Family | Chicago Addick

Dec 5

Going back to The Valley

I wrote this a year ago and I thought I would share again. To many of us The Valley will always be Charlton Athletic….

At The Heights my Dad parks the car, and doubly makes sure it’s locked. He holds my hand, the one with the red and white scarf tied around the wrist and we walk towards the steep Lansdowne Road. I’m talking excitedly, Dad nodding or disagreeing with my team selection as I lay it out to him with some tactics I have been thinking about during school this week.

Lansdowne Road meets Charlton Lane and with it comes other supporters, some strolling, some walking hurriedly, all making their descent to the amphitheatre at the bottom of the hill.
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Nov 17

Another classic week at the rugby

A long week of being out every night, and it was topped with another night Saturday at the Rugby Classic. I took the family, so there isn’t a hangover today to join my tired eyes, but it was a very nice way to round off one of Bermuda’s best weeks of the year.

As my other half flinched, our 4-year old daughter loved it as she cheered every bruising tackle and maul right in front of her stood on a chair a couple of feet from the action. Last night she slept with her mini rugby ball. I think we have a rugby fan on our hands. The other half is well chuffed!
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Nov 6

Away days

Saturday was a cracking reminder of what following the Addicks away from home can be like. I know it’s not always a pleasant experience, trust me I have watched them in many corners of the country and have returned home hours, sometimes a day, later wondering why I bothered.

But you do, as 855 of us did on Saturday. Leaving home early from wherever that may be, full of hope and no or little expectation, but equally willing to give the team every ounce of support because we know that it matters.
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Oct 30

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Hotel fire

Saturday was an eventful day. My daughter on her birthday fed baby sharks and sting rays, swam and kissed and cuddled a dolphin, ate her way through an ice-cream mountain and then when fast asleep around 10pm dreaming of I would hope dolphins but probably ice-cream, she was awoken by a huge unannounced firework display a touch down the beach on Paradise Island from where we were staying.

Sleepy eyed she smiled and shuddered in turn at every splash of colour and large bang. It was a day to remember.

Two hours later just as we were about to call it a night after purposely watching again James Bond’s Casino Royale, because the hotel we were staying in plays a starring role, the sound of an alarm thundered around our room. This was followed by a recorded message that there was an incident that was being investigated but there was no need for alarm and to wait for further instructions.

Our daughter was awake again but was soon back to sleep. I opened the door of the hotel and peered into the night. Nothing going on.
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Oct 28

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10 years ago

A decade ago today I flew from Heathrow Airport to Chicago with two suitcases, a rucksack stuffed with some photos, a work visa and an address of an apartment building.

I had always wanted to experience living and working abroad, and on that Tuesday 10 years ago, I was finally going to realise my ambitions. Mind you if I was told before boarding that plane that I would still be away 10 years later, I wouldn’t have got on, no chance. That was certainly not in my plans.

I wrote a diary those first few months, and I re-read back the first week recently. It was a mixture of sadness, apprehension and wide-eyed excitement.
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Oct 23

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Bahama Mama

We are spoiling ourselves tomorrow and flying down to the Bahamas for a long weekend. It is our daughter’s 4th birthday on Saturday and after much debate on parties and cake, we somehow convinced ourselves that going away would be less hassle and more cost efficient. No, I don’t know how we came to that conclusion either.

Anyway, Nassau from Miami is a short hop and we can get there from here in half a day. So tomorrow lunchtime I should be sat by a pool with a bowl of conch chowder and a tall glass of Bahama Mama!
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Aug 26

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Beach party

The sun has appeared behind dark clouds and the heavy rain which soaked us all morning has disappeared, which is timely because we are heading out to the beach to drink, eat, laugh, build sandcastles and swim in clear seas.

Me, my other half, my son and my daughter are off out to meet friends and their kids for a birthday party, someone special. Me.

Jul 31

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Nicaragua and Panama

Tomorrow we head off for our summer holiday. We will spend tomorrow night in Coral Gables, a spit away from Miami Airport, and then Friday fly to Managua in Nicaragua.

