will believe anything they are told. But what are more dangerous are stupid deluded nations, which have internet access, who believe what they read, (I slightly fall into this category I suppose at least on some things, but I try to keep an open mind).

It doesn’t help that all these factors are happening at once and so my thought that we are in some way subconsciously creating a 2012 scenario, creating a self fulfilling prophecy, does not seem so bizarre, or farfetched.

What would have happened if those rioters had been lead by someone with intelligence and charisma, we could have created another Hitler, ready to incite and inflame hatred and disharmony? It doesn’t bare thinking about, but it could have happened, and the policies of our country and many others over the last 15 – 20 years at least, maybe up to 50 years could end up bringing us to an ‘Armageddon situation’, which some lunatics actually want to see happen. And through the force that runs through every human binding us in ways we cannot understand, we are slowly bringing the world closer to destruction. Negativity is all over, covering the planet, like super thick continental quilt, suffocating everything turning it to shit.

As I have said before it is hard to know how to stop it now, it seems like we are in a ‘James Bond situation’ at present, waiting to see if we can survive this latest catastrophe, will we cut the red wire with only seconds to spare. We may do it this time but, can we keep doing it? I sadly feel if things don’t change very soon, we will eventually cut the wrong wire, which we won’t survive.

The most poignant part of the ‘Countdown to Zero’ doc was when Robert Oppenheimer tears in his eyes, said his immortal line, which he quotes from Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita.

"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".

Overcoming fear

I always used to think I was not very good at overcoming my fears. Yet after some careful thinking, I realised it wasn’t that I was poor at overcoming fear itself, it was that I was poor at overcoming a fear which was of imagined high importance to me personally. It seemed to me that jumping out of a plane with a parachute, caused a large amount of apprehension and in some ways a fear, but the thrill of jumping out of a plane overrode the fear and made it seem unimportant. So in my mind this was an imagined fear of little to no importance, so easy to overcome.

As I have now thought about this further I can add another scenario. I recently went down a Lead Mine with a group of friends, about a month ago.

Whilst standing in a tunnel of the man-made part of the mine, waiting to enter the mine properly, the guide was talking telling us do’s and don’ts, the usual stuff. My anxiety and claustrophobic fear was rising like mercury in a thermometer. I did not want to be in that tunnel surrounded by people, standing in a foot of water, I wanted to get out. But my thrill seeking side did not, it could not wait to get inside, but unlike the plane it was not winning the battle. What made me calm down and be able to control my anxiety, and reclaim my composure was logic. I reasoned that this mine was safe as houses, since the guides came down here every week. I thought of it as a ride at a theme park, terrifying but also very safe, as soon as my mind logically formed this belief, I was fine.

We walked through the narrowing tunnel into the mine itself, shorn out of solid rock it gave me an incredible buzz, I was scared stiff and fearless at the same time. When we reached one of the narrow sections of the mine, so narrow you had to shuffle through your face spiting dust from the gravel and small rocks, covering the floor. If anyone overweight had been in there they would have not got through, but it felt great. We then went through an even tighter crack in the bedrock, memories of the film “The Descent” sprang into my mind. The gap was so tight my arse cheeks were touching the ceiling, as I slowly shuffled through first, inch by inch.

The guide then told us that in one group, a man trying to get through ‘The Hobbits Revenge’, I think the tiny crack was called, started to panic and tried to rip all his clothes off, refusing to move. These are the types of reasons why I like to either be first or at least near the front. Then we were taken to a small room sized opening, and we all had to switch our lamps off, it was pitch dark, you could hear nothing, you could see nothing, it was an eerie sensation, like being suffocated in black paint or inside a dark, sound proofed, room, or worse still, alone in the deepest void in space, where no light has ever reached. The guide lit a candle, it was sinister light. He told us that this tiny candle was all the miners had to see with, as they worked their long shifts. He then snuffed it out once more and we sat in silence. I hated that part, it was spooky, and made you feel like you were stuck in limbo, between two worlds. Eventually I was relieved when he said we could put the lamp’s back on, and we headed towards a part of the mine the guide called Neptune’s playground. I reasoned this was the moment we got wet, and I hoped whatever Neptune’s playground was, it was worth the plunge.

We reached a small hollow and below I could see the water, it was so clear, it looked so pure. The guide jumped in and the water went up to his neck, I was horrified. Not thinking I jumped into the water, holy shit, it was cold, bloody freezing, my head was just above the waterline and I had my arms in the air, as we started along a passageway. The passageway was just above my head, and as I bobbed along I did not care, I could hardly get my breath, the water was so cold. Finally after about 50 metres, we entered Neptune’s playground, what a disappointment it was just another room sized opening, just this one was nearly full of water. It was so cold, my balls had migrated north, and I was wishing I had not been at the front of the queue to get into this bloody water. I have to be at or near the front, especially in small cramped spaces as I mentioned earlier. There is no way I would’ve wanted to be behind a bloke, screaming his head off, refusing to move, and trying to take his clothes off, in a space no larger then the width of your body. Especially if you are in the same tight crack in the bedrock and someone is right behind you and it is impossible to turn around, no way, José.

Finally we left Neptune’s playground, drenched through, trudging wellies full of water, freezing cold, yet exhilarated, and as we all left the mine, you could feel a sense of, “we did it” attitude. But the true thrill hit happened later, when you felt a strong buzz, like you were high on drugs; there is no feeling like it. And the more we talked about the whole experience, the better it became in my mind. And then I realised a weird thing, it was that imagining the experience was far, far more terrifying than the actual experience itself. And I really hope I can learn a valuable lesson from it, about my important fears and anxieties, and how to overcome them.