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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Sunday 22nd February - Station House and Terminal Delays
After having had a lovely breakfast this morning, I was watching the final bits of action from the Winter Olympics as The Love In My Heart had a well deserved lie in. I got to see the women's 50km cross country - which proved to be epic for different reasons. This time the women did exactly the same events as the men which showed good equality, and it was the first time ever the long distance had gone to 50km instead of 30km. It proved to be a good move and showed if you paced sensibly, you would be rewarded with a medal at the end. The women's curling final was on too and the bobsleigh run.
But best of all, Britain got one final medal today and that meant five overall, matching previous games. But no other time were three of them gold, and indeed records broken - two from one athlete, two in one day and all in all improvements across the board elsewhere too. So take a bow Zoe Atkin, who did superbly in the freeski half pipe event, having qualified top. She put a great safe run down to lead and was only overtaken by the two Chinese favourites, and indeed her final run was higher and so close to a silver. A great way to end things and showed just what a great effort it all was. Roll on the Winter Paralympics soon!
The Love and I headed out later to Cheadle Hulme as we had booked The Station House for Sunday lunch - it used to be called Platform 5 before its refurb, primarily as it is close to the train station. So giving it a sensible station related name made sense, and one a few pubs around Stockport run by Almond Family Pubs, and this time in conjunction with Joseph Holt's, meaning their cask ales would be on. First off though we had a good mooch around Homebird, the homeware and furniture shop, which is always lovely, and we did have a good look in Waitrose too where The Love saw some good gift ideas along the way.
We went to The Station House and had a drink in the bar before our meal booking at 3.30pm. I have to say it was lovely - the atmosphere was chilled out, and very much to our liking with the decor. I went for the Fools Gold ale (cue classic track from The Stone Roses being tune of the day) and that was definitely a lovely easy session ale to enjoy, so that was good. The Love had the Cruzcampo as that is always easy to drink, and we chatted and chilled out looking outside watching the trains go by and the 313 bus too - handy to know it was running as I was getting that bus later back to the airport!
We were shown to our table for our meal and we each had a Sunday roast. The Love had the porchetta of pork with lots of really nice vegetables, roasties, gravy and so on, which looked excellent. I went for the roast beef, which was quite pink in the middle (so would not be to everyone's liking) but it was gorgeous, the gravy was moreish and all the food was lovely - especially the glazed carrots and parsnips. I did also have the apple and blackcurrant crumble for dessert and that was so warm and homely. Kudos to the staff too who were really warm and friendly and accommodating, and showed service with smiles all the way through. Do note you get charged a 10% service charge by default, but it was well worth that.
The Love and I said our fond farewells and as the bus stop was right outside The Station House, an easy win. The 313 came and once it got the other side of Grove Lane, it went down the A555 and absolutely sprinted along to the airport bus station (handily next to the trains and trams too.) I dd the walk to Terminal 2, got through security nice and easy, and was then presented with the food and drink options. I did have an oat latte in Costa and found that - again - the flight was delayed. Joy. So I went to the other bars and spotted the Bridgewater Exchange which had Holts ales on, so had their rather nice stout to keep me going. That was very much needed to be honest.
Eventually it was off to the set of A gates which were the furthest away from Terminal 2's main buzz of shops and restaurants. And when we got there - no plane. Apparently the same thing had happened again - flight incoming held at Heathrow due to lack of slots at Manchester. I had time on my side as the last SL7 home was around 1am, but others had connecting flights and were going to miss them which would be awkward. Anyway, eventually we got on the plane, it took off around an hour or so late, took ages to get to the runway but from there it was up and down quickly, and I could see Clapham Junction on the way in. Oh if I could be dropped there now eh?
The plane landed at Heathrow and taxied in to Terminal 5. I got out, straight through to UK arrivals and out in rapid time and considering the flight should have landed at 2055, to get out around 2150 and just make the Piccadilly Line tube to Hatton Cross was at least something. I then got off there and headed on the SL7 bus home which at least was rapid with it being Sunday night, and it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to East Croydon which to be fair was decent. I got home at 11.30pm but soon realised that with me being in the office the next day, it proved not to be an ideal day all round. Definitely will knock it on the head unless it's a Gatwick flight in future...
Saturday 21st February - Five and Fun
It was the fifth birthday of Little Miss E today,and how that time has flied since she came into the world. The Love as her Nana is super proud of course, as she should be, and in those years there have been so many lovely memories and I've been fortunate enough to be a part of that too, which really makes me feel humble. Whenever she or her sister Little Miss O gives me a hug, it's just a nice warm fuzzy feeling in that I am appreciated and that I am seen as someone kind and friendly. It means a lot to be honest, more than The Love In My Heart will ever know.
