A Winter's Tale
Jan. 8th, 2022 06:42 pmWent for my booster jab on the 16th December. Had to go to the Covid Vaccination Centre in Portsmouth, on the St James Hospital site not far from my old school (though all I saw of the latter was an outside wall). After being checked in by a lady with a clipboard, I had to walk along a turning path of rubber mats bordered by a narrow tent-like structure until I reached a lady who went through a few quick ID and medical questions with me, then briefly jabbed the needle into my arm, then that was it. One of the staff stuck a label with a time on on my coat breast and directed me out of the tent and across a grass patch to another tent, where I was given a drink and told to take a seat and rest for 10 minutes. In the rest tent, which I'm happy to say had a Christmas tree and decorations, we sat in rows of plastic chairs facing a big screen that displayed a rolling series of health information announcements. I'm sure the organisers had the best of intentions showing us those, but we'd have appreciated regular TV more. There was a radio on, but unfortunately tuned to Heart. If any vaccination centre organisers are reading this : Radio 2 or a local station please.
Was tired at work next morning and spent much of the time shivering. I stood next to the heater for a while but the shaking shivers still kept rippling through me. I later heard that was a side effect of the jab. Spent the afternoon and evening in bed.
By Saturday the 18th, news was coming of the Omicron surge, with London again a hot spot. With my booster too recent to have kicked in, I was persuaded by family to skip the trip to Brentham v Clapton CFC. Spent the day helping me ma put the Christmas decorations up.
Days passed with news from London getting ever worse, and the revelation that 25% of Londoners are unvaccinated, so with a heavy heart I cancelled my planned New Year trip to Nottingham (which would have involved a tube ride through the capital) and messaged Kate and Lee with my apologies. They replied "No problem, stay safe, take care".
Christmas was quiet. Family time with the telly, loads of nibbles and drink, listening to The Chart of Gold shows and that was it. From the various relatives I received DVDs of Peter Kay's Car Share and The Complete Goodies, four Innis & Gunn golden ales, a couple of rum and raisin marzipan bars, and Chris Sutton's book You're Better Than That! which was a great read. It was fantastic to read Chris's chapter in support of the women's game in which he completely flays the anti-women's-football keyboard pondscum! Got an England Lionesses scarf and The Non-League Groundhopper's Diary from the lovely![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jenni_blog *x*
The 27th we all gathered at Aunt Cynthia's to celebrate her birthday. Had a bit of a chat with her and my cousin Sam then spent most of the evening sitting with my cousin Gayle's boyfriend Paul talking about the fortunes of his team AFC Bournemouth and mostly about F1. Naturally he was unimpressed with the climax of the season in Abu Dhabi, believing the sport was being turned into a WWE-esque spectacle for TV at the expense of sporting integrity. My cousin Neil's wife Kelly said to Gayle that she and Paul should go on Don't Tell The Bride; Gayle balked at the thought of Paul organising the wedding. Kelly said "It'd be Formula 1 themed". I added "The tables'd be called Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari..." Gayle replied "Not Red Bull!" Poor Sam wobbled at the end of the evening; it's her first Christmas since boyfriend David died. I patted her on the shoulder and said "Take care."
More telly, radio, food and drink and relaxation for the rest of Twixmas. Met up with Jade for a chat on the 30th; she said she'd been chatting online with a mutual e-pal in Norwich and said she was hoping to go up there and see him some time in the New Year. I told her I'd be there to see England Women in the Arnold Clark Cup in February, and the upshot is that she's now going to join me then - her first time seeing the Lionesses in the flesh, though she's a keen follower of their games on telly - and we're going to meet up with our e-pal the evening before matchday.
On New Year's Eve morning the family gathered at Grandma's memorial tree to mark her birthday. Aunt Cynthia, me ma and Gayle all led toasts; I had some mulled wine provided by Cynthia. Sam briefly takes to me and sympathised about the scuppering of my New Year plans. I'd arranged to meet my old friend Louise during the afternoon, but she was out when I rang her doorbell. I messaged her to say I was in a nearby pub and spent the whole afternoon drinking in there, but heard nothing. One last ring of her doorbell again proved fruitless. Suitably uplifted, still fed up at not being in Nottingham, I wended my way home, watched that afternoon's episodes of Classic EastEnders that I'd recorded, poured myself a Polar Eclipse, watched The Last Leg Of The Year then took myself off to bed when that ended just after 11. Happy bloody New Year.
