The Great Gordino Newsletter – Jan 13th 2015

Hi,
I hope all is well with you.
Quite a few stories caught my eye this week, so let’s go…

"je suis charlie"
The attacks in France – they weren’t something that just ‘caught my eye’, you couldn’t really miss the coverage. More murderous activity from people using religion as their cover.

Some people have said that the magazine Charlie Hebdo deliberately provokes, to cause controversy, and the editor had spoken about making himself a target. Others have said that nothing drawn or written with a pen should be enough to kill someone.

As someone who has been writing online for over 10 years, and lampoons many people, myself included, while I don’t find deliberate provocation particularly attractive, the right to free speech is vital, and no, it’s not worth killing someone over some drawings.

Elvis would have been 80 this year. Would his legend be as big if he were still alive? Maybe, maybe not. I’ve always enjoyed lots of his songs, and while his Vegas years get a lot of poo pooing, with the talk of fat Elvis and burgers, in the early Vegas years he was in his prime. Check out his live 1972 version of Bridge Over Troubled Water, and here’s a real fave of mine, Separate Ways. Not an overly cheerful song I admit, but there you go..!

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned sport so far this year, so here I go, and it’s my favourite sport, curling.

"English curling"
England Women have won the European Curling Challenge in Prague. It’s a huge moment for English curling, as it means the team will now go to the World Junior Championship, and we’ve never sent a girls team to it before, so it’s a first.

To me it shows 2 things loud and clear – firstly, the girls came to the sport from the local area, taking advantage of the first (and currently only) only curling rink in England. They learnt and developed their game at the rink, local to them. The history of sport is littered with examples of champions coming from local areas to a facility, and this is no exception.

A lot of the old guard of English curling were not welcoming of the new rink 10 years ago, saying it would not work in the middle of the Kent countryside.
Wrong.

Secondly, this victory for the girls shows the result of good old fashioned hard work. When they first went to this challenge, it was for experience, and it’s fair to say they were a bit like rabbits caught in the headlights. Nervous and lacking confidence, it showed in the results. I know how that feels, because every week is like that for me 😉

Then, after that first try had given them the taste, they set about developing themselves. They went away to training camps. They set up fund raising. They brought in coaches. The knew what had to be done to move forward, and then made the effort to do it.

The results started to shift, and in recent years, not only were they expecting to win every time, the opponents knew they now had the game to do it, and would be a tough match for anyone. This tournament win, although it had been knocking on the door for a while, was SO exciting for them, and for the rest of English curling looking on.

Next up, the worlds – will they be afraid? In awe of their new opponents? Er, no – look out the rest!

Finally, I read that Bernard Jordan has died, aged 90. He came to the headlines during the D-Day commemoration events, and I wrote about it on the blog, if you fancy reading about him:
The Great Escape of Bernard Jordan!

Ok, that’s it for this week, do let me know what you think, and feel free to hit the share button if you think others would enjoy the newsletter – thanks!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Reply to Jen X

14 Comments

  • The entire situation in Paris this last week is heartbreaking. I agree that no one should lose their life over the written word. As a veteran I fully believe that we have the right to fully express ourselves. I was sorely disappointed that US leaders did not feel the need to represent our country during the march.

    • I did find it surprising there was not a US contingent there – still the size of the crowds drove the message home 😉

  • It was a terrible thing that happened in France. Using religion as a front has been an issue since the beginning of time.

    I remember the Elvis years well. That was my era. He was loved by most of the women in the world, me included.

    It’s a wonderful dream come true for the English woman’s Curling Team to have won the European Curling Challenge in Prague, very exciting.

    You always come up with great topics.

    Have a wonderful week,

    Linda

    • I was 11 when Elvis died – I do remember the mass media covergae of it, even way back then!
      The curling win was so exciting! To see the players develop, and to play with them regularly lets us all enjoy their win 😉
      cheers,
      Gordon

  • I was surprised to discover that your favorite sport is curling! Good for the English women’s team winning it. For some reason the story you shared about their limited access to a practice facility reminded me of the story about the Jamaican bobsled team who practiced without a mountain slope or snow and still did well in the Winter Olympics.

    • Ah yes, Cool Runnings is a great film! I can’t wait to see how the girls get on at the World Juniors, starting end of Feb!

  • Elvis rocks! 🙂 and so do peanut butter and banana sandwiches! I think he would indeed be as awesome if he were still alive. And I also agree that words are not enough to kill over. It is such a sad thing that happened….

    • Probably the peanut butter and banana sandwiches were on his diet, only without the bananas! 😉
      I imagine if he were still alive he would have finally played in Britain!

  • Besides the France tragedies, this part of the world (Singapore-Malaysia-Indonesia) is following closely on the air tragedy AirAsia QZ8501 on 28 Dec last year. It disappeared from the radar 5mins after requested to pull to higher altitude, which was not approved. Only to be found (debris and bodies) in the following days / weeks. The Black Box (both of them) had been found and retrieved. Now sent for expert analysis. This tragedy gave an even bigger blow to the already bleeding Malaysia airlines industry, given that Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappeared from radar since March 2014, and MH17 being shot down at Ukraine in July. 3 air tragedies in a year. That’s a BIG thing. It is sad. Many, especially the families of the victims are sad. Likewise, for the victims at France…..

    World Peace!

  • Well – killing anybody for what they said – hmmm…so wrong!! But, egos do take over it seems.
    Elvis would be just a year older than my dad – I was too young to get into his music and never really did – 🙁

    So cool about curling – what a sport that is –