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Oct 31

Travelogue: Livermore Valley, California

Smoke replaced fog drifting across downtown San Francisco when we drove in from the airport last Wednesday. People talked of ash settling on their clothing as they criss-crossed across diagonal roads in between famed cable cars. In the distance towards the mountains a grey hew hung below the sky.

Despite thinking we could still make a day of it, we decided in the end to switch our Friday Napa Valley plans and instead our group travelled the shorter journey across the East Bay from San Francisco to Livermore Valley, One of the oldest wine regions in California, but untouched by commercialism and usually occupied by the local wine connoisseur and not by bus loads of tourists.

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Oct 30

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Travelogue – Languedoc-Roussillon, France

A little while back I took my first ever excursion to the south of France, a part of the world I have never previously discovered, but many Brits have and do, and I got to find out why. I was only there for a few days with some friends who had access to a house in the tiny village of Causses-et-Veyran. Wine tasting was the main motive for the trip, but we did also get to travel around the Languedoc area as well, known not only for its young whites, fruity roses and robust reds, but also for it’s beaches, nude ones at that, medieval monuments and beautiful hilly countryside.

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Oct 28

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Charlton Athletic 1 AFC Wimbledon 0

You beauty Ricky..

A dullard of a game settled by a moment of sheer class from Ricky Holmes. The angle of the free-kick combined with the speed to beat the ‘keeper was absolutely top drawer. Today was Ricky’s 18th goal in 45 league starts for us, and from memory everyone was pretty much peachy.

I listened in on the commentary and it was a dour game, some may call it a typical derby, it isn’t really although the Dons are our only London rivals in the division. Like everyone I have a lot of time for them, but the constant slagging of Robinson is a little tiring. But we still boo Jermain Defoe, so hey ho.

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Oct 22

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Where am I?

I stared at the Arrivals board at Miami airport today to see which carousel my bag was going to end up at and for the life of me I could not remember where I had just flown in from. It was San Francisco and last week was every part of fun and successful, but the time difference was a killer for me this time as well as carrying around a stinking cold.

Vegas was low key, we could feel the numbness and it was quieter than I remember it from other times. Los Angeles was hot, and hectic. Burbank we saw one of our largest clients and home to the ‘happiest place on earth.’ The San Francisco days were long and exhausting mostly stuck in a room, and when we went outside it was chilly. 

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Oct 21

Bradford City 0 Charlton Athletic 1

Define a season..

A fantastic result today up at Bradford, one of those that can define a season. Konsa and Sarr, playing at left back instead of Dasilva, gave us a very solid base, and it sounded as if everyone put a proper shift in for the shirt in woeful weather conditions.

When JFC scored I don’t think I have celebrated a goal listening to the radio commentary like that for some time. It was a great time to score, but then Ben Amos produced a Bobby Bolder type performance to keep Bradford out allowing us to take the 3 points back down south.

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Oct 21

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Andrew Muir

I’m late with this mostly because I haven’t had a chance to type a few words, but secondly also because we have had so many false dawns and I don’t want to get over excited.

However Rick Everitt has further added to his piece on the VOTV website to which ends “with certainty that the due diligence is at an advanced stage. While that does not guarantee a deal will be concluded or any timeline, it will necessarily have required extensive co-operation from the football club, which is unlikely to have been forthcoming without significant proof of funds and an indicative agreement on price. In short, the approach has to be a credible one and of interest to Duchatelet simply to have got this far.” more

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Oct 19

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Oxford United 1 Charlton Athletic 1

What day is it..

I’ve been travelling out on the west coast and have lost all sense of days and time. There was 90 minutes I tried to follow the other day and managed to listen to a bit of the game from the start. Leading up to Fosu’s goal we should already have been led.

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Oct 16

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Magic of the Cup

One of the few remaining things to get excited about is the FA Cup draw, more so now that we enter the 1st Round. We were drawn at home to Truro City this evening. A proper cup tie, with the large slice of yikes thrown in too. You know how good we are in the Cups! According to the BBC Sport website Truro are the first Cornish side in the FA Cup proper since 1969. That was Falmouth Town.

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Oct 15

Summer of catastrophe’s

I have had a tremendous summer of travel, but my head spins when I think about where I have been and some of the absolute sadness and tragedy that many of these places have had to deal with, and how lucky I’ve been to miss some of these awful events.

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Oct 14

Charlton Athletic 1 Doncaster Rovers 0

Why is it that our game is always the last to finish..

Well today the ref got run over by Josh Magennis, but for all the other times, it is one of lives little mysteries. 

By ways of modern technology I was able to follow the game today 30,000 feet up in the air as I flew to Los Angeles. At times we flowed, at times we huffed, but there was always raw effort and a spirit that pleased The Valley crowd. 

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Oct 6

Oh England

I gave up watching the national team a long time ago, save for that first week or so at a major finals before they are headed to the airport and home.

So, therefore I didn’t watch last night but it sounded truly diabolical with fans resorting to throwing paper airplanes at each other. Only Kane and Rashford showing any kind of hope for next year’s finals. Hope and those two alone will not get us very far.

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