The Great Fixture Lottery

Tommorrow the football fixtures for next season are released. This is one of the more notable dates in every football fan’s Calendar. To start, every fan takes a look at their opening matches and starts to plan their summer. They also always have a look at the fixtures over the festive period, the weekend closest to their birthday, and what kind’ve run-in your team has at the end of the season. The more travelled supporter might also look out for certain away dates that may be excellent opportunities for meeting up with old friends.

The occasion takes on extra significance however if you are one of those old friends. A fan in exile. I have lived away from Watford for the last 8 years. My last season ticket saw me go to almost every home and away game in our 98-99 season which saw us clinch promotion via the play-offs at Wembley. I can tell you, that season was quite an emotional roller-coaster, but that is a story for another time.

Being a fan of a small team in the Premiership last season wasn’t much fun for a number of reasons. The most obvious of which was we got beat, near enough every week. But also, the Premiership is a hostile place to exiled fans. Tickets for away games must be bought months in advance and cost a small fortune. Being in the West Country didn’t help matters as the closest ground was Reading over an hour away. I began to know what it feels like to be a Carlisle fan.

Anyone, who at this points says that at least there were more games on TV is correct, but also has never been a true football fan.

So it is with much excitement that I look forward to a season in the Championship, or whatever it’s called this year. Tickets available on the gate, meaning decisions to attend many games can be left till the day before. It also means we have games in the south west again (thank you Bristol City, nice try Yeovil). And this is why the fixture announcement day is a lottery. It will be just my luck that Bristol City (A), will be either when I am on holiday or on the day of my wedding/honeymoon. I would also like Cardiff City (A) to be a Tuesday night, so that I don’t have to commute an extra day to the city in which I work.

Oh great fixture generating computer. Please be nice to me.....

ADDITIONAL:
We'll I never thought I'd actually get Cardiff away on a Tuesday night. Shame Bristol away is also a Tuesday, but we all love school night drinking really! My third away draw, Norwich, where my mum lives is also a Tuesday night - what are the chances? - but this is far from ideal, as I go up there at weekends. Oh well - you can't win 'em all.

It's Nice To Go A Travellin'....

Frank Sinatra was absolutely right when he sang this, in one of his less well known hits. However, I'm not so sure he was completely right when he continued;

... but it's so much nicer to come home.

Hmmm. I can kind've see where he was coming from. It was comforting to come back to our flat last night, it was brilliant to get a good night's sleep on our mattress again, rather than the unbearably soft B&B mattresses of the last week. But I'm pretty sure when singing the line, Frank wasn't thinking about all the bad things about coming home; the bills on the door-mat, the rank, stinking milk in the fridge, you forgot to pour away when you left, and of course worst of all, having to be back at work on Monday morning. Still the train was on-time, and I'd slept well, so I was as cheery as could be expected.

The Holiday was great. Quite hectic, what with rushing up and down the country, but an excellent balance of beery nights with friends, catching up with family, and quality time with A up in the hills, where the weather was fantastic, as the BBC weather man told us it would be.

To summarise my holiday, Glastonbury is a nice place to visit for the day, the ruined abbey is quite spectacular, and the shopping is mighty strange. The place is a hippy/new age magnet and all the bookshops sold books relating to magic stones, healing hands and guardian angels. Not my cup of tea, but a very interesting experience.

The horse racing at Haydock was a brilliant day out, though I did get a bit burnt by the sun (and the bookies).

The Peak District was amazing, as always. This place is probably less than 2 hours drive for most people in England, it's no wonder it's the 2nd most visited national park in the world, behind mount fuji in Japan. You can even get their by public transport as the Sheffield-Manchester train goes right through it with lots of stopping points. And yet despite this, and the Easter holidays, we walked for hours without seeing anyone. Absolutely magic. We climbed Bamford Edge (pictured), walked the Pennine way as far as Kinder Scout, and walked to the very interesting village of Eyam.

Eyam is where in the 1660's the plague came and killed most of the population of the village, but the villagers stopped it's spread to neighbouring towns and villages by isolating themselves, sacrificing themselves for the good of others. A very moving tale, and the village has a really nice little museum and the church is also worth a visit. I recommend it if your visiting the Peak District and need something to do if it's raining, or if like us you're knackard after 3 days walking.

What else happened? Well Pompey beat United, Watford Thrashed Pompey, then Watford gave United a game, but we're eventually thrashed. Not unexpected, but a little unjust as we played better than the scoreline suggests. Oh well. The football season is pretty much over for us, but Luton are nearly down, so that's cheered me up.

So, with the football effectively finished, I turn my attention to Cricket. Thanks to Mr K for having spare tickets to the first test at Lords - I shall see you there. And this week we look forward to the first knock-out game of the largely dull, cricket world cup. England vs South Africa. Should be a good one.

Just a shame I'll be at work.

Last Day Of School Feeling

I'm trying really hard to motivate myself to do some work today.

Ok, you're right, I could start by not wasting my time writing this blog.

But it's so difficult because it's a bank holiday this weekend, and I have the whole of next week off too! Woo Hoo! I'm like a small child - too excited to sit still.