There was of course a birthday party but thankfully for their parents it was in the local community hall which is literally a stone's throw from their house - and where Little Miss E does her dance classes on a Saturday morning too. That was not happening today due to it being half term holidays, but nonetheless it is a place that the family know well and so will be comforable in their surroundings. The Love and I had a relaxing morning and I watched the 50km men's cross country skiing, where Andrew Musgrave performed superbly for Britain and got a well deserved sixth place, and that was also to be a sixth from six gold medal for the absolute machine that is Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway.
We headed off to see Little Miss E and catch up with her parents and indeed her grandparents on the Mum's side, who were over for a week or two - and they are genuinely lovely. It was nice to catch up and chat and Little Miss E had some presents to open - not least some nice ballet and tap shoes from The Love, and a nice Playdoh set from my Mum (which was very nice of her to do to be fair) and she showed us the massive Barbie doll house which she got, which even had a disco room complete with lights and sounds, which was rather good!
Later on one of the friends of Little Miss E's Mum came over - she had helped organise everything and we all helped to get things set up for when the little ones and parents arrived. Effectively, everyone would get an apron to wear and a box, and they would go to each table and make something food related to put in the box, and can sit at the end large table to enjoy their little picnic. What a great idea. In fact The Love asked me to help and we were stationed on a table for cupcake decorating - the cakes had been made and so we would help them add their piped icing, sprinkles (think Cakey Cat from Gabby's Dollhouse and Sprinkle Time - tune of the day as Little Miss E loves that song) and add a little fairy drawing on a stick on top. Other tables had cut outs to make their own funky sandwich with cheese and ham, chocolate to melt on a sweet stick, and stuff like that. It was such a good idea.
All the children tucked into their own box of delights and the happiness they had when they took their cupcake and were like "wow, I did it!" was really good. After this there were some party games including some musical statues, dancing and plenty of other games which meant everyone had a good time. The afternoon went very quickly indeed and it seemed that it was very enjoyable for all, and happy smiling faces all round showed that the party was a success. We cleaned up afterwards and left the room as we found it, all tidy and nice, and it was back to Little Miss E's parent's place for a cuppa and a chat. I got hugs from the sisters as we left and promised Little Miss O I'd give Brian the cat a hug for her - "Cat cat!" she says (a lot.)
We got back to The Love's place and it was over to the Etihad for me later as Manchester City faced Newcastle United in the 8pm kick off - which was meant to be 12.30 originally but due to Newcastle being in the Champions League playoffs away at Qarabag (meaning a long trip to Baku no less) then the game was a late one. Man City did well with two goals from Nico O'Reilly, the first a well taken low drive, the second a great header from an Erling Haaland cross, with a deflected finish from Lewis Hall in between that. Maybe not the most exciting second half (the first half was end to end) but we did enough for the 2-1 win and that was all that mattered!
Friday 20th February - Come Fly With Me
So today it was off to see The Love In My Heart for the weekend. But with the trains departing from Stockport instead of Manchester all week due to the nine days engineering work at Manchester Piccadilly, and because I foresaw it not being ideal (as The Love's trains and fun and games at Stockport proved) I had decided to do the alternative - no, not Flixbus, as tempting as it may have been, but instead to fly from London to Manchester. This did mean going to Heathrow mind you, as there are no direct flights from Gatwick to Manchester - which would have been much more preferable.
I had booked the afternoon off work to ensure I had enough time to get to the airport as rushing after work would have been too much pain. I had packed my weekend case which met the carry on requirements for British Airways so that was good, and after some lunch set off to East Croydon station - and no, not to get the train to central London and back out to Heathrow, but instead use the Superloop bus SL7 (which used to be the X26 express route) and take that to Hatton Cross, changing there and getting the tube to Terminal 5, where all of BA's flights go from.
So the SL7 I did before, as the X26, as it proved handy to get to Hatton Cross when doing the London Loop walks. The bus only stops very limited, calling to Carshalton, Sutton, Cheam, Worcester Park, New Malden (where it did a diversion due to a road closure), Kingston, Teddington and then non-stop for there to Hatton Cross for around five miles of its twenty two mile route. That was all good and I got the up front seat upstairs to have a view of where I was going. It was to be fair a relaxed journey and the BA app showed my plane as on time, so far so good.
At Hatton Cross I took advantage of what is the Heathrow Free Travel Zone. This used to include buses too but does not anymore (so you get charged the normal bus fare.) However they extended it to Hatton Cross now, primarily to allow for changes of terminals. For example if you need to go from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4, you have to go via Hatton Cross because the line to Terminal 4 (then 2 and 3) is one way from there. What this does mean though is if you use Oyster (in my case) or contactless, then it gets charged at zero and it's a free trip, so in all, a mere £1.75 to get from Croydon to Terminal 5. Cue the iconic Come Fly With Me song by Frank Sinatra being tune of the day.
To put that into context, compare that to £15.10 off peak if using Thameslink and purple train to Terminal 5, or even £9.10 if you go via Clapham Junction, West Brompton and Earls Court to Ealing Broadway and pick up the purple train from there. And using the tube instead it's cheaper: so if you go through central London and take the Piccadilly line, it's £7.00 off peak, and if you do the Clapham / West Brompton / Earls Court route and pick the Piccadilly up, how about £3.90 for avoiding zone 1? The other thing is time wise they may end up being not that much faster than the SL7 and Free Travel Zone tube combo.
