Boxing Day's Boxing Game

An early start today - 6am, all in the name of football, and with a small possibility of seeing Sarah, if she calls. Today is Boxing Day, its also the first local derby between Leamington FC and Racing Club Warwick for eons - local pride and bragging rights were are stake, so personally for me, I had to be there.

As I mentioned, 6am was an early start, with the plan of leaving my mum's at 6.30am to get down in time to grab a shower, get changed and pack things away and make the place look tidy. That was the plan anyhow, after a cup of tea, a chat with my mum and washed, shaved and teeth brushed the time was heading towards 6.45. After packing the car with a number of things, and still half a sleep, my mum announces that I should take my Teddy Bears down with me - based on the asumption my mum's had them stored away for 10 years, and a couple more months wouldnt do. Rather than getting private jabs from Rich, Nomes and Andy, I thought I would take a photo and post them up - so then everyone can take the piss, in a mission to dilute the piss take. So, I give you Camel, and Big Ted, the latter being my fav bear, and the former itching me like anything - and still does.

Camel - Itchy little thing!

Big Ted - My fav - not looking a lil dirty!

Anyhoo, back to the story - heading back south, and managed to get back home around 10am which isnt to bad, mainly because the roads were quiet and not many police around. After melting in the shower, John and Debbie arrived from Wales - and we had a quick drive over to Racing Club Warwick's ground. I have to say, I've been to some bad substandard grounds in my time - however this was shocking - it looked like someone's back garden and thought at one point there were actually ramblers rather than footballing fans.

Racing Club Warwick's Ground * Warning - Might not actually be the ground

1280 more or less fitted into the ground, and it was dirty from the off - Racing Club Warwick deciding that boxing on Boxing Day would be apt, however we managed to fill our midfield full and pick up on the counter. The patience payed off when in the second half, Howell ran down the right wing and crossed for Richard Adams to volley into the net - fantastic goal, well taken and just the Christmas present the Brakes needed. Full time was Racing Club Warwick 0 - Leamington FC 1 - full match report can be found here. This give me the opportunity to poke fun at the 8 year old kid stood next to us who was a Warwick fan, who basically didnt stop going on about the Brake's 9-1 defeat against Colchester - until Debbie told me off!

A quick drive back, changed and the three of us went down to the Well for pub meal, beer and Newcastle v Liverpool - which ended up in Liverpool scoring 2 and us none - and giving us a lesson in football, and turning my day into misery.

Nice to have my own space back, nice to have a shower and central heating too.

Merry Christmas

If anyone knows about how my family is setup - then they will understand how stressful Christmas day is. I dont mean that in a bad way, just one thing that you really dont need - its all based around precision timing - ie, My Dad pops out to the local working man's club and doesnt return til he knows the Christmas dinner is on the table, my sister was around at the inlaws this year to confuse things that little bit more.

Anyhoo, after nursing a bit of a hangover, I rose from the spare bedroom, wished my mother a merry Christmas, and got a cup of tea in exchange - brilliant! I then got a text from my sister saying, "Can you bring milk over" - this is the 2nd year that she's done that, so just going to get her a 2 pint bottle of red top of next year - done and dusted. As mentioned, my Dad was out on a mission at 11am on the dot, meaning I had to get over to Winlaton, see my sister, and pop up to my Dad's and give him the presents. I'd asked for the Starwars Ep III from my dad, mainly because it finished my collection off nicely - so, was suprised when I recieved some smellies from boots and some boots vouchers - nevermind eh ?

I dropped him off in the village, and headed back to my sisters, where my mum was waiting, talking to the dog and probably annoying the bro-in-law. Managed to get a nice shirt from my sister and a George Formby Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine. Turned out nice again! I only got the Junior sized one because my sister said, "You cant get a girl friend - so you're cooking for one!", then Phil suggested, "... and it was cheaper that the full size one".

Anyhooo, after drinking 2 gallons of tea and outstaying our welcome - we returned to my mothers gaff, had yet more tea and opened presents and started the Christmas Dinner. The Dinner was fantastic, I have to say, my mum makes a lovely Xmas Dinner - then I grew to 3 times the size of her flat and burst. I managed to get one of them Chocolate Fondu sets from my mum - and everything that you more or less need to have a Chocolate Fondu night in. I reckon my mother thinks I'm going to be entertaining over the night couple of months - so trying to educate me in the ways of the posh.

