Friday, December 29, 2006

One and only chances

I returned from Newcastle this afternoon, after a pretty much good Christmas - My mother tried to feed me up as much as she could, however, I held strong. Mainly because most of my friends have moved away from Newcastle, and those who still live in the area were working, it was nice to chill out. However, this wasnt enough for my mother, suggesting I just went up to the old town ( the night before, there was a death, of which I knew the lad - er nar [ old skool NR here ]). It was suggested I went in search of Doctor Peter Williams as per the Trauma Series on BBC1, an old best mate. We grew up together, from primary school, junior school into comp, and yes, we had fall outs, one of which will remain infamous, however I made the effort to get in touch and try to remain friends - which didnt happen. This could be because of his strange scouse/geordie accent that he appears to have adopts. I think the coming year will have alot of "one fault and out" rules - maybe I am becoming more machine than man, maybe I just cant be arsed.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Qualified.

Lastnight, was the final night of the FA Coaching Badge - level 1, where we had to present a drill to an assessor, get our folders marked and put on massive smiles. I was 2nd in the list, which was a little nerve wrecking, but I suppose it was best to get it out the way and done with. I'd pulled my hamstring a couple of weeks ago, which meant taking part was going to be hard, but felt that I needed to support the rest of the chaps, as rather than getting kids to do the session, it was up to the group to represent the kids.

You're given 10 minutes to introduce yourself, do health and safety checks, explain the drill, do the drill and do a debrief. I managed to get a good report back on my drill session, even tho it was a pretty simple one, stating I described the game well, gave good demo and approached the whole thing very well. From then on, 14 other people had to do their drill, where one of which (my practice drill from 3 weeks ago, dups) I got blasted in the bollocks - so not only a tight and straining hamstring, but had stinging balls - not good for a Monday night really.

Anyhoo, just before 9pm, we were all given the good news that we'd all passed and we are Qualified FA Coaches at Level 1. Was sad to see some of the people go, but more importantly, I have my Monday nights back to myself - yay!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Day out in the village

After a quiet night out with the Happy Friday gang, it was an early start on Saturday, for this was Leamington FC's visit to Croydon in the FA Vase. A decision was made to take an early train, and make a day of it, rather than watching a game, coming back - just a waste of a day. So, up at 7 it is then, and a knock on the door at 7.15 by Pete (not following instructions of leaving his gaff at 7:30) and me still in towel and with my KISS lookalike makeup on, then down to the train station for 7:50 - ready for depart at 07:58 - eek. We discussed this time the night before and came to the conclusion that there isnt such a time before 09:00 on a weekend. It was so early, it was dark, so early, my eye sockets were hurting. Meanwhile, John and Debbie were grinning at their decision to leave at 11am or something.

We got to Reading and then swapped onto a train into London - getting there for around 10am - we got the tube to Covent Garden, and in our early morning state, decided to walk up the stairs, rather than get the lift - 10 minutes later and out of breath, we decided Oxford street would be a great idea. We popped into the Apple Store, Nike Town and most importantly Hamleys - giving me a crackig idea for New Years party.

We ended up towards Victoria after a wander round, had a quick pint and caught the train over to Croydon. We met fellow Brake fans in the George Pub on the high street, then arranged to meet John and Debbie there after they got off the train. We then piled onto the Tram to the Stadium, which took around 20 mins, after finding its a one way system, and we double backed on ourselves - and this is from instructions by someone who lives in Croydon - dur.

The stadium was exactly that, a running track, a pitch in the middle and stands at either side - meaning you're not very close to the pitch - a little like Tipton Town. We dominated the first half, lucky in the 2nd, and grabbed a last minute goal, taking us through to the last 32. The match report can be found at http://www.leamingtonfc.co.uk/history/2006-07/s-m025.php

We left the majority at the Stadium, got a train into London, left John and Debbie to get some food, just after Pete wandered into a Cheese shop, asking if they sold Cheese. We used the Tube, because we could, and at one point loosing each other after us running towards a train, me getting on, Pete not, and us making everyone laugh on the train by shouting "NOOOOOOOOO" then people asking where we're heading towards, and me not knowing because Pete is directing. Luckily, I got off at the next station, waited 15 minutes and him turning up like nothing had happened. We then window shopped, grabbed a sandwich, and headed to a train, which was there ready to depart. Getting back into Leam around 9.30, I watched Match of the Day - went to bed and had the best night sleep I've had for years. A fantastic day, both for football, getting out the goldfish bowl of Leamington and laughing at random things.

