Anders in his new Liverpool kit

Anders, aged 10+ months in his new LFC kit

Oops.

The kit isn't as big as I thought it would be.   Maybe I should have bought another size up.

Here is my little Anders, looking absolutely fabulous in his kit.  But then again, it IS an LFC kit so how can anyone not look fabulous in it!  My two sons suit the red of Liverpool, they do.

Kids' Activities in Kuala Lumpur: Swim lessons

Recently, a friend asked me for the contact number of Connor's swim coach.  I replied gleefully, "It's Dear Hubby!"  While he's certainly a very affordable coach (just needs dinner cooked for him after a lesson), I wouldn't really recommend him.  Just ask Connor and all the dunkings he'd endured en route to learning how to swim.  I used to avoid going down to the pool with them when Connor was learning as it broke my heart to see my little boy going under so many times.  His methods work though as Connor is really adept in the water now, he's more seal than human sometimes!

This post is for you mums and dads who prefer a more conventional approach.  Some of the kids at our condo have swim coaches who come to our condo pool for lessons.  Most are on a one-to-one basis but I've seen a guy who takes 3 children in a group at a time.

The teachers bring all the props:  the swim noodles, the kick boards, various toys.  All you have to do is turn up in your swim gear and goggles.  Children are taught to go underwater, correct kick techniques and how to stay afloat in water.  It's all about getting them used to being in the water.  A lesson usually lasts about 45 minutes.  If they are very, very young obviously you'll have to be in the water with them.  But the kids in my condo are 2yo and older so mums just stay on the side and shout encouragement.

The younger they start, the better it is.  Connor started at 3 months or so with Dear Hubby.  Some classes start from months old when babies still haven't lost their feel for the water.  Remember, they were in fluid for 9 months prior to birth!  Very young babies instinctively hold their breath when dunked underwater, it's a reflex they lose as they grow older.

Swim lessons alone don't guarantee a kid can swim.  A 5yo in our units has been taking lessons for a year and still can't swim as well as Connor because he's rarely in the pool.  We're down at the pool almost daily.  The key here is to let your kids splash about as much as they can in between lessons so that they get used to the pool.

The mum I spoke to paid RM90 per session for her 2yo so I guess RM90 to RM100++ is the standard charge.

These are some numbers I got off a mummy forum so you can give them a call.  Ask for trial lessons before you sign up for a whole course.  I've never called any of them so I can't vouch for any of them.  They're just some contacts to get you started and I know swim lessons are a popular activity for many kids who live in condo units with a pool.

Have fun!

Sam +6012-696 6226
Jack +6013-392 2878
Marcus +6012-377 1625

Paralympics 2012: Malaysia gets a silver!

Hurray Hasihin Sanawi!

He won a silver in the archery event.

Way to go, Hasihin... MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Very proud of you.

Click HERE for the full story.

Marlin:  But... but... but... dude... how do you know they're ready?
Crush: You never know!  But you know... when they know, you'll know... y'know? Ahhh...
- Finding Nemo


There's a scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin the clownfish daddy is asking Crush the sea turtle how turtles know their young are ready to face the ocean on their own.  The sea turtle's reply reminds me of our experience with teaching Connor how to swim.

For months, I tried to figure out how to teach him to hold his breath while he's underwater.  Short of dunking him underwater forcibly, I simply couldn't figure out how to teach that.  It turned out I didn't need to.  One day, he went underwater himself and came up with a big grin.  No spluttering whatsoever.  I knew then that he'd figured out he's not a fish and can't breathe underwater.

For months we tried to coax him to jump into the big pool, reassuring him that we would be there to catch him.  For months, he flat out refused.  Then one day, he did.  And he never looked back.  Now you can't stop him jumping.  Same thing with his floats.  It seemed like he would never be independent of his floats.  Suddenly one evening after a swim session, Dear Hubby told me, "He swam the width of the pool today WITHOUT his floats."  I was gobsmacked.  From then on, he could swim. (I still can't and I'm closing in on 40 years of existence now)

Neighbours in our apartment complex have been following his progress because when I meet them, they all say admiringly, "Oh I see he can swim now!  I saw him the other day in the pool!"  Then they'll turn to him and tell him, "Well done!  You can swim!"  and Connor would beam with pride.