My mum has an uncanny knack of having an opinion on everything - for example;

You havent seen Bend it like Beckham ? Dont Worry, it's Crap

The JCB Song is pretty good isnt it That song is crap,
dont know how that made it to number one.

That tshirt you're wearing, Stephen, its a bit of a colour clash and I dont like
it.

Needless to say, when I switched the TV on to chill out - this happened. ...

Silent Night ... Holy Night ... Thank the Lord - My mum, exhausted by talking

I had a couple of cans, watched the TV, watched Toy Story 2 for the first time which was excellent, then the Christmas Special of Doctor Who, followed by some Christmas TV Tat and bed for an early start to the morning!

All in all, a very nice Christmas - an enjoyable break, relaxing, testing at times - cant wait to get back to my place for a shower!

Best Christmas Eve - Ever!

Mainly due to the fact that I didnt get to see Philippa lastnight, the fact I'm leaving Newcastle first thing Monday and in between, theres a small thing called Christmas - I decided to treat Pip out for the day. Its been a while since I've seen her, and I do like spending time with her - even tho she is completely nuts. After her lastnight's bit of bad news with work - she decided to stay in town with her work mates and get hammered, so by the time I got to her flat - she could only mutter one word - "MacDonalds". After running an courier service for my mother, we ended up down the Metro Centre's drive thru - and driving away with about 20 quids worth of fast food - and heading to Tynemouth.

I like going to the coast when I'm up in Newcastle, and I think if / when I do move back up North, I'll move to Tynemouth or somewhere close. Just feels nice, cold, but nice - and you feel like you have the wind in your hair - well, to be honest, it was in my hair - and chilled my face off. The one thing about Tynemouth is, I've never been to their Sealife Centre type Aquarium - so decided to take Philippa there.

Philippa - excited

We got there and had a quick look around the information centre - and it was hard to see who was the "nearly 31" out of us - and who was the child like person. Oh yeah, we've both 31 in Feb - bugger. We paid our money - well, technically, although I was treating Philippa, she ended up paying - with a shifty right eye on the centre shop - full of tat - yes, thats correct - Pippa has a tat fetish.

Fish May Bite - That includes household Goldfish!

Interesting how the above sign was all over the gaff when you have the harmless goldfish and sea life fish/animals - yet, when it came to the Piranha tanks - no sign what so ever. Anyhoo, we wandered around, looked and read up on the tropical fish, saw the cute otter that could rip your voice box out in seconds and then the scary evil deadly frogs

Toon Fish!

We walked around the corner, and found a massive tank full of different creatures - including sting rays (STIIIING RAAY - Doodledoodledoo) and then fancy looking sharks - took some photos - faffed around and laughed at random looking ugly fish.

A Shark - looking hungry, yesterday, pictured centre

After about 45 mins faffing around looking at fish - Philippa decided to look at the world of tat - buying some dodgy keyring with her name on. Reckon, given 20 mins, she could have bought the whole shop with bags of crap going to her flat.

We drove around Tynemouth a little more and after her refusing to get out of the car because "it was to cold and you can just go f**k off if you think I'm walking on the beach" - I got out of the car on my own and went to take some photos - some of which will be on Flikr.

To improve my Christmas Eve mood - Pippa decided to ask if we could pop into a supermarket to get some essentials - like milk, bread, 5 bottles of wine! I ended up coming out with a griddle pan, and 10 quids worth of random frozen products for tea and some old speckled hen - mmm. Anyhooo, dropped Pippa back at her flat and headed back to my mothers to eat the frozen food I purchased, and drink the booze, that I had purchased, sat down in the chair, and didnt move

The Eve Before Christmas Eve

I was due to go out drinking with Philippa and Een tonight, however, due to a number of reasons - it bombed out, but to be honest, I was knackered, so a blessing in disguise. Instead, decided to return Sarah's (sexy Sarah from the other night) call and apologise for not being able to chat much, well technically at all. We had a good chinwag, got to know each other a little more, and give Sarah the details of when I would be back in Leam, and she said she would text me over the weekend and before she leaves for her travels.

