The Truth at last about my second favourite football club....

....is in this article by David Conn of the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2010/nov/24/sheffield-wednesday-sir-dave-richards

This summarises perfectly why the Owls find themselves in their present sorry state.

Richards should not be allowed to run a bath.....

God help the FA

(More normal blogging resumes shortly - I've been busy OK?)

Almost back to normal....

Another week and not a lot to report.

The Duchess recovery is continuing and she is doing fine apart from a bit of a growing sense of frustration that she can't ditch the crutches just yet!  The walking frame is now redundant and she is whizzing around the house on one crutch.

Highlight of the week was yesterday when we went to watch Belper Town v Spalding. First game we've been to since before the Duchess' operation and we actually sponsored the match ball so we really wanted to be there.

They know how to look after people at Belper Town - greeted on arrival in the boardroom with coffee and biscuits, a match programme and a comfy chair for the Duchess! A tremendous buffet at half time and a ticket for six complimentary drinks after the game was all part of the sponsor's package. We also got to choose the away side's Man of the Match. 

A smashing day was completed by a 5-0 win for Belper Town. First half was poor but Spalding pretty much had the stuffing knocked out of them by a goal right on half time and another just after half time. Belper then scored three in the last 10 minutes.

I took the camera but had a bit of a mare! Missed two of the 5 goals. I got a couple of half decent shots (mainly before it went dark!) but as ever - Mr Reliable - Tim Harrison, got pretty much everything important in the game. His album is here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/SpldngH1011/index.html

Nice one again Tim!

A couple of mine:-

BelperTown Juniors FC were main match sponsors

 The aforementioned Mr Harrison (He's a cheery soul really!)

 Lee Thompson - included cos it's probably my best shot of the day!

 If you look at Tim's album - you'll see a better version of this shot (I hate him sometimes!!!)

Hat trick hero RWT (Rubens Wiggins-Thomas) OK - this was after his 2nd goal but it's the best shot I got of him!

OK folks - that's about it for now. Getting ready for sausage sandwiches with brown sauce. Leg of Lamb and the trimmings for Sunday dinner later!

Oh heck! Just remembered. "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" starts tonight. The TV schedule at Nortoner Towers will therefore be:

Strictly Come Dancing

The X Factor

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

The next blog entry might be sooner than you think. A long soak in a hot bath and a computer session could very well be on the cards!

Progress so far is good!!

Another week has flown by and I have learned how to use the washing machine and the cooker!

The main subject of the week has been the Duchess' recovery from her operation of course and I'm pleased to say all seems to be going very well. She has progressed from a walking frame upstairs and crutches downstairs to the point where she is now getting about the house on a single crutch for most of the time.

The week in summary....

Monday - into the office about 9 a.m., nip home lunchtime to check on the Duchess, back to work in the afternoon and home about 4:30 p.m. to sort out laundry and tea.

Tuesday - whole day off because our new bed was to be delivered. Spent the morning dismantling the old divan, cleaning the bedroom  from top to bottom, and then assembled the new one when it arrived mid-afternoon.

Wednesday - see Monday, pretty much.

Thursday - ditto.

Friday - another day  off - the District Nurse was due to remove the Duchess' staples from the operation wound and re-dress the wound if necessary. Turns out no new dressing is necessary - the wound has not "wept" and is healing nicely! The massive bruise down the back of her leg is disappearing quickly too! On the whole - she's making a grand recovery and for my part, I find it hard to believe that she has been out of hospital for just over a week!

To celebrate, we nipped out to Hathersage for lunch (Bacon sandwiches at the Hathersage Swimming Pool Cafe - the best in Derbyshire!) We sat by the Derwent Reservoir for a while and eventually returned home for a fish & chip supper!

A good day all round really.

Saturday - we decided Sheila wasn't up to a trip to watch Belper Town just yet so after the morning supermarket visit, we had lunch and another drive out into Derbyshire to see if we could get some pictures of the colours, before the strong winds remove all the leaves from the trees. It was a very grey day but the area around Ladybower is pretty whatever time of year or the weather conditions.

There's more pictures here if you fancy a look...

http://nortoner09.jalbum.net/2010%2011%2005%20Derbyshire%20Colours/

In our absence (again!) Belper recorded a 4-1 home win over Romulus. The biggest win of the season and a good performance by all accounts. Tim Harrison's excellent album is here and is certainly worth a look!

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/RmlsH1011/index.html

Hopefully, we'll be at the game next week, when Spalding are the opponents. We are sponsoring the match ball and so really want to be there if we can.

Not much else to tell. Work is still extremely busy. It will soon be time to sort out a Sales Forecast for next year and so any suggestions would be gratefully received!