Last year we holidayed this same time of year in Costa Rica – the howler monkey that flies across the top of this blog will tell you how much we adored it. My other half has little or no flexibility on her work holiday allocation, unlike me, which may not come as a total surprise to you, so our desire to see a lot of Latin America is hindered by these two weeks being the optimum time to getaway. Hindered because the further south in the Americas one goes it is winter and many countries in Central America are as hot as hades this time of year.
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Jul 8

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London waiting

I’m leaving for London Wednesday night for a couple days of work and then some family weekend time wrapped up with a few beers with some mates on Sunday evening in Bexley Village.

Not for the first time I have just calculated that I will be away for 4 nights and will sleep in 4 different beds, 5 in 5 if you include the overnight plane journey. Sadly, although that sounds very titillating, it, er, won’t be.
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Jun 30

5 years

It is five years today that I left Chicago for Bermuda. In the blog post I wrote the day after I arrived I said work was like the first day at school, and I have just been thinking about that, and remembered how long 5 years was when I was actually at school.

Can you remember how long being at school appeared? I stayed on in sixth form for a year, but 5 years is a whole lifetime at secondary school, and it is seems implausible that I have now been in Bermuda that long!
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Jun 16

Castle Harbour

Happy Father’s Day Dads.

Whilst we have to celebrate two different Mother’s Days, because it falls on a completely different day here and in the U.S., I only get to revel in one. Once actually we were in Mexico and we had to get wrapped up in their Mother’s Day celebrations too as that was also incommensurable. Bloody expensive that year.

Anyway, I had a lovely day today as the three of us hired a little motor boat and cruised around the very scenic Castle Harbour at the north-east end of the island.
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May 24

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May 24th

Today, May 24th used to be a holiday in Britain to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday and in an effort to promulgate the British Empire the holiday was encouraged in the Commonwealth and in 1909 Empire Day was born in Bermuda, later becoming Commonwealth Day.

This day in 1909 a patriotic children’s parade ran from Somerset to St Georges and over a century later, this morning thousands of people lined the streets to watch a colourful and noisy parade of floats and performers to celebrate what is now Bermuda Day.
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May 22

Showcase

Last week our 3-year old daughter made her first appearance on stage. It was what being a Dad is all about. The little one excited, skipping off backstage arm in arm with her friend. Me, a nervous wreck.

Since last September she has been attending a local dance school called In Motion. At first she cried and the other half had to sit in the corner why my daughter looked at her with one of those “why are you making me do this Mummy” grimaces.
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May 11

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40 years of love

My longest ever football memory was 40 years ago this weekend.

I don’t remember having any interest in football before May 1973, my Dad was a lapsed visitor to The Valley working weekends and providing for his family amidst power cuts and miner strikes, so I suspect the opportunity to sit down as a family to watch the pinnacle of the season was one that he was looking forward to.
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Mar 31

Kites and cakes

Flying kites in Bermuda is a long held tradition began apparently by a teacher who made a cross kite and set it flying from a hilltop. The teacher then cut the string and the students watched it sail upward towards the sky copying Jesus’ ascension to heaven.

Every Easter adults and kids alike make kites using sticks, coloured paper and glue. Ours however came in plastic wrapping with some simple instructions!
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Mar 30

Charlton Athletic 3 Bolton Wanderers 2

The Easter that keeps on giving. Although at around twenty past twelve (3.20 at The Valley) my daughter and I had just got absolutely soaked by a downpour looking for Easter eggs on an egg hunt. After legging it to find some shelter, I checked my phone…. 0-2. At that point if I’d seen an Easter bunny I would have boiled it right there and then!

A great win today for us all but dedicated to those at The Valley who have seen some car crashes at home this season.
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Mar 17

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Charlton Athletic 0 Millwall 2

The omens weren’t good yesterday. What with our home form and our derby record against our neighbours, which is possibly one of the worst in English football, we had to hope for a miracle and sadly we aren’t very far up the new Pope’s list.

I spoke at length to my brother after the game, it was a depressing conversation. Like thousands of others he had to make a detour to get home and was at Falconwood Station after a pint with a mate. Between us we concurred we have seen us lose to them more times than we care to remember.
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Mar 7

Skools out

Home with a bumpy and early landing last night as a result of very strong winds. The BA pilots are renowned here for getting their planes down whatever the conditions, whereas more often than not, the US airlines tend to shirk a tricky landing and head back from whence they came. No fun that, I can tell you.

