Nothing to play for??

With 5th place sorted out, and last game of the season, you'd think we wouldnt have anything to play for. Leam FC payed host to Loughborough Dynamo as the final game of an already impressive season by anyone's standards, what with an FA Cup first round place, a very good run in the FA Vase, a Cup final in a couple of weeks time against Barwell, doing very well in the league at the start of the season.

I'd missed the away Barwell League game on tuesday, sadly, however reading the reports, it appeared that it was a fantastic night, and gives us the lift before the cup final against the same team.

The first half against the mighty dynamo was good, we could have scored a couple and had it sorted by the half time whistle, but we had to settle with just the one, and Leam do it the hard way. The 2nd half was a slightly different story, but more or less the same tale that we saw at Westfields a couple of months ago, where we just lost the formation and lost the control and flow. There were a number of moans and groans from all areas of the ground, but this just made the opposition stronger and stronger and by the final whistle we were 3-1 down.

The goal keeper was being given a bit of abuse from the North Bank, as they do with most keepers - its all a bit of banter, sometimes it gets a bit serious, but hey, its football. At the final whistle went, the keeper cheered loudly and was given even more banter - suggesting that they had won a cup, or the league, or something, in reality, they got 3 points, nothing more, nothing less. As the ground started to empty, the Keeper came over to me, and I expected a punch or something when he opened his mouth, I was assuming he was blaming me for the banter, or picked up on something I'd said.

Refreshingly enough, he asked what I'd done to my leg, told me a story about him doin the same thing, told me to be patient and patted my back and sent me on my way. We were all a bit gobsmacked, I dont know if he was mixing me up with one of the players or was just being genuinly nice - was nice tho, much to our amusement!

The brotherhood of the North Bank came over to speak to me, to ensure he wasnt taking his frustrations out on me, which was nice too, but told them the story and they laughed, then went to grab booze, where as we left to go back home, to find out that Pompey had stayed up, thanks to some fine silky football from NUFC.

Zutons, Calcium & Sainsbury's

I was kindly invited to sainsbury's to get some weekly shopping, and this time, John, Debbie and I were joined by Laura. After picking up Laura from somewhere out west, Debbie skidding on Laura's lawn, we were on our way.

Turns out Laura is one of these Super Shoppers, as it appears that as soon as we got there, she used her Shop-time-machine to complete her shopping and she was waiting patiently for us to complete ours. By the time I picked up my wheel chair, wheeled around the veg department, and the entertainment department, it was looking more likely we needed a bigger trolly.

I picked up The Zuton's new album on my wheeling, and turns out its absolutely fantastic, although my other purchase "the producers" on DVD wasnt so fantastic. But, you live and learn by these experiences, and move on from them. Packing the trolley with enough calcium to grow new bones altogether, and enough ready meals that would last a nuclear war, we were well on our way to the alcomohol department. I tried to be a little independant, by grabbing my own beer, including a bottle of wine, 2 bottles of american beer, and a bottle of Cat Whiskers (a real ale - not actually a drink made out of cat's whiskers). On the way back to join John, I accidently dropped a bottle, well it rolled from between my legs. Have to say, being in a wheel chair, you can get away with almost anything, with me apologising, and the sales assistant telling me not to worry. I really wasnt, I was more embarressed by the fact I'd done it in front of a stunning blonde who I'd had my eye on, couldnt happen any other funking time, could it !?

After picking up the medicinal ice cream we managed to get to the checkout and pay pretty quickly. On the way back, we discussed our purchases, only to find out that I was chuffed with my album purchase, John was sitting on a massive bag of compost, and Laura was over the moon with her pumpkin seeds.

See, shopping days REALLY can be fun!

Broken Happy Friday

John picked a project up, which consisted of recording using the medium of photography, the indepth passage of a curry. So to help him along his way, myself, Debbie, John, MC and Super Gary ended up in a curry house, not far from where we live. This was quite an achievement, mainly because it was the first Friday that I've been out since I knackered my knee up, although I went out with Rich the other night, this is the first time I've sat down with a meal, and stayed out all night - all quite exhausting.

After the evidence of the starter, drinks and main meal, the curry house ended up geting packed out with emo kids (not chavs like Super Gary thought). Now Emo's (not the birds thats emu) to me, its a bit of a poor man's goth, you know, you do the dressing up, but you really dont make the effort to apply the makeup. I suppose the only real difference is the colour of the clothes, ie, there is some colour and its not just black.

