Dear Diary...
This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):
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2020 |
Tuesday 21st January - Hoxton Heat
It was off to the Hoxton Arches office for the first time in ages. I did have to remember that I needed to take the keys for the office with me, as not many of us have access in there. The journey would have been helped had the driver of the Overground train not decide that at Whitechapel the train was going non-stop all the way to Highbury and Islington and so most of the train exited there and waited for the next one, which was equally as rammed. Not sure this Windrush line renaming has done anything but to basically add more people to the Overground than there were before, thus defeating the object of being a nicer journey. Anyway.
One nice thing I did notice on unlocking the office and entering was the nice warm heat radiating from the new thermostat controlled electric radiators that had been installed in the main office arch, along with a thick plastic curtain set of blinds which really did their best to keep the heat in also. The carpet also smelt nice and super clean as did the desks too, so really felt back at home here to be honest. It did also allow me to road test a number of things out whilst I was there with the new laptops.
So first of all, the wireless network. We had that with a suitable key added previously, which you then authenticated with a web page. I pre-added it yesterday ready and it all connected without any issues, so that was good to check over. I also managed to connect to the printer in the office which is a standard IP printer, and that was all fine and dandy there. What may prove trickier is the older network printer which is on a print queue, and not necessarily going to authorise with the new domain etc. I do have a thought or two on this though, so will keep eyes on working out something.
What I've been getting to the bottom of today did prove to be useful for a couple of migration laptop users later on, and made sure that they could access an old site and indeed have access to an old add-on which allowed them suitable access. The positive has been that a member of staff from the migration side has been really positive and shown that basically the documentation and instructions I provide are spot on, and if you follow them all will be well with the world. I suspect that there will be more to come of course.
It was an easier journey home and I did do a pop into Iceland on the way home, taking full advantage of one of their offers and doing the fill 10 freezer items for £10 whilst there, which filled up the bag of shopping very nicely. From fish fingers to fish cakes, and chicken shapes to even Alphabites, there was something for all with some big brands too, and I thought about it: if you were on a budget, you could very easily stock up and have what you needed for less. Naturally I resisted the temptation to sing it in store, but when I got home Mum's Gone To Iceland by Bennet just had to be played and tune of the day as a result.
Sunday 19th January - Derby Day Defeat
So it was a nice lie in for both The Love In My Heart and myself after a busy Saturday, and we both wanted some well earned sleep to be honest. Brian the cat did have other ideas but once I got up and started to watch some telly on catch up, including Friday's episode of The Traitors which I had missed due to be me being on the train up to Manchester, he decided that it was snuggle time with his Mummy and so got back into bed instead, the cheekiness of him!
Anyway, once all up and after having some breakfast, we got ourselves ready to head out later for a bit. We did see the walk ons for the final of the Masters Snooker with Shaun Murphy (not The Love's favourite) up against Kyren Wilson. Of course, it's been a pleasure all week to hear Drag Racer by The Doug Wood Band (aka the proper snooker theme) back as it should be, and whoever made that decision, give them a promotion or a pay rise right now. Tune of the day without question, and so that set the tone well as the players got into the match, with Shaun Murphy taking an early lead.
We decided that as we didn't have the time to do lunch last Sunday because trains, we decided to go where we were going to go - Brewdog Outpost close to the University. Of course, had we checked yesterday we'd have been able to pre-book and therefore get one burger for £1 when you buy another one, but we did though take advantage of another offer on site, so I got the 0.5% Punk AF for free with the pint of Lost Lager for The Love, so that at least was something. I ended up having the Patriot burger, which was pretty good, but they had none of the hasselback potatoes to go with it, so fries instead!
After that we did have a look down the road in Utility, which had some lovely cards and gifts. To be honest there was a Valentine's card I could have bought, but not doing that with The Love present, seemed a bit pointless that. They did though have some good birthday cards which The Love bought two of, and some nice sale items which were also tempting. It's definitely the sort of little shop The Love enjoys going in, so worth noting if she needs somewhere to head to for nice things generally.
