Dear Diary... December 2025
Wednesday 31st December – Clearing the Mind, Clearing the Year
The Love In My Heart had gone back to work yesterday and I had cooked us both a nice chorizo pasta bake for tea in the evening as a little treat, and she appreciated that. I had bt a een out to Rewind in Ashton under Lyne during the day and although I did not find any games to buy, there were plenty available had I not already got a few of the titles concerned, so that was good. I was heading back towards Ashton today, but not as far as the centre. Whilst on the 230 bus there yesterday I did note a potential idea for a walk along mainly tarmac paths and that would mean a good four or so miles of walking.
So after breakfast and making sure that Brian the cat was suitably fussed over, I headed off and first of all got to Co-Op Live. This would have Philips Park opposite and therefore would be the start of the walk. I walked through the park and followed the path all the way to the bike track near the end, which is close to the railway arches of the former Clayton Mineral Railway. Going under an arch there and crossing Bank Street meant a walk uphill and on to the former railway track itself, with the arches getting higher. In fact one of those crosses the entrance to Clayton Vale, so after crossing the bridge, I took the path down the stairs and headed along to the main path.
I followed one of the two main paths in Clayton Vale – the North one, which is signposted as one of the Manchester Green walks, so was good to follow that with the River Medlock to the right of me as I walked. A few people were out there walking their dogs and getting in some exercise prior to the New Year so that was good to see. Once I got towards the Eastern end of the Vale, I crossed the pedestrian bridge and followed the final path out to Edge Lane. It was across here and on the path opposite, signposted for cycles with Littlemoss too, and it was then a steady climb up Sunnybank Vale, which actually looked much prettier than I thought.
I took the turn off along Clock House Avenue and crossed Greenside Lane, seeing the old turning point for the 168 and 169 buses back in the day which was handy for residents. Maybe Bee Network could reinstate that for the 230 and 231 now? In any case, I followed Chestnut Avenue and Parvet Avenue before turning off before Somerset Road and the path there was more of an earth path as it followed the railway line. The path became hard standing by the pedestrian bridge close to the end of Gloucester Road, and then went down and uphill around some boggy ground, and went through the tree lined path at Lumb Clough, so nice to see some more nature too.
The path followed the railway line to the old Lumb Lane with the old “are you local?” feel of The Railway Inn, before then heading up to Moorside Street at the start of Littlemoss Road. I carried on straight down the path here as it was another mile to the Snipe Retail Park, and this was a nice tree lined path with a field of horses in one part, and Aldwyn Primary School to the right, crossing the pedestrian part of North Road before then heading to the main road with the Snipe opposite. I did note another path half way down this section which said Ashton was in 2 miles so could have potentially followed that as well – maybe another time I’ll give that a go and see where that takes me. Either way, it was an enjoyable walk and a nice way to clear the mind before the end of the year celebrations later on.
The Love came back from work later, and we had some lovely little nibbles for tea together, so we had some prawn toasts, mini chicken kievs, chicken satay skewers and hash brown stacks, and all went nicely together to nibble on as we watched the final heat of World’s Strongest Man first of all and then The Last Leg of the Year, where the highlight was Josh Widdicombe along with Dani Dyer and Alex James’ band of indie orchestra doing Parklife by Blur (make that tune of the day) and so that set the tone off well before we went over to BBC Two for Jools Holland’s Hootenanny. We avoided Ronan Keating on BBC One not least as when we switched over he was ruining a George Michael classic.
Monday 29th December – Let Your Body Move to the Music
After a bit of a lie in this morning, although Brian the cat did seem to want to jump around everywhere including the dining table and then want to wake his Mummy up through any means possible, we got ourselves some breakfast and The Love In My Heart and I were ready for the day ahead. We had booked an exhibition at Factory International (basically what’s now the Aviva Studios) called Vogue: Inventing the Runway, which details some of the history of fashion and catwalks and so on. As The Love is of course a big fashionista, I knew this would interest her and so we got tickets for today knowing we would both be off work and be able to go.
We got ready, with The Love having a very nice fashionista-esque outfit on, and it was off for the tram, getting off at St Peter’s Square and walking down Peter Street and then Quay Street, past the Everyman Cinema and then off to first of all Caravan for a nice lunch together. The Love did not fancy some of the main dishes but instead went for two sharer dishes with some fries, so she had the cheese and ham croquettes with Spanish ham, and the lamb koftas, which looked nice albeit a bit spicy. I went for the really nice nduja pizza, which had a nice garlic top to the base, stem broccoli and an Italian hard cheese in circles that went really well too. Definitely one I enjoyed.
We were very early after that lunch, having arrived to Caravan earlier anyway, so we decided to head along and up the stairs to the Stables Tavern. This was nice and cosy inside, especially in the back room which we discovered later that had a roaring fire going as well. There were eight draught beers and up to three on cask too, so had the Seven Bro7ers Sunset on cask to keep it local and that was good, and made up for not having it in the actual beer house in Ancoats, and it was all nice and relaxed in there, so definitely enjoyed myself for that.
It was into Factory International next, and got ourselves a coffee and a wine in there, and all was well with the world. It was quite good that that bar was not charging silly prices, and indeed £4.50 for a pint of Amstel is very cheap for central Manchester, so something well worth noting, and they had local beers on too. We did then queue up for the entry to the Vogue: Inventing the Runway exhibition, and once we showed the tickets, we were showed up to what they call the Lightroom, a huge room with screens on all four sides and places to sit, which reminded us of a couple of similar rooms inside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Overall, the around fifty minutes or so of immersive content was enjoyable, but for my money at least definitely not worth the £25 admission being charged – knock it to around £15 and it would have been much more worth it. Of course having all four screens showing off content and constantly looking around (although the main screen was ahead of you and that had the most video content to watch) and they did feature plenty of catwalk shows but where the runway and catwalk was redesigned with spectacular effects. It did feature sections on the likes of disruptors such as Vivienne Westwood (and cue some Sex Pistols’ classics such as Anarchy in the UK, so tune of the day from me).
It was also good to see how the different settings re-imagined the shows and what they were about, including one where the main studio floor and first few rows of seats were flooded to show the effects of climate change and what more fashion should be doing to counteract that, which was at least thought provoking in its design. There were sad moments such as one of the designers who had passed away with AIDS at far too young an age, and how other designers had grown but then had their lives cruelly taken away but the legacy that they had left.
We left and headed for the exit and walked back along Liverpool Road to get the tram at Deansgate-Castlefield with the presumption that we may have more chance of getting a seat before it hit the major city centre stops, and yes, that proved to be worthwhile. We did get back home relatively quickly having enjoyed the day, and we settled in for some food as well as World’s Strongest Man (which was not on yesterday due to the NFL coverage) and that did mean I could see another British athlete qualifying for the final, which clearly meant a lot to the one concerned. I must admit that is a tradition which I do enjoy at this time of year.
Sunday 28th December – The Failed Plum Pudding Quest
It was a chilly but dry Sunday morning, and The Love In My Heart and I had a nice quick breakfast and then settled in for the morning, with Brian the cat very much wanting plenty of fussing and attention. We would however soon be getting ready as we were meeting up with some friends for lunch and a nice get together in what our friends and we call Betwixmas, ie the time between Christmas and New Year, where sometimes it can feel a little dead in the water unless you happen to be working in retail where the sales inevitably are taking their toll as everyone shops til they drop.
None of that for us today as we headed on the tram into the city centre, and took the short walk from Piccadilly Gardens via Port Street to indeed the Port Street Beer House, where the Five Points Best was on top form and we met our friends there. We were going to meet at Seven Bro7ers but seeing as that was still having issues serving beer unless it was in cans, we thought at least at Port Street the beer selection was always decent. Indeed one of our friends was really happy to see the Damm Lemon, a radler type beer which definitely hit the lemon spot in the nicest possible way.