I guess he knew when he was ready.  And when he knew he was ready, I sorta knew too... or more accurately, he let me know he knew.

You think that as a parent, you're going to be the one doing all the teaching all the time.  But sometimes, your children are the ones doing it and Connor taught me a valuable lesson.  He taught me that one day when he's ready, I'll have to let go.  And it's okay to let go because he knows he's going to be okay.

Look Mummy, I'm swimming!

Connor in the grown-ups' pool without his floats, 1 Apr 2012

Geronimo!

Connor has finally realised that it IS fun to jump into the adults' pool.  It took so much coaxing and encouragement on my part before he would but I did think it was very brave of Connor to jump into the pool as the water there is as deep as he is tall.   I started out with pulling him gently into the water.  Then we graduated to him jumping into my waiting arms.  Once he was comfortable with that, I started stepping back a little each time he jumped until I was too far for him to touch when he hit the water. 

Once he realised that it is actually fun and no, he wouldn't sink to the bottom and stay there, there was no stopping our little boy.  

We were so proud of him and he was really pleased with himself too because he knew that he'd just climbed up another level. 

Photos taken 1 April 2012.

Free Kids' Activities in KL: Soccer Time!

Quite frankly, I am hoping my little boy will be sporty like his father and grandfather.  Or more accurately, I am hoping my little boy will grow up to earn gazillions of dollars kicking a ball around and he will buy Mummy and Daddy a lovely mansion and a Porsche each.  Oh and about ten gazillion Chanel bags too!

For now, we're just attending football playgroups.  We go to one in Mont Kiara Damai on Wednesday afternoons, starts at 4:30pm till about 5pm-ish.  It's very informal, kids and parents just show up to kick a ball about.  It's held in the tennis courts but will move to the badminton courts if the weather's bad.  The lady running the group is a proper coach and she does teach some basic skills but it's mainly about having fun, letting the kids have a run around and socialising.  My 3yo was too excited to listen to any instructions but I noticed the older kids were responding better and did follow the drills.

If you can't make it on Wednesdays, there's another football group over at The Club, Bukit Utama.  That's on Monday and Friday afternoons, starting from 5pm.  Both groups are for children aged 3-5.

Both playgroups are free and open to all.  Bring your own ball if you can, it doesn't have to be a proper football.  A ball of any size will do.  Make sure your child wears shoes, once again, it doesn't have to be proper football boots.  Bring loads of water, some snacks if you wish and wear comfy clothing and shoes as you may have to run after your little one.

We had fun, Connor enjoyed the run-around but after a while, mistook the condo for his school friend's condo and insisted on "...I want to go W's house." and stopped kicking the ball about.  I had fun, met an old friend there with her two boys and made a new one.

See you guys there!

Eye Candy: LFC Trip to Malaysia, July 2011

Eh. Silly ol' me has just figured out how to compress pics on our new machine. *face palm* Here are some pics (belatedly!) that we took at the StanChart Fanzone in Pavilion KL back in July when my beloved LFC made a trip here.

Us under the banner featuring my favourite player of all time.

I dunno which bright spark decided to make the Bukit Bintang entrance of Pavilion into a local Shankly Gates but you sir/madam deserve a medal! It was a huge hit with us local fans.

The "This is Anfield" sign is displayed in the tunnel leading to the pitch. As an LFC player, you're supposed to touch the sign as you're heading to the pitch. I remember risking falling headfirst into the tunnel trying to touch the sign when I did the Anfield stadium tour back in 2006. The organisers knew which fan buttons to press all right, you could see people leaping up to try and touch the sign. Wish they'd put it a little lower though!

My son imprinted with a (temporary) Liverbird tattoo. Being under 3yo, he didn't quite grasp the significance of it all, complaining to me, "Mummy... cold-cold!" as the guy patiently stencilled the tattoo on.

Connor munching away on his rice crackers in the dressing room replica. I made him pose under Reina's jersey as we have one of Dear Hubby posing under the same jersey in the Anfield dressing room.

I sincerely hope that Connor's head would have grown bigger by the time he suits up in the Red of our team and steps out onto the pitch.

Me and the greatest achievement of my life. 34 years in the making and worth it all.

Entrance to the Fanzone. This shot was taken approximately 11am when we arrived. It was COMPLETELY packed long before the players turned up around 3:30pm.