I had a very nice trip home and was once again impressed with my son’s school Oakwood Park Grammar, so much so that I sat listening to the various presentations beginning to wish I could go to school all over again. I don’t think I have ever felt the need to re-live my school days but the enthusiam with which teachers discussed subjects like Media, Psychology, Graphics and History got me wishing it could be me. I was at his school to discuss his GSCE Options, which they are doing a year early, and I am sure my son wished it actually could be me!
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Mar 5

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Three from four

Back in the days when I used to go to every home Charlton game and was a regular away traveller, people that would hardly go but spent the whole game moaning used to wind me up. I’ve become one of those irregulars, although I learnt a long time ago that if you pick your games you cannot expect to see a world beating performance or even the best performance of the season or even a lucky win.

As an aside, which is food for thought for the board, sadly I am seeing more and more of my mates and family picking their games and I can tell you that once you stop buying a season ticket then rarely do people go back to spending their Saturday’s at football.

Anyway, the point of this is that I watched three games of football this weekend and each in their own way was disappointing.
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Jan 31

Nice Beaver

Our last day in the snowy utopia of Beaver Creek. It has been a skiers paradise here with a daily dosing of fresh fluffy snow giving away at daybreak to alpine blue skies.

The company that invited us here have done a super job of looking after us, and we hope that this was not a one-off. There were some late nights and some very early mornings and the altitude, which can be as high as 11,000 feet, has caused most of us problems, but although as a consequence of my knee operation, I’m not much of a daredevil these days, actually who am I kidding, I never was, this part of the country is stunningly beautiful and distinctly different to the Alps.
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Jan 25

Up the Creek

We flew to Miami this morning and have had a stop-over day in nearby Coral Gables before we set off for a week’s skiing in Colorado tomorrow morning.

We are staying in Beaver Creek, near Vail, our 3rd time at the same hotel. We had decided that a skiing holiday wasn’t going to happen this year for one way or another so a corporate invite a couple of months ago was a very welcome surprise, especially to a hotel we love and a village that has a welcome sign up exclaiming: “Not exactly roughing it!”
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Jan 1

My 12 Days of Christmas

There we have it, the last of my 12 Days of Christmas with us now back where we started at Gatwick Airport ready for our flight back to Bermuda this afternoon, which we will be boarding at around half time of the match at Vicarage Road.
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Dec 31

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Happy New Year!

After 10 days of burdening friends with a car full of suitcases and overstuffed bags, 2 kids, my insatiable appetite for cold turkey and pickle sandwiches and a thirst for red wine we decided to spend our last night of our Christmas trip in a hotel and have booked ourselves into the very lovely Coworth Park in Ascot.

Whilst 2012 was a year to be proud of being British (and a Charlton fan), 2013 will mark for me 10-years of being away from the country.
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Dec 29

My 12 Days of Christmas

Back in the car and driving down to the East Sussex countryside this morning to see my parents, who live in the tiny village of Wannock which sits in the shadows of the South Downs.

Wannock is mentioned in the Domesday Book but is a sleepy little place that sadly lacks a pub, although there are plenty in neighbouring Polegate and better ones in nearby Jevington and Willingdon. My old man no doubt will be ready and waiting with the corkscrew and a hardy bottle of Syrah as well as Soccer Saturday on the box so the family of Addicks can follow Charlton’s fortunes at The Valley this afternoon, a game I was hoping to get to, but was outwitted by our Christmas scheduling.
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Dec 28

My 12 days of Christmas

As expected we spent a good part of the day in Victoria Park. Breakfast was at The Pavilion cafe, which was pretty awesome and set us all up, including a 11-week old puppy and a 3-year old human, for a gigantic walk around the park.

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Dec 27

My 12 days of Christmas

Off to see my brother and his fiancé today. They have just bought a house close to Victoria Park in East London. I love that area of London with it’s quiet residential streets and ornate Victorian houses and the magnetism of the wide open spaces of Vicky Park around the corner.
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Dec 26

My 12 days of Christmas

I was drowning my sorrows in the Red Lion, the village pub today. Actually I started before the game. I do like to plan ahead!