From there it was onwards to Blossom Street and to Elnecot, where we’ve always had a good Sunday roast before, and so made sense to have a really good hearty meal together too. We did swap presents there and they very kindly got us a gift card for Everyman Cinemas so we can have a nice time there seeing a film in future, which definitely may need to be quicker based on their recent financial situation (something we shall bear in mind of course.) It was also nice to see a good range of beers here at Elnecot, no Plum Pudding ale but they did have the Cloudwater Fuzzy which is always a nice solid combination, so went for that and enjoyed that.
Three of us had the pork belly, which was gorgeous – crunchy crackling on top, hence us being given a sharper knife to cut through, and lots of lovely pork underneath that, along with a Yorkshire pudding, roasties, parsnip, carrot, kale, broccoli cheese (better than the cauliflower version of course!) and lashings of gravy too. That was all very nice and we enjoyed that as did our friend who had the vegetarian option instead which to be fair looked good too. I didn’t fancy dessert as I could always have something later and do feel like the odd one out if I am having one on my own anyway, but all was well and the food was as good as ever.
It was back to Port Street Beer House where I had the coffee porter from Thornbridge, which was stunning and a proper dark beer (and one of our friends did say that he approved massively, having tried some of the what he called poncy beers from a box he got that did not measure up) – and we settled in there for a while before then thinking it’d be nice to get the JW Lees Plum Pudding ale. The Love ruled out Gullivers down the road as although it’s a Lees pub, you’d get the look of “it’s a local pub for local people” and so instead the Founders Hall in Albert Square was to be the preferred option. We got there and did they have it? No. So the little side quest did unfortunately fail us. Ah well.
So instead we headed round the corner to another pub, found a nice spot with a heater above us, and sat in the patio part with heaters on, glass windows all around us, and it was actually quite nice and festive. And as we had seen Zippy Santa in St Peter’s Square along the way (I mean, it’s a Mancunian icon if you know) the theme tune to Rainbow was stuck in my head and therefore tune of the day. Naturally it was a nice way to wind down for the evening and did at least mean that we could all get the tram back home from the square later, having had a lovely afternoon and early evening, and this wouldn’t be our last visit to Manchester coming up either...
Saturday 27th December – In The City
After a nice relaxing and quiet Boxing Day, complete with a lie in, and plenty of telly including World’s Strongest Man and the second part of the Call the Midwife Christmas special, which had us both smiling with joy seeing the fun and games in Poplar contrasting with what was going on in Hong Kong. It does set things up nicely for the next series which is coming up in mid-January and I am sure that The Love In My Heart will be looking forward to that hugely, especially with a potential film version looming in the future as well.
We decided after breakfast that it would be nice to take a walk into the city centre and walk along the canal as well, as that’d give us some fresh air but also mean that we could potentially do a reccy for tomorrow. So with us all changed and all ready to head out, we took the path down to the canal towpath and started our walk. It is always nice to be able to follow this and a few people were out with their dogs walking the other way. We did pass some of the old mills which look like they are being renovated, possibly into new flats, and then headed down towards New Islington Marina.
Once at the marina we did note that some of the cafés were closed including Pollen, and we did see a few other places closed as we headed into Ancoats. We did check Seven Bro7ers Beerhouse, and they still had issues with the equipment and so no draught beer available – so no good for tomorrow when meeting friends, so noted. We did go into the Cotton Café run by the Hallé Orchestra folks, and always nice in there. We did have a coffee and also the Christmas Leftover Sandwich, which had turkey, sausage, brie, mustard and all in a nice bread roll, and served warm for a mere fiver. Pretty good value that to be honest.
We did then walk to the top of Oldham Street and went into Wayfarer for a drink and thought that worth a try. They did have a nice Cloudwater beer on and so I had that, and the music in the background was very much a selection of indie tunes and this also did include Not Too Soon by Throwing Muses, so tune of the day right there. Admittedly it was very quiet in there but it was good to be able to enjoy a quiet relaxing drink, and at the same time I was keeping up with the early kick off involving Manchester City, and a welcome and hard earned 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest was all rather good to be honest.
It was then off down to Market Street and into Fopp, and I ended up having a good look round and spending one of my HMV gift cards. It was two CDs for £16 in some cases which meant that I was able to get two albums that I had been after for some time – Antidepresants by Suede, and We Are Love by The Charlatans, and so only needed to put an extra £1 to it after using the gift card, so winning there. I had also then joined The Love who had been to Oliver Bonas and Other Stories as well, but didn’t see anything she fancied. She did though later on get a nice new top in the sale from French Connection.
We stopped off for one final drink and it was good to just take it easy and relax before then heading on the tram back to The Love’s place. It was dark now and although close to some flats for part of the walk back, the tow path is not fully lit so safer to take the tram back home and then be able to take it easy, with Brian the cat having lots of fussing and Dreamies. Whilst The Love watched some Christmas catch up telly, I did watch some of the African Cup of Nations football highlights as well as some of the sport from earlier including the Welsh Grand National and the British Seniors Snooker.
Thursday 25th December – Happy Christmas
It was nice to have a sort of lie in this morning. Brian the cat did the best to try and wake up his Mummy of course, and he does of course have his own ways of doing so. The Love In My Heart did eventually get up and give him some Dreamies, and as we were chatting she said to me that she wanted me to open one of my presents first, rather than wait until later. I did so, and it was a nice new pair of pyjamas with some nice check bottoms and a nice long sleeved top that even had a hood on, if I wanted to have that. It did look all good though and I put that on as we got up.
We did open the presents from family and friends first of all, with a view to opening ours to each other later on. It was nice to get some gift cards for both HMV and One4All, so those can be put to good use later on. Some of The Love’s relations had got me some nice beer including a selection from Beer52 which would work well to have in stock in the fridge during this time. I also got both the F1 film on Blu-Ray along with a GoGo Penguin CD, and from friends the F1 1994 season review DVD, a Dream Theater CD and Moana 2 on Blu-Ray, so that was all good.
We headed over to see The Love’s relatives which meant heading to her son’s place and of course that also meant Little Miss E and Litlle Miss O. It was so nice to see them and their Mummy of course, and we spent an enjoyable time there. In fact it was just happy to see their faces when they opened presents. Little Miss O loved the little soft toy dog and the V-Tech carry case that also has all sorts of electronic cat noises and songs which certainly gave her giggles left right and centre. Little Miss E had a Barbie aeroplane and a few dolls were already in the plane ready to take off which was good.
There were also plenty of Lego sets for her too – one from me, which was a Gabby’s Dollhouse mermaid set with Mercat, which she had a big smile at. She had also got a few Lego Friends sets too which were nice and I am sure she’ll have fun building those over the next few days. Little Miss O loved her little Miffy top I got her as she pointed and went “rabbit!” as well as a nice rainbow dress. It was just so nice and the Christmas dinner later on was lovely too, with some gorgeous turkey, some vegetables, roasties, Yorkshires, and all the trimmings.
Once we had settled back at home later on and it was just the two of us and Brian the cat, and indeed had given him the tuna and Dreamies, then we swapped our own presents and that was really nice. The Love was very kind and had got me a nice new Pretty Green paisley shirt, and a burgundy Joules jumper. Both were really comfortable when I tried them on, so that was lovely. She also did get me the 3 CD box set caled Keeping Control – Indie Music from Manchester 1977-1981 – which has plenty of Manchester tracks from that era which was also really nice. Especially considering some of the classics on there including Wrap Up The Rockets by The Freshies, which is tune of the day. She also got me the Ted Baker Skinwear aftershave and Paddington in Peru on Blu-Ray, so super happy with all of that.
