Carter's Column

It's England. It's raining. Should we be surprised? Actually, yes we should but not the fact that it's raining, rather the sheer volume of water falling from the sky. The ground is saturated and every shower brings the chance of flooding ever closer. It's funny how the phrase "Global Warming" has been altered to "Climate Change" because any theory that we may actually get "warmer" weather on a regular basis in the British Isles has been blown out of the water. No pun intended. When I was young it always used to be that we had hot sunny days in summer, ice and snow in winter. These days we seem to get year-round rain with occasional short spells of sunshine. Every few months there seems to be somewhere else with flood damage. Mill On The Exe, Exeter with Press and TV coverage As someone who predominantly plays summer sports I was excited by the prospect of England being a hot country! For the last 5 years our summers have been wet and ...

Me with Faisal Iqbal, Pakistani International Cricketer This week, I shall be mostly going on a rant. Especially about a lot of things in the news at present. Given that I have just had the misfortune of watching my team get embarrassed AGAIN by our most hated rivals, let's start with football. I'll leave my growing dislike of Andre Villas-Boas' transformation of Tottenham from Champions League contenders to mediocre minors out for a moment. The big subject in football at the moment is Racism; Be it a former England Captain, a referee, or a foreigner misusing his own language, racism has come to the fore again. I don't know with absolute certainty what happened in any of those instances but what has me riled is the presence of a Society Of Black Lawyers and the potential formation of a Professional Black Footballer's Association. Jess and I with Glenn and Satchi (Japan) Campaigns to get rid of racism, such as Kick It Out in football, will be undermined as...

So here we are, Saturday 10th November 2012. A day off both of my jobs at last! Even if I do say so myself, I have worked bloody hard since I got back from Australia two weeks ago and I think I've earnt this rest. Except, I've not really been resting, I've been heavily editing my video diary from Australia, and I've been packing. This is all far too early, surely? The conversation I had with my Migration Officer when I last spoke to them was to confirm that my visa will not be granted until 9 months from the date of application have passed, and so my target date is 12th April 2013. Coincidentally, my mother's birthday. When I received this news, I was a mixture of disappointed and relieved. Extremely disappointed that my life with Jess cannot be expedited at all, but relieved at the news that they have everything they require in order to grant me an Australian Visa. I hadn't heard the result of my medical until this point but I am told there are no problems ther...

My last blog entry a few weeks ago was less than inspiring, but this time I am coming off the back of two brilliant weeks in Australia. That in itself was an uplifting experience, but even as I sit here looking at the rain falling in Bovey Tracey and struggling to keep warm enough I still have a stupid inane grin on my face thinking about all the things that happened in those two weeks. Before I left I met with a few school friends for a drink up in the Cromwell Arms in Bovey; Garry Styles, Chris Towell, Liam Berry and Fiona Squire. It was good to catch up and at one point Garry told me I could use his video camera and make a video diary, the only requirement being that I left some adult material on there for him when I gave it back... I'm afraid I've let him down on that score. But I do still have the Wagon Wheel that he gave me! And I decided that a video diary might be quite fun too. Me with Concorde G-BBDG again! The journey to Heathrow with Chris and his girlfriend...

I'm going to apologise in advance because this is a long post... I've never previously subscribed to the theory that things you experience as a child have a bearing on things you do as an adult. My mind could never see a link between being smacked as a child and growing up to be a violent criminal. If you broke the law or did something bad it was because you made the bad choice to do so, not because your parents struck you for taking extra chocolate from the cupboard. Recently though I have begun to understand that it's not the big behavioural traits that people refer to, but the subtleties of adult life. I have a tendency to look backwards to my past rather than ahead to my future and that has proven to not be a good thing for me. About a week ago I had an awful day. I went to bed the night before fairly early and was more than ready to sleep. After sending the usual Goodnight / Good Morning text to Jess in Australia I began drifting off. I hadn't quite drifted whe...

Lewis Hamilton at the 2011 Australian GP Albert Park, Melbourne. What is going on in the world of sport this week?! Given my recent appearance on "Flash And The Fat Stig" I'd say it's best to start with motorsport, and in particular the huge news that Lewis Hamilton has signed for Mercedes-Benz for the 2013 Formula 1 season. My initial reaction was that it's a massive mistake, but now I'm of the opinion that it's a big gamble that might pay off although I'm not so sure about any Championships. It appears that the relationship between Hamilton and McLaren had reached it's natural conclusion although there's nothing to say that in a couple of years Hamilton could be back at McLaren. I would even put a cheeky £5 on it. It also makes Jenson Button's position interesting. Now the team-leader, next year is pivotal because questions will be asked if the young Sergio Perez upstages him. I back Jenson to be in the hunt for the title next year. ...

Already copying Grandad's crossword habit! Last week I had my grandparents visiting from Cheshire. Every time I see them it reminds me of my childhood and to me it feels like they are exactly the same now as they were when I was five. They probably have changed but it doesn't feel like it and because they have always lived some distance from me it feels special every time I see them. Sounds corny, doesn't it? I envy people who have lived in the same house or town their whole lives, but at the same time I'm glad I haven't. It's not like I haven't had stability. I don't remember my two years in Germany, the eight years I spent in Oxfordshire seemed a long time to a 10 year old and I have lived in Bovey Tracey for the last 16 years. We moved here in 1996 so I class myself as Devonian. If ever asked where I'm from, it's easier to just say "Devon" than to say "Born in Germany, Dad is from Cheshire, Mum is from Devon but grew up i...