I’m a great believer in, and regular user of, the phrase “if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.”
This rather neatly sums up my cup half-empty view of the
world and my expectations that things are never far from taking a turn for the
worse.
However, it turns out I can be lulled into a false sense of
security, because last week I thought I’d had a stroke of luck.
About nine months ago I bought tickets for the ATP World
Tour Finals tennis at the O2, not knowing who had qualified or which of the top
eight players I would then get to see.
It isn’t a complete shot in the dark though; whatever
happens you get to see two of the top eight ranked players, and you can usually
take for granted the appearance of four or five certainties.
This year though, the race to London was a particularly
topsy-turvy affair with two surprise Grand Slam winners and other players
emerging as real threats, while top five stalwarts, David Ferrer and Britain’s
Andy Murray, struggled to hold on to their rankings.
For a while it didn’t look like Murray would make The O2,
but a great six-week run, that saw him capture three titles, made sure he got
the job done.
Not only did Murray make it to London, he just happened to
get drawn to play in the match I had tickets for… a real stroke of luck?
For a few days leading up to the game I thought so, but as soon
as Murray dropped serve with two double faults in the first set, I started to
have my doubts.
As it turned out, we were treated to the Brit’s worst performance
in about three months as he had no answer to Kei Nishikori’s dynamic game, and
as it turned out, I had counted that particular ‘lucky’ chicken before the egg
had hatched. Nishikori was good though…
On this Saturday’s X Factor show Louis Walsh called Mel B
Old Spice, quick-witted humour that I didn’t expect from the man who claps like
a giddy seal and recycles his comments and critiques with an intense
environmental enthusiasm.
That name served its purpose on Saturday, but I think a more
suitable alteration from Scary Spice would be Abrasive Spice.
Added to the judging panel this year, she must have been
given the task of shaking things up a bit and being the mean judge now Simon
Cowell has been ‘mellowed’ by parenthood.
This has essentially resulted in the most detestable
behaviour being dressed up as straight, blunt, or worst of all, ‘real’ talking.
This rudeness culminated in her reaction after the sing-off Sunday
night.
Her act Paul out-sung Simon’s act Jay, but compared to some
of the sing-offs in the series, they were both very impressive.
When electing to save his own act, Simon praised both
singers and said it boiled down to backing his act, as it always does.
Rather than doing the same, yet again Mel decided to be rude.
“Based on that it’s an absolute no brainer… it’s obvious,
the person I’m sending home is Jay.”
Praise for her act, but nothing at all for the other
contestant, who was by no means the weakest left in the competition, nor was he
poor in the sing-off.
The reaction of Mel and her act Paul once it had been sent
to deadlock, and the public vote sent him home, was also hard to watch.
In that position you can’t expect him not to be
disappointed, but his reaction was not disappointment, it was disgust and
disbelief, and that’s unacceptably arrogant.
However good a singer you are, you need more to win that
show, and I can’t be the only person who thinks he lacks that bit more, because
he came bottom of the public vote.
A small aside from tennis and talent shows, I also had the
unpleasant experience of travelling on a busy train over the weekend, one I
don’t miss tackling regularly.
The standard gripe of the commuter is people refusing to
move down the carriage, but on top of that I had to combat two of the lesser
discussed, but equally annoying issues: people who sit in the doorway, and
people who can’t stand still.
Getting on to a busy train is enough of a struggle without
people setting up camp in the door way and making no effort to not be in the
way.
Similarly, while you have to accept your personal space is
going to be invaded on a busy train, it’s 1000 times worse if that person is
continually fidgeting and brushing against you trying to see out of the window
into the darkness.
You couldn’t see anything when you looked out 15 seconds
ago, what makes you think you will this time..?
