Chindie

Putting into context how bad the roads round here are, my brother lives fairly close and reckoned it took him longer to pick up his missus from Perry Barr and get back to theirs (10 min journey max at rush hour on a normal day) than it did for him to travel back from Leicester beforehand. To say he wasn't impressed is an understatement . And my mom getting home is usually a 5 minute trip, took 5 times that. Seems pretty much the whole area has seen it's roads turn to sheet ice.

Kingstanding/Great Barr hasn't got it coming down but it's turned the roads into a nightmare. The road outside our house has been jammed since about 4.30 with people slowly making their way up it. The buses going up verges on hilarious.

Fairly heavy covering in Kingstanding/Great Barr. Seems to have stopped thankfully though.

...ker-ching?

S2 I'd like more details on before I get too excited. Already my issue with materials appears to be returning, it looks like it's been crafted from the head of one of these Do you reckon it's significantly worthwhile waiting as opposed to taking the plunge with, for example, the Desire HD now?

We'll have to agree to disagree. Build quality will always have an element of the quality of material involved. I don't think I once said it wasn't well made either. I just said it felt cheap. And the reason it felt cheap was the plastic. Thats all. You do get a tad defensive about your phone . Anywho... is there any word out there on the big early 2011 releases yet? I'm still torn between waiting to see what comes out post Christmas or taking the plunge now. I'd have figured that Jan releases would have had some whispers knocking around by now.

Gonna be a cold one tonight. Not having cnetral heating in my bedroom means at the mo it's like a fridge and it's getting worse by the day. Thankfully no snow to go with it though.

Build quality I would say always will struggle to escape from the materials involved. Materials themselves have a certain quality to them. I'm sure something could have superb build quality (on it's own merit - i.e. well made), but if the materials themselves aren't as quality theres a problem there, and the impression of build quality will suffer. I would always perceive 2 items made with equal skill but one in steel and the other plastic to have differing build qualities simply because of the materials inherent. And I'd perceive the steel to be a better quality product over the plastic. Hence why I'm quite damning of the Galaxy S and I daresay most people would agree with me. Plastics can be quality, as any car manufacturer will tell you. But they tend not to be of the type Samsung went with it. There is a definite lack of premium feel to it (I go so far as to say it feels cheap, because to me it genuinely does. It feels like Samsung's of old aimed at the PAYG market designed to wow people with 'Shiny!' to my mind) and it's something that has repeatedly come up. I'd say you were in a severe minority in liking it. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

I don't think I ever denied that it is a subjective thing, you just seemed to take it quite personally I had the gall to diss the Galaxy . Also worth mentioning the Galaxy S has no flash, which is crap if you're likely to be using the camera in poor lighting conditions. Even though most phone flashes are pretty low end, not to have one is just bizarre. Still weighing up options myself on an upgrade. Nothing just yet has swayed me enough to make the dive in. Pretty much the entire range of thing I'm looking at has a flaw that stays my hand.

Finally giving Live a serious crack Chindie88

Pretty much just a very heavy frost in Great Barr/Kingstanding. A light dusting. No fan of snow that suits me.

Probably worth mentioning again (though it is entirely subjective of course...) that the Galaxy S feels like it's made out of stuff from the arse end of the periodic table and, to me at least, feels cheap tacky and not very nice at all. Desire HD feels much more quality in the hand to my mind. Battery life for it unless you use it like a saint, by most accounts, is dire though. Prefer the HTCs software too. I think they best thing you can do is go to a store and ask to have a play with both (the original Desire is a great phone but it's probably too old to really consider if you want something near the top end now).

Contrary to other posters, I'd like to say I still hate Liverpool Rafa or not, or Spurs doing well or not. I was close to answering to your questions about Pool with a riff on 'I don't give a **** about them', but I played along.

From my point of view we got bypassed all over the pitch. Theres no shame in being outclassed. There is in being that limp though. And Clark was part of that, so I can't say he was that good. I'm glad of the goals but ultimately, his performance was roughly in line with the rest, nowhere near good enough.

I didn't think he was that good either. Gald he got the goals and the first is a beauty, and good mentality from him, but he weren't good at all. He struggled to impact on the game as Arsenal just bypassed him with ease. Thats not good for someone in a holding role. I'm not sure this role is where his future lies.