10 whole days off!

My first holiday in ages. And the first time off without the feeling of guilt that I should be writing my thesis for a year.... if not longer. I am a free man!

Am I gonna sit and relax, watching tv whilst racing through season after season on Football Manager. Am I 'eck! - have you seen the weather forecast?

No, tomorrow (after an extensive lie-in), A (the fiance) and I, are gonna head out into the countryside for a bit local exploration. We might go to Glastonbury, apparently it's not just a festival! I'll let you know if it's worth a visit.

Then on Saturday it's off to my old stamping groud of Manchester for an afternoon at Haydock Park races, and Dr M's stag night. I hope you've got a copy of the Racing Post on order, and your best drinking trousers dry cleaned and ready sir!

Then, after a visit to the family on Sunday and Monday, it's back up north for a few days walking in the Peak District with A. I'm so looking forward to some time away. I can't wait.

I'm in such a good mood that not even the weekend railway engineering works or another loss for Watford will bring me down.

Maybe.

P.S. If you're going to 'boro don't forget the we are outta your league chant. That was magic 7 years ago.

Hard Cheese

Sometimes in life, we don't get what we deserve. When defeat is undeserved, you feel like the whole world has conspired to rob you of what was rightfully yours.

When you are on the other side of that equation, and life has dealt you the nuts on the river, it takes a big man to take a moment to think about how the other side must be feeling.

The right thing to do, is apologise for your good fortune, before opening your arms to pull your winnings across the table.

On the other hand, when you've been shafted so many times by Lady Luck it's probably best to just enjoy it, go mental, have a party and grin like you're the smuggest git in the world.

Get In! Hammer Time! Pick that out of the net!

Plymouth 0 - 1 Watford - Bouazza Goal
Uploaded by FootballHeaven

You gotta love Brighty's final "unbiased" comments. Get in There!

A Better Blog

I've had some feedback from a few people regarding my blog and ways to improve it.

Firstly, apparently I should have more links and things to click on. This makes sense. It is the internet after all. As the name suggests, everything should be interconnected. Like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Except I'd imagine you can get to any other page on the tintinet with a lot less than six clicks. Expecially if you try here. You may also have noticed that I have added some links to some blogs I read. Go and read these by all means, but please come back.

Secondly, I have been told that even in a whinging blog, I should try to be happy and cheerful, at least occasionally. I am, after all, not yet a grumpy old bastard.

And finally, a good blog, I am assured, has lots of pictures and videos to look at.

So, in order to fulfil these last two criteria I give you my favourite place. A little corner of the internet that always makes me happy. Hope it has the same effect on you. Enjoy.

Eyes Wide Open

I feel like my eyes have been opened to a couple of home truths today. I’m not sure if either of these truths really are the truth, or if the truth has been skewed somewhat by my emotional involvement.

Firstly, I had a panic attack today that my thesis is shit. I have been writing my thesis for 8 months now. The first two months, following leaving the lab, last summer, were highly productive. Lots was written as everything was fresh in the mind and I was happy that, at the end of three years work, I only had to write it all up and people would call me Dr billyo forever. Then I started my new job in September, and writing slowed as, new job + long commute does not equal lots of productive time for writing.

But I’ve plodded along, mostly working on the train on my way to work, and finally the end is in sight. I’ve pretty much written it all, I’ve handed in my notice of submission. I’ve just got to edit it all together and then the weight is lifted. And that will feel so good.

So this morning I started the editing process. By editing, what I actually mean is, correcting all the places where my supervisor has spilt his red pen on the first draft. And this morning I had a panic attack – there was an awful lot of red pen. And worse, it was crap. The work is second rate, and the writing and analysis third rate at best.

Oh fuck.

Is this the truth or have I become snow-blind to my thesis after staring at it for 8 months?

My mood was cheered later this afternoon by a chat with my fiance who put everything into perspective and news filtering through on the wireless that my beloved football team were not one, but two goals up against Charlton. Being a Watford fan for the last 9 months hasn’t been much fun, goals have been few and far between, let alone wins. So this news was good, and with spirits lifted I ploughed on with the thesis.

Watford though blew it. The game finished two-two. Sounds like Charlton played a bit better in the second half, and upon getting a goal back, Watford panicked a bit and with three minutes to go Charlton equalised. Bollocks. I am now finally seeing what all those without Elton’s glasses on have seen since October. We’re down. Oh well. It’s easier to get tickets in Division 2. Still bloody annoying though.

So the truth dawns, my thesis has taken too long to write, and my football team is crap. But I have dedicated a lot of my life to both so I’ll continue to care passionately about them.

So what’s left to raise my mood now? Well Comic Relief does Fame Academy is on. It’s about the only good celebrity tv programme, and they don’t get paid, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and as an added treat it is this year co-presented by Claudia “the loon” Winkleman. In my humble opinion Claudia should be given a great deal more vehicles to showcase her unique nutty presenting style. I just hope the producers don’t reign her in too much. Should be worth watching.

But then again, the singing will be total shite.