Later on it was off to the Etihad Stadium for me as Manchester City's women were taking on Manchester United in the WSL, and a derby that promised a fair bit of excitement. In fact, they showed the second half of the City's men's team at Ipswich Town on the screens on the concourse, so got there early and saw the demolition job carried out from 3-0 to 6-0 with goals from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee completing the job. It was good to see some form of return to form from the men's team at least, but with the women slumping due to injuries to the likes of Bunny Shaw, Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood, what could the women do?
Well, the first half saw five goals, and could have been more. However, City's defence was pretty awful with the goalkeeper Khiara Keating's distribution terrible, with backpasses having to come in more often and not clearing the lines properly. I knew it was only a matter of time before a ball down the left eventually found its way to Ella Toone, and the England Lioness was not going to miss that for 1-0. A corner came over later and everyone missed it and panicked in the box, with Leah Galton responding first and scoring from close range for 2-0. A disastrous Keating clearance saw the ball robbed off a City defender, and Ella Toone had a pick your spot simple finish for 3-0.
City eventually found some feet, and I did think getting one back before half time might make the game interesting. A cross from Mary Fowler found the head of Vivanne Miedeama, and that was a good finish for 3-1. And almost right on half time, a Mary Fowler corner went all the way towards the back of the six yard box where the defender Rebecca Knaak, on her debut, scored a really good header to make it 3-2 at half time, and so slightly back into the game. Could we go on second half and win the game? We would soon find out.
And that answer was no. Straight from kick off the ball was passed back to Khiara Keating who was miles out of her area. An attempted clearance was charged down, leaving Ella Toone a simple finish for her hat trick. A hat trick in any Manchester derby is well worthy of player of the match, and she deserved it to be fair. City tried what they could to get back into it but just couldn't finish whatsoever, and in fact at the end United could have got a fifth. It was a fair result in the end, City tried but not hard enough and it really felt like questions need to be asked of the manager Gareth Taylor now. City are down to fourth and standards have dropped. You can point the finger at injuries, but other players need to be properly motivated and step up...
Saturday 18th January - Little Ones' Sleepover
Having arrived in Manchester last night after another fun and games journey with Avanti Worst Coast, I woke up with The Love In My Heart, and we had The Cute Tiny One snuggled up between us. She had woken up early morning after having had a good sleep in the cot, but was having a good cry, so after some calming down from The Love, she settled in all snuggled, and even had her hand holding one of my fingers for comfort. Aww. I didn't mind, I thought that was lovely. The Cute Little One came in from her sleep after she had heard Brian the cat miaowing for some attention, so it was earlier than planned that we were all up.
We did decide to head out for breakfast, so once we had got everyone up, changed and ready, it was a case of getting everyone in the car and finding a parking space in Ancoats, and off to Cotton - which is the café at the Hallé St Peter's near to Cutting Room Square. We have had breakfast in there before and it was lovely, and so we ordered some coffee, a pain au chocolat, as well as two breakfast baps with bacon, egg and sausage, and some apple juice for The Cute Little One. The waitress was super impressed with The Cute Tiny One's jersey dress, which is what I got her for Christmas - featuring everyone's favourite bunny, Miffy (as you do!) so that was good.
Breakfast was lovely and the four of us sat down to enjoy it, with snacks being the order of the day for The Cute Tiny One (as she already had had something earlier) but also some water too, and she just had happy smiles on and was super adorable. We later walked over to the New Islington Marina, where the ducks and Canadian Geese were out in force, as well as the swans, who were getting The Cute Little One a little scared as they almost hissed their way to the shore. It was just nice to walk around and once back at The Love's place, plenty of things to play with and keep everyone occupied until their parents came later.