In the evening we settled in to watch the Christmas Strictly Come Dancing, as we had to see the last ever episode with Claudia and Tess. There were some good dances too and it all was very festive and did feel sad that it was their last one. We did then watch the first of the Christmas special of Call The Midwife later on, which had some of the sisters from the Nonnatus House heading over to Hong Kong and encountering the triads along the way, whilst those back in Poplar were doing their best to keep it all festive. It was a good way to end the evening and we snuggled up with Brian the cat too.
Wednesday 24th December - Reflections
It was a relatively early start for me today, as this is the day that I always will pause and remember those no longer here with me. Going on Christmas Day admittedly would be too upsetting to be honest, and of course it would be the getting there without any public transport. So it was off into the city centre on the bus first of all, and then from there on another bus out of the centre and off to the first cemetery stop. It was sensible to get there earlier on before it gets busy later in the day, and the pause here gave me some fresh impetus to head out and onwards.
I got the next bus that I needed, and from there knowing it would be a long wait for a bus, did the remaining three quarters of a mile or so walk to the second cemetery. It was also relatively quiet here too so I had the chance to pause and reflect here. The wind was gettng up a bit here so I was glad that I had a big coat on and sat here on the bench made me think of all the happy times that I had spent instead – and those memories came flooding back. There were a few tears admittedly, but it was to be expected really. With that done, it was off to get a coffee and to just stare outside and reflect more.
After this, I stopped off to get a late breakfast, and clearly a few families had done the same when they had ventured in the same place. It was actually nice to see some families did this as a thing and meant a positive start to Christmas for them and that did fill me with joy. I had another coffee and a bacon and egg muffin, and all was well. It was then off on the bus and over to see my Mum for a bit. She was all good and the house was decorated nicely, and was getting all the meats prepared and ready for Christmas dinner with a few of the relations tomorrow.
In fact, The Love In My Heart was finishing work earlier than planned today which was an unexpected bonus too, so she messaged me to say that she could come and collect me from my Mum’s, who very kindly had made me a nice sandwich and a coffee for some light lunch. The Love popped in for a while and we set off, and thought that a nice pre-Christmas drink was a good way to start the festivities. We got to Seven Bro7ers Beerhouse and did spot a notice on the door – all the draught beer was not being served (it turned out there was a fault in the system used) and so I ended up with a can of the chocolate honeycomb stout and The Love with a glass of white wine. It was still nice though and a few Christmas songs played including Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses which is tune of the day.
We headed back to The Love’s place and had a nice evening in, with Brian the cat wanting lots of fussing and attention as well as Dreamies. It was good to just take things relatively easy to know that tomorrow would be a busy day. There was not much on television to be honest but we did find a few things to watch and The Love has started to watch the new version of All Creatures Great and Small on catch up on Channel 5, so she did see some of those as well which was quite warm and homely overall. I must admit of course I do remember the old BBC series with Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison amongst others.
Sunday 21st December - Hammers Hammered, Part Two
After a long day and having watched Match of the Day when I got back from Manchester last night before heading to bed, one thing I did want to catch up on was the Strictly Come Dancing final, and the last live show with current hosts Tess Daly and one of my all time faves, Claudia Winkleman. Needless to say that did feel a little sad and it was nice that even the current queen had a nice message to them both which was read out by Craig Revel-Horwood too. In fact the whole show was excellent and did feel like very much the end of an era, with a nice touch from Karen Carney at the end of her last dance with Carlos Gu to say it was the last dance Tess will welcome the contestants back for the judges' comments, and Tess did well up, bless.
It was pleasing to see all three dancers did really well with all of their routines, and in truth I would not have minded at all who did win (no spoilers just in case). The excellent Viennese Waltz from George Clarke and Alexis Warr was thoroughly lovely, as well as the show dance from Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, and perhaps for me a big favourite was the Argentine Tango from Karen and Carlos to the iconic theme tune to Peaky Blinders, ie: Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, hence tune of the day - and rightly so. It was a thoroughly good set of performances and nice to see that before I headed out for the day.
I walked to West Croydon station and then took the Overground to Whitechapel, changed there for the District Line and followed that all the way East, past the likes of West Ham and Barking, and on to Dagenham East. West Ham Women's team play at Dagenham and Redbridge's ground, Victoria Road, aka the Chigwell Construction Stadium, and as an away fan, we were in the end terrace (to the left as you look on the television) which was uncovered, but thankfully there was no rain forecast even though it was cloudy, so that was something. City would attack the end all our fans were at in the second half, so at least that was good. In fact only our terrace and the main stand was open, which at least looked marginally better for the telly.
City were wasting no time though, and after a Bunny Shaw shot was saved, Kerolin was there to score the rebound and put City 1-0 up inside three minutes. That became 2-0 five minutes later as a gorgeous Grace Clinton through ball to the left side found Lauren Hemp who scored a lovely finish. That was pretty good, and West Ham did then at least start to battle, with Yamashita in the City goal pulling off some good saves including a one v one situation. That said, it would only be a matter of time before West Ham scored and sure enough the ball went down the left side, and Ueki put a good finish into the bottom corner for 2-1.
City though were unmoved by that and instead looked at getting forward more, and after a couple of chances had gone begging, the ball came to Grace Clinton on the edge of the box, and she shot home into the top corner for 3-1. That was how it was at half time and with Chelsea already 4-0 up on Liverpool at half time, it already looked like a Man City v Chelsea semi final. I went to get some chips at half time and the food stall staff were great, really being friendly and ensuring all was good for those that needed food and drink.
On came skipper Alex Greenwood for the second half as she continued her return from injury, with Leila Ouhabi making way. City pressed forward and we got a free kick on the right side. Alex Greenwood floated it in and Bunny Shaw rose above with a looping header that the West Ham keeper should have done better with (and I had a great view of it) and so it was 4-1. That became 5-1 later as a move down the left saw Lauren Hemp find Laura Coombs, and she belted it into the top corner for that goal. With us winning well and Chelsea winning 9-1 at Liverpool, all would be set for a special semi-final!
Saturday 20th December - Hammers Hammered, Part One
This weekend was a double header of football for me as Manchester City were taking on West Ham United. As the fixtures panned out, the men would be playing a Premier League game at the Etihad with a 3pm kick off, and the women would be playing a Subway League Cup quarter final away on the Sunday. As fate would have it, I had booked my return on the train for today up to Manchester, primarily as I'd be up soon for Christmas and so wanted to be a day visit, plus I could bring up any presents etc if needed) and it was also a standard premium freebie thanks to having to put in a complaint to Avanti West Coast some time ago. So always good for a freebie, right?
I headed off to London Euston station and some of the trains were already delayed a little, but thankfully the 0913 I was on did depart on time. There was some mist and fog around especially around Milton Keynes and Nuneaton, but this cleared up further North and I did arrive into Manchester Piccadilly around 15 minutes late. Of course Delay Repay would normally kick in, but not worth claiming for zero is it of course? Still, I did have a nice surprise when I went to the meeting point that I normally get picked up at from by The Love In My Heart..
You see, she had had Little Miss E and Little Miss O stay overnight, and so they were in the car! I said hello to them as I got in and Little Miss O was all giggly and happy especially, and had a good chat with Little Miss E too, so that definitely made the day even nicer. We relaxed back at The Love's place for a while and it was good to have lots of fun times with them both before their parents came to collect them, and cue a nice moment where Little Miss O wanted me to lift her up, and I then did a little airplane move to guide her to the arms of her Daddy, which she loved and had big giggles at, so that was lovely all round.
I headed off to the Etihad later on and it was good to see that the initial teething issues they had at the start of the season around ticketing appeared mainly to be sorted now. I think the club have realised not every Android phone has NFC so are offering backup options for fans that contact them and indeed have staff at the gates ready. I just breeze straight in anyway and it's painless, and before long I was seeing the last minutes of Newcastle United v Chelsea and also enjoying thoroughly some chicken and chips for lunch to keep me going before kick off.
