Real Fans Don’t Like Certain Teams
I’m a real football fan, who has followed the game probably since about the age of six or so, when my father first took me to White Hart Lane. One of the early games I saw was when Newcastle and the legend, Jackie Milburn, were visitors. I think Spurs won and I do know that Ted Ditchburn, their goalkeeper was outstanding and that Jackie Milburn missed a penalty. Other teams, I saw in the fifties and early sixties with my father, included Leeds with John Charles and Stoke City with Stanley Matthews. I watched most Cup finals of that era on the television, but the earliest I remember is probably the Manchester City v Birmingham City final of 1956, when Bert Trautmann broke his neck and Don Revie played as a deep-lying centre-forward.
my father had had a long history of both playing football and supporting Spurs. He always said, that he first went to Spurs in a pony and trap, and hisfather paid a boy to hold the horse’s head during the match. i think too, he’d been at the 1921 Cup Final.
I started going to Ipswich when my parents moved to Felixstowe. Usually, I was taken by the next door neighbour as getting between Ipswich and Felixstowe in those days wasn’t easy by public transport. As I was living in London most of the time, I still cycled to some of Spurs home matches and later at Liverpool University, I visited both Everton and Liverpool and quite a lot of teams in the area, including Manchester United, Preston, Leeds, Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley. I didn’t carry a camera as I do now, so there is no record of the visits to the old grounds. Some were very rudimentary and far inferior to how they are today. I remember that getting to Old Trafford involved getting a steam powered shuttle train from the centre of Manchester. I think this was probably, when I took the train from Huyton.
Over the years, I’ve developed a dislike of certain teams. I won’t mention them all, but the usual suspects are there.
This last few weeks, I’ve been watching the story unfold at Cardiff City. I don’t like bullies and I very much feel that the club, the fans and the manager have been very badly treated.
So I felt quite a bit of delight, when Sunderland scored their second goal tonight at Cardiff.
To not win couldn’t have happened to a more deserving owner!
A Street For Coeliacs In Nottingham
On Saturday, the fourteen of December, I went Nottingham to see Ipswich play.
As I often do in the city, I had a meal in French Living in King Street, as they know their gluten-free well.
They have now expanded to include a creperie that does gluten-free and King Street, where they are, now has two chain restaurants, which are safe for coeliacs.
So if you want gluten-free food in Nottingham, head to King Street.
I took the tram up the hill from the station. and then it was a short walk.
It will be interesting to see if other restaurants opening in the area, will also do gluten-free offerings.
My Second Worst Christmas Ever!
This has been my second worst Christmas ever! Except for Christmas lunch with my son, his partner and a few friends, it has been an unmitigated disaster.
I’ve frozen stiff, as my house has fought back against the plumber, who has gamely tried to fix the killer central heating system.
One of my pleasures at Christmas is going to see Ipswich play and the fixture list and the trains conspired to make that impossible. My attempts at finding a lift were a futile waste of time. I think, I should have developed a Plan B, where I skipped Christmas lunch and found a good hotel near Doncaster, from where I could have got a taxi to the match. But then knowing my luck, it would have been flooded out.
Incidentally, I’ve not bought my ticket for the trains to Bournemouth for Sunday, as the day I do, something will come about to stop that!
Next Christmas, I won’t be here at Christmas! Perhaps, I’ll just hit a policeman on Christmas Eve, so I’m inside for a day or so. At least, I’d have some new friends to talk to.
On the other hand there must be hotels that specialise in miserable Christmases. I could always try a cruise, as from past experience, I know they’re pretty grim.
My worst Christmas wasn’t 2007 when C died just before. I helped out at the Old Peoples’ Christmas Lunch and I seem to remember there was plenty of football to watch amongst friends.
The worst one had actually been a few years before, when our eldest son and his wife, went off skiing and left C and myself to look after about a dozen horses. And it snowed! I’m not in contact with them any more, as she feels that husbands should have no contact with their former families. That was a Christmas to truly forget. But as we did, C and myself, laughed it off. I do hope my son and his wife are flooded out this Christmas and have their worst Christmas ever. I know that’s uncharitable, but they deserve nothing better.
That Was A Waste Of Time That Was!
I’m now back home, as I failed to get a lift to Doncaster, in time to get there for the match. So my ticket and the one I bought for a possible driver have gone to waste. The money is irrevalent, but i don’t like to throw tickets in the bin, when someone less well off trhan myself, might have used them.
I probably didn’t leave myself enough time to get to the A1 at Apex Corner. As Doncaster, is one of these towns, where I’ve never had a gluten-free meal in the centre and the ground is some way away from the centre, I went to the only open Carluccuio’s near me at St. Pancras to get a meal, before taking a Tube and a 113 bus out of London.
The Tube and bus was my downfall, as it took about half-an-hour longer than I thought it would.
So when the clock went past 12:30, my cut-off time for getting to the match, I reversed my route and came home.
As luck would have it, I got home a lot quicker, than it had taken me to go.
In a way the missing of this match might be a blessing. The two other impossible ones; Yeovil and Leeds, can now be missed, without them breaking a perfect record.
Unless of course today’s match should be abandoned!
I’ve Got My Banners Ready!
I’ve made a couple of banners to help in my journey.
