Sunday 29 March 2009

Saturday 28 March 2009

Another Win for Belper Town.

Enjoyed another win for my favourite football team today. We deservedly beat Goole AFC 2 - 0.

I can't remember the last time I was so cold at a football match though! A steady, cold wind and the odd bit of rain and hail made for uncomfortable conditions, even though we were sitting in the main stand.

Belper played some good football, our mate Danny Hudson scored the first goal and when Snapper Harrison gets the pictures organised, I'll post a link. (It won't be tonight though - he made some lame excuse about a dinner engagement as he was leaving the clubhouse after the game.)

One of the most memorable things about today was the invitation we received from joint manager Andy Carney to be his guests at next Tuesday evening's home game against Willenhall. We get two free tickets, a Car Park Pass and admission to the board room before the match and at half time. Really looking forward to you it and I'll tell you all about it next week!

Wednesday 25 March 2009

...and Snapper's pictures of the Kidsgrove game...

.... are here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/KdsgrvA0809/album1.html

Another excellent job under difficult conditions!
(When do I get me fiver Harrison?!)

Kidsgrove 0 - 1 Belper Town

Last night's result was a good one and a win was much needed as all but two of our rivals in the top six won. Retford didn't have a league game and Stocksbridge drew at home. It's getting very tight at the top now.

Didn't make the trek myself - after work, a 65 mile drive on a wet and windy evening is not my cup of tea, so the Duchess and I followed progress on the Belper Forum. Texts were sent from the game to our mate Joey and he kept the Forum updated as news came through.

It was nail-biting stuff! Jon Hobson was sent off, Kidsgrove could have had four goals apparently and we nicked it with a headed goal in the second half then held on with 10 men until the final whistle.

Next game is Goole at home on Saturday - a game we would expect to win but as the last week as shown, there are no "gimme's" in this league and we suddenly seem to have a very "thin" squad!

Sunday 22 March 2009

Grantham 1 - 1 Belper

It was a fine morning on Saturday so we decided to make the trip to watch Belper at Grantham.

The game was unremarkable with a below par performance from Belper. A draw, whilst disappointing, was better than losing which we could easily have done.

I managed to take a half dozen pictures inside the ground during the warm up before a jobsworth in a yellow jacket told me I had to put the camera away since I was not the official Belper photographer. When I told him I'd never been refused pemission anywhere else his justification was "It says so in the programme." (Since then I've re-read the programme from cover to cover and there's no mention of any such restriction.)

This is the South Kesteven Stadium:



Strange place to watch football this. The pitch is so far away because of the running track and the stadium so "open" that it just didn't feel right! With a steady wind blowing diagonally across the ground and a playing surface which although well-grassed, was like concrete, this was never going to be a classic.

What really ruined the day for me (apart from the jobsworth) was the behaviour of some of the Grantham support. When one of our players went down with what was obviously a very bad injury and as the stretcher was being called for, these morons decided it would be funny to sing "The Funeral March".

After the game, they hurled abuse and hatred at the Belper players, calling Danny Hudson a cheat. Danny had been hurt when he was, basically, assaulted by the Grantham No. 4 who got a second yellow card and dismissal for his trouble. Our kit man also told me that the same fans actually spat at the players as they came off the pitch.

So much for the FA's "Respect" campaign!

Won't be going to Grantham again!
Oh and by the way, the "Official Photographer's" efforts are here - as good as ever! (Wish I was an "Official" Snapper!)

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/GrnthmA0809/album1.html

Thursday 19 March 2009

Wednesday 18 March 2009

See the climax of JoJo's 300 game

..at this link

http://www.bowlingdigital.com/bowl/node/6043

Good innit?

Belper 2 - 0 Quorn

Another win for Belper last night and whilst it wasn't the greatest game of football I've ever seen, the result was about right on the balance of play. My mate Joey Winson summed it up perfectly - "A professional performance from the Nailers."

Didn't take my camera - I still haven't figured out the business of taking action pictures under floodlights but when Snapper Harrison posts his pictures on the Belper Forum, I'll link you to them.

As for today - the lift from the win was welcome but brief and the return to the madness this morning brings one back down to earth with a considerable bump.

It's a beautiful spring morning if your only concern is what the weather means to your plans for the day and not if you'll still have a job in a couple of months.

Monday 16 March 2009

Germany - pics as promised

The Hotel Zur Eich where we stayed. It's 175 years old and the present owners are the 5th generation of the family to run it.
A church in Wermelskirchen

Sunday 15 March 2009

JoJo Bowls 'em Over Again!

My niece, Joanne, has been in France competing in the Brunswick Euro Challenge - (a major 10-pin bowling competition.)

On her way to a fantastic 5th place finish, JoJo bowled a perfect 300 game. She's pictured below, taking the applause after bowling that game. (Fiance Adam is standing right behind her - I think he's checking his phone but, as they've just bought a house - he might be working out whether it's a new kitchen or bathroom! Only joking Adam!)

Pictured below are all the prizewinners - Jo is on the extreme right of the back row.
Nice One JoJo!!

Belper Town get back on track.....

...with a good win at Spalding.

Back up to third place now after what was reported to be a "comfortable" victory over a "poor" side.

Can't really comment as I didn't go the game. (I love watching Belper Town but this match would have involved a 200 mile round trip and the love doesn't stretch quite that far on a weekend!)

Unfortunately, Snapper Harrison didn't make it either so there are no photos to look at. You can read "Scoop" Oldrini's report on the game on the Belper website though (link on the right.)

All being well, the Duchess and I will be there on Tuesday at home against Quorn. Full report will follow!

Back to the madness on Friday....