And it did not take long for City to show their intent either, as some good movement from Nico Gonzalez down the left found Phil Foden, who put the ball across for Erling Haaland. His first shot was saved but the second one was buried on the rebound and that got us all in the right mood. In fact, we had a number of chances to double the lead; Haaland headed wide, and Tijjani Reijnders had a fierce shot well saved. West Ham looked short of ideas heading forward, and so it was no surprise when City made a move down the right as Rayan Cherki won the ball back, bamboozled the defence and little passes to Haaland, then Haaland to Reijnders saw the Netherlands international bury one into the top corner for 2-0. Happy times.
After the half time Santa Dash which was hilarious, the second half started and West Ham showed more purpose: Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off a couple of excellent saves, and also narrowed the angle enough for Jarrod Bowen to shoot wide, thankfully. Some changes were made,. and starting off with a through ball from Matheus Nunes, the ball went to sub Savinho, who ran forward and fed fellow sub Rico Lewis, who touched it towards Haaland. The two West Ham defenders were mixed up and bascially gave the ball to Haaland, and welll he doesn't miss those - 3-0. Cue City fans singing "City, tearing Cockneys apart again" to the Joy Division classic (tune of the day) and all was well there.
I walked back to Manchester Piccadilly station after the game,and it was chaos at the station due to late running trains and staff who didn't sadly have a clue, which led to confusion left right and centre as people changed between platforms and then were told to head off for the main concourse, only then for the train to then be the one that it was supposed to be and not the one that was possibly mine. Terrible really, and thankfully when my train did come in, it was all super quiet in the end but got delayed massively close to Stoke on Trent due to signalling issues, which had been the case all day - so why send trains on that path unless they really had to. I eventually got home a little tired, but all good in the end.
Tuesday 16th December - Home and Organised
It was a very nice sleep in my room in the Premier Inn Düsseldorf, and I had been cheered up too by the fact that Bournemouth had pulled off a 4-4 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford (and maybe could have snatched it at the end incidentally) I had a nice Nespresso coffee from the machine as well as some of the sparkling water, and felt refreshed once I had a shower. It was good to be all dressed and packed in good time, as the flight back home was at 1000 and of course needed to get to the airport first. In fact, as I knew almost all the eateries were landside in the airport, I got some breakfast in the station which proved a good move as the first S11 S-Bahn was being terminated early and not going to the airport.
The next one was, and understandably, that was already busy even prior to me getting on, but got a seat, and it did seem quicker going back than coming in, and headed up to departures. All the non-Schengen flights are at the C gates at the far end, and so walked over there and then had to queue for ages at security. It transpired two on a flight had not bothered to read any security instructions prior to travel and had packed all sorts of toiletries over the 100ml in their carry on cases - and this delayed all the other scans from going through. No accounting for idiots, but everyone was patient and I got through.
For some reason too, even though I'd done the fingerprint and face scans etc when arriving in Düsseldorf as part of the new entry/exit systems, I had to get them scanned again by passport control when heading towards the gates I needed. That did seem a bit odd, but maybe one of the fingerprints was missing as they did say they had a partial. Anyway, all sorted and then got to the gate fine, boarded all well and the flight home was nice and easy, and arrived a little earlier than planned too due to everyone boarding on time and it being a clean run to Gatwick. Why can't all flights be this way eh?
I got through passport control easy here (having the biometric chip one has advantages you know) and was soon on the shuttle back to the train station and off homeward. Once I got home and unpacked, I then checked over the pictures from Saturday's visit to Chelsea Winter Village and Illuminations, chose the ones I liked that I think came out well, and then put the set up on Flickr so that anyone could see them if they wish to. It was good to look how well some of them came out and the 50mm really did the business here. It is also why I'd love a D750 or D610 at some point in the future as they are superb in low light and I have the right lenses for it too.
It was just nice to take the rest of the day to relax a little and be able to prepare for tomorrow too, as I have the end of year review at work. I am hoping it is going to go okay but am still wary of what the future holds, so will need to do what I can to get a grip on things. I have been admittedly singing in German a little to myself on the way home too, mainly Computerwelt by Kraftwerk for obvious reasons, and so that is tune of the day for me. It was just great to hear that live and to be able to sing along in native language was pretty nice to be fair - especially the "haben unseren daten da" line which works much better than it does in English!
Monday 15th December - Düsseldorf Delight
It was a very early rise for me today, 3am in fact. This was because I was heading on the 0625 flight from London Gatwick to Düsseldorf for an overnight trip, and not just any reason as you will read on. I had packed my overnight bag (which meets the Easyjet sizes for an under-seat bag, so winning) and so got to East Croydon station in good time for the 0407 service to Gatwick, which overnight runs but once an hour - still good to have the option though. And yes, it was very busy, with other flights leaving during the morning it made sense for those to get there good and early, especially if you have cases.
As I had no check in needed (all online) it was on the shuttle to the North Terminal (which is pretty much just Easyjet from there now) and then breezed through security and on to the area to wait for the gate. I did get some breakfast from Pure which was nice and that did include the overnight oats with blueberries and an oat latte so that was a positive start. I soon noted the gate, got there early enough and as no one was doing the speedy boarding in, I was amongst one of the first on. In fact everyone made it to the gate in advance and all boarded quick, so no issues around take off on time, and indeed the flight landed in Düsseldorf airport a little earlier than planned, with the crew being excellent too, I should add. To be fair last time I did fly from Gatwick with Easyjet (to Milan Malpensa) that was all fine too.
It took me a few minutes but I found the entrance so the S-Bahn station within the airport arrivals section - not very well signposted, it's as if they want you to take the sky train to the airport station on the perimeter and go from there, and then I made the wise decision. If you're within the boundaries of Düsseldorf, a 24 hour all day ticket for all transport modes is €8.80. That would get me to and from the airport (normally €3.60 each way) and then I'd need local transport for the gig venue tonight too, and could use it as often as I wanted, so that was a good shout. And so with ticket purchased from machine and thus validated for the day, all good. Not long to wait and the S11 S-Bahn was taking me to the main station (or Hauptbahnhof as they are in Germany.)
I did decide to do a quick reccy first and found the Premier Inn that I'd be staying at later on (more in a bit on that) and then took the first tram of the day a few stops, just to try it out. It worked out nice and because they are narrow, seating is mainly 2+1 or even some seats longitudinal too. I did switch at one stop and got the U-Bahn U72 and that took me to Graf-Adolf Platz. A walk across there took me to Königsallee and that was gorgeous, seeing the rows of trees each side of the water feature and the reflections was stunning. It was good to rest there and enjoy the view and then have a coffee from a local coffee shop round the corner.
I walked along the rest of Königsallee, past the Christmas market opening up later, and then took a walk around the Hofgarten at the top which was lovely - heading over the water, seeing the swans and ducks in the water, and enjoying a stroll along the paths too. From there and past some more Christmas markets, it was along the main set of shops on Schadowstraße and surprised to see both a Primark and a Sostrene Grene. There was also a C&A too which harked back to the days of me going to the one in Manchester Arndale. I did another coffee stop here too (and yes, coffee shops over in Germany do oat milk too which is great to see) and then took a walk over to St Elisabeth's Church to admire the view.
From there I had a mooch in Game Company, which did have old games but only went as far back as the PS1, so no Commodore stuff for me, and then I took the tram and past the train station, getting off at Mintropplatz, and then walking the short distance round the corner to Mintropstraße, where I would be able to see the former home of a very famous recording studio, so had to be done for the context and of course because it was legendary. I then walked from there along Graf-Adolf Straße, and passed on my left the rather impressive Schwanenspiegel lake, as part of the park. I followed the road along and headed under the Rheinkniebrücke, a bridge over the River Rhein (Rhine in English). And following the river here was for a good reason.