Text'd Debbie, to which I got a sarcy text message saying I was a big boy for talking to the opposite sex!

In festive mood now!

Books Books Books and More Books

Thankfully, there is a festive mind in the company these days, so I was able to leave around midday - however, thanks to numbnuts, I had to stay a little later to shovel more crap. I had a scan on friends reunited for old school mates incase there were hanging around in Newcastle, where I came across an old school mate Sarah. She's just opened a Book Shop over in Ryton (about 4 mile away from where I grew up) and popped over for a couple of hours for a chinwag to catch up and fill in a bit of time.

Turns out "Henry's Book Shop" has only been open for a couple of weeks, but looks a fantastic setup already. We nattered over tea, talked about times in the past, some old friends, my old physics teacher becoming headmaster at my old comp - so strange, so wrong. Sarah went to powder her nose - and asked me to look after the shop - I've never looked after a book shop, and technically speaking, there wasnt any customers - however, it felt good - stressfree, interesting and give you the satisfaction of people watching - while you make a living.

Anyhoooo, if you're interested in ordering a book, get it from Henry's Bookshop, Sarah is able to post orders, so its not like you have to travel to Newcastle. Anyhow, if you're interested, you can email Sarah on henrys.books@virgin.net - could well save you some money.

Howay Man! Jeff Man!

I feel like a lucky man today ... I took a slightly different route to work this morning - and not only passed one site that was filmed on Byker Grove, but two. Yes, around the corner from my mothers, you actually have the castle type building that was used on the Byker Grove set. Further down the hill, was the place where Ant (or was it Dec) got blinded in the Paintballing exercise.

This is Stefan Warburton bringing you filming sets from around the North East!

Catching up

Its been nice up in the North East, although been busy and completely zapping, I've managed to catch up with a couple of friends and most of the immediate family. I popped over to see my sister on Monday night, just before she went out into Newcastle for a session with her shift. She'd invited me out, mainly because one of her mates is single and looking - and apparently interested - but because I had to continue my visiting, politely declined.

I popped over to see EEN and Sarah, and of course, cute little Jess - who were all full of cold - and ironically, me being the fittest and healthiest one there. Sarah has just been told that they're expecting their next child in June time - so its all very exciting - and once little Jess got used to me again, she couldnt stop giving me her photo with Father Xmas and herself - all very exciting, I'm sure. Planned to go out for a couple of quiet ones with Een later on in the week, maybe meeting up with Pippa on Friday and Xmas Eve.

Yesterday lunch time, I met up with Gillian (my sister) and my Dad up in Winlaton at the Rose and Crown and bought them lunch - only seemed fair after buying my mum Sunday Lunch at the weekend in Newcastle. Had a chin wag, myself and Gillian were up to our old tricks or having childish place fights - even making me bleed when I punched her wedding ring! thanks!

SOMETHING'S COMING,,,>

Just been checking the Doctor Who Website for information about the Christmas Invastion Special. Looks like they have a couple of trailers already and a couple of teasers.

Looking forward to it already.

Also, there are a number of photos found here - with some spoilers.

Ice Stops Play!

A busy, tight scheduled day ahead. I have to admit, with my mum moving jobs, and with it, homes, I dont know where she lives. The only thing I had to go on was a postcode - and technically, I could have asked for directions - but thats the easy way out. Mr Palin purchased a fancy Tomtom satnav device the other day and give me an idea. I decided to do the same, and purchased a slightly lower model (going for the 500, instead of the 700). Rich tipped me off that Argos had them on the cheap, so after some web research and finding out that Argos had this saving of 100 quid, I decided to plump for it, and shove it on my credit card.

