United's results, November 2015

ONE FA Cup result and four league results to bring you, now November's fixtures are complete:

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015 - 2016.

FA Cup, Round 1: Saturday 7th: Plymouth Argyle 0 - United 2 (Attendance: 6005)

League: Saturday 14th: Bristol Rovers 2 - United 0 (Attendance: 6423)

League: Saturday 21st: United 2 - Portsmouth 2 (Attendance: 5503)

League: Tuesday 24th: Luton Town 3 - United 4 (Attendance: 7298)

League: Saturday 28th: United 3 - Crawley Town 1 (Attendance: 4641).

Carlisle United's festive fixtures begin with the second round of the FA Cup, away at non-league Welling United. Then there are four league fixtures: Oxford United (away), Notts County (home), Accrington Stanley (away) and Hartlepool United (home). C'mon ye Blues!

Le Bataclan: A light in the darkness.

AS the reverberations of the events in Paris continue, one survivor of the attack on Le Bataclan Theatre has given hope to the world, following a Facebook status update. That survivor is Isobel Bowdery. Isobel's post also showed the world that, despite the horror, the most beautiful love story can be found in the darkest of moments.

This was Isobel's personal Facebook profile picture in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, the face of the survivor whose status update would be read, liked, commented upon and shared all over the world. The status update was given a like by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.

Isobel was attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert at Le Bataclan Theatre with her boyfriend Amaury Baudoin. They were separated during the attack, but were reunited on the streets of Paris in the early hours of the Saturday morning.

Here are Isobel's words, from her Facebook status update, which introduced her to the world.

"you never think it will happen to you. It was just a friday night at a rock show. the atmosphere was so happy and everyone was dancing and smiling. and then when the men came through the front entrance and began the shooting, we naiively believed it was all part of the show. It wasn't just a terrorist attack, it was a massacre. Dozens of people were shot right infront of me. Pools of blood filled the floor. Cries of grown men who held their girlfriends dead bodies pierced the small music venue. Futures demolished, families heartbroken. in an instant. Shocked and alone, I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see their loved ones motionless.. Holding my breath, trying to not move, not cry - not giving those men the fear they longed to see. I was incredibly lucky to survive. But so many didn't. The people who had been there for the exact same reasons as I - to have a fun friday night were innocent. This world is cruel. And acts like this are suppose to highlight the depravity of humans and the images of those men circuling us like vultures will haunt me for the rest of my life. The way they meticoulsy aimed at shot people around the standing area i was in the centre of without any consideration for human life. It didn't feel real. i expected any moment for someone to say it was just a nightmare. But being a survivor of this horror lets me able to shed light on the heroes. To the man who reassured me and put his life on line to try and cover my brain whilst i whimpered, to the couple whose last words of love kept me believing the good in the world, to the police who succeded in rescuing hundreds of people, to the complete strangers who picked me up from the road and consoled me during the 45 minutes I truly believed the boy i loved was dead, to the injured man who i had mistaken for him and then on my recognition that he was not Amaury, held me and told me everything was going to be fine despite being all alone and scared himself, to the woman who opened her doors to the survivors, to the friend who offered me shelter and went out to buy new clothes so i wouldnt have to wear this blood stained top, to all of you who have sent caring messages of support - you make me believe this world has the potential to be better. to never let this happen again. but most of this is to the 80 people who were murdered inside that venue, who weren't as lucky, who didnt get to wake up today and to all the pain that their friends and families are going through. I am so sorry. There's nothing that will fix the pain. I feel priviledged to be there for their last breaths. And truly beliving that I would join them, I promise that their last thoughts were not on the animals who caused all this. It was thinking of the people they loved. As i lay down in the blood of strangers and waiting for my bullet to end my mere 22 years, I envisioned every face that I have ever loved and whispered I love you. over and over again. reflecting on the highlights of my life. Wishing that those i love knew just how much, wishing that they knew that no matter what happened to me, to keep belieivng in the good in people. to not let those men win. Last night, the lives of many were forever changed and it is up to us to be better people. to live lives that the innocent victims of this tragedy dreamt about but sadly will now never be able to fulfil. RIP angels. You will never be forgotten."

Isobel and Amaury went on to give an interview to Anderson Cooper on CNN, which is what I shall close this post with. Take a moment to think about those closest to you; We do not know what hand fate could deal us at any moment. Isobel and Amaury are the lucky ones. May their luck, and love, stand them in good stead for the future.