I had seen it from the train station and followed the road to it, and after a gentle walk along the riverside I had seen it - the Rheinturm, a large tower with gorgeous views from the top. Yes it was a little expensive for €12.50 to get in (reduced to €8 if you arrive before noon, useful to know) but thought I may as well do it, and so headed up on the lift to the very top. And wow, the views from the top over the city and indeed being able to see as far as Köln on a good day is special. There also happened to be a place to get food and drink there too and it was not too expensive, so did the toasted ham and cheese with paprika sandwich, with crisps (chips in Germany) and dip, and a drink of the König Pilsner Radler all for around €14, which was not too bad considering.
After lunch I headed back to the tram stop under the bridge, got the tram back to the train station and after a quick stop in Lidl for a couple of toiletries (primarily as taking them in carry on luggage isn't allowed or they have to be liquids under 100ml) it was time to check in at the Premier Inn. I'd got this basically for free with my Expedia points and a Premier Plus room at that. The staff were lovely, and soon had me checked in, and room 601 was great. A Nespresso coffee machine with pods, a fridge with complimentary bottles of sparkling water in, an iron and ironing board, and a proper nice armchair with little table, perfect for watching telly. It felt comfortable and nice, and settled in and had a shower later (also note: Baylis and Harding shower gel etc too) so that was nice. It would certainly make the stay even lovelier.
As it was getting dark and I fancied tea before the gig tonight, I decided to walk down one of the main roads from the station and before I knew it, I was back on the Königsallee, sampling the delights of the Christmas markets there. It did feel lovely, and there were plenty of stalls with glühwein should you wish, although for most stall holders the cup deposits were cash only, so well worth noting if heading over, dig out those spare Euro notes! I did stop at one stall and had the krakauer sausage in bread (bratwurst was there too, but the krakauer has more flavour for me and we have a lot to thank the people of Kraków in Poland from) and as that was leaner, I felt a bit less guilty about that and indeed the curly fries I had later. It was a lively atmosphere though and definitely had to be worth sampling.
I took the U-Bahn U77 back to the main train station and changed there for the S-Bahn. I had choices of the S-1, S-6 and S-68 and it was the S-1 this time which would take me two stops to Oberbilk. Like a lot of suburban train stations this seemed to really need some work doing to it and felt very sparse in facilities and the sloping platforms with crumbling pavements. However, exiting the station meant I could see my destination - the Mitsubishi Electric Halle. I had arrived for the main thing I'd come for - and that was to see no less than Kraftwerk performing in their home city. And yes, the old Kling Klang studio address was what I had visited earlier too - not daft me!
Anyway the queue was taking time because the doors were at 1800 with the show starting at 2000, but by chance I'd bumped into a couple from Portsmouth at the Rheinturm who were doing both nights, and said that getting there early would be wise. Indeed this proved to be the case - I got in and got a beer from the bar (and in Kraftwerk branded recyclable pint glasses no less) and managed to make my way upstairs to the balcony seats on the sides. I'd got an aisle seat in block 14 in a row of five, so not many people going past you, so meant I'd be able to see without anyone in the way as the aisles were wide, and the angle of the view was good too. The venue has fully unreserved seating if standing is in use, so having that inside info helped considerably (hence the note on the ticket stating "platzwahl free" (free choice of place) which was good to know.)
Sure enough, as scheduled, Kraftwerk came on at 8pm and ended up doing a 2 hour 15 minute set, so you can't say you did not get your money's worth. Starting with Nummern tied in with Computerwelt and Computerwelt 2, this set the scene, with the visuals being superb, the outfits of the band being all grid-like and that and the staging matching the light colours on the main screen backdrop too. So for Nummern wiht the numbers in green, outfits and stage borders were green with the numbers also superimposed into the stage blocks in the middle. Sublime start that, and it was going to get even better form here after setting off a high benchmark.
Spacelab was nice too with the space ship descending into Düsseldorf past the Rheinturm and landing outside the venue - someone clearly put the effort in with that animated graphic. Electric Café sounded bright and bouncy as you would expect, and Computer Liebe wanted me to sing "Sod off Coldplay" to the line "Computer Liebe" (if you know, you know, although I did hear someone singing that complete with swear word) and was gorgeously done. Das Model and Neonlicht were also great and especially for the latter as verses were sung in both German and then English, a nice touch that (Neon Lights is the English translation incidentally.)
The screen went quiet after an intro in which Ralf Hutter explained meeting the late Ryuichi Sakamoto back in 1981 and how their various electronic journeys collided, and then they played Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, all stripped back with just the four synths, one set to piano, and just sounded so beautiful. It was one of those lovely moments to cherish and glad that's been on the tour, especially here, where it just had added meaning. After Geigerzähler and Radioaktivität, the rather nice Vitamin came on complete with the pills coming at you - although I do remember the 3D version of that at Manchester Velodrome of course.
The Tour de France extended medley was next, with sections from the main theme, Chrono, Étape 3 and Étape 2 being played to give it all a sense of being segued so well together. La Forme was lovely in all blue with the staging, but then for me tune of the day and perhaps because of the location, where they segued Trans-Europa Express, Metall auf Metall and Abzug brilliantly, even coming back during the Abzug part with the final verse of Trans-Europa Express: "Wir laufen ein in Düsseldorf City, und treffen Iggy Pop und David Bowie" which translates slightly differently from what the English version's lyrics state. Still, along wih the train track graphics and the train going over a metal viaduct bridge on the Metall auf Metall bit, superb!
The final track of the main set was another medley of songs from the Electric Café album: Boing Boom Tschak, Techno Pop and Musique Non Stop, and as that last part ended, each of the band went off in turn, and waved to the crowd. Some started to leave but having checked, there is a single song encore, so I stayed where I was and then the masses realised they were back on and finished off proceedings with Die Roboter. All was well and it was an excellent gig all round, and more special so see them on home turf. Although not quite matching the legendary 2009 Manchester Velodrome gig because of the 3D and indeed the British cycling team in the velodrome during Tour de France, it was still excellent and special and definitely massively well worth it.
I headed back to Oberbilk station and because I worked out the length of the train managed to easily get on at the back of the train (this being the S6 to Essen) and that was all good. In fact it did not take long at all for me to be back at the Premier Inn and a chance to relax with a radler beer I had bought in Lidl earlier and so was nice and cold having been in the fridge all evening. It was good just to wind down with that and then cosy up to bed. It had been a long but rewarding day nonetheless and my only regret was maybe not staying two nights so I could walk Volksgarten or even head over to Dortmund.
Sunday 14th December - Alpaca Sunday
The Love In My Heart had a good sleep overnight as she had been somewhat tired from the extended train journey and all the travelling that had been happening because of it, and we did at least have a good walk through the lights at Chelsea Winter Village last night. Unfortunately due to the broken rail and repair works needed, it meant that she got an email to say her train was cancelled, and so we knew we could get two before and two after later on. I had factored in some planning for after lunch with her niece and partner, and so that would work out well to be honest.
I did make us some nice breakfast, and it was good to have everything in for that. So we did have some mushrooms, bacon, hash browns, scrambled egg and The Love had some plum tomatoes too, and with some toast on the side. It was just nice to do it as The Love often does for me, and always a little treat when she comes over - as for me normally it's granola or porridge, so that was good. We had a fairly relaxed morning on the whole, getting ourselves ready and being out a little earlier due to the trains into central London taking longer due to engineering work.
We got on the train at East Croydon, noting all the Crystal Palace fans off to Selhurst for their game against Manchester City (which admittedly I wish I was going to!) and then the train took its diversionary route via Blackfrairs, which did take time but sped up after then. We stopped off in the M&S Food in St Pancras before walking over to Kings Cross and to take the 73 bus up Pentonville Road and to Angel, and then from there getting off on Essex Road and close to where we were meeting The Love's niece, partner and friend for Sunday lunch - the Alpaca.