It had all been lovely, and once we'd settled back in a bit and tidied everywhere up, we thought it'd be nice to head out for a drink. Track's taproom was rammed and there was nowhere to park, so we ended up heading back over towards Ancoats and in the Seven Bro7ers tap room there, which is always good. They still had the Sunset cask ale on which is rather lovely, so I had that and it was all good to sit and relax together. I think it did us both good to just wind down a little bit and later after some shopping, it was nice also to have some tea which was gorgeous.
We ended up spending some time during the evening with different things on the telly - it was the new series of Gladiators and sensibly they kept the proper theme tune on, so tune of the day there without question. I was also able to see how well the contenders did, and one actually lasted the full thirty seconds against Fire on Duel, which was impressive. I also really like the fact that they brought back Atlaspheres too - maybe the floor needed to be more carpeted instead of polished, but nonetheless it worked nicely and really did show that if a formula works well, just don't mess with it.
We also did later see Ant and Dec's Limitless Win, which is always entertaining to be honest. The concept is simple but the fact there's jeopardy really does mean you have to think sensible and try and get the exact answers for more money and lives to progress. Sensibly, one couple got so far and realised that a guess might have lost all their lives, so cashed out what they had instead to be sure - absolutely the right thing to do. We both got a number of questions right so had we been playing, we may have done well, albeit without the nerves of the studio or Jane McDonald cheering you on - one of the couple was a big fan and Ant and Dec her backstage with the families!
Saturday 11th January - Excellent Eight
It was back up to Manchester to see the third round of the FA Cup as Manchester City would take on Salford City in the first competitive meeting between the two sides. I can remember many years ago seeing Salford City at Moor Lane beating Hyde United in an FA Cup second qualifying round game, and that was prior to them changing colour of kit (they used to play in tangerine) and before the likes of Gary Neville bought them out, so how times have very much changed since then. Of course, the first mission was actually to get up to Manchester in the first place..
And that proved harder than it should be. Primarily as there was an electrical power issue between Milton Keynes and Nuneaton, meaning trains moving slowly or not all around the affected area. Ironically, my 1113 train from Euston had arrived incoming, and was at the platform ready to go. But for some reason (and zero explanations from Avanti as per usual) it stayed there, and didn't move. Eventually we were allowed on and the 1133 had then gone before us, and apparently the train could not run at full speed for whatever reason. Not a great journey up and that did mean a 55 minute delay in all.
By the time I had got the tram and to The Love In My Heart's place, unfortunately I missed both The Cute Little One and The Cute Tiny One - they and their parents had left for home. Shame that, but was good to catch up and natter with The Love's sister anyway and at least with a nice warm coffee down me that did at least feel good. It was just nice to stay warm and cosy for most of the afternoon with The Love and Brian the cat all being super cute and cosy. Brian was loving having tummy tickles from his Mummy, and well why not?
I headed over to the Etihad Stadium later in good time for the 1745 kick off (down to the game being on BBC One) and the ground was pretty full overall. As the tickets were cheap I went in the East Stand, second tier, and had the padded seats, I thought why not. I had a steak pie and all was well, and the team looked pretty good, a mix of experience with youngsters and I was hoping some of those would impress today. Clearly we were taking this seriously and bear in mind Salford Cty had not conceded in the league for six games on the bounce, so needed an early goal to settle the nerves.
And that did come. A good move with Matheus Nunes breaking through the middle and passes to Jack Grealish and then Jeremy Doku saw the Belgian slot home into the opposite corner for 1-0. Nice to get an early goal, and although Salford City did try to go forward, they looked vulnerable at the back. Another move involving Nunes, this time with him picking up the ball and chipping it into the box saw a first Manchester City goal, and on debut, for Divin Mubama. Simple finish yes, but you have to be there to take the chance and he was alive and alert, so well played.
City pressed onwards and despite Salford City having a scuffed chance which they should have made more of, more joy down the left hand side as Jeremy Doku did his thing and passed the ball inside for Nico O'Reilly. He slotted it home into the bottom corner for a well taken finish and indeed his first Manchester City goal also. To be fair he played well all game, closing down and making good tackles, and really looking comfortable on the ball. He might have even got Man of the Match from me, but then the second half changed all that, and what a half it was.
