Life with V - the world comes crashing down

Well the world come has come crashing down around our ears yet again.

Now I don’t pretend to know anything at all about football – well not much anyway -but if the country is competing in something it’s nice to get behind them and cheer them along the way. Having said that, if they don’t ban those horrendous things that sound as if my television has been invaded by a massive infestation of extremely angry mosquitoes, I shall never watch another match again.

What I do find quite amusing is all the debating about why we lost. Well it’s my opinion only but we lost because the other team outclassed us, outplayed us and were far superior to our fumbling efforts.

One excuse was that the players were tired. Well I’m fairly confident that the Germans played in other games as well so it’s not really a good enough excuse. If they were that tired why weren’t they put to bed early so they could get a good 10 hours sleep?

Also my opinion, but I understand they were only told two hours before the game who was actually going to play. Well I don’t know about you but if I am doing something major I tend to get myself well psyched up for it beforehand, not convince myself I’m not going to do it and then be told I am.

I also think that to compete at anything at that level, whatever it is you are competing in has to be your passion. It has to ignite a fire in your belly; it has to be something that you eat, drink, sleep and live for. None of our Olympians would win if they didn’t have this attitude.

I personally feel that a good deal of the problem is that, to our footballers, it isn’t their main passion; it isn’t the thing that makes them leap of out of bed in the morning. What is their main passion is being a so-called celebrity and that is their main focus beyond any doubt. There are few sportsmen who successfully juggle being number one in their field with being a celebrity. David Beckham and Wayne Gretzky are two that come to mind but there is no questioning that their first priority was always dedication to their sport.

Wayne Rooney took his shirt off at the end of the game and my immediate thought was he’s been indulging in a few too many pies and pints. He didn’t even look fit. He looked sluggish, out of shape, moody, unmotivated – and this is our star player!! There are a couple of Under 10’s on the Belper football team who could I think give them a run for their money and my dog is pretty good at roaring about with a football, too. I’m sure either of them could have done a better job.

I would have loved England to have won but have to say congratulations to Germany, because at the end of that day the better team definitely won.

V

Life with V By Valerie Spencer Becks of Belper

I have decided to write The Homeowners Guide to dealing with an intruder or burglar in your home.

The first thing to do when you come across somebody in your home wielding a gun, machete, knife or similar item, day or night, is to not assume they are there for criminal reasons. They may have mistaken your house for theirs and you must assume that they are simply looking for the kettle to make a cuppa and have a balaclava on because they are cold.

Before taking any action, determine the level of threat the intruder is going to put you under as it determines what level of force you can use to remove them from your home. Stop them for a minute and ask them what their intentions are.

If they intend to simply rob you and leave you, let them to get on with it because they apparently won’t harm you. If they indicate they are going to rob and beat you up a bit, give them a bit of a slap and hope that will deter them. If they are going to attack you then you apparently have to wait until they do it before taking any action, because it might just all be talk. They might not get around to it, so in that case you are defending yourself against a non-threat. If they intend to attack you and your family, take a few moments to determine what you feel is reasonable force, hoping they haven’t actually gone ahead and done it already.

The well-being of the criminal who has broken into your private home must be taken into consideration - far above all threats to you, your family or your neighbours. Having said this I would just like to say that if anybody is in my house who has not been specifically invited, I will have a tendency to hit back and ask questions later.

I do apologise to any burglars in advance for this totally inconsiderate course of action and do hope that I will not cause you any serious damage because I am sure you broke into my home with the best of intentions!!!!

Isn’t it absolutely ridiculous? Perhaps if a few more burglars did get attacked by homeowners it might deter a good number of them from breaking in the first place - or is it just me who thinks like this???

Valerie is a regular columnist in All Things Local - The Community Magazine for Kilburn, Belper and Ripley with a combined circulation of 27,000 copies.