An interesting week!

We had a very nice (but all too brief) visit over Christmas from our son and his wife. They went home on 27th December.

 

After the cup defeat at Ossett Town and a postponed league game at Market Drayton, Belper Town returned to action against Sheffield FC at their ground in Dronfield on Boxing Day.

 

The game ended in a well deserved 5-1 victory for Belper in the pouring rain on a pitch which cut up very badly as the game progressed. It's always satisfying to put one across Sheffield FC who have some of the most arrogant fans I have ever come across. As in all such cases, a handful of bad apples spoil the whole barrel but the banter is generally verbal - until Tuesday that is!

 

Belper were winning 3-0 but Sheffield pulled a goal back. The game became end to end as Sheffield tried to increase the pressure in an attempt to get back into it.

 

Then Belper made a break and sub Shaun Tuton raced a defender across the penalty box looking for a shooting opportunity. The defender slid in a tackle - probably not the smartest idea on a wet and muddy pitch - and took the ball and Shaun in one movement. The ref awarded a dubious penalty which Belper gratefully accepted of course!

 

I turned to Snapper Harrison and said "I don't think that's a penalty." and then felt an almighty shove in the back from an enraged Sheffield FC fan who was screaming "That's NOT a F**king penalty."

 

Fortunately, I didn't drop 3 grands worth of camera I was holding at the time and I turned to ask this idiot what he thought he was doing. His face contorted with rage, he shouted again "That's NOT a f**king penalty." I calmly pointed out that I agreed with him and repeated what I had actually said - "I don't think that's a penalty."

 

With hands thrust deep in his pockets, he replied "Well, he's a f**king awful referee." as if that justified it.

 

To my eternal regret, I did nothing about it at the time although I have since e-mailed Sheffield FC to warn them that they have a maniac in their midst. I should have called a steward but wanted to carry on taking pictures. (There's dedication for you!)

 

After the game, as I was packing away the camera gear a guy approached me and said "I thought that was totally out of order mate - what he did to you." He added that he was a Stocksbridge fan first and a non-league fan second and he was there because Steels were away at Buxton (getting a 7-0 hammering as it happens!) "Don't need that sort of idiot at any game and certainly not at non-league level!" he added.

 

The good thing is that we don't play the First Club In The World again this season! And their manager - Curtis Woodhouse - resigned on the Friday because his boxing commitments were clashing with the football and he'd decided he could no longer manage both.

 

The football pictures are here:

 

Mine  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDnmVEq

 

and Snapper's      http://www.flickr.com/photos/timharrisonphotography/sets/72157632349314880/

 

Think between us we got that covered!!

 

That's about that for now. Looking forward to Mickleover Sports at the Meadow on New Year's Day. Hoping  a nice win for the Nailers will set me up for the return to work on January 2nd!

Are you superstitious?

Some months ago, I managed to break the mirror on the Duchess' dressing table.

 

Since then, we were without broadband and a landline for around 2 weeks.

 

Then the PC broke down.

 

Then the car broke down - Engine Management System fault which required a software download! (And what a long story THAT is!)

 

And last week.... The remote (wireless) thermostat on the central heating system failed and needs replacing (fortunately under warranty) so currently our heating is either on or off. Manufacturers coming to sort it New Years Eve.

 

Wonder what breaks next!?

 

And by the way, I haven't posted in about a month because Google is telling me once again that I can't load any more pictures into the blog. So sod 'em. I'll have to link you to Flickr where I am now storing online albums (cos JAlbum upset me as well so I've kicked them into touch too.)

 

Here's last Tuesday's Cup defeat at Ossett Town - more good news - NOT!

 

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDfZh4y

 

More might follow when Christmas is over - but then again, It might not!

 

Anyway - hope you have a Super Christmas, and "All The Best" for the New Year - whoever and wherever you are.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Computer Mended!

Thanks big time to my mate Andy who found a DIMM (memory chip) had come loose from its mountings!

 

He's re-seated it and also given the machine a good owd tidy up, removing 3 years accumulation of dust. My only defence is I couldn't figure how to get the casing off the PC so couldn't clean it! Not only DIY I'm scared of!

 

(And the thought just occurred - why does "DIMM" seem somehow strangely appropriate?!)

 

Anyway - The Duchess bought him a big tin of Roses toffees as a "Thank You" because as I said - PC World wanted £50 just to have a look!

 

Sorting out back ups, restoring some settings and generally getting back into the swing of things so I'll try to update this nonsense more regularly in future.

 

More follows when I can think of summat else to say.

 

A Dead Computer Is A Right Pain In The Bum!