First of all, Divin Mubama cut out a back pass and unselfishly laid the ball on forJack Grealish to score - only for him to be fouled. Needless to say that Grealish dusted himself down and slotted the penalty home, cool as you like, for 4-0. That close to the start of the second half was already game over really, and a gorgeous ball from Matheus Nunes found Jeremy Doku on the right. He put in a superb cross which was met by James McAtee for a superb finish. A well worked goal all round and with just over an hour gone it was 5-0 to City and pretty much in the draw for the next round.
Phil Foden had come on by this point and was really giving the Salford City defence a hard time. He found Doku down the right and his shot was charged down by the hand of Curtis Tilt, meaning that it was another penalty, which Doku scored himself, so 6-0 now. It was really easy and that soon became 7, with a low hard shot from Foden finding the feet of James McAtee, who was onside, and slotted it superbly home for 7-0. The City fans started doing the Poznan en masse and for me at least it was a very enjoyable time to do that.
It wasn't quite the end, oh no. Still time for another goal and a pretty good one at that. Some nice movement involved and the ball went to the left to Jack Grealish who put in an excellent ball into the box which James McAtee finished with aplomb. 8-0 and a hat trick for him, really pleased. In fact City could have scored a ninth late on as they kept at it, but so pleased for James McAtee to show why we should be playing him more often, and a nice easy passage into the next round with the draw tomorrow. Going to be fun times there I reckon!
Later on The Love In My Heart and I watched Ant and Dec's Limitless Win after we had some tea, and I have to say that the couple who were on second owe Ant a massive debt of thanks. The question was about the number of stomps and claps at the start of Queen's iconic We Will Rock You (make that tune of the day). They thought it was 12, but Ant mentioned he did it for the End of the Show Show in the Saturday Night Takeaway and he remembered 24. As it was the take two lifeline, it took the Ant's answer which proved to be the exact answer and nailed a cool £75k for the couple too!
Thursday 9th January - Swap Shop
It was time for me to say a fond farewell to the work laptop (one which I only got early last year, in fact) and to say hello to the new one. As part of the way that my workplace is being taken over by the new company and owners, we are all getting replacement devices that fit into their standards that they have, and also therefore means we will all get Windows 11 with Intune (for Windows devices) and all the stuff that brings. Naturally that was on the radar for me to do anyway, but as we already had wind of the takeover happening, that got shelved in favour of the new plan.
I had already worked well with the folks anyway to look at what software was needed, and what would be sensible to place back on. That and the pre-migration meeting meant I knew what needed to go back on there, and so handed everything over at around 10.30am, with all the data from the current one having been backed up or removed as not needed, and so once a few things were checked, I could get on with the rest of the day, with clear instructions not to check email - as the email was also being migrated at the same time.
I did spend some time using one of the test laptops anyway to make sure that I could road test some applications and settings to make sure that they worked as intended, and at the same time, be able to troubleshoot a couple of things. I also did venture out with my colleague over to Pizza Union for some well earned lunch after being in Richer Sounds and having a good mooch around there - well why not, considering that it wasn't that far from the office anyway?
Later on I was able to collect the new laptop and go through a few things with the folks - and all was well - my email was still migrating and would finish later in the day, but all worked as intended. I changed the password as needed, ensured that the account's MFA authentication via Microsoft Authenticator was all good, and then checked and tested a couple of things. At first, Firefox didn't play ball, but I remembered a setting that needed to apply and once did, all was fine there and got that operational too. I also managed well to check a few things over and all appeared to be fine thus far - needless to say as we go, I can work with the team and get stuff sorted.
It was a busy day but well worth it, and a fairly busy bus ride home on the SL6 and then the 468 before settling in for the evening with some more of The Traitors. I have to say that one of the two left is going to get caught sooner instead of later, but at present the Faithful keep bitching and voting each other off, much to their disgust, although it was clear to see that it was just falling into the Traitors' hands. The theme tune is similarly dramatic and so that's tune of the day for me.