More follows at the earliest opportunity but with laundry to do, pots to wash (you should SEE the state of my hands!) and house cleaning  to be done - I wouldn't hold your breath!

Laters!

Sunday morning - blogging down....

....(to paraphrase Johnny Cash!)

Wednesday and Thursday saw the Duchess recovering in hospital from her hip surgery.

Our son was here until Thursday when I took him to Doncaster airport to head back home. His company is in the middle of moving offices to the centre of Rotterdam. Friday was the day they had to move from the old premises and he naturally wanted to be there for that.

Friday afternoon - collected the Duchess from hospital and brought her home. Fish and Chips for tea went down really well!

Her mobility is hampered of course and we now have a walking frame upstairs and her crutches downstairs. The recovery plan includes walking every day (with the crutches of course!) and the physiotherapist suggests walking to the first lamp post on the street on Day One, then the second lamp post on Day Two and so on - (after a week, she'll be 7 lamp posts away!!.......... Boom Boom!!!)

Because she's been cooped up for a week, we had a short drive out to Ladybower on Saturday afternoon. The Duchess isn't allowed to stand for 90 minutes at a football game yet and the seats at most grounds are not conducive to "sitting comfortably" so we couldn't go to watch Belper at Quorn. It would have been a bit too much on her first day out!

Took the camera of course.........

We'd missed the best of the sunshine but some of the colours were still there!

As for Belper Town - they lost 2-0 and from the comments on the Fans Forum - it was a good game to miss. Described by some (including one of the senior players) as the worst performance of the season!

Tim Harrisons excellent album is here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/QrnA1011/index.html

We're hoping to get to the Belper home game v Spalding on November 13th - we're sponsoring the match ball and so we really want to be there if possible!

Today should be car cleaning day but at the moment it's grey and misty and simply too damp to do it. Hopefully the weather will clear a bit so I can get it done. It's never been this dirty since I got it!

There's also the house cleaning, pots to wash etc (the Duchess is still doing the cooking - she doesn't need food poisoning to hinder her recovery!)

Next week - we'll set up a routine to get her up and organised before I go to work. I'm fortunate in that my boss has told me to take what time I need and I can do some of my work from home so things will be a bit "flexible" until we get sorted.

Anyway - nearly lunchtime so I'd best get on.... a man's work is never done (to paraphrase the old saying!)

;-)

This weeks excuse for lack of bloggage..

... simply that I've been busy, (or too lazy to blog!? A major distraction is the 1,000 piece jigsaw we're doing on the coffee table.... Nice excuse dontcha think?)

So - updates and footy first -

Saturday 23rd  Oct - Belper beat Shepshed Dynamo 2-1, coming back from 1-0 down. We missed it because we were collecting our son from Doncaster airport. He wanted to be in Sheffield when his ma had her operation so he's around until Thursday.

Tonight - Belper beat Quorn 2-1 in the Presidents Cup - we missed it because the Duchess had her new hip fitted on Monday (yesterday) and so she's in hospital and I've been visiting!

Maybe a pattern emerging here...... we don't go - Belper win 2-1 - hope not!

Tim Harrisons pictures from the Shepshed win are here

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/ShpshddymH1011/index.html

and a damn fine set they are too. (Careful Tim - you're getting a bit to good at this photography lark.... wouldn't want it to go to your head!) I'll add a link to tonights cup win when he gets his finger out and posts the album on the Belper Forum. Assuming he was there of course! ;-)

Last Sunday (way back after I did my last blog entry) we had a drive out into Derbyshire. The colours weren't quite there but we got some nice shots on a very bright day. Here's one...

and an album of the better shots from the day is here:

http://nortoner09.jalbum.net/2010%2010%2017%20Around%20Derbyshire

Didn't do much else this last week or so - mainly spent time getting the Duchess organised for her operation - which went well by the way - trouble is - she is not allowed to sleep on her side for the next 6 weeks. She must sleep on  her back - and that will be a challenge let me tell you! She'll hopefully be out on Friday morning. Fingers crossed!

Sunday just gone, we went for a drive out to Carburton Lakes again - but there was simply nowhere to park so we ended up heading back home after a loop around Ollerton and Sherwood Forest. Car was cleaned when I got home - and it has, as ever, piddled it down today so it needs doing again! Ho hum - my own fault - I chose black!

Any road up.... it's now 10:30 pm - I am knackered and about ready for bed. Work in the morning then hospital visiting in the afternoon....

Laters!

This Week in Nortonerland...

I know, I know - I promised an ASAP post... well, truly, this IS ASAP!

As described - Sunday - we went to Carburton Lakes, near Clumber Park - got some nice shots of birds various.....