The first two days of 2022 I rose at 6 to watch women's football from Australia on BT Sport; after that both days were more binging, lazing and radio.
On the 3rd I was thankfully back on the groundhopping trail again, just up the road to Petersfield Town who were hosting Andover Town. Happily, all the club people were friendly. A cheerful barmaid served me strawberry and lime Rekorderlig. To my delight, the clubhouse still had their Christmas tree, tinsel and Merry Christmas banner up. Sky Sports News was on the big screen. It was good to be back in a club bar again, at a previously unvisited ground. Petersfield, urged on by a group of singing banner-toting 'Rams Ultras' behind the goal, won a cracking game 3-2 despite their striker spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
That evening we took down the Christmas decorations and I poured myself one last Cornish Fruit Rattler, with one last mince pie and one last brandy snap, before starting my detox.
Back to work on the 4th. Busy all week but thankfully got everything done. Gave myself a cheap thrill booking my train and coach tickets for the Arnold Clark Cup in February.
Fantastic to see the lovely Shakespear's Sister on Top of the Pops 1992 last night, and singing live <3
News from London about the virus isn't getting any better. So no Tons for me for a while longer :( This afternoon I moseyed on down to Gosport Borough, who were playing Walton Casuals. Another friendly barmaid greeted me in the 'Trappers' bar at the ground, wishing me 'Happy New Year'. We exchanged chat about our respective festive seasons. A while later my cousin Steve approached me, we had a catch-up chat then his son Craig joined us. Nick, an old pal from sixth form college, also said hello, and the club shop keeper remembered me from past years. Outside in the ground, there'd been a new snack bar added since my last visit a few years ago. In addition to Jock's Snack Bar, there's now Only Rolls And Sauces, complete with Trotter-style signage.
Before kick-off and at half time the announcer kept up a stream of patter, including latest scores from the FA Cup ties and half-times from the other Southern Premier games. In the stand, Mark, the current Mayor and a former club chairman, stopped for a chat. After moving at half time to get a better view I found myself sitting in front of an older guy who introduced himself as Terry, asked me to pass my father his regards, and engaged me in chat about the game. Early in the second half Gosport scored what proved to be the only goal of the game with a well taken low drilled shot, and most of the people in the stand jumped up and went crazy celebrating.
By the time we left the ground the rain was relentlessly lashing down. Even so, if I have to be marooned away from the capital, there are worse places to be marooned than my home town team.
Was tired at work next morning and spent much of the time shivering. I stood next to the heater for a while but the shaking shivers still kept rippling through me. I later heard that was a side effect of the jab. Spent the afternoon and evening in bed.
By Saturday the 18th, news was coming of the Omicron surge, with London again a hot spot. With my booster too recent to have kicked in, I was persuaded by family to skip the trip to Brentham v Clapton CFC. Spent the day helping me ma put the Christmas decorations up.
Days passed with news from London getting ever worse, and the revelation that 25% of Londoners are unvaccinated, so with a heavy heart I cancelled my planned New Year trip to Nottingham (which would have involved a tube ride through the capital) and messaged Kate and Lee with my apologies. They replied "No problem, stay safe, take care".
Christmas was quiet. Family time with the telly, loads of nibbles and drink, listening to The Chart of Gold shows and that was it. From the various relatives I received DVDs of Peter Kay's Car Share and The Complete Goodies, four Innis & Gunn golden ales, a couple of rum and raisin marzipan bars, and Chris Sutton's book You're Better Than That! which was a great read. It was fantastic to read Chris's chapter in support of the women's game in which he completely flays the anti-women's-football keyboard pondscum! Got an England Lionesses scarf and The Non-League Groundhopper's Diary from the lovely
jenni_blog *x*The 27th we all gathered at Aunt Cynthia's to celebrate her birthday. Had a bit of a chat with her and my cousin Sam then spent most of the evening sitting with my cousin Gayle's boyfriend Paul talking about the fortunes of his team AFC Bournemouth and mostly about F1. Naturally he was unimpressed with the climax of the season in Abu Dhabi, believing the sport was being turned into a WWE-esque spectacle for TV at the expense of sporting integrity. My cousin Neil's wife Kelly said to Gayle that she and Paul should go on Don't Tell The Bride; Gayle balked at the thought of Paul organising the wedding. Kelly said "It'd be Formula 1 themed". I added "The tables'd be called Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari..." Gayle replied "Not Red Bull!" Poor Sam wobbled at the end of the evening; it's her first Christmas since boyfriend David died. I patted her on the shoulder and said "Take care."