Anyhow, Super Gary got a bit scared of the crowd, so we convinced he and MC to come to the Jug for "one" beverage, while I went looking for some attention from some fit lasses. We managed to get a small table next to the window, so was nice, esp with the light nights, but I was really hoping that the beer garden was going to be open - a little optimistic I reckon. This is also the first time I've worn jeans in about 10 days, so I was a little confused, luckily a pair of my jeans had been ripping slightly at the bottom of the leg, so rather than cutting a new / old pair, I was able to wedge the material around different angles.

Yes, I did fancy a bit of attention, and was egged on to go find it, however, what I wasnt expecting was the Jug's landlord coming over asking questions, with his fantastic tash. A nice bloke, but just not what I was looking for in terms of attention seeking. Anyhoo, MC and Super Gary didnt want to drink too much as they were going for a jog in the morning, however, 3 bottles of wine later, MC entered her usual point of the night, where she's either vr quiet, or vr loud, her head dances a little then ends on Gary's shoulder before her eyes glaze over.

I was worried about getting back, esp after a bottle of wine and a pint inside me - however, with the medium of alcomohol, we were able to get back in about 15 minutes. I was feeling a little drunk, so decided to watch a bit of TV, and managed to get a good 45 minutes of the London Carling Festival, which was fantastic - although did eventually need sleep before I entered my coma on the sofa.

Booze or No Booze [ ? ]

You'll have to excuse the two links to a story here .. but they do meet in the middle, somewhere, I think, well I'm sure of it. Rich has got me into the quiz game show, Deal or No Deal, and find it pretty relaxing, so been catching it when I can, when I'm not busy, or clocking off early. The format is pretty good, and to me, its a case, if you get on the show, its free money - not really using the brain cells as such.

Hello Noel!

Anyhow, Rich popped down and helped me get down to TJs for a couple of sly beers - between the two of us, we had enough crap to deal with, so we give up and buggered off to the pub. We went for TJs, as it was easiest to get too and have a quick and quiet beer - and take it from there. It was nice, it was also the first beer that I've had since Sunday, and the 2nd for about 10 days - which is pretty good going. I promised myself that I wouldnt get lardy while I had a cast on due to lack of exercise, so trying to stay away from booze and doing situps when and if I can.

Anyhow, after TJ's beer, we went over to the Well to see our old bar staff friends, and had a couple, we got talking about Deal or No Deal (see, there is a link) and managed to make up a new related spin off game, Booze or No Booze. Rather than money, you get booze, so, you invite x number of friends around and place a bottle of something in a box, mix them all around. The smallest prize consists of a pint of water, then you go up to lemonade, diet coke, full fat coke, getting to stronger and/or more expensive beverages - a nice bottle of champers for example, as the top prize.

Anyhow, at the thought of this, we couldnt stop laughing, and then had another spin off game, bird or no bird, but then the walls of reality started to crumble and I dont think either of us made any sense at all. We wandered back to TJs for a final pint, talked to a lovely lass at the end of the bar about my war injury, and watched the final minutes of the 2nd champions league semi final. Although it wasnt late, and because it was the first "session" for a while, I was a little blah, so crutched it back home, taking around 25/30 minutes (when it normally takes about 5 minutes). Starving that I was, I bunged in a "toad in the hole" in the oven, managing to talk to someone on MSN, thinking it was them, turns out it was her brother, so tried to fix things by texting, and making things worse by taking the piss out of her boyfriend. To make things even worse, I went to get the food and burnt my thumb on the boiling fat from the food - it hurt.

Toe Panic

One of the things that the male nurse said to me when he put the cast on, was that if the toes start to go blue, come into the hospital to get checked out. I've never broken any bones before, so this is complete trial and error to me. I'm not going to give you the sob story about being single blah blah blah, I admit, its not easy, but I like being independant, but do miss company. Anyhoo (oh, a while since I've said that) yesterday around 4pm, my toes started to go a funny colour, part of me thought its just dust, or muck, part of me thought about them becoming bruised, but seemed strange that my toes bruise when its my ankle.

