Christmas Day 2008

Bridie's birthday

We had a party during the day for Bridie on her 22nd birthday as she was off out for the night. Joe brought his new girlfriend, Chris, down to see us for the first time. We have bought Bridie a pass for Glastonbury where she will be working during the festival and has her ticket money refunded at the end.

The rumours are that Bruce Springsteen will be headlining although Blur are also rumoured to be making an appearance.

Argyle triumph over Saints

For the second consecutive year, Argyle have emerged unbeaten against Southampton. Last year it was 1 - 1 at Home Park and a 2 - 0 victory away at St Marys whilst this year saw us draw in a goalless encounter away and a 2 - 0 win yesterday.

I am looking forward to going back to school now.

Report from Greens on Screen

'Tis the season to be jolly. Bright sunshine on a crisp winter's day and the traditional Boxing Day pilgrimage for thousands of the less faithful boosted bums on seats to the highest so far this season. After an uncertain first half-hour, unsurprising after recent form, it was Rory Fallon who lit the Christmas lights with a firm header after a delightful cross from Craig Noone, making his first start for the club today. There was more festive joy after the break: facing the corner flag, Paul Gallagher left two men standing as he charged for the penalty area. Rory Fallon's strike from Gallagher's cut-back hit a defender's arm and the referee awarded a spot kick. A year ago it would have been "step up Paul Wotton", but today it was another local lad who grabbed his opportunity, Luke Summerfield striking a sweet shot into the corner to condemn the Saints to their fourth defeat in a row. So a comfortable if not classic win, but Luggy won't care about that. 'Pointage' was today's name of the game.

Christmas holidays and Bridie's birthday

It seems to have been a long time coming but we are all on holiday and together as a family for the first time in several months. No one is ill, no one has fallen out with anyone else (yet) and Christmas has gone brilliantly.

Maria woke at 5 this morning having gone through the night (well, most of it) and Alison and Bridie have gone off to the sales leaving me in charge of the boys and Maria who has already gone back down for a sleep. The sun is shining on a frosty morning and it is quiet about the house with neither Glen or Joe up yet. They have been up playing on the computers till late I guess. Glen got a laptop for Christmas so they'll have been playing something online.

The Pettys are arriving later today and we're over in Dorchester tomorrow. Family from Plymouth may be up on Monday and then it's time for Bridie to go back for New Year Party in Plymouth. My mind will begin to turn back to work then but it has been a good break so far.

Sparkshop

As the year came to an end, Sparkshop were in danger of promotion due to a series of good results against teams at the top of the division and a win against U Drive awarded when they played a man short. They asked if they could have the ref play for them which was fine but then wanted the points as well!

It is unlikely any side playing with the ref as part of their line up has ever claimed a victory in a properly set up league but it has happened now and put us out of the prospect of promotion, much to our relief. The team threatened to withdraw from the league apparently if they were not given the points despite having the ref on their side. Kev took the mature decision of not contesting the award which was fine by the rest of us. I'm not sure any of us are that driven by glory these days.

The game we played before the end of season was a good one though. We were down to six players with Matt, new Matt, Kev, Dom, Pete and myself turning out on a bitterly cold evening. Despite our numerical disadvantage we played well and there was little for the keeper to do with Dom having a very quiet second half in particular.

We were by far the more threatening team and there were several good chances went a begging. I won most things in the air and screwed a horrid shot wide when put through by new Matt. There were efforts too but a nil nil result was as good as it got.

Nevertheless a good result and a triumph for effort. Fitness has peaked and with Christmas underway, it will take another 12 months for to reach those levels again.

Maria enjoying the Christmas tree and snowman

Maria is taking a lot of interest in Christmas this year by which I mean the tree which is just at the right level for her to pull anything lower than 2 feet from the ground off the branches and then to play with it. She got upset when one of the baubles broke as she rolled them along the kitchen floor.

The presents under thr tree are another attraction simply because one of the cats has started clawing them open leaving attractive tears in them to pull further open.

Maria at Christmas

I've been trying to get some festive photos of Maria but she keeps moving about. The tree looks lovely in the front room and we're starting to feel quite festive. Just one more week to go at school now and then almost three weeks off. Can't wait.

Building work

The work on the shed being converted to a utility room is now underway with the shed wall to the coal bunker having been removed alongside the opposite wall which will allow us to connect to the house. It's all a bit of a mess now as you will see but it isn't affecting the house at the moment. We've taken the greenhouse down now so there is room for the conservatory which will follow in the spring.

The idea is that the dogs will be out there most of the time because they tend to come in very wet and muddy from the woods and seem to find the best chair in the front roon to sit in. We'll put the washing maching and tumble drier out there along with the units from the kitchen which are being removed in preparation for the work being done in there.

Weekend

It's been a busy but successful week with a return to work for me and a great weekend with lots of sunshine despite being woken at 4.30 yesterday morning by Maria.

Sparkshop won 2 - 1 last Monday and are unbeaten after the first three games of the season with 2 wins and a draw. I am hoping to return tomorrow in a 6.55 kick off.

We went shopping yesterday and it was honestly the longest shop I've ever done in my life voluntarily. We put in a good 4 hours with Maria in the pushchair which was great for carrying all the bags! Lots of presents bought and now wrapped as Alison has gone great guns in making sure she's on top of things. The tree is up too and the house looks very festive.

Glen's match was in Weymouth and it looked like a long journey for no reward early on. Rossgarth went 2 down after 10 minutes and despite pulling a goal back before half time were almost from kick off down at 3 - 1. Incredibly they pulled another goal back from the kick off leaving the game poised at 3 - 2 down. The second half was equally enjoyable to watch and this time Ben slotted home to level things. Both teams could have won from that point although Rossgarth were in the ascendancy. However, that was the end of the scoring and the teams got a point apiece. Having been down by 2 goals, the draw was a good one for Glen's team.