Best to start by saying that to my mind the first half was diabolical and the second half, while a tad better (not especially difficult) still wasn't good enough. I didn't expect anything results wise from the match, obviously, but what I did expect is for us to look at least capable. In the first half we didn't even muster that. Friedel -7. It's hard to say a keeper had a decent game when he let in 4 but I don't think theres much he could have done for the goals and otherwise he pulled off some good saves, especially when it was still goalless, that kept us in. L. Young - 4. Crap. Forgotten how to defend, all over the place and dropped us in it along with the rest of the backline. First goal is horrible. Dunne - 5. Somehow managed to be fairly anonymous whilst being the last line of defence. Not great. Collins - 4. With 20mins to go he was hobbling badly, before that his gungho style compounded other **** ups to really drop us in it. Warnock - 4. Started badly, didn't get much better. Downing - 5. Had his moments but not many of them. Got more involved second half and put in some nice crosses. I think most of our promising play had him involved pretty intimately. Clark - 6. Extra point for the goals but I really felt otherwise he was pretty dire in line with his team mates. First half completely passed him by, not good for a DM, second half he clawed back the goals that flattered us (first a beauty mind) but even then he was still not great imo. Good mentality mind. Bannan - 4. Didn't do a lot, tried pinging some Hollywood balls that failed, got out battled and out muscled a couple of times, couldn't put a stamp on the game at all. Pires - 3. May as well not have been there. He still obviously had skill, his few touches showed that, but his legs have had it. One moment about 30mins in summed it up for me - we'd cleared the ball to midway in our own half, to Pires on the left wing. He strode forward, noticed an Arse defender he knew he wasn't going to beat, and another gaining on him, so didn't bother to try and just gave up. Not good. Maybe in time as a classy sub he'll have his uses, but for now he looks like a 37yo who's best years have passed him and has spent 4 years playing in a much less physical league based more on skill. Funny that. A. Young - 4. Tried but was useless. Toss cross after toss cross, couldn't go past a toddler let alone an Arsenal man. Infuriating that a winger of his talent couldn't get a cross past the first man. Carew - 3. He ran a bit. I think. Couldn't pass 5 yards, couldn't hold up anything we did manage to get to him, was never in the box, didn't look arsed, barely bothered, it's pretty clear that it's so long and thanks for the good times, what there were. Subs: Delfouneso - 7. His arrival gave us a boost, he looked keen to impact the game and make a mark. We actually looked abit more capable of crafting a decent attack with him on the pitch. Ireland - 5. Improved. Still not good enough but in the context of the game I'll take it. Composed possession, good crisp passes, a bit of endeavour, and even some bottle, made a couple of tackles with some venom in them. Hopefully the start of an upward rise because bloody hell we need it. Lets see more please you crazy fecker. Herd - Immaculately groomed I think is the best you can say, didn't have much time to do anything else. Bollocks performance. First half was indefensible, uninspiring rubbish. That half had the distinct nasty lingering look of a promoted side who'd seen the teamsheet and gone through the motions, not good at all. Arsenal aren;t a bad side obviously, though this isn't a great Arsenal side by any stretch, but I expect better than that. We let them play, which is dangerous when we're a side that Blackpool have managed to unlock with ease. The defence is a complete shambles. The midfield was pretty shocking and I can't see how it's going to get better. Upfront is a joke. I felt somehwat sorry for Friedel in goal, at times he may as well have had shop window dummies in front of him. He nearly did - the last goal is comical if weren't so heartbreaking that they''re wearing Villa shirts. What the hell happened? We could have been absolutely trounced if Arsenal could finish and stop fannying around. They had chance after chance. We'd have deserved a tonking too on that performance. As it is, 4-2 papers over some cracks pretty unconvincingly.

I also would like to see Cuellar back in. He was vital filling in from RB almost like a third CB. As for todays match, I cannot escape how poor that was. The 2 goals scored flatter us, probably more than the fact we somehow got away with only conceding 4. Arsenal'll be disappointed not to have a cricket score. Awful.

Dire. The 2 goals we managed to score flater us but don't paper over any cracks for me. Dying to hear what Houllier has to say about that.

Absolutely shite.

Herd coming on.

Goals aside, and perhaps this'll be unpopular, I don't think Clark's been that good. Then again no-one has.

Right now **** go for it and stop embarassing us and yourselves you bastards.

Arshavin runs through our defence without really trying. Horrifying.

Game over again.

A beauty.