The day after Christmas for us was spent in the Oxfordshire village my countryfied-other-half was born in, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, and her sister still lives in (pop: 1,530). A big walk this morning with various dogs and kids and then to the pub, which is under new management.
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Dec 25

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. This photo is of a footpath near my jolly-other-half’s brother and his families home in the village of Crowmarsh Gifford in South Oxfordshire. This is where I will be royally fed and watered later today.

Before then I will see what Santa has brought me, but more importantly watch the smile on the faces of three people that I adore more than anything in this world. I hope you get everything that you wish for today. Happy Christmas.

Dec 23

My 12 days of Christmas

A proper lie in was followed today by a visit to Millets Farm to grab lunch and go ice skating. Fortunately for me the skating rink was fully booked up!

Then this afternoon I managed to convince my other half’s family to help me satisfy one of my life-long ambitions, well for as long as I have been coming up to this part of the Chiltern Hills’ countryside anyway.
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Dec 22

My 12 days of Christmas

Spent the early part of our day at Gatwick Airport, giving myself a shot in the arm with a large dose of caffeine at Costa Coffee in readiness for today’s drive that will take us to Kings Hill in Kent to gather my son and his suitcase of hair product and unmatched socks, he is almost a teenager after all, then back on the M25 in the other direction and the M40 to the Oxfordshire countryside.
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Dec 21

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My 12 days of Christmas

A snowman made out of sand. How imaginative. We’re leaving this all behind tonight as we head back to the UK for a Christmas of warm jumpers, mistletoe, camp beds, wrapping paper, Santa and the M25.

We fly to Gatwick tonight hoping the Mayans are wrong and that the pilot can land the plane in the morning. Then we will set off for our Christmas journey which I hope to pictorially post on during the next 12 days.
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Dec 3

Christmas comes early

We’ve been in Atlanta for a little Christmas appetiser since Friday evening and have been retracing our steps from a year ago, when we did the same trip.

Saturday morning we were at the Atlanta Christmas Parade, which was 90 minutes of large inflatables, local b-celebs, llamas, dressed up dogs, school marching bands, an insight into child obesity and Mr & Mrs Claus.
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Nov 21

Giving thanks

Thanks to the American populate busily giving thanks, eating turkey and throwing lite beers down their necks, our office takes the opportunity to put our feet up tomorrow and Friday. So, I thought it a great time to fly home and see my Mum, who is recovering from a major heart operation, and also hopefully to see the Addicks at The Valley on Saturday.

My Mum doesn’t smoke, drinks about a glass of Lambrusco a week, and is as fit as a fiddle, but the doctor reminded her that she has been a Charlton fan for 35 years! The operation was 3 weeks ago, but she is recovering well and I am looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.
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Oct 29

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Sandy extends our weekend

As I anticipated we never made it back to Bermuda tonight as our flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy passing Bermuda at it’s closest point around about our expected arrival time and American Airlines unsurprisingly were not prepared to run the gauntlet.

The ~~good~~ bad news is that the solitary daily flight from Miami to Bermuda tomorrow (if it goes) and Tuesday are fully booked, so we will have to slum it here in Palm Beach for another 3 days. I am having great difficulty convincing my 3-year old daughter that not every birthday entails a week in Florida!
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Oct 25

Cup cake

A crafty weekend off island starting today. We fly to Miami soon and will then drive the hour and a half north up the I95 to Palm Beach where we will eat, drink and shop for a few days with our daughter’s 3rd birthday being the centrepiece of the weekend.

Her only wish is a cupcake, which I think we can manage but the weekend coincides conveniently with Halloween, which we know the Americans are nuts for, and on Saturday we will be at nearby Spookyville to be scared witless, well a teeny bit anyway.
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Aug 31

Deadline day

Ensconced at my parents home with the south downs glimmering in the blue sky out of the conservatory window, I’m on my third coffee while my son sleeps on the sofa following our return from Bermuda overnight.

