it's not just a game ...

 

  

'Always different, always the same', as the late, great John Peel used to say of his heroes, 'The Fall'.  Football's like that in so many ways. 

 

It's a ritual. The trip to the ground, buying a programme, sampling the rich greasy food and slurping down over-priced watery lager.  It's always the same, yet always different.

 

Watching the game on TV has none of the magic, none of the hopes and dreams as kick-off time approaches, none of the shared experience wedged in a constantly moving throng of people.

 

The whistle blows and we're off on yet another adventure together ...

 

 

 

the eagle has flown ...

 

  

 

 

It's just over four weeks since my hip-replacement and I'm delighted to report progress is being made. I've driven my car twice this week and am now walking predominantly without the use of crutches.

 

My gait remains resolutely bizarre - picture a geriatric Bambi on ice - but progress it is!

 

I'm so glad I had the operation. I have no pain in my hip at all now. It's just the residual pain as the tissues in my leg continue to knit together and the last of the bruising works its way out. 

 

 

 

 

coronated barbecue

 

 

 

Over a hundred tickets sold, a gap in the rain to let the sun shine in and lots of super food!

 

Many thanks to Carole and Mike, Jackie, Dorothy and Mark, Margaret K, Margaret and Richard H, Sally and Peter (and anyone else I may have inadvertently omitted!) for such a lovely day.