....after the German trip. Will post a couple of pics from Wermelskirchen later. They're on me Blackberry and I can't be arsed to install the software on the laptop from which I'm doing this.

Reasonable trip but brought back to reality on return to the office and more of the craziness that is going on right now.

D'you know, the company I work for was established in 1792 and has survived two World Wars, the depressions of the '20's and 30's, three day weeks in the 1970s and the steel strikes of the 1980's..... Then along came the bankers.... and suddenly, the decision about whether to retire in January 2010 when I get to the dreaded 60 might be made for me well before then.

It makes me so very angry - and what's worse is that I can do sod all about it.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Off to Germany tomorrow.

Just for a couple of days to introduce a younger colleague (and my eventual successor if our company survives the present situation) to the delights of overseas customer visits.

Back Thursday evening after saying "Danke" to the two customers in the Dusseldorf region and begging them for more orders. In English - cos my German is only very basic.... I can order coffee, beer and a taxi receipt (quittung) which is usually different from other types of receipt (rechnung).

I can hear you all yawning now so.. see yer in a coupla days.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Belper Reserves v Graham Street Prims pictures

.... are here

http://s525.photobucket.com/albums/cc337/Nortoner_2008/Belper%20Res%203%20-%201%20Graham%20St%20Prims/?albumview=grid

No comparison with Tim Harrisons efforts of course (see Belper Town website and click "Forum" link) but I'm quite pleased with 'em!

Watched the Reserves again yesterday


The first team didn't have a game so we went down to watch Belper Reserves beat Graham Street Prims 3 - 1. (Odd name for a football team but this apparently comes from "Graham Street Primitive Methodist Church" which is where the club was originally founded.)

Not an easy win for Belper by any means against a team who are third from bottom of the league. In fact, Belper went behind but equalised before half time and then went on to make pressure tell in the second half.

The good things to come from this game for me included the performance of the Belper No 6 - a young guy called Ant Simpson who ran the centre midfield, particularly in the 2nd half. He looks a good prospect.

And (yes I really mean this) the referee was excellent! No fuss or bother or the "look at me I'm in charge" type performance seen from some refs this season.

A couple of pics above and as soon as I've managed to put a Photobucket album together, I'll post a link.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Turn the under-bumper lights off you dipstick!

Has anyone else noticed the apparent increase in inconsiderate wassocks who leave their "under bumper" front lights on when they are not necessary?

Driving to work this morning, I noticed at least 5 cars with what we used to call "sidelights" on (which in itself is bad enough in the dark,) but they all had their under-bumper lights on full glare!

I can't believe they were all too thick to know how to turn them off and am sure this a form of "posing" - like wearing a bluetooth headset when walking around a shopping centre or whatever with the cell phone in their hand or pocket. What's the point?

Back to the question of the lights, I nicked this from another forum but it needs wider notice:-
Highway code states in rule 211
"You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights" ('Seriously reduced' is defined as when you cannot see more than 100 m.)

IT'S ILLEGAL YOU DIPSTICKS!!!!!!

Tuesday 3 March 2009

I know it's a small world.....

... but I find this a bit spooky!

The window cleaners arived at work last week. Amongst them was an older guy called Melvyn who used to own the business but now only helps out occasionally when they are "short-handed." We'd sometimes nod to each other when "knocking around" the Nortoner Towers area not long after we moved up there.

Haven't seen him (either at work or around Norton) for ages and as we chatted over a cup of tea, he told me he'd moved from Norton about 6 years ago.

I mentioned that we'd moved to Norton after living in our first house on Sharrowvale Road for 27 years and that the Duchess had been born on the same street. Further discussion revealed that this guy knew the Duchess' father, George, and remembered my wife because he was actually born 3 days before her and in the next yard!

He recalled her name with no prompting and told me (correctly) the names of the three other families who shared the yard of the house where the Duchess was born.

The Duchess said she recalled the family, although she did not specifically remember Melvyn. Not really surprising when you think that they were both born over 60 years ago!

Like I said - small world!!

Monday 2 March 2009

Forgot to tell you.....

... at the game on Saturday, the Duchess won 2nd prize in the raffle - a box of chocs!

We've been going to Belper about 3 or 4 seasons now and buy a quid's worth of tickets every game so she reckons we've more than paid for them!!

Saturday wasn't all bad then!

Sunday 1 March 2009

I can't believe it.....


....having lost only two league games all season, Belper have now lost two in a week! And both to last minute goals.

The final score yesterday was Belper 1 - 2 Lincoln Utd and the winner came from a penalty (correctly) awarded in injury time. That was about the only thing yet another crappy referee got right.

This was another official who seemed to award free-kicks on a random basis. Most football supporters simply want consistency from referees but we are not only getting inconsistency week-to-week, we are now getting inconsistency within games.

One particularlty poor decision concerned the failure to award a penalty for Belper when Ryan Hindley was brought down in the box. We were no more than 10 yards away (as was the linesman) and we all heard the sound of boot on boot and not boot on ball (there is a substantial difference) as Ryan was tackled. He was actually left injured on the ground and there was a hole in his sock, caused by the defender's studs!

Anthony Wilson got booked for a tremendous blocking challenge which prevented a defender clearing the ball and on at least two occasions, free kicks were awarded against him for "backing-in" when he was clearly being held from behind. At one point, the defender had Ant's arms interlocked with his own arms to stop Ant from turning but the defender still got the free-kick.

I know I am slightly biased (well - OK - massively biased) but there is no way Belper Town deserved to lose either of the last two games. That just increases the frustration.

Anyway - the rest of Tim Harrisons excellent "snaps" are here if you wanna look (That's one good thing to come from every game - Snappers pics!)
http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/LnclnH0809/album1.html