In between catching up on the family news and reading the local paper, I, like most other football fans, am keeping a close eye on transfer deadline day. I have yet to throw myself at the feet of the hysterical Sky Sports News but I would think it is only a matter of time.
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Aug 30

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Fleeting return

My son accompanied by me leave Bermuda for Gatwick later today. It has been a busy and enjoyable two weeks with him staying with us, and it makes me specially happy to see him and our daughter get on so well together.

Hopefully we can get some sleep on the plane, I’m pretty good on my own but not sure my son will co-operate as he insists on watching three films. My Blackberry at least will be pleased of the rest after I have abused it’s sorry arse all week with me feverishly searching for Charlton transfer news.
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Aug 26

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The year I got back

My birthday today…. thank you. Older, wiser and tireder but don’t feel sorry for me because just a couple of weeks ago I actually realised in all seriousness that I am a year younger than I thought I was! I can’t tell you how much that gave me a lift. It’s almost as if this next year is a free one, right?
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Aug 23

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Son-dial

My son arrived here on Saturday night and we have been flying around and squeezing as much fun and togetherness in as is possible, with the added ingredient of my 2-year old daughter thrown in, who is besotted by him.

His first day was Sunday and unusually it rained the whole day. He didn’t look impressed as he had left Kent Saturday morning just as the UK weather was improving but normality soon returned and it’s been hot and sticky since and we haven’t ventured too far from the water.
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Aug 13

Palm Beach and the other side of the tracks

Back from a couple of days in Palm Beach, Florida to round off our summer holiday. An interesting place is Palm Beach, not to be confused with West Palm Beach. Both are in the same Florida county but are separated by an Intercoastal Waterway and three bridges.

On one side of the water multi, multi million dollar homes owned by a cast of rich people and shops with items in the window that don’t have a price tag (“if you need to ask the price, then you can’t afford it sir”), and on the other side a rather run down looking neighbourhood with more Dollar Stores and Pawn Shops than I think I have ever seen in one place.
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Jul 31

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Costa Rica

Back from Chicago, a change of clothes and back to the airport on Thursday for a trip to Costa Rica. Never been before and we have been looking forward to this since we booked it a couple of months back.

To break the trip up and because of flight connections we are sandwiching Costa Rica between two stops in Florida’s sweltering heat. Coral Gables for a day going out and three nights further up the coast in Palm Beach on the way back.

Costa Rica is a small country in Central America but it packs a big punch with it’s rugged backbone of volcanoes, 800 miles of coastline, many national parks and rich variety of wildlife.
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Jul 29

An alien in New York

A fantastic wedding weekend in Chicago has been extended by one night as we are holed up in the Hilton at JFK. Due to supposed bad weather, I am guessing somewhere in the world because it was not obvious, our flight from Chicago to New York this afternoon left late and sure enough we missed our connection back to Bermuda.
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Jul 18

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Olympic woe

A hop, skip and jump back to London tonight. This trip was originally planned for a couple of weeks with family to get ourselves fully absorbed into the Olympics. Not so.

Copious (more than three) attempts to purchase a range of tickets for a range of sports over a few week period ended up with zilch. No, I lie, I did get some Women’s Preliminary Round (non beach) Volleyball tickets for Earls Court. No disrespect to Earls Court but all of us slogging across London to watch Algeria v Japan just didn’t do it for me, so those tickets went back.

Thus I came incredibly frustrated with the whole Olympic ticket process and called it off as a bad job especially after a couple of very early mornings/late nights tapping away on the computer with millions of others. Don’t get me started on the 250,000 tickets unsold, including athletics, opening and closing ceremonies. LOCOG couldn’t have got the ticketing procedure more wrong.
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Jun 4

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Wet weekend

Bit of a rubbish weekend really. Our little girl was struck down with gastroenteritis at the end of last week and didn’t eat for 4 days and could hardly keep anything down. A dinner we had planned with some friends Saturday we blew out and basically we just camped out in our bedroom watching a couple of films (Albert Nobbs and My Week With Marilyn) and of course the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant.

