Belper Town 2 - 2 Goole AFC

Yesterday's result. Another good game which Belper could have won in the last minute with a terrific shot from late sub Dean Oliver whose effort hit the crossbar and bounced to safety. In the 2nd half, Belper's No. 9, Ben Walker was sent off for an offence which appeared to just about everyone bar the referee, worth a yellow card. Didn't help that the "offence" was right in front of the Away dug out and the linesman, who was also close by, seemed to persuade the ref to red card it. Tim Harrison's excellent pictures of the game are here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/AFCGleH0910/index.html

I didn't take the camera - feel I'm missing something with my photography lately - a lack of confidence seems to have set in. Or maybe the back and forth to the docs and hospital have given me the "can't be arsed" attitude. Anyway - with 2 other photographers at Belper Town, there isn't really a need for a 3rd. You can only photograph a game from so many angles after all!

Not a lot more news..... the squirrel trapping has continued and we are now down to 2 "regular" visitors to the garden. Oddly enough, I set the trap on Saturday morning, and this afternoon (Sunday) found a very big, very wet and also, thankfully, very dead, rat in there. Dunno what it died of but I'm glad it wasn't alive when I found it!

So - I'm off to back up the PC and laptop - that tells you what an exciting Sunday I'm having!

Laters!

Another Week is flashing by....

Highlight? Tuesday night at the Meadow when Belper Town beat a very strong Chasetown side in the 2nd Round of The President's Cup. A great performance from the lads as Dean Oliver added to his 2 goals in the 7-1 drubbing of Loughborough with another brace, scored in just under 2 minutes this time! He's on fire at the moment with 5 goals in 3 games.

Pity my perfomance with the camera didn't match that of the team but there were a couple of shots that aren't too bad......

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I guess 5 from the112 shot in total is not great but there's always next time.

I've been for my CT scan this afternoon - results will be mailed to me (not to my GP which I find a bit odd.... anyway...) within a week to 10 days. I also got  a letter from the hospital this morning.  It tells me that one of the several urine samples I've submitted since this whole episode started about 5 weeks ago shows evidence of a urinary tract infection. I therefore need to call my GP to get a course of antibiotics. (They've written to the doc separately so I guess she's eagerly awaiting my call.)

I'll just be glad when (maybe if) they get to the bottom of this and sort it out once and for all. Sorry to bang on about it but I'm a bit teed off with it now!

Work is still "on the up" with orders coming in right, left and centre. Problem now is we don't really have enough men on the shopfloor to cope in the short term. But what do you do? Hire half a dozen blokes then, maybe in a month or two's time, fire them again? There are no guarantees that the orders will continue to flow in.

One of my tasks for next week is a sales forecast for 2010.... anybody got any suggestions?!

Getting there.... but slowly!

Medical update - cystoscopy on Tuesday revealed nothing untoward but I now have to go for a CT scan because the consultant wants to be absolutely sure of what is happening with my kidney. I reported that my GP said the ultrasound revealed a kidney stone, remember? The consultant I saw on Tuesday said the ultrasound showed there MIGHT be a stone - hence the need for the CT scan. Confused - I most certainly am!! Anyway - I'll tell you more next week.

As promised - some pretty pics - "Autumn Berries" taken last weekend in Graves Park, just around the corner from Norton Towers.

I must also tell you that yesterday, we saw one of the best performances from  a Belper Town team since we began watching about 4 to 5 years ago.

Belper Town 7 - 1 Loughborough was the final result and the 2nd half produced some amazing one-touch "pass-and-move" football and a thoroughly deserved win. Loughborough were not as bad  a side as the final score suggests and they kept going up until their striker missed a golden chance with the score at 4 - 1. It was actually a stunning save by Adam Ogden, the Belper keeper, and you could almost see the oppositions heads go down. Anyway - a great result and Tim Harrison's excellent album of the game is here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/lghbrughH0910/index.html


Next up is Chasetown in the Unibond President's Cup on Tuesday evening. Haven't decided if we'll go yet - depends on the weather - if this wet and windy stuff continues we might give it a miss.