I sent Debbie a text asking if she had the time, if she could take me over to A&E - you know, just for some reassurance, and I think I'm at that point of life, where I'm getting old and sensible. Normally, I would have shrugged it off, and maybe have gone down to the pub instead - then think about getting chips. Debbie was on her way back from WeightWatchers (tm) and called me to find out what was wrong. I explained the situation and agreed that I should go over (accompanied by John), although this was putting John and Debbie's jogging night off.

Once we got to A&E, I checked in, as it were, and then we waited, and waited and waited - well for approx 45 mins (missing Hollyoaks - damn it). Once I got to see the nurse, she confirmed it was bruising, and it was OK, and just to keep my foot upright. At this point A&E was full of attractive, but broken young women, so we left and went back home. A couple of hours later, my toes had gone to a new level of black and blue - and not very pretty. I apologised to John and Debbie plenty of times for wasting their time, mainly because I didnt want the humour starting to wear thin. Anyhow, I still have all my toes, even tho they are currently fat, round, black and blue, thanks to the swelling - but better to be safe than sorry. I do like my toes, even if no one else likes them.

Wheelchair fun around sainsbury's

Fun around Sainsbury's last Thursday

oh hollyoaks - you know, those people from the tele.

The long awaited Leam Youth Squad v Mersey TV (including people from hollyoaks) was kicked off today. It was a charity event in the aid of the MacMillan fun, on behalf of the Major Of Leamington, and it was expected to be the biggest crowd of the season, on top of Leam v Warwick and the FA cup qualifier - way back when.

Once again, Debbie drove myself and John up and we got there just a lil before kick off. The place was occupied mainly by the younger range of females, and some regulars like us trying to cheer on the town's football club.

The first half ended goaless and we ended up popping into the club house for a sly beer and a chinwag with the lovely Liz and the not so lovely Vince (well, he's a bloke). We had Brake Fluid - and this being the first drink for a week, went straight to the head - mainly because of the painkillers. The second half kicked off, and John and Debbie left me chinwagging with one of the chaps from work, explained how the ankle had buggered up, then joined John and Debbie at the Harbury Lane end.

This went to Pens (Leam going 1-0 up, then the "stars" being given a penalty which was very suspect - esp when the guy was going in the opposite direction. The stars ended up winning 5-4 on pens, or something - but anyhow, I ended up taking some photos.

I thought the lads done very well, based on the fact that they were playing older guys and them being TV stars. Some of the stars were swearing and we reminded them that there were young impressionable people around - like me :o)

Bye Bye Mr Shearer

I was talking to my old school mate, Philippa, yesterday via Text. She's a radiologist up in Newcastle, and often sees the NUFC squad down her corridors. Pippa was the person who managed to get me tickets to Shearer's testimonial, so thought it was only fair to text her and let her know as much as I could about my injury.

When I got the text message she mentioned that Mr Shearer was in the hospital awaiting a scan from one of her colleagues - however, from Pippa's description, "He looks fucked". Needless to say, the papers were covered with stories about Shearer retiring.

Legend - pure and simple.

When I eventually woke up today, there was a statement on the unofficial NUFC webpage saying that the great man has officially retired from playing professional football. By all accounts, the interviews that I've seen today, he's trying to get fit for some kind of appearance in the testimontial next month. Good luck to the chap, he's been a complete legend for Newcastle, England and the Premiership. Just a shame he was unable to finish the last 3 remaining games of the season. Sir Alan, I take my cap off to you!

Hotdog, Jumping Frog, Alvechurch-y

With being either in my flat, or hospital, I was desperate to get out and get some fresh air, regardless of where it was. Thursday nights tend to be football free, however Leam FC had to play a previously posponed game up at Alvechurch, approx 35 minutes drive away from home. It sounded like a great idea, a football game, not to far, so if it did rain, or I was exhausted, we could come back with pretty much ease. We invited MC along to her first Leam FC game, and sure enough, the roads were clear enough, we got there 5 minutes later than expected - with the game already up and running, 1-1 was the score (I thought it was 0-0).

Captain Simesy was there on Wedneday night the accident happened, so came over and spoke to me - it did look like it was going to rain, so when I mentioned I needed to keep the cast dry, he invited me up to stand / sit with the "North Banker's". These were a group of friendly chaps, who stand behind the goals at the home games, and start alot of the singing - and personally speaking, the heart and soul behind the fan base. They'd already started with one song, "ONE leg, He's only got one leg, he's only got one leg, ONE LEG!" and "He's got a leg that can be used as a goal post".

