Thunderbozz

That's it, the end of another season. It's impossible to think back to September 2006 to a time when Dartford were playing their home games in Essex with an average attendance that struggled to get over 200: Next season, any crowd less than 1,000 would be a massive disappointment. We haven't made the play-offs, and missed out on 6th place after losing 4-3 to the Metropolitan Police today, but we take into next season a lot of positives. A friendly with Crystal Palace kicks off the Darts' 2007-08 promotion campaign... Meanwhile, in the Premiership ( Barclays , not Ryman ), I watched Sheffield beat Watford 1-0, and laughed with glee at Charlton getting tonked 4-1 by Blackburn, all but confirming their relegation. West Ham won, but it will be a very kind slice of fortune that keeps us in the top-flight for another season. Ryman Division 1 South Final standings Pld W D L GD Pts 1. Maidstone 42 23 11 8 +32 80 --------------------------- 2. Tooting & Mitcham 42 22 13 7 +2...

BBC News : An earthquake has shaken parts of Kent, damaging buildings and disrupting electricity supplies... Yes, something interesting finally happens in Kent: the tremor, measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale, was even enough to force this off the front page of the BBC Kent News website.

My three favourite children's television programmes are the American Fairly Odd Parents (because it's madder than a barrel-load of monkeys), the brilliant (and British) The Secret Show (because of the wonderful retro animation and mad-cap inventions), and  Purple and Brown . The animation reminds me of Mio Mao (currently on Milkshake on Five ), the voices remind me of the Yip-Yips , and the constant giggling just makes me laugh. Plus, it's make by Aardman Animation too.

Read in Information Commons that before connecting a laptop to the wireless network at the University, you need the latest anti-virus software. You can get a free copy on CD from Computer Services. Go to Computer Services. Collect CD, go back to Information Commons, install anti-virus. Before connecting to the wireless network, you must fully update the software online. You cannot get online because you haven't registered yet. Ignore warnings and attempt to connect again. You cannot connect because you need a network password. This is available from Computer Services. Go to Computer Services. Computer Services provide a slip of paper with the necessary web address to obtain network password. Cannot access web as not connected to network. Return to Commons, attempt to find a spare computer to use to get network password for laptop. Attempt to connect again. You cannot get online because you require the correct settings for the wireless network. Go to Library Help Desk. Arm...

"Born out of completely fresh thinking about learning resources for the 21st century student, [the shiny new Information Commons] contains a whole range of study experiences within a single spectacular building." Just some of those study experiences include: needing your U-Card to do practically everything, walking up and down isles of books and silly chairs just to find a free computer, being watched by people sitting in a part of the building you can't work out how to get into, being laughed at by aforementioned people as you search for the staircase to floor five, and nearly dying of exhaustion because the rooms are full of computers but the place has no opening windows or any decent air-conditioning. Plus, the print machines only work in dollars. I am not impressed.

I have finally finished the first of two essays, no thanks to the following: looking out the window at the beautiful sunshine; having to blow my nose all the bloody time because I've picked up my annual "nice weather cold"; lunch; listening to random music tracks that pop into my head; Facebook; placing my bets on the Grand National; the Grand National (fell at the first fence); waiting with bated breath to hear the Dartford result (won 2-1); doodling; changing my watches to British Summer Time; looking out the window at the beautiful shadows.

Dartford FC's promotion hopes have all but faded with a 3-1 loss at Princes Park this afternoon. Throwing away 3 points to a bottom-of-the-table team, and only managing a poor draw on Saturday have left the Darts in 7th position. We're only 1 point away from a place in the play-offs, but the other teams are stronger and most hold a game in hand. As always, there is a silver lining to the cloud, and that is confirmation that Dartford are now the best-supported non-league side in Kent, and one of the best supported non-league sides in the country. With an average attendance of 1,164 (not helped by today's 1,223) in a season where many home games were being played on the other side of the river, it's another milestone that the Darts have passed. Hopefully, that support will still be there next season.

There's nothing like watching a good old-fashioned scrap, especially when there's underhand tactics, foul play and toys being thrown out of the proverbial pram. Yes, the Sky vs Virgin Media saga rumbles on, and just as the two parties involved prepare to face a court battle some very interesting developments have come about. Sky have dominated the pay-television market for the UK, practically unchallenged, for the best part of 15 years. Now they finally have a serious challenger (in Virgin Media) they are throwing everything they have at their service in an attempt to compete. They've bargained with all their channel providers and are squeezing every last penny out of the channels they carry; they've haggled with carriers of their own channels to get a better price; launched a TV+phone+broadband package in response to Virgin's 4 for £40 deal; and launched Sky Anytime, the closest thing to on-demand they can technically offer via satellite. As a result of leaving ca...

Good news: BBC Four have bought the second season of my favourite television series Engrenages. Bad news: Essay word-count is still ridiculously low.

Procrastination isn't even a word I knew before university, but now it's an extremely annoying concept to have grasped. Suffice to say, the essays are not going well. ◊ Like the football fan desperate to avoid hearing the score before watching Match of the Day , I've spent all day trying to avoid finding out the verdict of the Coronation Street murder trial. It's been a tense week, with an wonderfully intense confrontational episode on Monday between Tracey and Deirdre providing both painfully shocking and painfully hilarious moments. ◊ Saturday night's Race Night was a financial disaster, winning, as I did, squat. Sunday night's Quiz Night was a moral disaster, losing, as we did, by half a point. Half a point. We scored 98½, the winners 99. Absolutely sickening. ◊ Also frustrating, watching Dartford concede an equaliser 85 minutes after going 1-0 up and struggling through the rest of the game. Despite Dulwich depriving us of the two points, the Da...