Sunday 5th January - Home Through the Snow
It had been snowing overnight in most of the country and including Manchester, but the bad weather seemed to have escaped London, with most of the snow turning to rain and wet surfaces underfoot. That did mean that proided the trains were running to London Euston, getting home should be a breeze. I did get up a little earlier to make sure that I could check if my 0920 train was cancelled, because that would mean leaving earlier, but all seemed well. The early Sunday trains just come from the local depot so means less chance of delays. And due to my Club Avanti freebie, first class in the way back too. Oh yes.
The Love In My Heart very kindly dropped me off at the station, taking care and driving carefully as it was a little slushy underfoot. The only positive was it was above freezing and so wasn't going to ice over, so there was that at least as a winner. It felt really sad to say goodbye to be honest, as it's been lovely being with her and Brian the cat and having lots of lovely times together, but that just also makes the time more special when we get it, so will be looking forward to next weekend already.
I walked down the platform as the train came in and waited a few minutes to board, and being at Coach K means right at the front at Euston, plus even though it did say seven seats were reserved for this, only I turned up. We did have another passenger after Stoke on Trent but two in the carriage. The staff were lovely and I soon had a coffee, orange juice and smoked salmon with scrambled eggs for breakfast, together with some toast as well. Absolutely spot on, and had some coffee and a shortbread later to keep me going well. I had the iPod on and so tune of the day is the excellent Lightside by CMU, a ten minute epic perfect for the train journey really.
The train did arrive a little earlier at Euston and I spotted some Manchester United fans heading up towards Liverpool on the train for today's encounter at Anfield later on. I got the tube to Victoria and actually got on an earlier train than planned, the East Grinstead one, to take me to East Croydon and therefore homewards. I actually got back around 1250, quicker than expected, bearing in mind that the train from Manchester was due in at Euston at 1212 - those ten minutes being early really did help me get across pretty quickly and home safe and sound.
I spent some time this afternoon unpacking and getting the clothes I needed to wash in the wash, and also got some more food and drink for the week ahead. I will need to try out the Aeroccino 4 milk frother along with a Nespresso Vertuo coffee later on and see how that all works, some nice latte with a big coffee might be just the thing to be honest, although compared to Manchester, the temperature here is a balmy 12 degrees centigrade - that does drop tomorrow, but still. All nice and cosy and good to be back home and ready for the working week ahead too.
Saturday 4th January - Hammers Hammered
After two days of being back at work (albeit working from The Love In My Heart's place, she was actually back in her workplace) it was a relaxing morning together with breakfast, and with me heading off to Asda to get a few bits that were needed. However, no Azera coffee and no double cream, so had to get the Costa instant on offer and the thicker double cream instead, as part of dessert for later. Still, at least the weather was holding off enough for there not to be any snow and the first Manchester City game of 2025 to be on, with us taking on West Ham United at the Etihad.
I do love the proper Saturday 3pm kick offs - it is for me how football should be, none of this daft faffing around with times all over the place. The sooner we get back to less games on telly and more games that you have to be there to see, the better. I had the same seat as Boxing Day so hopefully this might prove to be a bit better than the Boxing Day performance against Everton. Signs had been promising with the win over Leicester City - not great, but certainly more positive with Erling Haaland scoring and I did captain him for Fantasy League for this weekend - hopefully not a bad decision!
The game kicked off and West Ham did look decent on the counter attack, both times going down their right ad exposing Josko Gvardiol a bit, but didn't take their chances, with one being dragged wide when it should have at least hit the target. We did make them pay for this and a move down the left saw Savinho's cross or shot deflected off Coufal and into the goal for 1-0. Granted, a fortunate deflection, but I will take that one all day long to be honest with you!