When I went to join them up some old stone steps, every time I jumped with one leg, they "BOING'D" like Zebedee from the magic roundabout. All very amusing and in good taste, and I continued to watch the game from a fantastic position at the back of the stands, talking to the guy who does the filming for the Brake's (no pun intended) Videos.

We cheered the players on and ended up coming away with a vital 3 points, moving us nicely for a 5th position finish in the league. We made our way back to the car, however forgetting it was on a gentle bank, but on crutches, felt like a mountain - but made it. Once we got back, my shoulders, chest and arms were red raw with blood rushing around my body. However this meant that I would get a good night sleep, certainly after all this adventure over the last couple of days.

Going back to hospital - already

Thursday morning saw a return to Warwick Hospital, this time, the fracture clinic, and the next desk away from A&E. Sadly no sign of the foxy doctor that dealt with me the night before, however, you'd really expect her to be tucked in bed after potentially a huge shift. We got there a little later than the 09:05 appointment, mainly due to the fact that it takes about 3 times as long to do anything with a cast and a set of crutches. Luckily Debbie was on vacation for half term, however, I did feel guilty that she'd basically dropped her holiday to help me out.

Once we did get there, the "everyone wants to be a comedian" continued with OAP's trying to be funny, and then a 20 minute wait. We got to speak to the specialist (Dr Aslan - no, not the Lion from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - much to Debbie's amusement) who said he wasnt happy with the Xray - something to do with breaking that bone, meant that you put pressure on another bone and that breaks too. He cut open the cast open and the foot was still swollen, mentioned a possible operation, larger cast and even longer to return to "action".

He packed me off to teh Xray department once again, this time to get a full leg Xray - this wrecked as I had to twist and turn the knee and foot so the Xray lady was happy. Back off to the specialist with new Xray in hand, he still wasnt happy, so decided to wrap my foot around in a cast again and get me back in 2 weeks time. This gives the swelling a chance to reduce and maybe a little bit of healing. He give me a cast that I could "stand" on when I go to the toilet - but I was still not to put any pressure on. I started to take the painkillers then and there, and we set off towards Starbucks next to Sainsbury's to get some brunch, with us being up so early.

With a cup of tea, sandwich and muffin inside of us, we decided to have a wander (hop) around the shop to get supplies til the weekend. I'd gone to customer services and managed to get a wheel chair - much to Debbie's amusement, and not to the sales assistant, who couldnt understand why Debbie was laughing at me. I took to the wheel chair straight away, managing to do 180's and 360's - also managing to surf around corners. This was truely the most fun I've had for a very long time, and certainly in the last 48 hours.

Debbie was very good, she put away all my shopping that we got, and harped on about the state of flat, even threatened to come around and clean it up, when her cleaner turned up at 4pm ish. I couldnt get this right in my mind ... they had a cleaner, yet she was willing to come around and clean my gaff up - just strange, not natural.

Anyhow, 4.30pm came and a knock on the door, as she started to clean my flat up, putting random items that I've collected into storage plastic boxes. wiped the work top. I was still working away, blinked and turned around, it was like the place was brand new, like the day I moved in, just with my possessions in. It was clean! To be fair, I had washed and put away loads of dishes, plates and cups, and the week before, had thrown away alot of rubbish, so I think the job was made a little easier - but still thank you.

To say thanks, I cooked the ready meals that we had bought earlier and ate together, we even worked on a plan on how I could get a bath, without a) Debbie seeing me semi/naked and b) getting my cast soaking wet. This involved me twisting and turning my body around, using the shower head to wash my hair and back.

All fun - yet clean, I hadnt wash, bath or shower since running around for 45 minutes, covered in sweat, dirt and sand - was so nice to be clean - mmm, clean

If its good enough for Shearer, its good enough for me - Hero Worshipping

Before anyone else decided to blog this and post the photo up, I thought I'd get in first. Right now, I'm in alot of pain, and it all happened at 19:45 on the football pitch when I went for the ball, with someone chasing after it too. I slipped, skidded, slipped again, heard three tears/cracks and yelped. I'm not a fraid to admit it, I yelped, and I wasnt scared because I'd broken anything, but because of the noise it made.