I had about 30 mins to work out how to use it, get the flat tidy and pack the car as the Brakes were playing in Rorster. I actually managed it, meeting John and Debbie out on the street and prompted left Leam. We got on the road, going through Kenilworth, however this TomTom 500 couldnt find a GPS signal - great, spent a fortune on something that doesnt even work. It got to the situation where i was about to throw it out the window when we got to the M6 Toll booth, opened the window to pay and "IN 300 YARDS - TAKE THE 2ND EXIT ON THE ROUNDABOUT". The women at the toll booth give me a funny look, and I give her one too, thinking she was taking the piss. I preprogrammed the device before we left - and it was actually working pretty well, even with a scouse style "ROUND-ABOUT" comedy accent - sounded something like Thomas the Tank Engine. We got into the town, and I have to say, I would fancy living there - looked like a nice town to live in, although was surrounded by a high percentage of chavs. We reached the ground and there was 5 mins before kick off, however still alot of people knocking around - including people getting on and off the team bus.

One of the supporters club guys came up to Debbie's and my car telling us that the game had been cancelled at 2pm - nice. So, not only have I ran around like a headless chicken, I've driven god knows how far, but the game got cancelled without anyone knowing it. John, Debbie and I headed to a local pub to releave ourselves and had a quick drink, before we split - them heading home, and I heaving towards Newcastle via crosscountry towards the M1.

The TomTom device worked well, I even changed the display so you could see the road that you're driving along and it was suprisingly accurate. I headed to the last major roundabout towards my mum's when my phone went - assuming it was my mum, I shouted that I was driving still and would give them a bell back. The TomTom device guided me to my mum's postcode - it was 30 metres out - which isnt to bad going, considering I've never been here before.

After getting myself settled, and 3 cups of tea and chatted to my mum - I apologised to my mum for not being able to pick the phone up while I was driving. She said she didnt know anything about it and never called me - so checked my phone - a Leamington Number - which was a bit strange. I assumed that it was John and Debbie who checked my flat and I'd forgot some presents behind or I've shamed around slightly. So I called the number, and some bloke answered the phone - I said hello a couple of times and got "Ah, is that Steve?" - you know what its like when you dont know someones voice so said yes. "Ah, I'll get Sarah, she called you earlier but thought you'd given her the wrong number". YES!!! So I chatted a little bit, told her that I was going to be back in Leam on boxing day morning, and if she was still around (she's off to China), I'd take her out for a drink or do something interesting.

Happy Festive Friday!

After suffering all day with a hangover, the last thing I really needed was some kind of heavy happy friday, so we ended up going to picollinos for a pizza and a pint of peroni. Well, I only managed 3/4's of the pint, am I actually getting old and unable to take my beer. It was suggested that we could go for a bottle of wine at the jug, however, John and Debbie have been following space cadets pretty closely, so arranged to have some drinks at theirs. As we had to get up early to a) pack for newcastle b) clean my flat as it was a tip and c) get to Rocester to watch the match, it was supposed to be a sensible night in.

I purchased Buckaroo the day before, I think, so we set that up and had a couple of goes with that, John loosing both, then settled down with a bottle of wine, a smile and a glass. I havent watched much of Space Cadets, but did have a chuckle at the end when the revealed that it was all a setup.

We continued watching TV, with QI (first time i've seen that) and then later on, Jimmy Carr live - then wine ended, luckily john had some whisky - to which I nearly slipped into a coma, but managed to crawl back and tuck myself into the covers.

Last Christmas, I give you my ... Stella!

Lastnight was the work Christmas do - and was located in the restaurant in Jeffson's Gardens. I've been there a couple of times with the ex many years ago for lunch etc, so knew roughly what to expect - and knowing what happened last year at the party, its definately interesting. To mix it up a little more, they decided on a fancy dress party with the theme of nationalities - so friends being friends, we made an effort - well, some of it did anyhow!

Rich, so cunning, you could put a tail on him and call him a fox, suggested preparty beers down the jug and jester as a meeting place. So, one quick call later, Comrad Rich, Bellis and Big Bad Bob were on their way to pick me up. Rich made the effort by getting the biggest Russian coat imported from the eastern block, while Bellis and Bob, just couldnt be arsed - so turned up in jeans - and Bellis (old enough to be your father) turned up in his traditional "hip and street" gear.

