Well, I had a close call this morning. I was trying to edit my “subscribe to” box and I managed to get the wrong code in the wrong place. My whole blog disappeared except for the box. Blank, total blank. Instant panic in the ranks. My heart sank in to my boots and I was sweating on the top line.

Before it got started, the end of my blogging career flashed before my eyes and I can’t think of any more cliches. I was careless with the blog code and I got it in the wrong window.

After a lot of scrambling about, I managed to get the right code in the right box. Moral of the story:  When John tell you to do something in a certain way, just do it. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

One of the big things among football supporters is to wear a replica shirt of their favourite team. None more so than at my team, Newcastle United. Our team wears black and white vertical stripes and they are known everywhere as The Magpies. These shirts on sale for about 40 pounds ($56) each. That’s for one shirt. not the whole team.

This and other accessories are a major source of income to the club, so being infinitely resourceful where leaching the money out of we supporters is concerned, they change the shirts slightly on a regular basis. This causes the sucke.., er ,  supporters to rush out for the latest shirt.

So many people buy these shirts to wear them at the match, that when they are herded together on the terraces, it looks like the Plains of the Serengeti covered in zebras. So much so, that one of the nicknames for these supporters is zebras. The big difference is that our zebras are grazing on pies, not grass.

Some time ago, when Michael Owen was transferred from Real Madrid, Newcastle United had a welcome reception for him at which approximately fifteen thousand attended. There was no game you understand, just an unveiling of Owen’s shirt with his name and number on the back. They immediately became as rare as hen’s teeth, so you can imagine the pride when my friend, O.D. Malone, ever succinct, announced, ” Ah got me Owen top.”

Subsequent events have made Owen’s transfer a cause for sorrow, not joy, but for one shining moment, having an Owen top was a time for happiness not regret.

“There’s nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  So wrote Kenneth Graham in Wind in the Willows.

That could easily have been written about the boating fun available  down here among the lakes. We have Bass Boats, Pontoon Boats and of course the famous Airboat which is driven by a huge propeller mounted on the back of the boat, allowing the boats to go in a few inches of water and mostly used in the Everglades. Some time ago, one of my neighbors was seen driving his airboat on the grass. I think he stopped when he realized that he was polishing the bottom out of his boat and so he took it back into the water.

The pontoon boat or Party Barge, is basically two large pontoons with a platform on the top and surrounded by a railing to keep the partygoers on board. These boats can be fitted out to suit the taste of the owner for partying or fishing or just “messing about in boats.”

One of the very popular boats is the Bass Boat which is not a boat made out of bass, but a boat used for catching the fish which are plentiful around here. This boat usually has a large motor on the back for getting you there in a hurry and a small electric trolling motor, to be used  for trolling slowly along while you dangle your hook in the water and contemplate life.

All in all a wonderful way to spend a day out with your friends or even alone if you enjoy solitary pursuits, and who doesn’t from time to time.

So I says to my friend O.D. (Malone, that is),” What is it you like about being a supporter of Newcastle United?” thinking he would say, the ground, the atmosphere, the black and white striped shirts, something like that. I knew it wouldn’t be the owner or the manager or the players.

We all know better than that. Lets face it, the last time they won anything worthwhile was in 1955. And to avoid relegation to a lower division this season, will take a superhuman effort. An effort that has not yet emerged this season. Even a human effort would be appreciated. So why do we support this team of under achievers year after year?

O.D. thought for a minute. Then his face took on a look of happiness. “It’s the pies, innit?” He was referring to the hot pies that are on sale at the ground on match days. They are so hot that you can’t eat them straight away, but if you buy two, one for each pocket, they will keep your hands warm while you wait in vain for something to applaud the team for. Then when they are suitable for consumption you can console yourself with a couple of warm pies. Comfort food.

So if anyone asks you why you are a supporter of Newcastle United, a question that puzzles  everyone who is not a supporter, you can tell them, “it’s the pies, innit?”

Down here the big citrus crop is oranges. You often see the big trucks towing a wire mesh trailer full of oranges on their way to the processing plant. Each trailer reportedly contains up to 19 million oranges. All so you can have orange juice with your breakfast.

We have a tangerine tree in our back garden absolutely bursting with fruit right now. In reminds me of that old Charlie Chaplin movie where he leans out of the window and picks an apple. Then he goes to the door and the cow is there waiting to give milk for his breakfast. This was a fantasy where he was explaining to Paulette Goddard how great it was going to be one day.

Well, we thought it would be great to squeeze our own juice for breakfast, until we found out it took 16 tangerines for one eight ounce glass of juice. To say nothing of all the pits that we had to pick out, approximately one million per eight ounces. Ah, the rural paradise!

There’s nothing like having a supermarket up the road and leave the tangerines to the birds and squirrels. That’s what I say.