I had to laugh because I would get embroiled in so many arguments with Americans who used to say to me “I love London, but it always rains.”
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May 26

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Heatwave

The weather has been ultra kind to us since we arrived on Wednesday. The beautiful Secret Garden was swathed in sunshine yesterday for my mate’s wedding. A week ago we would have had our coats and wellies on.

The wedding was superb, my speech went down a storm, even if I say so myself, and it was brilliant to see so many of my old mates and my family altogether in one place.
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May 22

Wedding bells

No, not mine but me and the family are flying back to London tonight for my mates wedding, the one in which I am one of two best men, the speech is coming along nicely, although I’m finding it hard to keep it below two hours.

The wedding is Friday but before then we are doing a mini tour of Oxfordshire and Essex catching up with friends. This after a late dinner last night with a client and then home to pack in the early hours before getting up silly early this morning to come to work. I can sleep when I’m older.
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May 14

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Non-stop

A couple of days travelling with work beginning this morning. I’m on a flight to Miami in an hour or so then I go to Atlanta tomorrow and back to the rock on Wednesday on the same flight as a friend of mine who is staying with us Thursday night.

I am then desperate for a quiet weekend because next week we fly back to the UK for my best mate’s wedding. That is in Kent on the Friday but we are in Oxfordshire and Essex prior to that. I have the role of deputy best man for the day, or some such, which unenviably includes giving a speech, which I’ve yet to write. Maybe the next few days stuck on a few planes will give me some time and inspiration.
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May 3

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Let’s party

Two more sleeps, then let’s get it on.

I fly home Friday night, land Saturday morning, will grab a large Costa Coffee at Gatwick, change into fancy dress and will make my way after picking my son up to the promised land of The Valley SE7. Or maybe, just maybe we will pop in the pub first.

This is the most games I have seen in a season for many years, encouraged mostly by the spirit the team have shown under Chris Powell, and I wouldn’t miss this one for the world. It is not every day you see a Charlton team climb a podium in the middle of the pitch and lift a trophy.
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Apr 5

Mountain dry

This photo was taken this morning and shows how little, if any, snow remains in the upper Colorado mountains. It has been a poor season snow wise in Colorado, with the state’s snowpack being half of the 30-year average. March, traditionally the biggest snowfall month, had snow for less than 10 days and the snow inches was a third of what it should be.

It was 60oF yesterday, higher today, which justified my decision not to bring a proper ski-coat. About half of the runs are still open nevertheless and the groomers have done a terrific job of managing the runs.
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Apr 1

Miami heat

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray produced an excellent final of the Sony Ericsson Open here in Miami this afternoon. In searing heat and high humidity the Serb and the Scot slogged it out for almost two and a half hours producing rally after rally.
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Mar 30

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A week away

After a manic, and an often wearing March at work we leave Bermuda tomorrow for a week away spending the first weekend in Coral Gables, near Miami and then next week in Colorado followed by the majority of the next weekend making our way back from the mountains to Bermuda, not something the airlines allow us to do simply.

As I posted last weekend we have tickets for the Sony Ericsson Open tennis men’s final on Sunday afternoon. In today’s semi’s Rafa Nadal plays Andy Murray and number one seed Novak Djokovic is paired with the 21st seed Argentinian Juan Monaco.
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Mar 4

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AFC Bournemouth 0 Charlton Athletic 1

Back from a great weekend in Bournemouth where the match, if not the end result and pre and post game, has been consigned to memory.

It was a pretty dismal affair if I’m honest with Bournemouth edging it but a goalless draw probably the right result. This Charlton team however does not know when it is over.

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Jan 5

Zooropa

Amongst bundles of discarded wrapping paper, turkey leftovers and bags under the eyes during our trip home I also made my first ever visit to Colchester Zoo, re-discovered some old London stomping grounds and had a couple of cracking pub lunches.

Colchester Zoo was much bigger than I imagined. Our friends had suggested a 4-hour visit and as we drove up there in the drizzly rain I truly wondered what an earth we were going to do for 3 of those hours.

But I should have feared not as we comfortably strolled it’s 60 acres during 3 hours and still left some for another day, although there were a fair amount of exhibits that had migrated for the winter. There are apparently over 260 different species and they are laid out in numerous zones where you can get pretty close to the animals.
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Dec 31

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Happy New Year

Another year over. A new one just begun.