Paris, France, le 13 Novembre à 2015.

Lest We Forget.

The Results Board, October 2015.

OCTOBER was a month of League games for Carlisle United Football Club, with three home and three away games over the course of the month. Here are the results of those six fixtures.

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015 - 2016.

League : Saturday 3rd : Stevenage 0 - United 1 (Attendance: 2999)

League : Saturday 10th : United 2 - Morecambe 3 (Attendance: 5303)

League : Saturday 17th : United 1 - Exeter City 0 (Attendance: 4021)

League : Tuesday 20th : Northampton Town 3 - United 2 (Attendance: 3642)

League : Saturday 24th : Wycombe Wanderers 1 - United 1 (Attendance: 3457)

League : Saturday 31st : United 3 - Yeovil Town 2 (Attendance: 4095)

The November fixtures begin Saturday 7th, away at Plymouth Argyle in the first round of the FA Cup, followed by four league fixtures: Bristol Rovers (away), Portsmouth (home), Luton Town (away) and Crawley Town (home).

Listening to Medium Wave in October.

AN enjoyable evening was spent, on Tuesday 20 October, tuning the medium wave band, beginning at the beginning, on 522 kHz. Here is what I heard that evening. Time in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) :

• 1817 UTC, 531 kHz : Jil FM (Algeria), 600 kW via F'Kirina, Algeria. Choral singing, female speech, music. The Beatles - 'The Long And Winding Road'. Moderate to poor reception. To 1840 UTC.
• 1848 UTC, 540 kHz : Kossuth Radio (Hungary), 2 MW via Solt, Hungary. Speech from male and female, ID. Good to poor reception. To 1900 UTC.
• 1914 UTC, 549 kHz : U R 1 Persha Programa (Ukraine), 550 kW via Mykolaiv Luch, Ukraine. Music and speech from the National Radio Company of Ukraine. Moderate reception. To 1923 UTC.
• 1925 UTC, 549 kHz : Spirit Radio (Republic of Ireland), 11 / 25 kW via Carrickroe, Co Donegal, Ireland. Music, female speech including a 'Spirit Radio' ID. 'Spirit Radio, Passion For Life' ID. Evenings with Olga Kaye, 2000 UTC news and sport. Logged to 1945 UTC. Fair to poor reception.
• 1951 UTC, 549 kHz : Deutschlandfunk (Germany), 100 kW via Nordkirchen / Thurnau, Germany. Piano concerto. Male speech. Moderate to poor reception. To 2002 UTC.
• 2034 UTC, 576 kHz : RNE Radio 5 (Spain), 100 kW via Barcelona, Spain. Clear, male, Spanish speech. Poor reception. To 2041 UTC.
• 2046 UTC, 585 kHz : BBC Radio Scotland (UK), 2 kW via Dumfries, Scotland. 'Sportsound' Falkirk v Hibernian. Interview with Alan Stubbs. 2100 UTC news headlines: Motherwell & Clyde steelworks to be mothballed. Sport and weather. 'Another Country with Ricky Ross' : Owen Bradley: The Nashville Sound (Country music programme). Music: Patsy Cline 'Walking After Midnight'. 'Night Train To Memphis'. Logged to 2100 UTC. Strong to Moderate reception.
• 2111 UTC, 603 kHz : BBC Radio 4 (UK), 2 kW via Wrekenton, Newcastle - Upon - Tyne. 'The World Tonight' China's Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK, meeting the Royal Family. Strong, fair reception. To 2121 UTC.
• 2127 UTC, 603 kHz : France Info (France), 300 kW via Tramoyes, Lyon, France. Strong, clear speech, male speech regarding Bashar Assad, leader of wartorn Syria. Strong to moderate reception. Preview of the new Star Wars movie to be released. Champions League football update. To 2144 UTC.
• 2157 UTC, 621 kHz : RTBF (Belgium), 300 kW via Wavre, Belgium. Music, speech, female speech 'Bon soir', reads frequencies in kiloHertz. Music. Off air at 2202 UTC. Fair reception.
• 2207 UTC, 630 kHz : BBC Three Counties Radio (UK), 200 watts via Lewsey Farm, Luton. Music: Petula Clark 'Downtown'. Male speech, telephone callers. Music: The Corrs 'What Can I Do'. Music: 'My Boy Lollipop'. Poor reception. To 2235 UTC.

That's the October log complete.

Miss Townsend.