Now that I've figured out how to do the piccie compress thingybob, I guess I'll be able to start posting pictures again!

Liverpool FC in Malaysia, July 2011

My beloved Liverpool made a long overdue visit to my homeland about 2 weeks ago. This is their first ever, ever visit and you can imagine the frenzy.

I didn't attend the match as I wanted to save my first time for Anfield. But local fans, many of whom will never be able to get to Anfield, snapped up tickets. The crowd that turned up to watch them train was 37,000. Madness. Our home stadium in Anfield has a seating capacity of 45,000. That's for a real match. So this is almost a full stadium turned up to watch the guys train. Ever watched footy training? It's about as exciting as watching paint dry.

On match day itself, some 85,000 paying fans (are you reading this, Chelsea FC? You had to GIVE AWAY tickets to get a full stadium!) crammed into the stadium. I knew there would be a lot of fans there but even I was gobsmacked to see it packed to the rafters.

My friends who went definitely got their money's worth. Final score was Malaysia 3, Liverpool 6. Add in the one disallowed goal and there were 10 goals for the whole 90 minutes. Fun or what! The crowd cheered every single goal and I believe the cheers were the loudest when Malaysia was down 0-1 and the captain struck a beautiful freekick that curled into the Liverpool goal. Why? Because we're such minnows in world football. Because Liverpool FC is such a legendary club. That our little team could score against such a club, and score a beautiful goal at that, is something to celebrate. We all expected Liverpool to trot out winners, no one was expecting anything less. It was just nice to see our national team give a good fight and score a few.

I cheered the Malaysian goal too and got an "OI!" and a glare from Dear Hubby. Oh my. Tension in the Scouse-Malaysian household. Hee.

The sponsors Standard Chartered had decked out Pavilion KL in team colours for the visit. The Bukit Bintang entrance was made to look like the Shankly Gates at the actual stadium. Whoever thought that up was BRILLIANT, it absolutely hit the sweet spot for us fans and even Dear Hubby thought it was quite the thing. They also had a giant LFC jersey hung up in center court of Pavilion, a replica of the dressing room at Anfield and the best bit - the This is Anfield sign at the entrance. Unfortunately, they put the sign too high up! Most Malaysians aren't that tall you know!

Connor ponteng one day of playschool so that I could take him to Pavilion to learn about his heritage. We took pictures at the fanzone and Mummy was way more excited than Connor. Connor just munched on his rice crackers throughout and looked bored. Then we sat in one corner after lunch and waited there for almost 2 hours for the players to show up for a meet-and-greet event. It was a bit weird singing You'll Never Walk Alone in a shopping mall but what the hey. I'll never forget the noise when the players finally appeared, it almost took the roof off. Everyone was just going nuts.

It was a great week for us local Red fans. I am fortunate enough to have a hope of catching a match at Anfield. Many others do not. For them, this is as good as it gets.

Come back soon, Liverpool - we love you long time, we do!

Hillsborough 22 years on

Another year has passed.

For many of us Liverpool fans who pause to remember this day, we've usually forgotten it come next match day. Not so for the families of 96 fans who never came home from a match 22 years ago.

2 years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy, the official Liverpool FC website published letters written by the families to their lost ones. It was absolutely heartbreaking to read letters signed by Daddy and Mummy or written to Daddy, telling them of events that had happened in the 20 years they'd missed - nephews and nieces being born, children grown up, mates who'd married.

I'll never forget my first visit to the Memorial, seeing teddy bears left behind, flowers, scarves, letters signed by still grieving parents. You know for those families there's a hole they'll never fill.

RIP our 96 - forever young every one of you.

AFF Suzuki Cup: Malaysia are CHAMPS!

We won, we won!!!

When was the last time a Malaysian football team won anything at senior level? I can't remember. When was the last time I watched Malaysian football and cheered and cheered? When I was 17, it was the night before my Biology paper but Johor was playing in the Malaysia Cup final and I ditched the books to cheer my home team on. Ervin Boban, Alastair Edwards, Abbas Saad... remember those names? We won 3-1 and I passed the paper.