Anyway, as I had already checked in online, it was straight to security and straight through with no issues whatsoever. I didn't need to take my shoes off but those with boots above the ankle did, so glad I did not take my boots to wear. Terminal 5 seemed nice enough airside, with enough food and drink places to keep you fed and watered as you waited. The gates are in a long line from one end to the other and nestled amongst the eateries for example. I got the gate for my flight and all seemed good, and indeed they checked us through the gates and all were boarded and ready to go. And then..
And that's when it went a bit pear shaped. For some reason due to the lack of landing slots at Manchester (which may be related to the current works on Terminal 2 arrivals and the old Terminal 1 being now part of Terminal 3) the plane had to taxi around Heathrow on the flat for around an hour or so, annoyingly. Once we did take off, the flight was fine, got a biscuit and some water, and due to the short flight you could see the country through the night lights and certainly recognisable landmarks headihg towards Manchester and the airport.
Tbe saga was not over yet though as the plane parked miles away in some odd taxiway with two shuttle buses to take us on a long loop around the airport and end up at the bottom of this cul-de-sac road with a small UK arrivals door and then hall to go through, with all the renovation work being clear to see. This took around half an hour in all after the plane landed, so it was close to 2145 by the time I left Terminal 2 at Manchester - bear in mind the flight should have landed at 2005! Not impressed whatsoever by the organised chaos at Manchester Airport really - if there is a lack of slots for whatever reason, would it not be better to have less flights running reliably?
With the train to Manchester Piccadilly not being an option (because of the same train works) it was instead on the tram, which went via Wythenshawe, the hospital, Northern Moor and then Sale Water Park on the way to Chorlton and Firswood. However that did mean I could change trams at Cornbrook and be on the tram to The Love's place in good time before the masses got on at the city centre stops, so a good win there. I eventually got to The Love's place around 11pm, which just goes to show a) how much quicker the train is overall for that journey and b) all the waiting around does not make domestically flying (inland at least) worth it. I'll be on the return leg Sunday, but to be brutally honest, even Flixbus is a quicker option!
Monday 16th February - Heading Home
The Love In My Heart and Little Miss E had got up, said hello to me and then were all good as we set about some breakfast. We did some porridge for Little Miss E but The Love had some Maltesers which she crunched up into little pieces and made into a topping for the porridge which was a good move, and Little Miss E enjoyed that a lot. I had porridge too and The Love had some bacon on toast, which worked out well. In fact, a fair bit of the morning was spent with either Number Blocks or Piggy Builders, which Little Miss E seemed to like a lot (and has a catchy theme tune too, so tune of the day there.)
In fact Little Miss E was more than happy for myself or The Love to be able to cut out some figures or some shapes for her to stick on her drawings or colourings in, and The Love helped her out and had some nice pictures to take home. It was good that she wants to do crafting and some drawing too, and was happily having that on with Piggy Builders before we headed off, taking in the fresh air and dry weather conditions as we walked towards East Croydon station.
The sensible option was to go to Platform 4 as that was the train from East Grinstead, as what would also be much less busy. That worked out well and that meant we got a table for four sat together, so we were able to see some views out of the window including Battersea Power Station, on the way to Victoria. We changed there for the tube and at first Little Miss E was not convinced, probably because it was new for her, and because it was busy. But we had managed to move down the platform and get on a less busier carriage, and she had a little giggle when she noted Warren Street as one of the stops (to which I said "See? I'm famous!")
We got to Euston, and I checked the trains. Nooooo! Their train was cancelled due to signalling issues, and so they would need to board the next one at 1251. We had been to the Sainsburys to get some lunch, and we were also meeting The Love's niece who was coming home with them too for a couple of days, and so decided the best course of action was the Signal Box pub up above. I checked on the platforms via the London Platforms App, we had a drink and relaxed which was good, and Little Miss E kept us all amused with her little chatter and was so sweet, awww.
Anyway I noted it was platform 6 and so we headed to the platform and waited at the gate - as they would not have a reservation and I knew it was an 11-car train to get to Coach G and try and get a table. I had hugs from everyone to say goodbye and thankfully they managed to get a table seat and be all good for the journey home, albeit with a delay at Stockport whilst waiting for a platform to become available, and by all accounts The Love said it was carnage there too. Still, everyone got back and I had got back home in good time to watch some more Winter Olympics.
I think Little Miss E had enjoyed herself, and the key thing was that she had been able to see some sights, some of the family and most of all spend time with me and her Nana, which she loves to do. I think too that she will want to come again at some point - maybe when it is warmer in the Summer, and get to see more, but at least she can appreciate the distance to travel and what I do to come and see The Love most weekends. It was a lovely time all round to be honest.