IT has been a while since this blog has celebrated Miss Roxanne Townsend, so here are a couple of great images of Roxi - The absolute beauty of the above image and then on a night out with Chanise Murphy.

Enjoy.

Wallpapers, Sunday 11 October 2015.

CELEBRATING the fabulous Taylor Swift with three wallpapers this week. The first one, above, is Taylor taking a selfie with Alan Carr during her visit to his show Chatty Man, which was broadcast Friday 24 October 2014, prior to the release of the album 1989, which was released the following Monday.  The second image was taken by Getty Images and is a beautiful shot of Taylor performing live:

The third image takes us back to 22 April 2014 and an image Taylor posted across her social media, when she was 'Looking for Easter eggs.....':

My goodness. Enjoy your week.

Happy Birthday! Ten Today!

A SHORT but important post. It was ten years ago this day that this blog came into being. You can link back to that very first post here. I would be interested to learn who the anonymous comment was posted by, I am sure that person made themselves known to me at the time, but due to the passage of time, it seems my memory may have mislaid that information!

Thank you to everyone who has visited this blog over the ten years, I have no plans to retire this blog anytime soon; To the contrary, you may have noticed the background template has been updated and expanded, something I did have in mind to mark the tenth anniversary of this blog.

If you would like to browse any of the posts from the past ten years, then you will find them all in the Blog Archive listed on the left of the page.

Enjoy the weekend.

Wallpaper of the Beach, 5 October 2015

OKAY, maybe not a beach, but not far off. Wallpaper of the Week is Wallpaper of the Beach this week, something this particular fixture reverts to from time to time. As a previous post included a link to Laura Robson's blog, then this week's wallpaper is an image Laura posted on social media almost twelve months ago; Surfboard aerobics in the Caribbean. It is an awesome image.

Enjoy.

That elusive fixture...

TWO DAYS ago, I posted what I thought was the roundup of the September fixtures for Carlisle United Football Club, but I was foiled by the fixture planner's computer, as the final fixture was this evening. So, here is that elusive fixture :

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

Results for September 2015 :

League: Tuesday 29th: Leyton Orient 1 - United 2 (Attendance: 4408)

Good work Blues.

Sporty bits, September 2015

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

Results for September 2015 :

Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Round 1: Tuesday 1st: Port Vale 1 - United 0 (Attendance: 2571)

League: Saturday 5th: United 3 - Barnet 2 (Att: 4925)

League: Saturday 12th: United 2 - Dagenham & Redbridge 1 (Att: 3871)

League: Saturday 19th: York City 2 - United 2 (Att: 3692)

Capital One Cup, Round 3: Wednesday 23rd: Liverpool 1 - United 1 (Att: 42518)

(After Extra Time, Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties)

League: Saturday 26th: United 0 - Newport County 1 (Att: 4402)

United still have one September fixture, away at Leyton Orient in Sky Bet League Two, on Tuesday 29th.

United have six League fixtures in October: Stevenage, Morecambe, Exeter City, Northampton Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Yeovil Town.

Laura the Explorer

As this is a sporting post, I shall link blogging and sport once again, courtesy of British tennis player Laura Robson, who has her own blog, Laura the Explorer, which I hope you will enjoy reading. Next summer will see the next Olympic games in Rio, a subject Laura has posted about on social media from time to time, as she hopes to represent Team GB on the tennis courts. To round off this post, here are some images of Laura representing Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. Enjoy.

SUPERGIRL.

STILL Love this Asos cover from November 2014 - How to be a Supergirl by Taylor Swift.

Have a good week.

Wallpaper of the Week, 13 September 2015

THE next few weeks will lead up to the first anniversary of the release of 1989, Taylor Swift's album, written, recorded and produced with Max Martin and Johan Shelback.

The above image, this week's Wallpaper of the Week, is Taylor performing Welcome To New York, in New York, on the eve of the album release.

This week, Taylor tweeted that during the ongoing 1989 World Tour, she was honoured to perform Love Story in St Paul, on what was the seventh anniversary of the release of the song.

Enjoy.

He only saw her in his dreams.

MISS Taylor Alison Swift has released her latest single from her album '1989' and here is the accompanying video. This is 'Wildest Dreams', which, as of the evening of Monday 7 September, had amassed 36.1 Million views since the video was published on Taylor's official Vevo video channel on Sunday 30 August.

Enjoy.

Putting August to bed.