After speaking to the first aid at the sports centre, he suggested going over to Warwick A&E to get it checked out - within 5 minutes, it had gone from moveable to unmoveable and very painful. Captain Johno at that point had turned up for a game of football and a big beam on his face, only for it to turn to a concerned look. One of the lads, Bill, took me over to A&E in his flash (but very low down) BMW convertable, Johno had roped one of the students to drive my car back to my place and drop the keys off.

Meanwhile in A&E, I was a little worried at the "The Queuing time is approx 2.5 hours" - however got seen by, I guess you call them male nurses. He took more details and said the doctor would be there in a couple of minutes. He was right, and she was stunning, we talked, she prodded, I blushed, I grimaced, then after 10 minutes consulation I got, "Oh, you have got funny feet havent you". After smiling more, she packed me off to the XRay department, where I had a nice chat with the XRay man - now called X Ray, not because his name was Ray, but because it made me laugh when I was in agony. He give me a plastic folder with the Xrays, after updating me on the Arsenal score, and told me to go sit "somewhere". I bumped into the lovely Doctor, who by this time I had taken a real shine too, and she said she's sort me out in a tick.

When she got back, she looked at the plastic folder and said "its got a red dot on it" - when I asked if that was bad, she said I was going to need a cast. Within seconds of her saying that, all I could think was, 6aside compo = fucked, shearer testimonial = fucked, dancing in Mirage = fucked. She said that a nurse would come sort my cast out and waved goodbye, then Debbie, followed by Johno turned up and waved and laughed. At that point the male nurse said he was ready for the cast, brought a very bad looking wheel chair (see below) much to Debbie and Johno's amusement. Johno shouting in the background, "never let Shaun drive your car again, I dont think he had a driving licence".

"Help me lady doctor, please - pitty me"

Obviously, put someone in a situation, and this day and age, people will take photos on camera's, mobile phones, and this was no change. After reminding those two that phones and cameras are not permitted in the hospital, the male nurse just laughed and told them to get on with it. Typical, only under Blair's NHS!

Anyhow, add 20 minutes and a cast later, I was hobbling around like Mr Hoppy the Hopmaster in Hopland and heading towards home (Johno leaving and Debbie giving me a lift home) - only to wave nicely at the lovely Doctor - medicine woman - purr! Got set up at home, text'd my mother, Pippa, and the oh so lovely Jess, took a couple of painkillers, didnt make it down the pub and wrote this. Thanks to one and all to helping me out.

Only got to get up at such an early time to go back tomorrow, and get it seen to by the specialist - I currently cant shower, and after 45 minutes of running around and football, going to make an interesting day, thats for sure.

Good Friday, pah! Bad Friday more like

I woke up at 10am today, expecting to get this work done and dusted, then enjoy the rest of the day. That didnt happen, in fact, around 17.00 I gave up and stopped working. What miffed me more was that it was a fantastic day outside, and probably the warmest we've had this year so far. Enough was enough when it got to 2pm and I hadnt had anything to eat all day- so popped around to the shop to buy some grub and get some fresh air, and it was real spring.

Being unable to get out and about to test my new Sony T9 camera out properly - I took Steve's Stereotypical Canal Photos to see what they looked like. As you can see below - nice and clear.

One thing that I dont really like about the new cam is the fact it doesnt really have a proper old fashioned view finder, you know, you look and point, just the bit window you can see on the back of the camera to aim and point. Call me old fashioned, I like that, I like to know what I'm taking photos off. On the plus side, its really light, and compact - probably even more that Rich's newish digi cam he got a while back. I'm not really impressed with digi cam providers in a whole, based on the fact that you buy a cam, you expect enough to go away and take photos - yet the T9 comes with an onboard memory cell, plus the ability to put Sony Memory Stick Duo's in. Now, I thought I was being pretty smart as the PSP came with one by default a 32Mb card, however, I now know that allows 6 photos to be stored!

I just dont understand why they cant package a camera with everything you need - a decent size card, a case so your fantastic new light camera with a massive viewing screen, doesnt get scratched.

I promised my sister my old camera, as a fav, so need to take that up to newcastle the next time I go up - which will probably end up being the shearer testimonial!

not so post office

I had a delivery notification lastnight that my digital camera had turned up, however because I was out at the time and at the office, its returned to te depot. The note was a little misleading, with one area ticketed to say it was going to be redelivered shortly, yet another bit saying "Parcel is at .. Coventry". In my hungover state from lastnight, I tried to call the depot to see what the score was, unfortunately, the line was constantly engaged - so had to make a decision - risk going over there and collecting it - or just wait.