Sunday 15th February - London Calling
After a nice sleep and some well earned breakfast, including some bacon on toast for Little Miss E and The Love In My Heart, we got ourselves ready to head out for the day. The Love had booked one of the hop on hop off tour bus routes to head around the centre of London, which was a good idea, and even though there was the London Winter Run on today and putting some routes on diversion, we had some ideas as to where to go, with Little Miss E deciding if she wanted to do some of them or not (so for example an option would be to go to Paddington station and see the bear statue and the shop.)
In fact, we were meeting The Love's niece and nephew and their partners, which would of course make Little Miss E a happier girl even more than being with me and her Nana, so that was a positive. The three of us set off on the bus to East Croydon station (so she could get a red London bus in, as it was raining) and once there we took the train to London Bridge, changing platforms to head over to Charing Cross. This proved to be a good move all round as sitting on the left hand side meant that she got to see her first look at the London Eye and Big Ben before heading to the platforms at Charing Cross.
We did have to use the crossings for the Winter Run, which took some time at one point to clear, but made our way via Leicester Square to Coventry Street for the tour bus stop. As it was raining we went into McDonald's near by and had a coffee (and Little Miss E had some porridge which she loves, apparently, so we noted that!) - and before long The Love's niece, nephew and partners all joined us for a coffee and chatter. It was dry inside there at least, and then we made our way back to the tour bus stop where the staff were lovely and checked the tickets The Love had purchased, and all was well. We made sure we were getting on first, as the front of the top deck had covered seating so you could still have a view even in the rain.
And rain it did for most of the day, so we were glad the cover was on top. The bus had to divert along Piccadilly to Green Park and down to Victoria, so we got to see most of the back of Buckingham Palace anyway, and then past Westminster Abbey and to Big Ben, which happened to chime 12 noon as the bus went past which was pretty ace for Little Miss E. We then saw the London Eye and headed to Waterloo. Normally it'd be over Waterloo Bridge to Aldwych and then past St Paul's before going over London Bridge, but that was all closed due to the run so the bus stayed South of the river, and we headed to London Bridge station and on to Tower Bridge and the view of that and the tower itself was ace for Little Miss E to see, she loved it.
A nice meander alongside the river ensued from there with lots of boats out, and then back at Westminster via Green Park to where we had started. We did get to see a fair bit to be honest, and it was at least dry sat upstairs, albeit a little cold due to the weather. Nonetheless it was all good and we gave the option of the other route via the museums and Paddington but Little Miss E was happy enough anyway for now. With it being close to lunch time we decided to think of a plan, not least as around Leicester Square may not be the best place ever.
However, we did venture into what used to be the Marco Pierre White place (in fact I am sure The Love and I did afternoon tea in there once due to an experience voucher) but instead it is now a Market Place Food Hall. There were tables upstairs and we managed to get a spot for all of us to sit at (and close to the bar too) and so we then could go down and order food too. The Love and I went to Molo and ordered the fish and chips, and as they were big, we got an extra serving plate and cutlery so when it was ready to collect, we could do so and give some to Little Miss E to share with us (as they did not do kids' portions). In fact all the options were good: The Love's niece went to Hide and Greek and got some nice salad boxes with chicken and lamb, whilst The Love's nephew and partner did Thai House and got some nice rice dishes with spring rolls. All worked out well there.
We then left and headed across to Regent Street and up to Hamley's toy store, as I knew that The Love's niece and nephew wanted to take Little Miss E in there. In fact that proved to be a good move as the staff dressed up at the front spoke to Little Miss E, she told them it was her birthday soon and they ended up singing Happy Birthday to her in advance (and tune of the day too, because that was so nice!). In fact going up and seeing all the toys and various Lego sets, plus dolls and all characters for her hearts' content meant she could have easily spent all day in there.
However, she did have birthday money from her two aunties and indeed from The Love's nephew also, so she decided to get herself some presents (and well why not?) - so she got a Lego Disney set from the film Frozen, which was the Arandelle Castle, complete with Elsa, Anna and Olav figures too. On top of that she got herself a doll based on the Rainbow High series, Bella Parker, which was very pink and right up her street. She insisted on handing over the cash herself at the till which made her feel all grown up. I also got Little Miss E a present too, which was a figure based on Gabby's Dollhouse which she liked, so that definitely was a positive, and she was super happy.
After that, The Love's niece and nephew and partners said their farewell outside Hamley's and the three of us walked back towards Coventry Street, and we decided as it was getting darker that one final tour bus ride (after all we had paid for it) may be nice to see part of the city at night and indeed head back to London Bridge for the train too. It was nice as we sat downstairs and had a table to sit at, so we managed to see plenty, and with the clock at Big Ben lit and the London Eye all lit in blue, that worked out well, and were dropped off right by the train station to take the train back to my place, which was a good move all round.
