Samuel Eto'o and Nina Simone

Previously on this blog we have recorded the similarities between the mercurial Barca striker Samuel Eto'o and legendary artiste Nina Simone.

Both are/were stunning performers when they are in the groove yet extraordinarily moody and subject to hissy fits of sneering sullenness when not. Both lit up my weekend.

On Friday we went to see 'Nina Simone: the sorceress', a lovingly made, if slightly confused homage to the great diva, featuring her live performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976. And you got the whole nine yards - the grimacing, the cackling, the staring - all conspiring to scare the audience out of its wits. And of course the virtuoso performance ....

... which leads to 24 hours later at the Camp Nou where Mr E played a key role in opening up yet another lame opposing defence with a stunning display of attacking football. Samuel scored a hat trick within the first 25 minutes, all classic 'No 9' poachers' goals.

The good, the bad ...

On a whim last night we went down to the Borne and dropped in at two of our favourite bars, Xampanet - one of the city's oldest and most famous - and Paco, a great cocktail/DJ bar in the same street where we have our flat.

It was a gorgeous evening, both bars were crowded, and the streets were buzzing, although tourists were thin on the ground. It really is a great part of town. It felt very good to be there.

Today has been less good. what i thought was a minor filling job on a tooth turned out to be one that needs an expensive treatment; I then came home and steeled myself to deliver some bad news to a business associate.

Having done that, i heard that a friend needed more major surgery for the second time this year. That's quite enough bad news for one day ...

10 days that shook the world

It's been 10 days since the last post on this blog, a gap that has encompassed the biggest week's stock market meltdown in history.

It's pretty dire and yes there could be worse to come if the powers that be cant think of a way to fix the system this weekend.

Time to hang on to your friends and have fun. and eat well.

They don't make football derbies like that anymore ...

• 19 local players in the squads
• 2 local managers
• a dodgy sending off
• home team takes the lead after opposing goalie is fouled
• away team equalises after lucky rebound from defender 
• away fans lob fireworks on home supporters
• away team attacks non stop but repelled by woodwork and stout defending
• pompous ref stops game for 10 minutes
• away team wins game with last kick of the match in the 104th minute - a highly dubious penalty
• police, football authorities, home team, away team all blame each other for allowing violence to happen
• away team captain says they're not real fans ... deplorable ... shocking, having gone to celebrate with them when winning goal goes in

Oh yes they do. Espanyol vs Barca, 27 sep 2008.  see it here