My misery of the week continued to mount with inprofessional comments being made and aimed at my team and I, and when you have a hangover the state of mine, it made things twice as bad. I decided, best thing I could do, was take my lunch hour and drive over to coventry to collect it. When I got there - I had to wait about 20 minutes to get served, and when I did, the guy said it was about to be delivered this afternoon - around 13.45. So pleased that I would at least be getting it today, I nodded and left, getting back home to more work related abuse.

When it got to 5pm, I called them back, managing to get through this time, only to be told that there was a mistake, the parcel hadnt actually been loaded onto the van, and in fact, I could have picked it up then and there the first time around. As they shut at 7pm, I decided to risk it - however hitting the bank holiday traffic starting to move on the M6. 2 hours later, I was back home, with my boss's boss's boss on the phone to me, asking how the problem I'd been working on was progressing. What confused me more, was that he'd called my personal mobile, rather than my work number.

Having started work at 8am today, I was slightly less amused that I ended up finishing work at 11pm, and two x old speckled hen bottles to the good later, I entered a baby-type sleep.

Oh Whoops!

OK, I told a pork pie! Things can get worse, you could wake up, hungover, by a text message from your neighbour asking if you want to go for a jog. Same as yesterday morning, you think? Well kinda, only to find my credit card on my keyboard and a bemused look on my face, and my desk covered in Tiger beer bottles. Part of me trying to get ready for this jog, part of me trying to work out what I've ordered, so switched the PC on, connected to T'interweb and read my new mail.

Turns out, I ordered the digi camera that I've been after for a couple of weeks, managing to get a decent price on it - 100 quid less than what the Sony shop were offering when I popped in. However, there was another email there....

Thanks very much for your email, the Prime Ministers Office will read the email
and get a reply to you, and if of interest, will be placed on the PM's monthly
discussion list

Turns out, I got fed up of the chav element around town and the increase of yobs taking over the streets, that I emailed the PM - nice, not something you really expect in the morning.

To make myself feel a bit better after the jog, I popped into town to do a bit of clothes shopping, getting a nice new tie and shirt for work, and a hooded top (ironic) and some bright white underwear - mm.

Pride of Warwickshire

The last thing you need in the morning, when you've had a skinful the night before and not really slept, is a text from your nice neighbours asking if you're up for a saturday morning jog. I could have easily just got up, made a bacon sandwich, a cup of tea and watched Saturday Superstore (or whatever they call it these days) in my boxers. However, in the magical world of Warburton, and being sensible, a jog came out on top - so 5 minutes later, trainers or and the cold wind blowing into my eyes, we set along the canal, getting even further than we did the other day.

30 odd minutes later, we got back, a little tired, made a bacon sandwich, a cuppa and sat in my boxers watching some other saturday show for youngsters.

After a shower and clean up, we met in the street, ready to depart to the Leamington v RC warwick derby. We got up there pretty early and 5 minutes later, we were told already 200 people had come through the gates. The wind was strong, blowing the ball around and we knew it was going to cause both teams a problem - and then bang! 2 minutes into the game, the scummers managed to score. We held strong and got the better of the posession, however as is the case in most derbies, it was a scrappy affair. Both teams only had a league position to play for, nothing more, nothing less, and of course the bragging rights til the start of next season. By the half time, we managed to crawl it back to 2-1 and more or less faced a battering in the second half - but we defended well.

I had an interesting chinwag with someone at the ground, and dont wish to say anything as yet, but its something I've always wanted to do. Got a chat with management next week to discuss the possibilities and then learn a little bit more about it - not being cryptic, just dont want to be disappointed.

We got back and it started to sleet/slush it down - lovely. Welcome to spring!

Happy Shiney Restaurant

I joined Debbie in the gym after what has been a very very hard couple of days. These have probably been the worst set of days of my working career, and to be honest, it had nowt to do with my job, it was down to someone else not doing their job correctly. Unfortunately, its becoming more of a theme with work, people are just either on a piss take, or lazy - and its up to the "good guys" to pick it up and run with it.