What a match. The Indonesian team won 2-1 in the 2nd leg of the final but Malaysia ended up tops with an aggregate score of 4-2. I missed most of 2nd half no thanks to Connor so I can only comment on the 1st half. That's some goalkeeper we've got. He put in a fantastic performance tonight. I thought he was brilliant helped on by a stout defence. One of our centerbacks is only 19 so that's good news because he can only get better and there are many more years ahead of him.

Top marks to the Indonesian crowd who stayed till the end to cheer their dejected team at the prize-giving ceremony. They also clapped on the Malaysian team when they went up to receive their medals and trophy. Now that is CLASS. Take a lesson from that, you laser-pointing dimwit.

What a coach. In Raja We Trust indeed. What a team. Disciplined, fit and young. What a night.

Hear that?

That is the sound of a Harimau's roar in the night.

This team of Tigers is burning bright.

AFF Suzuki Cup Final, 1st leg: Harimau 3, Garuda 0

Good grief.

I missed almost ALL of the match because I had to put a certain stubborn 2yo to sleep. But Dear Hubby watched it all and by the time I came out, the Tigers had scored three goals. THREE goals. Past an Indonesian team that had walloped us 5-1 in the group matches.

I was SO happy.

Man, the stadium was rockin'. It was 100,000 fans all decked out in their teams' colours - yellow for Malaysia and red for Indonesia. Some of the guys I knew from the local unofficial Liverpool FC supporters club I belong to were there at Bukit Jalil to cheer the Malaysian team on and they said it was just fantastic. A tad sweaty but fantastic. There was even a banner there that would make Liverpool fans smile "In Raja We Trust", a homage to the Malaysian coach, K. Rajagobal.

The only thing which marred our victory was some local idiots thought it would be a lark to shine lasers into the faces of the Indonesian players. The match had to be halted for about 8 minutes as the Indonesian players walked off. Whoever you laser-idiots are, please do us fans a favour by jumping off the nearest bridge. You are a national shame.

After the match, one of the boys said, "As fun as it is to support Liverpool or foreign teams during World Cups, nothing beats cheering for your own nation where you were born and bred." Well said, lad.

It's not over yet. We still have to play the Indonesians on their own turf on Wed and Gelora Bung Karno will be filled with thousands of fans urging their team on. It's going to be tough but hey, for the first time in so many years, I've actually got some hope.

MALAYSIA BOLEH!



Note:
Harimau (ha-ree-mau) is the Malay word for "tiger" and is a national symbol of Malaysia. This is why the national footie jersey is yellow with black stripes. Been told the lads wore the blue kit because they keep winning with it.
Garuda = mythical bird that is Indonesia's national symbol
Malaysia Boleh lit Malaysia Can is a pre-Obama national "yes we can!" slogan coined by our 4th Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir (sorry can't keep up with whatever title he has now)

All I want for Christmas is...

....Xabiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME TO MAMA!!!!!!!!



Note: No, I have not changed teams, that is quite impossible for me to do. Xabi "To-Die-For" Alonso played for us before going to Real Madrid. It was a sad, sad day for many female Kopites when he left because it meant one less eye candy on the field. However, we continue to follow his many photo appearances in online publications, shirtless or otherwise. Preferably shirtless.

I want my football club back

Oh dear god. I thought things couldn't get worse. But they did.

Last night, we lost 1-2 at home to Blackpool. To BLACKPOOL!!!! A team that just earned promotion to the Premier League this season. And guess what - the newbies outplayed us, they showed more confidence, more hunger and for a lot of the first half, they set the pace.

Our once "best midfield in the world" is now a thing of the past. In its place is beautiful green grass. I am not kidding you. We have 2 guys up front wondering when the pass is going to come. And then we have 7 guys crowded in front of our keeper at the back. Right in the middle of the field is enough space to park the Terracota Army and the visiting team bus.

What la..... I'm not an expert but even I can tell you that's not the way to play football. Looks like our team manager has never played chess before in his entire life. Control the centre, man. Ini pun tak tau ke? Macam mana you jadi "respected manager in Europe" then!

I never wanted Rafa to go. I never thought Roy Hodgson was the right man for our club. But when he arrived, I thought "Okay, let's give him a chance. He deserves a chance." Right now, I would like him to leave please and take his coat with him but who's going to come then? No manager in their right mind would want to come to a club with boardroom battles, no transfer money, average players and the prospect of being owned by Hicks.