We had some tea at mine and we even played some tennis on the Wii via Wii Sports, with Little Miss E learning the game and serving and hitting the ball reasonably well. She was getting the hang of it and I also played as Little Miss E's Mii against The Love, which she found fun. We also of course went with Fun Fun Minigolf and let Little Miss E pick the characters for us, so that was nice, and she quite enjoyed the little celebrations for a birdie and a hole in one so all was good there, before she decided it was time for bed after a very long day. It had been a good day though and she had enjoyed herself, so that was what mattered.
Saturday 14th February - Little Miss E's Coming To London!
It was Valentine's Day today, but it's always over the top for some. For myself and The Love In My Heart, we just send each other a nice card and that is all we need - we know we love each other every day, so no need to do anything more than that. Plus of course with it being the start of the half term break, we also had hatched a plan a few months back. Little Miss E wanted to head to London (as she always hears me and The Love talk about it) and she would sometimes say "He's in London - again!" without realising it is for work and so on. As she had never been to London before, and with it being her birthday soon we thought it'd be good to see some of the city and indeed have a nice long weekend, going back on the Monday.
We did think about a hotel but the prices in central London, bearing in mind of course it is the day it is today and indeed the fact it is half term meant that the prices were madness, so it would be far easier for The Love and Little Miss E to stay at mine, and that meant of course much more fun could be had (and indeed we could have breakfast at home and so on.) Due to engineering works, the trains were not starting from Manchester but Stockport, and so The Love and Little Miss E were being dropped off by Little Miss E's Mum, and so that made t easier. Although in true Avanti Worst Coast tradition, it was a shambles at Stockport..
Anyway, thankfully The Love and Little Miss E got on the train fine and got their seats, and with snacks and colouring and crafting all sorted to do on the way, I left mine and headed towards London Euston to meet them, which made them very happy indeed. It was nice to see them both and we gave Little Miss E the option - take a bus and then train, tube and train or train only. She went for the latter so we walked to St Pancras and headed on the Thameslink train to mine, and thankfully that was not too busy so we got to be all sat together on the train which was nice.
We settled in at mine and Little Miss E loved the flat, the view out of the window was lovely for her and she noted how comfortable everything was - and later warm too as I had the heating on ready for being out of the cold which I know they would both appreciate. She handed me the Valentine's card, with cats on, which Little Miss E had written on love from her too as well as The Love whic was sweet. With us all good, we took a short walk into the centre of Croydon and into Meltin' Memories, which is an ice cream parlour and all very pink inside, including a replica red phone box in pink too. Needless to say Little Miss E loved it and the ice cream sundae she had with strawberry and vanilla, some whippy ice cream and a sprinkle of Flake on the top made it all lovely for her. The Love even went back to the 80s with her Diet Coke float drink which mixed with the whippy ice cream was fab!
We did go in Mini So and then later on one of the discount shops to get some felt tip pens (as none were brought and Little Miss E wanted to do some colouring in.) We did then head back and got out the trusty Nintendo Wii and we made a Mii character for Little Miss E, which she loved doing and then wanted to make one for more relatives too, so we did one for Little Miss O as well which she really liked. We even showed her some games with the Mii characters but she also liked Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, with the fact you could play with the likes of Blaze, Amy and Peach meaning she loved all of that.
I did Domino's collection pizza for tea as a treat and that meant double ham for Little Miss E, for her personal pizza, so she was happy, and it was just nice to enjoy that and relax with some kids' telly and also later some of the Olympics incluidng the ice skating which she likes, and proved to be a lovely day all round really. Of course, due to making a number of Mii characters, the music from the Mii channel is now stuck in my head somewhat and of course needs to be tune of the day as it will remind me of Little Miss E making her Mii and loving every moment of it. Awww.
Wednesday 11th February - 20 on the Bounce Against Fulham
I had the afternoon off work today as I was heading up to Manchester to see Manchester City's game at home to Fulham. I had been to Craven Cottage for the first time in December last year where I saw one of the most mad games of football around with a 5-4 win for City, despite leading 5-1 at one stage and having a goal line clearance to thank for the score not being pulled back all the way to 5-5. It was going to be a game where if we won we would be three points off Arsenal and adding some pressure to them prior to their away game at Brentford the day after/
I left work and headed up to Euston, and with the trusty iPod in hand had plenty of Manchester band tracks to keep me going on the journey up North, including the excellent A Certain Ratio with Constant Curve giving all you the funk you needed, so tune of the day there for me. That got me in the right mood, even with a slight delay on the train, and was soon on the tram heading up to Manchester to see The Love In My Heart - as I was staying at hers and working from hers tomorrow to save some time and hassle (and not have to take an extra half day off work too.)
It was good to see The Love of course, and we had a coffee and chat with the Winter Olympics very much on in the background. We had been doing okay so far but without any gold medals, although hopes were high in the skeleton events that we may do well. We will see. It was nice just to kick back and chill and Brian the cat was of course loving his new mat too so he was all cosy and comfy on the pouffle with that (and indeed he even played ball with me so that was nice too!)