AUGUST is coming to a close, it is the Bank Holiday weekend and here on RFTFT is a feature which has been neglected for a very long while - A monthly round up of Carlisle United results and a preview of fixtures for the following month. As the new football season has begun, here are the results for August 2015 :

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

August 2015

League: Saturday 8th: Mansfield 1 - United 1 (Attendance 4146)

Capital One Cup, Round 1: Tuesday 11th: United 3 - Chesterfield 1 (Att 2950)

League: Saturday 15th: United 4 - Cambridge United 4 (Att 6354)

League: Tuesday 18th: Plymouth 4 - United 1 (Att 6071)

League: Saturday 22nd: United 1 - AFC Wimbledon 1 (Att 5949)

Capital One Cup, Round 2: Tuesday 25th: QPR 1 - United 2 (Att 5501)

League: Saturday 29th: Hartlepool 2 - United 3 (Att 4935)

United have seven fixtures in September, beginning with a trip to Port Vale for the first round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, whilst later in the month, United visit Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, in the third round of the Capital One Cup.

Medium Wave Roundup, August 2015

A RATHER warm Sunday was spent listening to the Medium Wave band and here is what I could hear. Log times in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) :

• 1240 UTC: 1170 kHz: TFM 2, 320 watts via Stockton-On-Tees for Teesside. Music from Bobby Brown, Billy Ocean, ID for TFM 2. Music: Fleetwood Mac, ad break. News. Music from The Proclaimers, Dire Straits, Kate Bush. Good reception.
• 1325 UTC: 1215 kHz: Absolute Radio, up to 200 kW via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Ad break, ID for Absolute Radio. Music: Queen 'Hammer To Fall', James Bay 'Hold Back The River'. Good to fair reception.
• 1400 UTC: 1242 kHz: Absolute Radio, 1 kW via Stockton-On-Tees. Music from The Waterboys 'Whole Of The Moon', Fatboy Slim 'Praise You'. Live from the Edinburgh Fringe. Good to fair reception.
• 1435 UTC, 1341 kHz: BBC Radio Ulster, 100 kW via Lisnagarvey, County Down, Northern Ireland. Male speech. Moderate reception.
• 1600 UTC: 1557 kHz: BBC Radio Lancashire, 250 watts via Oxcliffe, Lancashire. Piano accompanied by Operatic vocals. Moderate reception.

That's the list of broadcasts I heard in August.

Wallpapers of the week.

Guess who? It's Taylor!

Thank you August.

#LazyBlogging - 2 August 2015

Taylor Swift.

Enjoy.

Wallpapers of the Beach, 27 July 2015

THE SWIFT. Rolling Stone. Amazing combination. Enjoy.

To find out the origins of these images, take a look at the post below. 

Until next time...

Wallpapers of the week, 19 July 2015

ON September 25, 2014, Rolling Stone magazine published issue 1218 and the cover story was The New Life of Taylor Swift. It is to that issue of the magazine that this edition of Wallpapers of the week references. Yes, this edition is Wallpapers - Plural - As you get two this week, both taken from the stunning on location beach photo shoot for the magazine article. Enjoy.

Saturday Shortwave - July 2015

ONE WEEK ago, I spent the evening tuning the upper echelons of the Shortwave band. I was listening from 1900 UTC (GMT) on Saturday 11 July 2015, starting on the frequency of 17790 kHz Shortwave. Times in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kHz (kiloHertz). Here is what I heard:

• 1909 UTC; 17790 kHz : Okeechobee, Florida is scheduled to be on the air, on this frequency, at this time, broadcasting to Africa. I am not sure if I heard a broadcast, as there was noise. I maybe could hear a voice - Wasn't sure.
• 1922 UTC; 17855 kHz : Music on this frequency in the 16 metreband, female speech. Reception: Moderate. Spanish language, male and female voices, music. Transpired to be Radio Exterior de Espana, Spain, broadcasting to North America via Noblejas, Spain. 200 kW transmission. Possibly the 'Tablero Deportivo' programme.
• 1945 UTC; 17885 kHz : Males in conversation. Reception: Moderate. Female speech, music. This is the BBC, Hausa language to Africa via Ascension Island, 250 kW transmission.

That concludes the Shortwave logs, until next time. To conclude this post, I shall add a couple of pictures, with captions to explain. Enjoy.

107.5 Eden FM is the not-for-profit, voluntary Community radio station for Penrith and the Eden Valley.

October 2014, Eden FM studio 1: Left to right: Martin Cowin (Presenter / Director), Lee Quinn (Chairman), Rory Stewart (MP for Penrith & The Border).