The rest of the first half did see City play better - Rico Lewis smacked a shot from the edge of the box and forced a save out of Areola. However, the left side with Savinho was proving fruitful, and he skipped past the right back and put in a delicious cross which after Aerola missed, only needed the simplest of headers from Erling Haaland to make it 2-0. That of course pleased me no end and that was the score at half time - not still convincing but at least a better performance and putting the balls in where it was needed.
City did have a couple of scrapes early second half before kicking on, and on the break Savinho ran at the West Ham defence, threaded a lovely ball to Haaland, and he drew out Areola and dinked his dive perfectly with the ball to coolly finish for 3-0. It was excellent all round and that combination is showing good signs for me. In fact, a few minutes later Savinho's press forced a West Ham defensive throw, which was intercepted by Kevin de Bruyne and he found Phil Foden for an easy finish for 4-0.
At last we could sing to the theme of Joy Division's classic Love Will Tear Us Apart (make that tune of the day) and sing "City, tearing Cockneys apart, again". To be fair though we and West Ham get on, and their response of "Champions of Europe, we know what we are" got the same friendly response from us (West Ham won the Europa Conference League in 2023, three days before our Champions League win, and fans from both sides were cheering each other on that week) and they did at least score a consolation. However, I will take a 4-1 win all day long - not convincing and not at our best, but I'll take it!
Wednesday 1st January – New Year’s Traitors
The clocks chimed midnight and The Love In My Heart and I had a glass of prosecco and watched the fireworks from London (and we could see and hear the fireworks from central Manchester as well) which was notable. Some idiot in the flats near The Love decided that they were setting off fireworks from their balcony which was totally rubbish. Especially as it had been raining all night and as it transpired later today, that meant localised flooding, especially on the River Mersey in Didsbury and Northenden.
The rest of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny was a blast – Kathy Sledge doing both We Are Family and Thinking of You, Marc Almond with Say Hello Wave Goodbye (but to The Love’s disappointment, not Tainted Love) and Roger Taylor off of Queen teaming up with Jools’ orchestra and the superb Louise Marshall to do Under Pressure, which was really good and tune of the day for me. Boomtown Rats also did both Rat Trap and I Don’t Like Mondays, and as per usual, Enjoy Yourself was always the end song with all the guests joining in, and that set uis all off on the right foot.
After having a lie in and some rest, we did head out to see my Mum later on as my brother and his girlfriend was round there, and so we had a coffee and catch up there. My brother did hand us some nice Christmas presents too, which included this little gift set of a pint mug with the Bullseye TV series logo on and a 330ml can of craft beer. Not sure what beer that might be like, but something to try (iiiiin 1!) nonetheless. It was a nice afternoon all told although the rain was still incessant and not very good, so we managed to get back before it was too intense.
Later on, we watched the final of World’s Strongest Man 2024. I had been avoiding the result since the contest took place several months ago and so watched it on Channel 5 as if it was fresh. The six events, all within the small temporary space that had been built on Myrtle Beach, was a good mix overall, with the Giants Medley of the super yoke and frame carry causing a couple of minor injuries, which could have been avoided had some of them prepared more carefully. The second event with the max axle really did seem awkward to lift, and no world record, but some quality lifting nonetheless.
It was then on to the keg toss for height, and three of the competitors equally all broke the world record,and even tried to higher – one of them went very close indeed. That concluded day one, with day two having the Conan’s Wheel. I did expect one competitor to win and they did, but behind every single degree angle counted, as two were split by just one degree. The deadlift for reps with tyres at each end was intense, and that really did need careful control of the apparatus before the finale of the atlas stones, with the weights being even heavier and lifting 5 some achievement. It was good all round and the winner was well deserved.
After that we both then watched the first episode of The Traitors, something we had both been looking forward to and part of some potentially really good New Year’s telly. No spoilers here, but one twist straight away was a little bit unexpected and we both think the outcome of that may surface later on, and another relates to the end game – when doing the final banishments, those banished won’t now reveal if they are a traitor or faithful until the end is called, and then you would find out. That would be intense and for me might show some more surprises. In any case, we loved it and will be hooked to the telly!