We sup'd a pint in the Jug - well, Bellis had two in the space we had half of ours, then we were met my the lovely Helen, Lyrical Shamster Fursal and Captain Ireland - Johno. Helen was supposed to be turning up in some kind of kinky leather leiderhose - but "forgot them", Fursal was in some grass skirt type sham, and Johno's attempt involved a St Patrick's Day Guiness Hat.

We moved onto the glass house restaurant where it was complete chaos, and eventually after 25 mins of queuing at the bar, we got drinks - I opted for a bottle of wine to myself, while the others went for lager etc etc. The food service was pretty good, although when the waitress came around with starters and asked who was having what, I announced pretty loudly, that "I was a tart" - when she handed be some stilton and leek tart. Then, when the main meal came around, announcing to the same girl, that "I was a turkey" - you can see what the general jist of the convo for the rest of the night. By the way, yes, I did have the pudding for dessert.

"KGB"

Nomes, Rich and I decided to go wandering between starter and main meal - and had some camera fun in the plant/tree/green area of the restaurant - which just made me laugh even more everytime I thought about it. What made me laugh most of the night, was Rich's piss poor attempt at fake English/Russian accent, which came out Irish - so when he kept on announcing KGB (we had KGB Identification cards) - it sounded like someone from the IRA - then he tried Irish, which then came out Cornish.

Boo Hoo Hoo

This was the basic story of the night - take the piss, get pissed and take photos - then disco time - and they played mostly 80s music. Nomes asked for Gold by Spandau Ballet - which more or less got people up and dancing and having a laugh.

At that point alot of people got very drunk (me included) and this started random ranting of conversations.

Murder in a tree plantation.

Thankfully, the place wasnt just packed full of people from work - there were other parties - however they all turned up in tux, ball gowns and smart gear. So, the chances are, we've ruined their xmas - yay. After a mixture of guiness, rum, wine, beer and lager, the party was in full swing and a number of people went outside for a chat, chinwag, and cool down. One of the lads, Ket, decided to tell us a "short story" which after 25 mins, people were close to ending it all. Last orders was called, at some point, I dont really recall - so we got a quick one in - then made escape plans - there were three groups starting to develop - those who wanted to go home, those who wanted to go clubbing, and those (us) who wanted to go to the Well and stay after hours - which we did. We later found out that no one got into the club, as it was nearly 1am.

Reader's Comrad!

Thankfully to our magic key into the Well, we sat down, chatted, Big Bad Bob and I argued about random shit and Bellis just sat there grinning. There must have been a band there, as all the mic's were still stood there - and they left their sound system plugged in, playing music. I say this, as when "I dont like Monday's" came on, I decided to get up to the mic and mime the words - thinking most people had been kicked out - when, mid performance, I opened my eyes to find 2 people video'ing me with their mobiles and people clapping and cheering. Rich wanted a more somber attempt, so I threw everything I had into the last verse and chorus.

Me, start of the night, sober - not for long.

We got kicked out the Well, Bellis got his traditional Christmas Chips from the chippie, bob squeeked, I was unable to talk, and Rich just abused us all - all a bit like last year, funnily enough. They went their own directions and drank vodka til 4am - where I emailed a friend, entered a compo, stripped off all my uniform at the door and entered a coma.

Anyhow, the rest of the photos can be viewed here - I've still got a hangover and feel crud!

Has Steve Turned to the Church ?

Have you noticed that my bad language has suddenly improved over the last 24 hours - well technically on one blog entry. Its not because its heading towards Christmas, its not because I'm getting older by the day, and heading towards that 31 on a very quick road - its because one of my lovely old neighbours from Newcastle has found me on T'internet, and now going to threaten to tell my mother about this.

Myself and J go back a long time - to when I was living in Winlaton and was one of the few people to support me through uni - and we've kept in touch up until about 3 years ago, when for a number of reasons, we lost contact. By the powers of the mega duplex systematic flash bang wallop highway (aka - Google Search Engine) she decided to read up and email me once again.

Debbie, J is the reason that we drink so much white wine now! She was the first person to put me through the pain of building myself up to white wine all those years ago, although, I think it was Blue Nun or something equally dodgy from the corner shop.