The following Saturday, Belper are at home to Goole AFC and the Duchess and I are invited guests of the match sponsor! Belper joint manager Andy Carney is sponsoring the game and he's included madam and me on his guest list. We get preferred parking, free admission and programme, complimentary drinks before the game, food at half time and the we and the rest of the guest party get to select the Man of the Match.

Andy kindly did this for us last season and as I said - it's really nice of him to think of us. He says it's a small "Thanks" for taking the trouble to regularly support the 1st team and reserves despite most matches involving a minimum 60 mile round trip!. We, of course, do it because we enjoy the whole experience - the game, the company and the banter.

Full report follows!

Trying to get back to normality....

...but probably have to wait a little longer.

A quick summary of the last couple of weeks.......

The scan (eventually) confirmed the presence of a kidney stone and then I got a very severe urine infection (sweats then shakes then sweats again - the full monty!) so strong antibiotics were prescribed. These had some side effects (like the trots!) but the course is now finished.

This afternoon - I've an appointment at the Hallamshire hospital for a cystoscopy (look it up) - I had one of these several years ago and so I'm not looking forward to it.... then we see what happens next!

Footy? Well - Belper Town have lost a couple, drawn a couple and won a couple! They've also signed a couple of new players and you can see all of the details on the new, improved website.. link on the right - it's well worth a look.

The reserve side has just lost it's first game in 10 - a 2 -3 reverse against Teversal and again - pictures and comment are on the Belper Town forum.

Work has increased and we're busier now than we've been in months but it remains to be seen if the improvement is maintained. Only time will tell of course but it looks like we'll be giving the guys on the shop floor enough work to sustain a minimum of 4 days per week up until Christmas so that's a plus.

Also - got lotsa pictures to show you but they'l follow in a little while - I'm now off to the hospital..... wish me luck!

Staveley Reserves 1 - 3 Belper Town Reserves

Rob Palin's (No. 4) close range shot is missed by the defender on the line to give Belper a 1 - 0 lead.

This match took place yesterday and what a cracking game it turned out to be! Even with floodlight failure causing the last 10 minutes to be played in fading light, we saw one of the best game I've seen in a while.

Late substitition in semi-darkness.

Belper took (and probably deserved) a 2 - 0 lead before Staveley pulled one back from a penalty. Sam Johnson sealed the win with a late goal after a run from just past the halfway line as Staveley pressed for an equaliser.

That brief description doesn't do the game any justice! It was "end-to-end" for a lot of the 90 minutes but what made it so great, to my mind, was the fact that both sides tried to play good, passing, attacking football. Belper won because of their excellent all-round team performance.

Click the link below for more pix:

http://nortoner09.jalbum.net/2009%2010%2031%20Staveley%20Res%201%20-%203%20Belper%20Res/

It's been a busy week all round. Work slowed a little but we continue to book more orders than  we invoiced so November looks like being one of the best "sales months" of the year to date.

I'm still trying to get an appointment to see the doc about my scan results but given the fact that there are spasmodic postal strikes at the minute, the mail is more unreliable than ever so she probably hasn't got the results yet anyway!

Weather was fine yesterday but absolutely lousy today and we're promised  more temperatures in the 10 to 12 C range rather than the 16 to 18 we've been enjoying during the last week.

Not much else to tell really although we bought a new printer today - another HP "all-in-one" printer-scanner-copier, because the current one is starting to show it's age. The new one has a wireless facility so that will allow the Duchess to effortlessly print from her laptop and will, hopefully, give better results on the odd photo I print now and then.

So - you're pretty much up-to-date. I'm going to listen to Radio Sheffield's Country Music Show now - special guest is Reba McEntire - a particular favourite of mine - so that'll have to do for now guys!

See Yer Later!