We had met in there before for drinks ages ago, and so we knew that the vibe was nice and they had proper real ale on, so the Five Points Red was a good choice for me. Most of us did order the roast chicken which was basically half a chicken complete with all the trimmings, so stuffing, carrots, parsnip, swede, cabbage, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. And oh yes, it was gorgeous, as was the sticky toffee pudding I had for dessert with some nice ice cream on the top - a little treat and did feel a bit guilty that only I was having dessert, but still it was gorgeous.
It was lovely to see everyone and had plenty of chatter along the way. The niece's friend whom we've met before and is lovely, is over for Christmas from New York, where her job is now based, and she did explain how much Thanksgiving is celebrated there and seeing the parade was pretty nice all round. She did say she was looking forward to Greggs though and so mentioned about the outlet I went in a few weeks back, which was good fun. Of course The Love had plenty of fun moments from Little Miss E and Little Miss O to share too, so conversation flowed as did drinks, and in fact i got a proper pint glass with handle and everything for the Five Points Red, as it should be.
We said our farewells and The Love and I walked back to Angel station, and did the little cut through by Islington Green of all the nice little shops, which she did say she'd love to go back to sometime, and I agreed, so we may hatch a plan to see them and maybe go to Greenwich too the next time she is down with me. We got on the tube at Angel and soon arrived at Euston, and all in good time for us to be ready (and I knew the platform in advance) so The Love could head on the 1652 train home, one earlier than planned, but she was pleased that she got a seat and was all good. Tune of the day happens to be a celebration of Man City's wins for both the men and the women, so Supra's version of Blue Moon needed to be blasted out later.
Saturday 13th December - Chelsea Winter Village Stroll
The Love In My Heart was coming down to visit me today, and we had tickets purchased a long time ago for a new Christmas lights display, Chelsea Winter Village. It is at a similar site for where the Chelsea Flower Show is, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where the retired British army veterans known as the Chelsea Pensioners live. The village and illuminations, which is a festive light trail, are also quite close to central London, being walking distance from both Victoria and Sloane Square stations, making it easy to get to. The trail is also fully accessible too which is good to see, so we would see what would happen when we went.
I got up and headed out to one of the local shops near me, as I had a brainwave of a storage solution following me getting rid of a few things from the flat. I knew that one space I had was around 25cm deep, so if I had storage to fit that, it'd work. Lo and behold, I go to one of the discount shops near me, and found the a box that when I measured it (and yes I had the tape measure with me) it was 24.5cm deep, so absolutely spot on. I got home, packed it with games and cassettes etc and it was spot on, with closing lid, and fitted into the space perfectly. Winning all round there.
The Love's train meanwhile had left on time, but ended up being massively delayed. There happened to be a broken rail just north of Milton Keynes, which meant that a Northbound train was stranded. The control asked the driver and train manager of a Southbound train to pull up alongside on the track (which happened to be The Love's train!) and so they would then be able to evacuate people and get them across to the other train safely. The train manager and driver by all accounts were excellent according to The Love, keeping everyone informed and indeed getting everyone else on safe, then dropped off any heading north at Milton Keynes Central. This did mean The Love's train was going to be 2 hours late into Euston, so we hatched Plan B.
Rather than The Love heading to mine, relaxing at mine for a bit, maybe even having coffee at a local spot before heading back out, I would leave mine and meet The Love at Victoria. That way we'd be closer to the event venue, and I knew of at least two places she could drop the case off for a bit and collect it later, so we would not have to cart it around with us whilst being at the Chelsea Winter Village. I left in good time and managed to get a spot at the Wetherspoons in Victoria so she'd see me when heading up the escalator, with my message saying that a glass of wine would be ready for her, which it was.
The Love arrived and she told me all about the journey, which sounded painful but at least the train crews got everyone off the stricken train safely and managed to get them on to the other one, and as the train manager had said, they were the nearest train to be in the vicinity so it could have been any train. We had a drink and chatter and catch up, with a gospel choir singing some festive songs on the concourse below, so that was pretty nice to be honest. We did also then head to the Left Luggage place close to platform 8 and dropped off the case there, primarily as they do screen it before checking in (so all good) but also because it was open til 11pm and we could then get it back on the way to the train home.
It was nice walking along the shops on Pimlico Road and certainly all the posh furniture, homeware shops and the odd deli or café was very appealing, and I can well imagine spending some nice time there all round really. We then walked down to the main entrance to the Chelsea Winter Village, and although there was the queue for the light trail, it was not well signposted to go to the village part beforehand, which meant you may have queued without reason. Thankfully we'd worked this out for ourselves and so headed into the village, where there were some nice food and drink options, some market stalls with some nice gifts including knitted figures, scarves and so on, as well as the curling rink (which you had to pay for in advance) and bar in there, so all good.
We did find a nice bench in a covered area and that also meant we were close to one bar and a food outlet that did fish. The Love had the fish and chips which looked really good, and I had the bang bang prawns, which were king prawns battered and in a nice sauce, I went for the honey one, and that with the chips was delicious. We both had a pint each and it was just nice to be able to enjoy that together whilst various Christmas songs were being played by the stalls including Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses, so that has to be tune of the day there for me.
We got close to 6pm and so it was on with the light trail. This was very good and used one the main paths to help aid the flow of people, complete with some lovely lights between the trees. It was a left turn at the bottom and from there the trail wound its way around many of the paths in the Ranelagh Gardens, which had two large lit reindeer, some gorgeous stars with one having its own tail like a wishing star, and also a nice touch to have plenty of light displays on some of the grass and showing out all sorts of colour. At the bottom end and curving back there were also lit doors, painted by one of the local schools, which was a nice touch too.
The trail also then did include a large well lit tree that really showed off all sorts of bright colours and looked really lovely, along with a massive present gift box all lit with baubles, a light tunnel that of course everyone was doing selfies in, as well as a lovely display close to the end where the path was all lit up with lights, and the grass either side had lights in which all cycled through colours. It was all rather lovely and I have to say the way that all worked out was pretty good, and well worth it. We then did have a drink in the Apres Ski bar afterwards which meant that The Love could have a mulled wine too which was all good.
We later on got back to Victoria, collected the case, and headed back on the train to East Croydon and to mine, where after we settled in for a bit, then watched tonight's Strictly Come Dancing on iPlayer. I have to say all four semi-finalists were good, but the one dance I felt was the best was Karen Carney and Carlos Gu doing the waltz. It felt emotional just watching it and the two of them were all in tears at the end as they both felt how special that dance and moment was, and rightly so.
Sunday 7th December - Waitrose Way
After a nice Saturday evening of watching Strictly Come Dancing, and seeing some impressive musical performances, and also a nice programme on Devon and Cornwall at Christmas, focussing on the likes of Exmoor, Newquay and also plenty of small seaside villages, it was nice to have got a good night's sleep, although Brian the cat was doing his best to disturb The Love In My Heart by deciding that he would need to go in the litter tray and as well as do what he needed to do also decide to scratch around in the tray a lot, clearly wanting attention from his Mummy. What is he like?
We did decide to head out today despite the weather as The Love wanted to check out a couple of shops that were outside of the city centre and get some other gift ideas as well as being able to then have some nice lunch out too later on. That sounded like a plan to me and so once we had seen the weather clear up a little bit, it was off to The Love's car and heading out, first of all to Cheadle Hulme. Once the one way system had been negotiated to get into one of the roads and car parks, we parked up at Homebird, which is a homeware shop that you always see the back of from the train.
As it turned out, the mood in there was very festive, playing all the Christmas classics, and on top of that, it had been nice that some of the trees and garlands were on discount so if you wanted something last minute to decorate and make it look all lovely, it was money off which was nice. In fact there were some lovely sets of hats and gloves as well and also some nice cards, soaps, candles and all sorts, and it did feel really homely which was lovely. I was so tempted to get a few things and The Love did pick up a couple of bits of decor for the Christmas display and the tree at home (which she put up yesterday and looks fab.)
