Ding Dong The Bells Are Going To Chime

Well number one son did the deed last week and married the lovely Lili in a wonderful church in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was there with my wife, my ex-wife (both featured in this photo, together), three of Tims siblings,( two, Hannah and Rebecca, also featuring) , the mad mother-in-law Tim has inherited, various friends from the UK and elsewhere and the randoms from Brazil who made up the numbers.

The service was wonderful, the bride looked fab, there was a free bar and I made my speech in Portugese, much to everybody's amazement. It got some laughs but I am not sure if that was a result of mispronounceation or that they actually got how diffciult it is to surf the net of 'famous Brazillians'!

The Brazillian wedding culture is quite strange. For example, I spent all of the Saturday until just before the wedding (5pm) in a beauty salon with the bride, bridesmaids and others. I was there to provide male company for Tim and this is an expected ritual. The bridal party all left from the salon, and for somebody who take 20 minutes to get ready it was a bit of a strain, especially with the Ireland v England rugby match on the tele at Murphy's down the road.

That said, it was a superb event and apart from the conception, it was the first life moment I have been at for Tim. For that alone, it will be the Special One.

'It was on the line, chalk flew up'.......well actually no it didn't........

I started this blog to record my effort at selling my house, so I guess an update is due. Its still on the market, the price has dropped to reflect the slowdown in the number of viewings, and I am resigned to being its proud owner now into 2008. Whether I do any more work on it is something my work profile will influence, and early signs are that I will be fairly busy between now and Christmas so likely not.

I keep dropping hints at work about being offered a separation package, but the management team just grin inanely, say nice try, and farm me out somewhere else to ply my trade. The share price went up to $119 recently and is now back to about $112, but while the firm is doing OK I can't see any brown envelopes being distributed.

That will, therefore, put my professional sports watcher role on hold as well. Just imagine being in Moscow, Paris and Sao Paulo last week, well perhaps not eh!

F1 is not something I would stay in to watch usually but I was gripped by the drama yesterday, and as Maclaren blew it, so went \Lewis Hamiltons chances of winner the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. I suspect he will get the young sportsman award, and if Ricky Hatton wins in Las Vegas, the major award will be his. Padriag Harrington is from Southern Ireland so I am not sure he qualifies for the top prize, he may have to settle for the International award.

Team of the year is the hardest one to call, have we still got a synchronised swimming team? Talking of which, if one synchronised swimmer drowns, do they all have to?