Aloadofcobblers.blogspot.com was a year old in July and it was nice to have a look back on a good year of posting. It’s incredible to look back on the last twelve months and realise how many memories this blog stores up! Pre-season friendlies were keeping the Cobblers busy in July as we started counting down the days to the new season.
We helped move Dave and Martha into their new place at the end of the month on a blisteringly hot day involving heavy lifting, a dodgy lift and a more than welcome bean bag to rest on!
It was decided that the first road trip of August would be to Sixfields to take in the opening game of the season against Swindon. After helping Ti move in to her new place on the morning of the game, a random stop off just south of Oxford was made before trawling through the midsummer traffic to see the 1-1 draw with the Robins. I also made the trip to Brighton at the end of the month in a dismal display as we lost out 2-1.
September was my birthday month and I don’t think I’ve ever had a more eventful one! On the Friday evening I was met by a trashed flat and clues as to where to find my “kidnapped” friends. After watching a video containing hints at the first clue, my driver for the night, Liam, arrived and took me on a tour of Southampton to pick up clues. To arrive at Bar Risa to a massive bunch of my friends was a great moment and the festivities didn’t end there! A trip to Bournemouth the following day following breakfast of Weatherspoons brought perhaps the hottest day of the year as we went to the beach for a while before some of us went to the Bournemouth-Cobblers game and some stayed beachside. An entertaining 1-1 draw was taken in and then we headed back to party in the Frog and Frigate by night.
The birthday weekender was completed with a day trip to London as Ti had bought me tickets to the Globe Theatre for the evening production of The Merchant of Venice which turned out to be the best theatre show I’ve seen just for it’s attention to detail in recreating the Shakespearean times as we stood in the open air to witness the play.
October began with us and a couple of friends from No Saints winning the pub quiz for the first time as we took home a crate of beer for answering questions like “who is the smallest Teletubby?”
A midweek game at Millwall the following night was an experience in itself as we battled to make it in time for kick off only to get to the ground and see that the kick off had been delayed by fifteen minutes because our team bus was late! A 2-0 defeat followed and we trudged back home in dismay.
In mid-October Ti accompanied me to see Athlete at Southampton Guildhall as I stepped up my gig going to see a band that I’ve always wanted to see live.
The Cobblers were on a good run of form until Southend United beat us 1-0 in early November and we wouldn’t win again until December 21st!
We all had another fun road trip pencilled in for the start of the month as we went up to London Zoo before finishing the day in Camden Town and although we all came back extremely tired it was another successful day out.
On November 14th, after months and months of big defeats and frustrating games, No Saints were promoted following some good work in recruiting a couple of new players and by sticking to our basic battling principles and although it is “only a five-a-side team” it means a lot to us and promotion was a fantastic achievement for the lads.
I made a ridiculously long trip to Crewe in mid-November but despite the defeat I stopped off for a very nice couple of hours in Stafford to ease any pain that was about to occur just up the road!
Another road trip ended the month as I took the day off work to go to Salisbury with Ti. It was more of a rail trip as we figured it would be cheaper on the train and the weather held firm despite the early gloom to give us a sunny day to enjoy the lovely little town and eat lunch in the shadows of the glorious cathedral.
And so to December and as Christmas approached, we headed to Nottingham for the game at Forest and a superb game. We couldn’t quite hold onto our 2-1 lead as Forest equalised in stoppage time but still a positive step for the club. The Ryan Gilligan lottery kept us on tenterhooks until we forgot our game cards for the coach journey!
The day at Forest was followed by another trip to Brighton as we stopped for (yes, another one) a random stop off. This time it was the turn of Pease Pottage to welcome us into its arms and was a nice break before finishing the journey to Brighton to see the Kaiser Chiefs.
And so another year comes to an end and a thousand more memories are waiting at the other side of the turn of year I’m sure. It’s been one hell of a ride through 2007 and thanks to everyone for getting me through the fantastic times and for once again getting me through the bad times that life throws at us now and again.
As 2008 draws near and more undiscovered places appear on our radar I can look ahead with optimism as already on the horizon are another move, this time with Jamie and Ti, who’ll be joining the fun as we look for a bigger home, seeing the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium in June and hopefully a much hotter and sunnier summer this time around!
Ladles at the ready…Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog, however many there are!
Danny
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