We then went over to the Waitrose too as I fancied seeing if they had any different beer in for Christmas, so I could get it there and then and keep it at The Love's place for over the festive period. I did also manage to get some Benecol drinks as well so thought it sensible to get those (for cholesterol reducing reasons) and the selection of beer was pretty good. I did go for three in end and one I had had before - the Gipsy Hill Bandit pale ale which is also gluten free, as well as a Vault City sour I had not had before. What was nice was that they ha a little café inside and so we stopped for coffee, and The Love even had a really nice rose and lemon sponge cake which was half price - and that slice was rather nice all round. Good to relax in there really.
With shopping done we had booked the Ashlea in Cheadle for some lunch and so we were having a Sunday Roast, well one of us was. The Love went for the roast turkey which really was moist and wholesome with a good selection of vegetables and gravy along with a massive Yorkshire pudding too. I went for the king prawn and sea bass risotto which was really nice - lots of rice and plenty of peas in the risotto too and the fish was absolutely lovely - really good to enjoy that with a pint of Rocking Rudolph beer too so that was definitely a good way to round off the afternoon. Tune of the day has to be Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade as it got played after 1st December, Noddy Holder did his thing and under mine and The Love's rules, it now feels like Christmas as it should.
Saturday 6th December - Sunderland Saturday
It was a nice lie in this morning after a train journey up to Manchester last night, and The Love In My Heart and I had some nice breakfast with Brian the cat of course wanting lots of fussing and attention, as he usually does. We knew it was going to be not the best weather out there and Brian looked outside longingly wanting to have his little playtime on the patio, but unfortunately this wasn't happening due to a lot of rain coming down, which may well affect the game I was going to later today too as Manchester City were taking on Sunderland at the Etihad.
However, we did look outside and saw a small commotion going on in that the gates to the car park for The Love's block of flats were not opening, and that did mean one taxi driver cursing a bit as he was stuck inside. The maintenance team came and sorted it so it would open, but that would remain that way for most of the weekend which was not ideal, especially with gigs on at Co Op Live too. The other interesting thing The Love spotted was that yet more Airbnb types appeared to be visiting and they were as usual wanting to get access to the block. It's getting a bit annoying for The Love now because inevitably they will ask anyone they see and there's also issues around cleanliness and noise at night when some people stay, which quite frankly is extracting urine.
I made my way over to the Etihad Stadium later just in time to see on the big screens on the concourse that Aston Villa had scored a last gasp winner against Arsenal to win 2-1. That was Villa's fifth win on the bounce and meant they were now in second place in the table, and also meant we could go back to second and close the gap to Arsenal should we win today. Sunderland were in good form themselves though and so knew it was not going to be easy, and so a strong line up was announced with Rayan Cherki for Tijjani Reijnders being the only change. I just hoped we weren't going to concede so many like against Fulham the other night.
Anyway City kicked off and it was a productive first half, with Sunderland going on the attack as they needed to, with a couple of snap shots on goal and them keeping tight in the midfield. City pressed forward but the final ball was either good but no one there, or the shots on goal were not being taken from distance, hence the fact that it would just come back to us eventually for another attack. I kept asking someone to take a shot on goal, especially with the weather meaning the ball will skid off the surface if hit low and hard, and it was just a matter of time if we did that.
Maybe someone did listen to me after that because Rayan Cherki laid the ball across the box, and Ruben Dias went for a shot outside the area. It was going in anyway, but the deflection off the Sunderland defender did help and it went into the top corner for 1-0. Relief all round and good to see Ruben stepping up and having a go. That soon did become 2-0 as City forced a corner, and from it the cross from Phil Foden was met with the head of Josko Gvardiol for a well placed header, and his second goal from a corner in seven days after one against Leeds United last week, so that was something at least.
The second half started and Sunderland were going for it, and they were unlucky not to score when Wilson Isidor robbed the ball off Ruben Dias but was denied by the save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Still that was a warning shot, and later on Granit Xhaka also hit the post, which was a good effort all round. Certainly you had to give them credit for giving it a proper go and they could have pulled one back on a different day. I was just relieved we had not conceded and knew that we needed a third to finish them off.
And that did come, with a move down the right involving Rayan Cherki. He got past the defender and then decided to do a Rabona cross (I mean, that's mad) which found the head of Phil Foden to score once again and it was 3-0. That was how it stayed and as I left the game at the end, right after Luke O'Nien had a stupid red card for Sunderland right at the death, the City song The Boys in Blue played (make that tune of the day) , with of course the line that the boys in blue never give in. And we won't - two points behind Arsenal now and that for me says there is potential for us to go on and win the title yet.
Thursday 4th December – Totally Acoustic
It was good to head out once more after work – this time for a gig at the King and Queen in Fitzrovia to see MJ Hibbett and folks do their Totally Acoustic thing. I had not been to one of these for a while and so was good to be able to meet up with friends there. The main issue was that Thaneslink, once again, were screwed up with trains which meant that potentially part of the journey would be disrupted. As it transpired, when I headed from West Croydon to London Bridge and then changed from there, I got a delayed train to Farringdon and then on to Tottenham Court Road from there – using the Dean Street exit as it was near my old office.
This did mean an easier walk towards Goodge Street and to my usual stop for tea around these parts – Icco. Their pizzas are always consistently good and they are a mere £8.95 for a Capriciosa, which is ham, mushrooms and black olives, freshly made to order and with a really nice crunchy thin crust too. Needless to say, it was as enjoyable as ever and was good to be able to take the time out with that. And judging by the numbers of boxes of pizzas being collected by couriers, clearly being on the main delivery company websites has done them a massive amount of business – and thoroughly deserved in my view.
It was then on to the King and Queen, with most of us being there early. Always a pleasure to see Mark (MJ) Hibbett of course and had a good chat before deciding to head upstairs, where we were waiting outside the little room as one of the bands were finishing a rehearsal. In the meantime Matt Tiller (who was first on) decided to play a version of Luka by Suzanne Vega on his guitar but with all the lyrics changed to refer to Laika, the first dog in space. Very witty and funny and that kept us going with warmth and happiness in our souls.
We all got a seat, Mark headed round with mince pies from Waitrose (all nice) and he introduced the evening with the usual Totally Acoustic theme tune. Remember folks, the “ooooh!” is important here. On went Matt Tiller first of all, and it was very good fun, with songs about being with someone who would not be afraid to punch someone if needed, and also about the warm and cosy feeling of being next to someone close when you go to sleep. All of this was delivered with some warm wit and good humour as Matt usually does, so that was a good way to get started.
On then came the Highchurches and they were very good – with an acoustic bass player, and a violinist along with two vocalists, who would also use a combination of banjo, ukelele and acoustic guitar. They were very good and had some lovely songs, even though that three of them were ones they described, for different reasons, being about the end of the world. They were indeed delivered with wit and humour too, and a real sense of harmony with the vocals as well. I look forward to hearing more from them and some actual recordings are due soon, so I can purchase their songs. Always good to hear new stuff isn’t it?
After a drinks break on came MJ Hibbett with Chris Thorpe-Tracey (aka Chris T-T) and a small rule was broken here – as a piano could not fit to get into the small space, an electronic Roland keyboard set to piano was used instead – although that means it was plugged in! Still, that did mean that the songs had a lovely backing to them and Chris really did feel the songs more so – because he like many of us adore Mark’s songs and he pretty much said that in one lovely moment too, which was good. There were some new songs played, which is always lovely, and definitely nice to hear along the way.