Over I went to the Etihad and got some food in the ground for tea, and then was able to take my seat ready for the game. I did note that it was a full strength side with I imagine some players being rested on Saturday for the FA Cup game against Salford City. It was also key to get up and running as soon as possible, so all the fans who were there were doing their best to encourage the Blues. The good thing was that we did not have too long to wait for the opener, with an excellent cross from Matheus Nunes finding the Fulham defence unable to clear from an Erling Haaland challenge, and the ball fell to Antoine Semenyo who poked it home from close range.
Things got better not long after as after a defensive clearance, Haaland was fouled but he had played the ball to Semenyo, who had the impressive Nico O'Reilly on his left side, and timed his run to perfection to dink it over Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal. He's one of our own, Nico O'Reilly, so always good to see him score and do the business for 2-0. And Phil Foden surged forward, found Haaland, and he of course slotted the ball expertly into the bottom corner for 3-0. And that was that - Haaland was injured so went off at half time, and the rest of the game faded out with nothing happening (and after that 5-4 last time I was glad of that!)
So in the end a routine win for City, and as it turned out, the 20th consecutive home win against Fulham in all competitions (17 of those being in the Premier League, which is a record in itself. In fact, the last time City drew against Fulham even at Craven Cottage was back in 2011 with a 2-2 draw. It is weird how sometimes other teams can be a good team to win or a bogey team to get a result against (for us, Tottenham is one example of that.) But still, that does put pressure on and that is something at least!
Sunday 8th February - Emirates Action
It was an early rise for me this morning and off to West Croydon station. I was not able to go to see Manchester City's men at Anfield for the league game today, so instead gave the women's team some support and would therefore be off to the Emirates Stadium to see them take on Arsenal. The home support Arsenal have is huge and it means every home league game is being played at the Emirates, with some hefty attendances (and as I would find out later on, over 39,000 for today's game which is pretty impressive.) The only other defeat I'd seen City's women suffer in the league was the opening day at Chelsea, and after hammering them 5-1 last week, see what happens.
I got the Overground and soon arrived at Highbury and Islington station, then followed along the Holloway Road before turning right and heading down to the ground. I got straight in without any issues and the corner of the stand we had been put in did have a bar and some food if needed, and found the seat. I was level with the penalty spot and so was able to see well at one end and was at the top of the first tier, meaning I could see along to the other end well enough, and be close to where the fans would be segregated normally. It was all good and the general atmosphere was also fine too.
The game kicked off and City almost scored straight away with Vivianne Miedema almost hitting it in from a well drilled shot. Arsenal looked good going forward and were keen to utilise the lack of pace in City defender Rebecca Knaak to their advantage, and that was how the opening goal went in. The ball was played through the middle towards Olivia Smith who ran past Knaak, took it roundf Yamashita in the City goal and slotted it home, for a well taken finish. Arsenal did have a couple of other chances this half whilst City pressed but were not producing much in terms of shots.
The second half saw Sam Coffey come on for Laura Blinkilde-Brown, and that helped us a bit in midfield. Controversy did reign later in the half though as the ball through to Lauren Hemp showed he clean through on goal, only to be clipped by Mariona Caldentey. It was not a penalty but it was a foul close to the edge of the box, and in fact should have been a red card for Caldentey, but as there is no VAR or any form of decision appeal in the Women's Super League, nothing happened. Most of the TV pundits were calling it out as a red card so it was not just my bias there.
City pressed but chances at both ends were few and far between, and I did think the score would be 1-0 either way. Arsenal won, but we had pushed them close and with a game against Leicester City on Friday, a chance to get back on track for the women. I managed to get home in good time to be able to listen to the radio commentary for the men's game at Anfield, which was a 1630 kick off. I was a bit nervous as the record there was not very good at all and even seeing us take a 2-2 draw there back in 1990 felt like a hard earned result to be fair.
What I didn't expect was how mental that second half actually was. The fun and games started really when Liverpool got a free kick which was expertly hit home from some distance by Dominik Szoboszlai for the opener. That was not good for us, yet we kept going and knew defeat here would potentially be title over. City pressed forward and a flick on from Erling Haaland found Bernardo Silva on side (ironically being played onside by the Liverpool goalscorer) and that was 1-1. And then the unthinkable - City got a penalty at Anfield! Matheus Nunes was fouled by Allison, and Haaland held his nerve to score the winner with the City end going mental. 2-1 it would prove to finish, but not before Dominik Szoboszlai would be sent off for pulling back Haaland chasing what should have been a goal for Rayan Cherki right at the end. Absolute bedlam and Supra's Blue Moon is tune of the day for that reason.
