The Apprentice: Series Six...

'You've never met anyone like me... I'm totally unique...' spouts some posh halfwit on his audition tape for the latest series of The Apprentice.

Two points flop-haired, suit-wearing, twat-face...

Point one: You're not 'totally unique' because the word 'unique' is an absolute so it should never be qualified. It would be like saying 'You are the very biggest cunt in the world' or 'You are the last-ever person I would very ever speak to if all the other people in the world were utterly dead and my life depended on human contact to stave off a wish to end it all by driving six-inch nails into my forehead with a cricket bat.' You see how that works?

Clue: the qualifying words 'very', 'ever' and 'utterly' should not be there. Like 'totally'. And I bet your education cost thousands....

Point two: TV viewers have met many people like you before. Every series of The Apprentice features at least half a dozen of you corporate-soundbite-spouting oxygen thieves. On the plus side, however, the great fun of watching the show is that the audience can piss itself laughing as you brag about how fantastic a salesman you are... then struggle to sell fish or cheese at a street market because you've failed to understand basic concepts such as pricing. You wanker.

Yes. It's back. The Apprentice kicks off next week and, as per usual, I'll be enjoying the ride as the over-educated and pompous wannabe business folk are torn a strip off by the ever-ebullient Sugar until only a few decent candidates remain.

Having looked at the audition tapes on the BBC website, this year's intake look pretty much par for the course with the usual selection of bankers, totally bonkers, stockbrokers, entrepreneurs and salesmen. There does seem to be a large number of bullish, posh City rugger-bugger blokes and three potentially kooky women. But we've met clones of most of them before in previous series. And they were humiliated. And they will be again. Great.

The only sane two out of the new bunch seem to be a woman called Joanna Riley and a former Marine named Chris Farrell. But I'm sure other favourites will emerge as the series goes on.

So enjoy. And if you have a preference for City-type fellas who are bullshit-spouting corporate arse biscuits then your luck is probably in.

No wonder the economy has collapsed if several of these are the calibre of folk in charge.

The 500 Club...

It's been a good year in my local pool league and in my interleague pool team, too, but 2010 has been a largely frustrating year at county pool. To put it simply, I can't buy a frame and I'm about to return my poorest A Team stats in 25 years.

Even worse I've put the hours in on the practice table but the results just aren't coming. It's true I've missed a few absolute sitters to win a few extra frames this year but it's also equally true that I've been shooting dead in too many frames, meaning that whenever I come to the table I'm in major trouble to begin with.

On the plus side, however, I did play my 500th frame for my county pool team at the weekend and I won it as well. Although I did miss a straight black in the middle to win it on my first opportunity.

It means I now join quite an exclusive little club in the history of my county pool team. It's not a major achievement in the grand scheme of thing but it's a nice one. I've not only being good enough to play that many frames at that level but I've been committed enough to stick around and play that many frames.

When the season is not going well on the table at least I have that crumb of comfort to cheer me up. And, of course, the season's not over yet so there's still time to turn it around. And there's always next year. Probably...

Other Woman News...

Me and the Other Woman attended an intensive weekend of martial arts seminars and by the end of the weekend we were both utterly exhausted so we retired to the pub.

We'd had a minor spat earlier in the day after she'd bought a copy of The Mail On Sunday because it had a free Kylie CD. She argued the quality of the CD excused her decision to purchase and therefore fund the right-wing, racist and homophobic rag while I argued no amount of free stuff could ever warrant buying that vile publication.

So we renew hostilities over this in the pub and one of our friends around the table asked how we'd ever become friends in the first place if this is how we carried on. The Other Woman pondered for a second before offering:
'It's because I attract idiots.'
I countered with:
'It's because I attract sluts.'

We eventually made our peace over a pint but the Kylie Incident, as it is now known, will remain an icy plateau to which we will never return less we both slip off mid-argument and plunge to an unpleasant death.

I returned home and was explaining our debate to the Missus and ended my argument with:
'I mean, you wouldn't buy Mein Kamp if it came with a free handbag, would you?'

The Missus paused to consider the proposition.
'Depends on the handbag.'

The women in my life are in cahoots to send me insane.

The Last Wrestlers: A Far-flung Journey In Search Of A Manly Art...

Marcus Trower was a martial artist who became obsessed by wrestling – but not the costumed hi-jinks of Big Daddy and chums in the UK or The Undertaker and his ilk in the US. Trower loved real wrestling and researched then trained wrestling techniques with several partners in his native England until a mystery illness struck, an illness which meant he had to take a lengthy break from any strenuous activity for several years.

His book chronicles his own love affair with wrestling, his illness and recuperation, and his journey around the globe to visit the last outposts of the sport where wrestling exists as it has for hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of years.

Trower joins wrestling schools in India and Brazil, as well as journeying to Nigeria to witness the wrestling styles of two remote tribes and visiting Mongolia where wrestling remains a national obsession. He also briefly discusses the tradition of wrestling in England and Ancient Greece and forms his own theories about the origins of this ancient sport.

The only criticism of the book is that he never examines the flourishing college wrestling system in America in any real depth but, that minor point aside, the book is a fascinating and entertaining read very much in the style of Angry White Pyjamas by Robert Twigger. It is peopled with fascinating characters and written in an accessible and easy-going style and Trower remains a very likeable narrator.

Well worth a look.

The Car...

Me and the Missus are in Greece and her Jet-setting Photographer Brother has joined us for a few days so he decides to hire a car.

I cannot drive and the Missus hasn't driven for years but having seen what passes for road safety in Greece we're confident we could have a go and get away with it.

In short Greek drivers are nutcase-on-crack dangerous behind a wheel. Fortunately the Jet-setting Photographer Brother is a seasoned driver on several continents so we decide we are in safe hands.

So we head off to pick the car up but when we arrive at the car hire place one very grumpy woman takes a look at his driving licence and tells him it is no good. The licence is Australian and she will not accept it as proof of his driving credentials. He has driven on all continents and never crashed. From what we've seen if he was blind he would still be the safest driver on this island. But she is not having it and we walk away without a car.

To add insult to injury we then get a cab home home driven by a lunatic whose idea of customer service is to drive with Guns 'n' Roses blaring out as he narrowly avoids oncoming traffic.

As we get out of the cab the Missus turns to her brother and smiles before adding:
'He's allowed to drive here.'
Her brother smirks.

We arrive at the hotel bar and order drinks. As we sit down a father arrives clutching his two-year-old daughter who in her hands has a set of car keys keys she is fiddling with.

I lean over to the Jet-setting Photographer Brother and join in.
'She's allowed to drive here, too...'

The gag runs for the rest of the evening.

Word Of The Day...

I am on holiday in Greece with the Missus and I am playing Scrabble and come across the word 'boi', which apparently is slang for a lesbian who dresses like a man.

All this and thousands of years of culture, too.

Learning is a wonderful thing.