Of course, being a fan, it was rather nice to have Chips and Cheese, Pint of Wine as one of the earlier songs in the set, which is just good fun. Later on there was the beautiful song about being in the North Stand watching Peterborough United at London Road – In the North Stand, and as I thought might happen, a finale of my favourite (and therefore tune of the day) It Only Works Because You’re Here. The Highchurches also sang along to the chorus with a gorgeous harmonic backing too which was beautiful, and the regulars like me sang along too, which was all so lovely. It made the night go ever so well to finish off and showed just why I adore these little gigs, it felt intimate and lovely to be there.
Wednesday 3rd December – Penguins at the Barbican
It was off into Central London after work and to a gig tonight, and a gig I had been looking forward to for some time – GoGo Penguin at the Barbican. I do love the band’s latest album Necessary Fictions, and this for me had to be a focus of the set as well as a smattering of their older songs too. I think too it was surprising yet ace that the venue had pretty much sold out, and the last time they played here it was supposed to be really good, so hoping for more of the same and a first time positive impression seeing them do their thing.
There was an unfortunate incident being near Stevenage which was delaying trains all over the network. I just hope that if someone was being hit by a train, that there is better mental health support out there to prevent this happening in future. Whilst inconvenient, the bigger picture here is that a family has lost a loved one and maybe did not know that one of their own was thinking about leaving them this way. I stopped to pause and think about that as I boarded at East Croydon and got to Farringdon safely enough, and it is at times like this you appreciate being alive and safe and having plenty of good moments in life to look forward to and people to be with.
Once at Farringdon I was tempted to go to one of the pubs close by, but they were all rammed with City wanker types, and quite frankly, I could not be meithered with all those idiots. I did remember that there was a place or two within the Barbican itself where you could get food, and so thought to go in there instead. Barbican Kitchen proved to be a good move – I got a roast dinner including turkey, roasties, parsnip, carrots, and gravy, and a pint of Camden Pale, for a reasonable enough price. It was cosy and warm enough in there too and being right next to the main hall meant no faffing later on too – so an epic win there.
I took my seat in the main Barbican Hall and was in the balcony – and pretty central and the way the seating is laid out, no heads directly in front either and so had a good view of the stage where I was. That proved to be quite good and shortly on came the support act – and someone who indeed has collaborated with GoGo Penguin anyway, Daudi Matsiko. He played a short set mainly with acoustic guitar or keys, and were soft, reflective songs based on personal experiences and indeed related to his recent bipolar diagnosis, which felt brave to tackle head on and write songs about and be quite vulnerable. The songs did have a lovely flow to them and was captivated by an appreciative audience giving him plenty of encouragement. Well, apart from two idiots behind me somewhere who were talking the whole way through. They can kindly, as they say in Scotland, get tae….
Once the break had concluded, on came GoGo Penguin, and it was a brilliant set of close to an hour and three quarters in total. Second track in was Fallowfield Loops, which is my single of the year, and that was utterly brilliant to see live, with the drums underpinning the piano and bass perfectly and making for a wonderful piece of music, and without doubt tune of the day. To be honest, just hearing that live was more than enough for me but the fact that the majority of the Necessary Fictions album was played with gusto, and indeed with Daudi Matsiko joining them for the song that he co-wrote, Forgive the Damages, that was really special and showed the care and love that had gone into that.
Other highlights were plentiful, including Luminous Giants and having Rakhi Singh on for that one, as well as some of their earlier work such as Hopopono. Most of the Necessary Fictions album got an airing, such as the lovely Umbra and the really in depth What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be as well. It just felt the right place for them too with the sound really remnating around the venue beautifully. Sometimes less is more and having the clarity of the drums, double bass or keys and piano together was a seamless way of carrying the music along wonderfully well. I definitely would love to see them again and take The Love In My Heart with me – she might enjoy it as it really does feel so chilled out. It was good just to take it easy and despite some train issues, made it home with the sound of Fallowfield Loops in my head.
Tuesday 2nd December – Craven Cottage Craziness
It was a first for me tonight as I was ticking off another Premier League away ground and one I had wanted to go to for some time – namely Fulham away at Craven Cottage. I had walked past it when doing the Thames Path North walk, and indeed had food at the lovely Crabtree pub not far away – including with The Love In My Heart and some of her relations, one of which used to live in Putney with her partner. It definitely was nice to be back here again and this time for seeing Manchester City away. The 7.30pm kick off was a questionable one given it was London and all, but still, thought it worth me leaving work on time and getting straight out for the tram to WIimbledon followed by the bus to Putney Bridge and walk from there.
What I had not factored in was the roadworks in Wimbledon Village, which meant temporary traffic lights being down to one lane and took ages for the 93 bus to get through. It delayed it enough to decide to terminate the bus early at the Green Man on Putney Heath, so meant I had to walk all the way downhill into Putney from there, head through the centre, over the bridge, and then follow the masses along the riverside and through Bishops Place Park and to the ground. As the Putney End has both home and away fans (split in half inside) then the turnstiles were busy and I had managed to get through with just ten minutes to spare before kick off, but had made it and got to my seat - not that I’d be standing much anyway, and all ready to go. Could City do the business I ask? We would soon see.
The game kicked off and City were kicking towards the Hammersmith End, the furthest away from us. It however did not take us long to rue a chance, as Erling Haaland would be through and his shot hit the post and back out. Would this elusive 100th Premier League goal come tonight I wondered? Well we didn’t have long to wait as a cross from Jeremy Doku was met perfectly by Haaland and he smashed it home. Goal number 100, and I was there to see a record being broken (it took him 111 games to do it, even better than the legend that is Alan Shearer) and needless to say the City fans were in full voice, chanting his name and singing a lot too. Must admit it’s always a better atmosphere away anyway and we sang the song to The Stone Roses’ Made of Stone (so that is tune of the day for me.)
City were not done and towards the end of the first half, Haaland put through Tijjani Reijnders and he finished off with a sublime chip over Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal or 2-0. It got even better though as there was a corner that was cleared but only to Phil Foden, who then took a shot right into the top corner, smashing it home with aplomb. It would have been good to go in at half time 3-0 up but City slacked off defensively allowing a lovely cross and a sublime header from Emile Smith-Rowe to get one back. I wasn’t complaining too much at that time and 3-1 was a good scoreline for us to be able to go into the second half with.
Fulham made some changes to go more attacking, in the hope of getting the next goal and forcing their way back into it, which made sense. City did play the ball forward and although Erling Haaland could not reach it, his little flick did find Phil Foden who clipped the ball home for 4-1. Nice. Even nicer a few minutes later was that Jeremy Doku’s shot deflected awkwardly off Sander Berge, and was enough to direct it goalwards and over Leno. Flukey yes, but we’ll take it for 5-1. Now usually I’d be thinking that would have been enough but with City’s calamitous defence last time out and without Rodri to steer the ship somewhat, we needed to keep Fulham out for a bit.
That did not happen though and a long range shot from Alex Iwobi pulled it back to 5-2. At that point onwards, Fulham went for it and in the meantime, Erling Haaland hit the post with a header for 6-2, punished a minute later as Fulham went down the right, the ball was crossed in and punched out, and then from there the substitute Samuel Chukwueze shot home. There was a lengthy VAR check for an offside that was not, and so the goal was given. 5-3. Nervous now. Even more so as following Savinho faffing around and conceding a corner, Gianluigi Donnarumma could only punch out and it went straight to Samuel Chukwueze and he slammed it home. 5-4. This match was seriously mental.
The referee did his best to give us all nerves with eight minutes of stoppage time and City just about held on in the end, with a goal line clearance from Josko Gvardiol stopping the best comeback in Premier League history coming back from four goals down to draw – Newcastle did so from 4-0 to 4-4 against Arsenal but were four down within 26 minutes (and 3-0 down in 10 minutes) so had longer to come back – had Fulham scored, City’s fifth goal for 5-1 was in the 54th minute so they would have a mere 36 minutes plus stoppages to get that back. I was just relieved to get the win and would be a first visit to Craven Cottage that I was not going to forget in a long time!