...and it was a really pretty day -

Monday - day off. The Duchess had an appointment at the hospital for a pre-op assessment so I went with her. All seemed to go well and probably the best bit was the news that her blood pressure was at its lowest in ages!! She was so pleased she almost rang the nurse at the surgery to report the news (blood pressure checks every 6 months or so usually result in a high reading!) Anyway - the nurse at the hospital was really very nice and although the Duchess is still very apprehensive about the operation, she seems a lot more "comfortable" with it than previously.

Tuesday and Wednesday went in a blur but on Thursday I managed to find 10 minutes to take a few shots in the stock yard at work. The plant backs on to the canal and some of the bankside vegitation is starting to 'turn' to it's autumn colour... (and please ignore the incinerator in the background!)

 To say the canal runs through Sheffield's Industrial East End - it can be quite attractive (and it's actually full of fish!) 

Friday was as Friday is! Busy but with the bonus of closing at 1:30 pm! Generally relaxed through the afternoon and dined from the Chippy. Total relaxation.

Saturday began with the supermarket run, then off to Belper to watch the game v Brigg. As we were leaving the house, a warning light on the car dashboard caught my eye (do they still call 'em dashboards?)

Reference to the manual showed the light means the "Diesel Particulate Filter is Clogged with Soot." It might as well have been written in Dutch for all that this message meant to me!

Fortunately, the showroom the car came from is just around the corner so we called in on the way to the match. A technician told me that this can happen if the car has undertaken a series of short journeys. It's not serious and all it needed was a run down the motorway or a dual carriageway at a steady 70 kilometres per hour in 4th gear. Fifteen minutes or so should do it. So we headed for Belper and the problem was sorted. (See - this blog delivers tech tips too - as well as the usual rubbish!)

Football? Well -  Belper lost 1-0 although no one has any idea how. We dominated for 80 of the 90 minutes but just couldn't score! Disappointing but if we play like that every week - the corner surely has to be turned soon!

Took some pictures but not enough of at the high standard set by Tim Harrison, although I quite like these two.....

A very dramatic sky...

I'll put some footy pics up if I can find enough good 'uns.

Today is an absolutely glorious one so when  the Archers Omnibus is done, we'll grab a bit of "brunch" (posh here at Nortoner Towers aren't we?!) and then head out to Derbyshire to see if we can get some "Autumn Colours" pics.

Laters!!

Footnote..... Just posted this then found Tim Harrison had put his pics on the Belper Fans Forum whilst I was at it. A smashing effort (as usual!) can be found here - one of his best I reckon!
http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/HrrgtBrggH1011/index.html

No - I haven't stopped blogging.....

... it's just been another one of those weeks!

Sunday afternoon - went for a look at possible new beds.  Ours is almost knackered but we have had the thing for several years so we really need a new one. "Looking" turned into "Buying" - delivery in a month or so.

Monday - arrived at work to find no working telephone lines. So no phones or fax but oddly - Broadband was fine. Established later in the morning that there was a massive network fault and between 80 and 100 of BT's customers in the local area were in the same boat! Long story short - the lines were restored early Friday morning but only after our only remaining means of communicating with the outside world (Broadband) had also 'died' on Thursday morning. 

"Frustrating" just about sums it up. I reported the debacle to Ofcom because having spent all week trying to speak to someone at BT and only getting automated e-mail responses or "Select Option 1 for this and Option 2 for that" telephone menus, I'd had enough!

I asked Ofcom to ask BT to remove the e-mail address "customer.focus@btbilling.com" unless it is actually meant as a joke of course. Compensation claims are also being prepared.

 

Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday - spent at our sister company at Dronfield to learn more about the new computer and software systems we are introducing across the group. Interesting!

Thursday was difficult - trying to catch up on almost 2 days out of the office was impossible with no means of communication to the outside world (apart from personal mobile phones and 3G service)

Friday - usual half a day and a bit wasted to be honest - I fell asleep in the afternoon! Must be getting old if I need an afternoon nap.

Saturday was good - an away trip to Rainworth Miners Welfare FC and a good 2-0 win for Belper Town. It was also the first time I'd used the camera in a week! Pictures will follow but for now, as ever, The Master (Tim Harrison) beat me to it and his record is here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/HrrgtRnwrthA1011/index.html

Today promises a bright afternoon so we're planning a little run. (In the car of course - not yer actual jogging type run - leave it out!) Carburton lakes near Clumber Park is favourite. Fancy taking some pictures of the birds gathering round the feeders on the fence there.

I have a day off tomorrow - the Duchess has her pre-op assessment in the afternoon so we'll probably have lunch out and eat at the Bowshaw Carvery in the evening (to cheer her up a bit!)

I'll post again ASAP - hopefully before next weekend but - no promises!