Saturday 7th February - Let the Games Begin
I still wasn't fully well, and so wasn't heading out anywhere in the pouring rain sometimes soon. I did make myself some porridge for breakfast and settled in for the mixed doubles curling, as Great Britain faced Canada. I have to say that the final shot from Jen Dodds in the first end, knocking out various Canada stones and leaving Britain lying three to take an early 3-0 lead was really good, and that set the tone for remaining ahead, and they were always in control. I had to switch over to the red button for the final two ends as understandably, they switched to the blue riband event on BBC Two..
And yes, that was the men's downhill skiing. I know this normally comes very early on most times, but felt even earlier this time around as the long course at Bormio, complete with its iconic San Pietro jump around two thirds of the way down, where most of the top skiers do around 50 metres or so. The first few that went were not the top ranked ones, so was able to stay with the curling to its conclusion - and thankfully, Britain beat Canada 7-5 so that was a well played match overall. Those with start numbers 6 to 15 in the skiing were the supposed best ten in the world, and it did not take long for this to be proven.
The Swiss had a packed team as you would expect, and first of all Alexis Monney went for it, took some risks and then took the lead. His team mate Marco Odermatt was next, and edged ahead by just 0.05 of a second. However, the third Swiss athlete, Franjo van Allmen, absolutely nailed it. He smashed the section with the San Pietro jump especially and gained some time to be able to win, and get ahead quite comfortably, 0.70 seconds ahead of Odermatt. This does mean though that some other athletes may be able to do similar and get a great time and push for the podium.
The Italian challenge was three out of the next four from bib 11 onwards. Giovanni Franzoni went first, and did a superb run to be second, 0.20 seconds behind. Straight after the veteran Dominik Paris pulled off a great effort and was 0.50 seconds behind, but that was enough to land bronze, and Italy's first medals of these games too. Mattia Case in bib 14 did not have such a good run, but should be worth noting that despite the late start bib number of 27, Kyle Negomir of the United States did so well in the worsening snow conditions and landed a great effort to finish 10th, well ahead of anyone else around that start number. I had the Ski Sunday theme in my head all day during that so tune of the day it is!
Before some of the afternoon events got underway, I headed out and to the new Home Bargains store that had opened not far from me - which would save a trip to Wimbledon if needed (although I tend to go after my haircut as an on the way home journey.) Although not as big as the Wimbledon one, the store was very busy and there were queues of traffic to try and get into the car park, which said a lot really. I did manage to get a fair few bits including a four pack of the Brooklyn Stonewall IPA for a mere £2.49, as well as some soft drinks, batteries, and some household bits. I have to say that it really is a positive to see a retail place busy but also shows its reputation for being good value and for a company that values its staff says a lot.
It was back to the curling when I got back as it was Great Britain versus USA. This was a much more tight affair and it was 5-5 after five ends, but Britain managed to get one with the hammer on the sixth, and an error from the American team meant a steal of one to go 7-5 up with one end to go, albeit with the USA with the hammer. However they kept it tight and kept all the US stones out, and the final one as a blocker meant that there was no way that they could get the two to level, so they shook hands and it was the seventh win out of seven for Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat - they are doing us proud!!
Friday 6th February - San Siro Sensation
After being in the office today and nursing somewhat of a head cold, which was not nice, it was time to head home on the train and get home in good time for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, with two host cities (Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo) jointly hosting it in Italy. This meant that all the events that were on the slopes were nearer to the latter, with bases also at Bormio and Livigno as well as Predazzo and Tesero. It definitely meant that the best locations for some events are going to be used, which is sensible, with Milan itself having indoor arenas for the ice skating, speed skating and ice hockey.
I had already been watching some of the events that started off earlier, including the mixed doubles curling where Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat were showing their considerable skills in being able to carve out a number of wins. In fact, they had won four games already prior to the one this afternoon, where they managed to make light work of South Korea and so make it five wins from five. They do have both Canada and the USA tomorrow, both of which will prove to be challenging, but some of the shots being played have been absolutely superb, showing so much skill and knowing when the line is good.
The opening ceremony was to be held in the San Siro in Milan, a place I have been to watch football (and Manchester City at that.) I do remember loving the city a lot so seeing the world famous Duomo, the old trams and so on brought it all back for me. It was interesting that the BBC had football legend Zlatan Ibrahimoivic (who played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan incidentally) introduce a piece about what makes you fall in love with Milan, and his admission on the red carpet later he would love to be good at the Super G (super giant slalom skiing) event, which was nice to see.
The ceremony itself really showcased Italy off well with the arts, opera, music and even people dressed as espresso pots making their way around the impressive stage. There was even Mariah Carey doing a version of Volare early on, and splashes of colour everywhere to really make the stage pop with joy. The athlete introductions were different too - although some did come out in the San Siro and some with their flags, those in Cortina walked down a street in the centre with a golden arch to walk through, with both Livinio and Predazzo having the same, and carefully co-ordinated. It actually worked really well and showed that it made more sense to do it this way - something to note for the future I think.