J, if you read this, please remember to flush your Internet Explorer Cache and delete your history - dont want the wrath of the angry bloke

Damn Sister!

You know what its like when you're young. You spend most of your time wishing something to come true, a new toy, a present, your fav friend coming to tea - well this week, I've been completely on edge, waiting (and hoping) for the lovely Sarah to send me a text. Its been 5 days now, so, either its a case she still doesnt have my number, she's playing it ultracool or finally and most probably - she's not interested.

Like I say, I've been on the edge of my seat most of the week, expecting that infamous nokia *BEEP BEEP*. The yesterday afternoon .... *BEEP BEEP* so I rushed to the phone - only to recieve a text message from my sister with a photo of a dog - after 2 mins of swearing and cursing, I calmed down and drank my tea. Today, I was in the office and ... *BEEP BEEP* again, rushing through my bag, another photo from my sister - with a photo of a dog and the words "Hello Uncle Steve, I'm your new Niece".

A dog, today.

My sister is a bit special (abit like me when I'm special and getting into nightclubs for free), and I love her to bits - but starting to get annoyed at her - as its distracting me from the game in hand. I can only assume that in her moments of boredom, she's now gone out and purchased a second dog to take a disliking to me and wants more dogs to growl at me - and make my eyes water! So inconsiderate!

So, to the game.... what do you do ? do you leave it ? do you pop around and say hi again? do you pop an xmas card through the post through the door? do you just hope you bump into her in town ? I've never really been that good with reading the opposite sex on a good day, nevermind when there are so many delta's involved - damn it! why cant things be simple for once!?!

Goldfish Bowl : Official!

I'd arranged to meet Debbie down the gym to do a bit of swimming and see if I can trim up and technically speaking, squeeze into my fancy dress costume trousers. On the way, I went past Headmasters, the hairdressing gaff down the road from me - when I noticed a familiar face sitting down through the window. I pondered outside and tried to rack my brains on who it was - after about 2 mins of walking past looking semi scarily, it twigged - it was one of Sarah's (girl from lastnight) flatmates. I popped in, instantly he remembered me, shook my hand and said that Sarah had spoken about me loads after I'd left - all good you reckon. I asked if he would pass my number on to her, then if she was interested, she could call/text etc etc - he said he would, but was going away with his girlfriend for the weekend.

I made my excuses and went away on my business, and met Debbie in the pool only to find the sauna and jacuzzi closed - so we faffed around in the pool as well as swimming and in no time what so ever, we'd managed 100 lengths - well, Debbie did, I completed around 70.

We headed back to our flats, arranged to meet them around theirs around 7 - to have cocktails that John had promised - was almost like rocket fuel, just a little bit more sour this time - but was still nice. Anyhooooooo, we pottered down to Millenium Curry House, only to bump into the Lovely Sarah's other housemate - so I chinwagged and left him to it - and we had a lush meal.

We ended up the Jug and Jester (Yes, I know ... Shock Horror!) for a bottle of wine, then PFH turned up, and popped around to the Town House for a swift one, before heading back to the Jug where it was a little more quiet this time. After we got thrown out, Debbie appeared to be extremely drunk, suggesting she could walk in a straight line - yet, in reality she was all over the place and ended up two steps to the left, from where she started off.

Nightmare from that point onwards, my front door managed to freeze over, so had to get into John and Debbie's place, then in spiderman style, slowly and easily navigate into my patio. Classy eh?

Steve kisses girls!

Yesterday was a bit of a strange day, for a number of different reasons - mainly in a good way. Some of the details are still a little sketchy, but hey, thats what blogs are for.

Rich and most of his colleagues had an afternoon down the boozer for a bit of an xmas beer session, due to my lunch time football commitment (and technically that was free too) I couldnt attend, and by the time I got back home, I had tonnes of work to do.

Myself, Debbie and John headed up towards the New Windmill Ground to purchase tickets for the boxing day derby game against Racing Club Warwick. Once we got back, I had a call from Rich saying that a number of people were heading towards the Star and Garter and asking if I wanted to meet them there. So, cold and foggy though it was, I agreed and set off up for a 20 minute walk in the cold, got there and found them all half cut and talking rubbish. Numbers started to break off, and at the end, was left up to me and Blunty to keep the drinking up - and we ended up walking to a curry house at 1am after getting chucked out of the Star.