I’ve Got My Banners Ready!
Whether I go though, is up to the weather!
Can This Christmas Get Any Worse?
Yesterday’s lunch with my son and his friends went well, but I had to come home, as I wasn’t feeling well! Nothing serious and I suspect it was just the effect of the cold dry weather, affecting my gut. I don’t think I ate any gluten, but it was as if I had. So it was alone and back to watching old Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise on BBC2.
To make matters worse, when I returned home, I did find that I’d left a window open, when I went out. The house had a temperature of eighteen. At least, the open window only let the cold in.
At least, I was able to use the air conditioning to take the chill off of the temperature. But of course, the humidifier I’d hired in to get the humidity up had failed. Although, I’m doubtful it was ever working properly.
Why does she hate me so much? You can understand, why I feel that religion and God, herself, is so much rubbish.
I went to bed at about ten last night, as bed was the one warm place in the house. The temperature was about 20 °C with a humidity somewhere in the low thirties.
I slept well as I always do and decided to get up at five, as I was fully awake. I thought there might be some good news on the cricket and with the air-conditioning on, I might get the temperature up to twenty-three or so.
But of course, the news from Melbourne was its usual load of old rubbish.
And then the letter R on my e-mail computer packed up. Try typing anything sensible without that letter. It could have been worse, as the E might have failed. So now, I’m using my other computer, which is not as easy for my one-handed typing. It also doesn’t run my preferred Windows Vista.
At six-thirty, I decided to have a hot bath. That was good, but the bathroom is stone cold, as the heating isn’t really working.
In an hour or so, I’m going to get my paper and see if I can find a nice warm cafe. Sadly, there isn’t a hotel near me with a restaurant I can trust. Carluccio’s don’t open until eleven.
At least though, I’ve got plenty of porridge and some bacon, eggs and beans for a fry-up. I’d love to have some sausages, but they’re all in my freezer. But would they freeze out before next weekend, if I got them out now? The nearest supplier is one of two Sainsbury stores, which open at ten. I’ll need to go to one, as I’m virtually out of gluten-free bread.
I still intend to get to Doncaster, and as I write this, I haven’t got a lift. I did think there’d be someone in the area going north with a space, so I didn’t make alternative provisions. This would have been to book a place on the coach from Newmarket. I can get there by taking a train to Stansted and then using a taxi. But it is now too late to book the coach.
So if I do go, it’ll be a 113 bus to Apex Corner and then hitching up the A1.
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the return to some degree of normality.
Next winter, I’ll book myself into a five-star hotel on Christmas Eve. Then when it all goes pear-shaped, I’ll at least ruin the Christmas of a lot of other people.
My Seventh Christmas Alone
I thought that it can’t be, but it is! I could rewrite this post from 2010, but that would be boring.
I am struggling to get to the football on Boxing Day and except for lunch tomorrow, I’ve got very little planned.
And surprise, surprise, the television is crap and of course there’s no live sport.
This afternoon, I’m going to see my friends in the penguin pool at London Zoo. At least they’re loving this weather.
Vincent Tan Was Right
Yesterday, Cardiff City played in their traditional blue colours against Liverpool. So Vincent Tan is in some ways right, as Cardiff lost badly. Obviously, the shirts are not lucky, like red ones are.
There was a joke going Portman Road yesterday, that Mick McCarthy had been asked to be the next Cardiff manager. Apparently, he’d told Vincent Tan in his most polite Yorkshire-Irish way, that he wasn’t interested in the job.
Nothing Is Impossible!
It’s just that some things are more difficult than others.
One of my favourite quotes was made by Barnes Wallace in an interview by Chris Brasher for the obituary television program, that would follow the innovative engineer’s death.
There is no greater thrill in life than showing something is impossible and then proving how it can be done!
I’ve lived my life by this mantra even before I saw the program.
My current problem is how to get to Doncaster on Boxing Day to see Ipswich play.
There are no trains or buses, as it is Christmas.
I have posted on forums, written to newspapers, the television and radio and not one sensible reply. I’ve even offered a free ticket to the person, who drives me up to Doncaster.
I have even thought about hiring a helicopter. Light aircraft are not on, as Doncaster built on their grass field by the racecourse and the old Doncaster ground.
But then no-one says no to this London mongrel with a strong connection to Suffolk. According to my late father, I was at least conceived in the county. The last time was when I was told it would be impossible to visit all 92 League clubs in alphabetical order by public transport. I did that, but perhaps not as easily or fast, as I would have liked. I’m a stubborn bugger!
So I’ll be hitching all the way up. I can get a bus to the bottom of the A1 at Apex Corner and that’s where I’ll start. I’ve got a banner ready saying.
TRACTOR TO DONCASTER PLEASE!!
Only one person ever said no to me and that was the devil after my stroke. She took one look at me and thought I’d be too much trouble. So she let me stay here!
In a way, it was a compliment.
Bonkers Management
Not my phrase, but that of Rachel Burden on BBC Radio 5 to describe the style of management at Cardiff City, under the ownership of Vincent Tan.
I do wonder how some of these people made their money, as in my view you can’t make money without having some skill or sense. I wonder if you read his entry on Wikipedia, you’ll come to the same conclusions as I have.
The Anonymous Widower 