Friday, December 08, 2006

In Love...

I've thought long and hard about this over the last week and a bit, but I am in love. Its not one of these fads, not one of these impossible "I love a model" style comments, I'm in love. She might not know, but she has everything, class, looks, talent and sexy smile. Unfortunately, she's Angela from the Magic numbers. Fortunately (for me - due to the lack of interest on the internet) I managed to get the "best" photo I could find on the internet (due to lack of interest) - which basically means no ones stalking the poor lass. She's in the right, looking vr foxy and a little kinda pixel-ated, like the rest of her band member chums.


Meh, a little interwebd up, and I wouldnt even mind if she had to go on tour for 6 months a year - phwar!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

oh oh oh new job

OK, so I wasnt doing very well this morning, when I accidently slept in for the first day of my new job, but you know, thats what first days are for. Its not like I had to be in the office (I hope I didnt anyhow) and I am still doing quite alot of my old job, so, I think I owed it to myself. I'm not kidding myself that the new job is going to be vr easy, I know its going to be hard, and I know for a fact its going to be stressful, but a different kind of stress. I've been flogging myself for the last 2 years, with not very many people to support me, nor even talk too. I think you could quite safetly say, that if you know me pretty well, my mood and persona over the last couple of years has changed for the worst.

I'm hoping this new job is going to be a different kind of stress, and actually allow me to learn things, unlike the previous job where I was fire fighting all the time and looking after the team, rather than my own needs.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Some photos from the magic numbers...

Good Books - Crazy Man shaking lemon and orange in the name of music.


Magic Numbers sign on the way out of Academy


Magic Numbers

I've been waiting a while for this gig to turn up, and I have to say, I wasnt disappointed at all. I'd asked Nomes, Palin, Bellis and Headworth if they fancied coming up with me, the latter deciding it wasnt his scene, so at 18 quid a ticket, you cant grumble much. We'd arranged to gather in Brum before the doors opened (7pm) to grab some grub and we done just that, where we ordered the smallest pizzas in pizza hut. When someone says individual, it really suggests that and after sniffing mine, it was gone - oh well.
We got to the Carling Acadamy where Nomes was checked for her tissues, looking rather suspect, we gathered around the bar ordered pints (at £3.30 each) and looked at the official tshirts and thingymebobs. I bought a nice navy blue tshirt with Magic Numbers written over it. I also purchased a set of "action" figures - because I could - and technically they do look vr funky.

Soon after, the first support act came on, they looked rather young and the lead singer looked like Max from Hollyoaks - although we all denied knowing what Max from Hollyoaks looks like - being pretty old and not wishing to embarress ourselves. They were called the Good Books, they were young, funky tho, myself and Bellis decided they were a little like The Cure / Paul Weller. Thanks to the magic of MySpace, you can actually listen to a couple of their tracks - they only had a 30 minute track, but you get the feeling they actually enjoyed it, rather than a band being asked to tour and being in the background - if you see what I mean ..? At one point, the drummer was shaking a Lemon and an Orange - all very strange.

The last support act was Dave Kitt, he started the set off good, and sounded a little like old REM with a mixture of the Cranberries (you must not let it linger). Again, magic of MySpace, you can click on there and listen to a couple of his tracks.

After the 4th pint and a visit to the loo, The Magic Numbers came on, with a nice funky track to open with and get the crowd going. As mentioned earlier, they looked like they enjoyed doing the gig, rather than being forced to do it by fat cats with cigars. One of the songs, merged into "rulling up the hill" by kate bush, which kind of blew my mind but made me chuckle at the same time. At the end, it was announced that this was the Good Books lastnight with the Magic Numbers, and had some kind of on stage party with all support acts and the magic numbers doing some kinda barn dance fest.

Has to be THE best gig I've ever been too, dont know if its because of the mix of music & song, or the fact it wasnt that packed and you could actually breathe (and maybe its because we werent the oldest people there for a change). All that was left now was the last train back to Leam, via all the stations in the world. Still smiling - will update with photos once I get my sham together.