My PC has totally died - this comes to you from an old laptop (running Windows XP) which I set up so I could at least try to catch up with my Sheffield Junior Football League duties!

Fortunately, I had backed up my photo files  (all 59,000 of 'em!) to an external, portable hard drive last weekend, before the machine gave up the ghost. I am to take the box to work tomorrow and a colleague who is a bit handy with computers is going to have a look to see if he can revive it.

There's lots to tell you about as far as  footy goes - particularly in the last week! Having lost 2 games in a row to late penalty kicks, Belper hammered Romulus 9 - 0 on Tuesday and beat Kings Lynn 2-1 at their ground yesterday.

The Tuesday win was Belper's biggest victory in the Northern Premier League and the win yesterday probably had even more significance. Kings Lynn hadn't lost at home in 2 years until the mighty Nailers came a-calling!

We watched the 9 - 0 and I took some nice photos but with a dead PC, editing and uploading options have been limited so I think the best plan is to link you to Snapper Harrison's Flickr page and you can see all of the action, not just from the last week, but from the season and before. Have a look - he's not only consistent but bloody good an all! (And explore the site - there's more than excellent footy pics there.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timharrisonphotography/

Other matters? Nothing to report really. My pretty ordinary life continues to pass with seemingly increasing rapidity as I hurtle toward retirement. The kitchen is now plastered and ready for installation of the cooker hood. Then paint, tiles and flooring to complete - as is the case with the bathroom. (By the way - the tasks listed are mostly outside my scope - I just need to agree with the Duchess in which order they need doing so I can telephone the people I need to do them! Certainly no DIY-er me!)

It's a short blog entry tonight (for which I guess you're grateful!) but if/when the PC is fixed, there'll be no stopping me - promise!

OK - So I Lied.....

.... an update didn't follow last weekend.

 

But it ain't my fault!

 

Having finally got the landline and broadband restored - we even got our old phone number back - my PC at home has died!

 

Refuses to start, various blue screens reporting all sorts of errors if it does manage to look as if it's OK and if we're lucky enough to get a desktop and start running a programme - it randomly "freezes", the blue screen appears again and a "Your computer has been stopped to prevent damage - try restarting." message appears.

Error codes suggest it's either a new piece of software or a new piece of hardware or the NVidia graphics card causing the problem.

 

Nipped in to PC World last night and asked about repairs. Basically - it's a minimum £50 inspection fee and if they diagnose a new graphics card, or hard drive, or whatever - they add that to the £50 already spent. And it's not done "in-store" any more - they's send it away with a14 to 28 day return estimate

 

I was considering moving to Windows 7 from Vista (don't fancy Windows 8 just yet) and PC World could do that at the same time as the repair but that would add £83 for the software plus (guess what - yes you're right!) £50 to install it.

 

I just need to get the machine through the next 18 months or so because on retirement - I am investing in a new iMac - paid for from the "Lump Sum" part of my pension!

 

Just SO glad I backed up the 59,000 odd photos and video clips on the machine to my external had drive last weekend!

 

I'll keep you advised of progress......

This should link to a Set of Photos..

..taken last Friday (2nd November) at Ladybower & Howden Dams.

(I've been playing with the new Flickr account and created a set of 6 pics - just wanna see if it links OK!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/sets/72157631969422691/

Coming Soon - to A Blog Near You!

An update is being prepared.

 

Now that the USA trip is done and we have a broadband connection and telephone line at home, I'm working on an update to this blog.

 

It's been a hectic couple of weeks and I've just not had the time (or the facility with no internet connection at home) to write anything at all.

 

Footy progresses - the games come thick and fast and I'll brief you on results later although it hasn't been that bad a couple of weeks for Belper Town. With a couple of wins under their belt, the team climbed to 9th a week or so ago (although we've slipped to 10th now!)

 

Another frustration has been a problem with Jalbum (where I post albums of pics for your delectation!). Turns out I have 2 accounts with them and one, containing all the previous albums I've done, has expired. I renewed it but they somehow renewed the other one and so all my albums would need re-uploading and re-linking.

 

As I ain't prepared to upload and relink 2 years worth of albums, I've been given a refund of the upgrade fee and switched my allegiance to Flickr "pro"!

 

Right - brief note done (just to let you know I'm still here basically!) and I'll do a proper entry this weekend but I'll leave you with a pic.....

Sunrise from  Nortoner Towers on Tuesday this week. (And I submitted this to "Yorkshire Calendar Weather Photos" and they used it Tuesday evening! Although it was credited to Keith and not Ken Allsebrook!)

For now - Ah'll sithee