About this time every year I sit with a pen and paper and write a list of resolutions and personal goals. I’ve done it for years but last year I wrote just two things:

Lose weight
Get fit
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Dec 30

Free-kicks

Funny the difference a year can make. 12 months ago our daughter was barely crawling and would sleep pretty much where we laid her. Now she has a personality as big as Greenland and the cheek to match, doesn’t want to go to sleep and when we finally get her eyes closed and dreaming of Yann Kermorgant free-kicks (well, it’s what I dream of), it is the only time she is not running around like a banshee.

Hence, this year’s Christmas trip home has been far knackering for me and the other half. Now though we get a bit of time to relax in the comfort of our friends sumptuous home near the historical town of Shenfield in Essex (photo).
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Dec 29

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Roll up, roll up

One of the many things I miss about London is it’s parks. I spent a whole lot of my childhood playing in two parks near my home. Forster Memorial Park and Mountsfield Park, once home of course to the mighty Charlton Athletic. These last couple of days we have gratefully strolled the green pastures of London Fields, Haggerston Park and Hyde Park.

We were in Hyde Park, like almost everyone else was, browsing the Winter Wonderland, which has grown exponentially since last time I visited three years ago. We sniffed Mulled wine, squeezed onto a tea cup ride and counted more sausage stalls than you could shake a stick at but we also took the little ‘un to Zippo’s Circus.
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Dec 26

Cold meat and pickles

Boxing Day morning and we have navigated our way from west to east through the Metropolis to my brother’s place in Shoreditch. My parents are here too and like many other families around the country we will soon tuck into a mountain of cold meats and pickles.

In a home dominated by Addicks, this afternoon’s game will take precedent later as we listen in to the goings on at Yeovil. Come on you reds!
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Dec 21

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It’s Christmas time

Flying home tonight for Christmas. We will whip round to pick my son up in Kings Hill early morning after a strong cup of Costa Coffee then drive up to my other half’s sister in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Her brother is around the corner but we will base ourselves at my unofficial sister-in-law’s house, which will have a typically frantic festive feel to it and I’m really looking forward to it.
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Dec 6

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A peach of a weekend

The temperatures weren’t much different in the peach-tree state to those we left behind in Bermuda but we had a lot of festive fun in Atlanta and as always crammed a lot into our long weekend.

Saturday morning we had front row seats for the Christmas Parade downtown (photo). I’m normally from the school of ‘once you’ve seen one parade you’ve seen them all’ but this was particularly good and for two hours various giant inflatables, dancing dogs, dancing humans, school bands and dressed up horses held our 2-year old’s steely glaze and smiling face.
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Dec 1

Santa in Atlanta

A weekend in Atlanta is in store for me, the other half and little ‘un as we travel tomorrow afternoon from Bermuda to the furthest west a direct flight will take us. Flight time to Atlanta from here is 3 hrs, 35 mins.

For such a remote island, daily you can fly from Bermuda to New York, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto in North America and these are added to in the summer months with a seasonal service to Baltimore, Halifax, Charlotte and Washington DC. Ten different airlines fly in and out of Bermuda including British Airways and the basket case that is becoming American Airlines.
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Oct 24

Witches and Wycombe

While tomorrow another 1,000 Addicks make their travels for the fourth successive away fixture, this time to Wycombe, I will be sat on an airplane heading back to Bermuda.

I try normally to be more strategic with my trips home but Wednesday is our daughter’s 2nd birthday and it was important to be home for it, even though I have to be in work we will all get together for lunch and then we’ll celebrate more properly this coming weekend and I have a £10 Asda Halloween outfit packed in the suitcase complete with witches hat for the occasion. In size 2-3 years not XL please note.

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Oct 15

Stevenage 1 Charlton Athletic 0

Fortunately I picked today to take the family including my Addick supporting parents to sit poolside where we dipped our toes and sipped on cold beer in glorious October sunshine. The other option was to sit inside listening to the commentary from Broadhall Way and get the hump.

Judging from reports we made the right decision.
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