Anyhow, I digress, I managed 50 lengths in the pool, and worked out that I've done exercise 8 days in the last 10 - which is pretty good going. After a relaxing jacuzzi and sauna, we headed back home with arrangements made to meet in one of the new italian restaurants in town, Prezzo, accompanied by MC and Super Gary.
Its very shiney and new, and the food is very tasty. I ended up having pizza, followed by a cheesecake. The Cheesecake turned up with chocolate on the top, however scrapped that off and gave it to Debbie and Super Gary. Thats really how broken I am.

We ended up in the Jug (not for the want of trying to go elsewhere, honestly) where we managed to grab a table after 10 minutes as it was vr busy, but chilled at the same time. After the 2nd bottle of wine, I think the exhaustion from exercise kicked in and was ready for sleep, but we managed to get a round of shorts in - myself having Morgans Rum and coke - mmm.

Tomorrow is the local derby, between Brakes and RC Warwick scummers - also promised Debbie I would go for a jog with her, and John might turn up!

Chasing the Cup

Tonight saw the 1st semi final to the Polymac cup between Chasetown and Leamington FC - well basically the lowest two teams in the 1st round of the FA cup this season. After a quick jog along the canal with Debbie, something to eat, and a quick shower, we were on the way up the motorway on an unusual Tuesday night jaunt to cheer on the Team. On the motorway, we encountered briliant sunshine, rain, snow, and wind - looking at my footwear, I expected it to be a repeat of Saturday, loads of mud and monsoons.

We bumped into the friendly familiar people, chinwagged and got ourselves hot drinks as the temperature started to tip towards zero. As soon as the whistle went to kick off, we were under the cosh and an early sub bringing Leon Morgan on, give us a huge amount of strength up front, to hold the ball. We went in at half time 1-0 town, and most doom and gloom mongers expected a trashing, and a hell of alot of work to do in the home fixture to get into the final.

The second half, we came racing out the traps, managing to equalise, then go 2-1 up - to the frustration of the home manager (Mr Charlie) and the local fan (well, an OAP who told me to shut up - because I was giving the lino some correction abuse). We managed to seal the first match of the round by Josh Blake being pulled down in the box by their keeper, the keeper being sent off and us scoring a pen from the foul. One of their outfielders had to go in goal as it appeared that they didnt have any goalies on the bench, or they made their full 3 subs at least. I thought at this point, we would have sealed the tie, maybe scoring a couple more, but to be fair to chasetown, they didnt just sit back, they kept us under pressure for the final 10 mins.

Final Score - Chasetown 1 - Leam FC 3. 2nd half of the tie, next Tuesday.

Fish Eye Photos - Volume #2

Scan10023
Originally uploaded by docwharton.

I've spent the last couple of weeks playing around with the Fish Eye Camera in my patio, trying to capture different light, seasons and the up and coming Daffs.

The nice people at Jessops didnt provide a CD that I asked for (luckily didnt pay for either) so John kindly let me borrow his new scanner while he played outrun 2006 on my PSP - fair deal I think!

Stefan :: Broken

Gone are the days where chocolate, lard and lager munching Warburton used to ride these lands, thats all been replaced with exercise, fruit and veg. Its got to a state where I have given up chocolate for Lent, now, I'm not a religious man, infact, since the catholic school, it more or less turned me against it. I decided it was probably a good thing to do, improve my health, complextion, all for not eating something for 40 days and 40 nights. Yeah, every so often, I get the craze, but in years gone by, I would have thought "bugger it chocolate time".

I've ended up in Somerfield, craving chocolate, drooling at the chocolate stand, but then think, "oh well, I'll get some fruit instead" - thats not real is it ? Maybe its because I'm getting old, sensible for once - no idea.

Today, I've taken my broken state too far, and enough is enough. I'd suggested to Debbie that I was going to go swimming, however after a bad night sleep, I missed her going up, but still managed to get up there at lunch time, getting 50 lengths in - not bad for a Sunday. When I returned from town, Debbie mentioned that her and MC were starting up training for a "race for life" and asked if I wanted to join them. Now, the canal isnt the safest of places at the best of times, so part wanting a bit of a run, part making sure the two runners were safe. The idea of the program is that you start simple and build up stamina - todays was 1 minute run/1 minute walk/run/walk - for a total of 20 mins. This was OK, however there was rain, wind and chav's randomly taking the piss - something you dont really need. I managed to get back with my heart lightly beating, Debbie and MC more or less on their knees begging for oxygen and water.

Still, "rest" day tomorrow ... time for more swimming.