BBC had Hazel Irvine and John Hunt doing the commentary, and Hazel of course is fab (we love her from the snooker!) but it was good to hear John's voice too - and like The Love In My Heart said to me, considering what he had gone through (look it up) it felt a positive that he was able to be here and present so well, and the humour between him and Hazel also worked ever so well, likening the three statue heads of Italian classical composers to something reminiscent of It's a Knockout (classic!) - and generally worked nicely. And Andrea Bocelli belting out Nessun Dorma had World Cup 1990 vibes all over, so tune of the day it is. I'm sure it'll be a festival of sport for the next two weeks!
Sunday 1st February - Chelsea Crushed
The Love In My Heart and I woke up with Litlte Miss O all snuggled up with The Love - she had been asleep some of the night but had woken up a little upset. I do seem to remember holding her bottle of milk for her and as she had a drink pointed to the bottle and went "cat cat" because there is a little cartoon styled cat on the side of the bottle. She seemed fine when she got up though and shortly Little Miss E got up too, and the three of them went into the front room so they could have some cereal and juice, and I did manage to get a little bit more time in bed before heading up to keep them amused.
In fact, we had some of the colouring out and Little Miss E was content to do some of that and I even put on an episode from the original Gladiators via Youtube to show her "this is what me and Daddy used to watch when it was first on" and of course being the same theme tune helped recognise it. I mentioned some of them back then and how for a lot of people, their favourite was Jet (Diane Youdale) and me included. I must admit I always thought Nightshade (former heptathlete Judy Simpson) was a little scary, but she had skills! Also Wolf (Michael van der Wilk) was also featured on the front cover of the computer game Barbarian, released way before Gladiators too.
Later on The Love got the girls in her car so she could drop them back off with her parents, and for me, I had a little game of football to attend to. There was no way I could get tickets for the men's team away at Tottenham today, so I decided it'd be good to give the women's team some support. We were playing Chelsea, who were the only team to beat us this season in the league (and I was at Stamford Bridge for that one) and since then the women had won the next twelve league games on the spin. Going into today, we were nine points clear of Chelsea, and with Man Utd's win over Liverpool earlier, they were now second and eight points behind. So could we extend the lead at the top?
It was not a massive crowd but most of the bottom tier was full plus some in the middle of the second tier of the East and Colin Bell stands were the hospitality bits were, which I was tempted by to be fair. The City side looked a good line up and with Chelsea having a couple of injuries, with Lucy Bronze being one I thought they would miss, it may be a good time to play them following their 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal last week. It maybe didn't need The Wanted 2.0 to play a "live" set before the match but I guess that might have got some people in the ground early at least.
The teams came out and straight away after kick off, City looked like they meant business. The battles in midfield were being won with Yui Hasegawa being her feisty self, and Laura Blinkilde Brown (for me the most improved City player this season) doing all the unsung hero stuff as they both broke everything down so well, allowing the attackers to do their thing. A corner came over, a chance was punched away, but on the half volley, Kerolin Nicoli went for the shot, and with a slight deflection off Ellie Carpenter, it went in past Hannah Hampton i the Chelsea goal for 1-0 to City. Happy times, and Chelsea did try and come back into it with Yamashita in the City goal producing some quality saves.
You always felt though that if City got on the break they would be dangerous. An attempt to play the ball out from Millie Bright put the Chelsea midfield in trouble. Hasegawa robbed the ball, passed to Vivanne Miedema, and the ball forward was gorgeous for Khadija "Bunny" Shaw to muscle her way past Naomi Girma and slot it perfectly home. The Chelsea players were claiming a foul but when you see the reply later, Girma was trying to pin Shaw with her arms and of course the Jamaican international was having absolutely none of that. So 2-0 at half time and a well deserved lead, and one I really was enjoying.
If the first half was good, the second half was even more of the same goodness. City looked ruthless on the counter attack and as the ball was punched clear from a Chelsea corner, Lauren Hemp charged forward and won the ball, with her challenge releasing Kerolin Nicoli, who ran from her own half, held off Keira Walsh and deftly chipped the ball over Hannah Hampton for 3-0. Absolute dreamland. Even more so when Ellie Carpenter tried tricks, Vivianne Miedema saw that and went "that ball is mine" - she fed Lauren Hemp, who ran down the left and it was a simple finish for Kerolin Nicoli. In my view behind that goal, Hannah Hampton should have done better so for her to chastise the other players was a bit rich to be honest. 4-0 to City though, well this was unexpected but very welcome!
Chelsea did press on a little bit to try and get some pride and after a missed lob, they did manage to pull one back with a very good finish from Alyssa Thompson. I did think it was maybe a deserved consolation based on the first half's attempts, but City were then ruthless a few minutes later. Lauren Hemp had a shot well saved by Hampton, but from the resulting corner Kerstin Casparij (my current favourite City women's player) found the head of Vivianne Miedema, and well she does not miss those! 5-1 to City, and I do like a good 5-1, me. The City tannoy even played that theme from the darts (you know the one, Chase the Sun by Planet Funk, and tune of the day). What a win this was, and a statement win too!