First things first - GET RID OF THE DAMN YANKS. Those owning our club. Not our US fans. As long as they are there, we can wave goodbye to those glory days in Europe and start getting used to relegation battles. Then get rid of the manager and those players who think they're above the club. Time to rebuild again.

What Rafa so painstakingly built has been destroyed over last season and this. Last season, I got the feeling something was terribly wrong off the field and that Rafa was fighting it. This season with him gone and no one to fight our battles, we are seeing things just fall apart.

Shite, shite and more shite.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

I want this footie season to be over NOW

It is six games into the new EPL season and I'm already wanting it to be over. Why?

Because my beloved Liverpool FC are, to misquote Shanks, tragic. I am no tactician. I have watched footie for years without understanding the finer points of 442 vs 451. I have never played the game except for casual kickabouts and promptly quit when some lad hoofed the ball right into my midriff.

But I have eyes and I have a brain. I can see that we are in total shambles. We used to have the best defence in the league. Now all the opposition has to do is cross the ball and I see our defence get all flustered. I don't understand why the defence is sitting right in front of our goalie's face all the time.

I watched us vs Sunderland last weekend whenever time permitted as I was getting Connor ready for bed at that time. I don't know why we had all that space in midfield with no red shirt in sight. I don't know why our defence keeps backing off opposition players who are looking to cross the ball into the box.

The players look clueless. And disinterested. I can understand losing if you've given it your all. What makes me mad is players not giving a shit about the shirt they are wearing when they're being paid the equivalent of my husband's annual salary in a week to wear it.

Most worrying of all, I don't understand why our manager cannot see what the fans are seeing. This is a man we are paying to manage our team. Each time something goes wrong in a match, his expression is not what I want to see in our manager. It's a "Apa benda....?" expression. This is a man who doesn't seem to know what to do with what he's got. And the stuff he says in interviews... unbelievable.

He is not the right fit for our club. For all his faults, I believed, and still do, that Rafa was a right fit. His reign came at the wrong time while we were in the hands of the wrong people. He is gone now, so no point in hoping he'll come back or harping on the past. But the fact remains that while we languish in 16th place in the BPL, Inter are sitting pretty at the top of the Serie A with a 2pt lead over rivals AC Milan and they have the best goal difference in the league.

My one footballing loyalty is to my club, the club I have followed since I was a child. It pains me to see where we are today.

RIP Liverpool FC.

Shebby Singh - What a gentleman!

On Friday, Mummy took Connor to Jungle Gym in BSC again. This was our 3rd visit and by now, Connor is familiar enough with the place that he allowed the staff to help him out of his shoes and lead him into the place.. without Mummy! We met Daddy for lunch after that at the other end of Jalan Ma'arof.

Unfortunately, it started pouring just as we finished lunch. Daddy decided it would make no sense having all three of us wet so we waited for him at the shop while he ran off into the rain to get the car. When he finally re-appeared with the car, Mummy tried to figure out how best to get Connor into the car. It was still pouring, I had no brolly and I was looking around for the best way to get to the car.

The man next to me tapped me on the shoulder and asked politely, "Ma'am, excuse me but are you trying to get to the car over there?" I started to reply "Yes I am..." but looked up and my eyes flew wide open in amazement. "Are you Shebby Singh???"

Him: Yes. (slightly exasperated look as in Yes yes you recognised me) Are you trying to get to that car?
Me: You're Shebby Singh???? THE Shebby Singh? Gosh I don't believe this.
Him: Come... I'll take you across. (pops open his gigantic golf brolly and nudges me into a walk)
Me: Shebby Singh! Shebby Singh!
Him: Be careful ok, it's slippery here... slowly, slowly..
Me: Wow, I can't believe this! I have to tell my hubby!
Him: Okay ma'am... here, let me get the door... be careful, be careful...
Me: Omigosh I'll never forget Shebby Singh helped me... thank you so much
Him: You're welcome ma'am... (shuts car door and breathes sigh of relief)

Now Dear Hubby and I watch a lot of Football Focus and we happen to disagree with almost everything Shebby says on the show. Especially the bit about Steven Gerrard being best used as a rightback. ????