More telly, radio, food and drink and relaxation for the rest of Twixmas. Met up with Jade for a chat on the 30th; she said she'd been chatting online with a mutual e-pal in Norwich and said she was hoping to go up there and see him some time in the New Year. I told her I'd be there to see England Women in the Arnold Clark Cup in February, and the upshot is that she's now going to join me then - her first time seeing the Lionesses in the flesh, though she's a keen follower of their games on telly - and we're going to meet up with our e-pal the evening before matchday.
On New Year's Eve morning the family gathered at Grandma's memorial tree to mark her birthday. Aunt Cynthia, me ma and Gayle all led toasts; I had some mulled wine provided by Cynthia. Sam briefly takes to me and sympathised about the scuppering of my New Year plans. I'd arranged to meet my old friend Louise during the afternoon, but she was out when I rang her doorbell. I messaged her to say I was in a nearby pub and spent the whole afternoon drinking in there, but heard nothing. One last ring of her doorbell again proved fruitless. Suitably uplifted, still fed up at not being in Nottingham, I wended my way home, watched that afternoon's episodes of Classic EastEnders that I'd recorded, poured myself a Polar Eclipse, watched The Last Leg Of The Year then took myself off to bed when that ended just after 11. Happy bloody New Year.
The first two days of 2022 I rose at 6 to watch women's football from Australia on BT Sport; after that both days were more binging, lazing and radio.
On the 3rd I was thankfully back on the groundhopping trail again, just up the road to Petersfield Town who were hosting Andover Town. Happily, all the club people were friendly. A cheerful barmaid served me strawberry and lime Rekorderlig. To my delight, the clubhouse still had their Christmas tree, tinsel and Merry Christmas banner up. Sky Sports News was on the big screen. It was good to be back in a club bar again, at a previously unvisited ground. Petersfield, urged on by a group of singing banner-toting 'Rams Ultras' behind the goal, won a cracking game 3-2 despite their striker spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
That evening we took down the Christmas decorations and I poured myself one last Cornish Fruit Rattler, with one last mince pie and one last brandy snap, before starting my detox.
Back to work on the 4th. Busy all week but thankfully got everything done. Gave myself a cheap thrill booking my train and coach tickets for the Arnold Clark Cup in February.
Fantastic to see the lovely Shakespear's Sister on Top of the Pops 1992 last night, and singing live <3
News from London about the virus isn't getting any better. So no Tons for me for a while longer :( This afternoon I moseyed on down to Gosport Borough, who were playing Walton Casuals. Another friendly barmaid greeted me in the 'Trappers' bar at the ground, wishing me 'Happy New Year'. We exchanged chat about our respective festive seasons. A while later my cousin Steve approached me, we had a catch-up chat then his son Craig joined us. Nick, an old pal from sixth form college, also said hello, and the club shop keeper remembered me from past years. Outside in the ground, there'd been a new snack bar added since my last visit a few years ago. In addition to Jock's Snack Bar, there's now Only Rolls And Sauces, complete with Trotter-style signage.
Before kick-off and at half time the announcer kept up a stream of patter, including latest scores from the FA Cup ties and half-times from the other Southern Premier games. In the stand, Mark, the current Mayor and a former club chairman, stopped for a chat. After moving at half time to get a better view I found myself sitting in front of an older guy who introduced himself as Terry, asked me to pass my father his regards, and engaged me in chat about the game. Early in the second half Gosport scored what proved to be the only goal of the game with a well taken low drilled shot, and most of the people in the stand jumped up and went crazy celebrating.
By the time we left the ground the rain was relentlessly lashing down. Even so, if I have to be marooned away from the capital, there are worse places to be marooned than my home town team.