After a further drink while waiting for our take away meal, we parted our seperate ways and I headed down the parade, bumping into Sir Andy of the Well - so we had a chinwag and laugh while he was about to lock the front door. An attractive lass walked up to us both and asked if the pub was still open for beer, to which, Andy asked if she knew me - part flirting, part halfcut, I grinned and said yes, to which Andy invited us in for a free beverage. We got talking, shared my chicken curry with her when "Shit, is that chicken ? oh, I'm a veggie, nevermind" - turns out she lives down the road from me, so offered to walk her back - well, it was cold, dark, and very very foggy.

By the time we got to Millenium/TJs, we ended up snogging and it was very nice too. We continued to talk, hold hands and walk towards Somerfield, when we bumped into her two house mates, where they invited me back to their place for a cup of tea. Ended up snogging a little more, chatting and ended up going home due to it being 3.30am.

Nice lass, wonder if she calls, certainly be interesting (and interested) - however for the time being - still the single life. Fantastic night too.

Football Sham to Football Shamtastic

I'm playing a little bit of blogcatch up here, as its been a little bit of a busy week with one thing and another.

Wednesday night was once again 5aside over in Warwick, this week giving the guys a bit of a free week, due to the amount we have in the kitty. With it getting colder, I wanted to give the rest of the lads a bit of a push and motivation kit to ensure that people turn up. Anyhow, turns out, I had a complete shocker of a game, hitting the target once and fluffing a number of shots.

After the game, I joined John O (Mad Irish man, and massive Man U fan) and Rich down the Well to watch the must win game for them to get through to the next round of the champions league. One of Rich's mates from home was also there - but he was a tad boozed up - and making x rated comments which only a few people can be told the tale, thankfully.

Anyhow, Man U had an even of a worse game than what I did - and ended up loosing, and coming bottom of their mini league - not even making the uefa cup - and costing them an absolute fortune in the process. At that point, John O called it a night, mainly due to the piss take from me and Rich, then Aido left (waking up in the morning on his sofa in a tray full of kebab meat.

Rich and I stayed a little bit later and continued to take the piss out of the remaining man u fans in the pub, then ended up leaving at some point, I think, maybe.

Party Panic!

People who know me ... know that I tend to leave things til the last minute ... it might be buying things (like xmas presents) or making decisions (like going to football games, or watching harry potter) - but I've hit a small issue.

Next Thursday is work's xmas party, fine you may say to yourself (no, say it), however this is a fancy dress party. I've tried to kill two birds with one stone - as John and Debbie are having a new year fancy dress party too, so trying to get one outfit that fills both scenarios - and I know what I want.

The theme to the parties are, Work = Nationalities, and J&Ds = Uniforms, and so far I've managed to get a funky hat - that will remain anonymous apart from a select few viewings, and a belt. I know where to get the bits remaining, however, sadly, not my size, so may have to do some proactive changes. I'm popping over tomorrow afternoon to see if the dude has any new gear in, failing that, I'm going to have to go in tight clothes - and with my body frame - thats never a good thing. Rich, annoyingly, has sorted all but one item out for his, where as captain bluntarian is going to leave it til thursday morning and turn up as the pink panther again. On the plus side, I'm not on the xmas table with mates and some foxy students - purr!

Two ways to beat Newcastle United....

I've been impressed that the Daily Mirror have documented Chelsea's efforts on how to beat a team. The example they used was, sadly, against Newcastle United - where the management team looked at the individuals in Newcastle's team - an example is below - and pulled out their weaknesses and also strengths. Although NUFC held on til half time with a 0-0 scoreline - it was a final score of 3-0 - which shows the complex way of knowing your opposition, inside out.

Original Source : Daily Mirror - Chelsea's tactics

The slightly easier way to beat Newcastle United - place 11, 2nd&3rd stringers/teenagers and people who havent played for 3 months against a 50 million pound squad ie, Wigan