But all is forgiven and forgotten, Shebby. What a lovely, lovely man. He was the only one there who offered to help me. Other people just stood there with their brollies and looked on as the mum with the little toddler in her arms was obviously trying to get to a car in the rain. Shame on all of you and bravo, Shebby!

I always knew Paul Masefield was the bigger idiot. ;)


P/S Dear Shebby, I cheered Spurs on last night just for you.

Malaysian clerics warn against devil emblem on MU jersey

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100722/tod-malaysian-man-utd-fans-cry-foul-over-1066d3e.html


Repent all ye sinners!

Come join the Church of Anfield! Be reborn with a Liverbird upon thy chest! Come, join us, walk with us together for thou shalt not walk alone, not now... not ever... not in the Shadow of the Kop. Shankly be praised - so say we all!

====================================================

Boy, this is the first time I've ever agreed with a cleric of any faith. Apparently some outraged fans are wondering if said clerics are Liverpool fans! Hehe.
This is far better than any Alex Ferguson/Arsene Wenger mind games.

FIFA World Cup 2010: Viva Espana or Oranje?

We have 4 Liverpool players in the 2 teams playing tonight. Holland have Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel. Spain have Torres and Pepe Reina (I heart heart HEART Pepe!). This is making it quite difficult for me to decide who to cheer for.

Spain played some wonderful classy football against the Germans the other night. This is the German team that spanked a woeful England and made Argentina look like Dumb & Dumber at defending but Spain outwitted them. It was one of the best matches I'd seen for a long time and if Spain end up winners, they will be worthy winners.

But Holland have Dirk Kuyt. He's not the most skilful of players and sometimes his touch is heavier than an elephant's. But with Kuyt, you know you have a man who will give you his all every time he's on the pitch. He's the one who keeps running when others have stopped. That was how he got his goal at the World Cup - he kept on running while everyone else stopped and when the ball bounced off the post, guess who was there in the right place to slot it in? That is why I like Kuyt. He never stops trying for the team.

This might be Kuyt's one and only chance to win a WC medal. The likes of Torres and Reina will surely have another chance.

So it's Holland for me tonight. I vote for the heart of Kuyt over the silky skills of David Villa & Co.

World Cup 2010: How it's going so far for me

I actually don't quite enjoy the World Cup. I know, I know... I love my football so everyone I know naturally assumes I'd be staying up to watch WC as well. But my football has to have 11 men dressed in Liverpool red for me to be interested in it. Besides my country didn't (and probably never will!) qualify for the WC so I don't have anyone to cheer for. I watched with some envy as my English in-laws cheered on their team only to be let down spectacularly by them again.

Let's see how it's been so far. We touched down in England. England got kicked out of the WC. We went to Portugal for 10 days. Woo. Portugal got kicked out too. So for last week's Ned-Bra match, I feared for the men in orange whom I was supporting only because a certain Mr Kuyt is playing for them. You see, our journey home included a transit in Amsterdam where many, many, many things in orange were on sale. Except oranges. Didn't see a single one. Weird.

But they made it through so I'm kinda hoping the "curse" is broken. Tonight it is Dirk Kuyt vs Uruguay and I will be hoping our hardworking Liverpool man ends up on the winning side.

GO ORANJE!!!!!!!

S'long and thanks for the memories, Rafa - YNWA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

A Manc! In charge of MY club!!! The club our son will captain one day!!! You're out of your bloody fucking mind!

Rafa, you deserved much better than this. I think our board has behaved disgracefully towards a man who has always carried himself with dignity. I didn't always agree with his team selection (who can forget the website that sprung up challenging fans to predict Rafa's picks? LOL) but I believe he's always acted in the best interest of our club.

I'd like to know which top manager wants to come to a club where he'll get no funds, no backing from the board, his top players are thinking of leaving and all we've got to shout about is our history.

Please let me see Senor Benitez walking about while we're in Liverpool so that I can go up to him, give him a big hug, tell him thank you for all he's done and how sorry I am that he's been treated this way and hope he'll hug me back and not shout "SECURITY!!!

Thank you for all the memories, most of all for Istanbul 2005 which gave rise to Dear Hubby's pick-up line "I was there at Istanbul." and if you hadn't won us Istanbul, Dear Hubby wouldn't have hooked me and where would I be eh!

Ta Rafa la... you'll never walk alone.