Mar 23
It’s been nice today not having to worry about what was going on with Charlton. My 3-year old daughter asked me earlier if I “was winning at football.” No, there’s no game I replied, why? You seem happy she said.
England even managed to wrack up an old fashioned score last night, although don’t mention this to Dave, who sounds thoroughly miserable.
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I was very sad to hear that the author James Herbert died today aged 69. Once I progressed from listless kids books I found James Herbert when I was probably as young as 11.
My Mum was so scared of mice and rats that she made me cover his first book The Rats in brown paper, thank god she never got to peer inside the pages because Herbert wrote in such a graphic and horrifying way that I couldn’t put it down. Certainly there was no point not finishing it before I went up to bed, because I’d never have slept anyway.
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A warning shot to those of us that are pining for strange men walking into The Valley with bags full of cash, fancy job titles and hair brained ideas of Champions League places as the Venky’s, which has become a byword for Comedy Relief, today disposed of their 3rd Blackburn manager this season.
67 days ago Michael Appleton was given a two and a half year contract after walking out on Blackpool but after he proved further that the Chicken men really should have stayed in Bollywood or at least with Steve Kean, he too was given a cheque to go away with Rovers 4 points off relegation.
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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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Oh great. Millwall at Wembley again. Parky was there a few weeks, they’re all ruddy there. Everyone except us. Wigan. Wigan I ask you. Why do we take cups with such a pinch of salt?
Anyway let’s hope the Millwall players all got sloshed on the bus on the way back to Bermondsey and forget they have an early game to prepare for on Saturday.
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“Every player played their part but the centre-backs and the goalkeeper, they showed a real desire to keep the ball out of the net.”
Big, big win today, our first at Huddersfield since an equally big win in December 1999. It didn’t sound pretty on a pitch perhaps worse than ours but to hang on for a first clean sheet in 17 games was, as they say in a different part of Yorkshire, massive!
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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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“We’re only six points clear of the relegation zone so we can’t afford to be complacent.”
A valuable point last night at London Road, although for me it only prolonged the after-taste of Saturday’s home defeat to Burnley. Nonetheless taken in isolation it was a good point and one I gladly add to our recent static total, especially in light of the other results last night.
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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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“Our supporters have been terrific and in some ways we don’t deserve it because of how bad we have been. This is a crucial week coming up for us with trips to Peterborough and Huddersfield and we need to pick up something from those games.”
I’ve tried to remain positive about our Valley form albeit from afar but, bloody hell that was poor yesterday wasn’t it?
I mean the effort was unquestionable but the quality was so lacking I hardly clapped a pass or a passage of play. I just sat with 20,064 others, the majority of whom must have spent the entire game in the toilets, which was probably the best seat in fairness, and just wished I’d stayed in the pub.
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I fly back to the UK tomorrow night and will take my place at The Valley on Saturday in the vain hope of having something to cheer about. Hopefully the bit between 3pm and 5 will be as much fun as the before and after.
Before that however I will be at Upton Park on Friday evening with my mates including an ex-turnstile operator that you may have heard off. The reason we’ll be there is to watch Robert Lee’s (he will always be Robert) youngest son Elliot play for the Hammers’ U21 Development team against Manchester United.
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Andy Hughes is the forgotten man at The Valley, that is unless you follow him on Twitter where he is universely loved by his team mates and others.
Hughes last appearance for the Addicks was in the Fulham 3rd Round FA Cup game last season and his last full game was in the win at Brentford in November 2011. He has made 20 appearances overall.
The Yorkshireman has since struggled with a complicated achilles injury which has required numerous operations but on his recent comeback trail he has featured in some U21 Development League games including yesterday’s 3-0 win over Bristol City.
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There is some awards show going on in Hollywood tonight for the 85th time apparently but more importantly going on in my whimsical mind are the 7th Annual Chicago Addick Shower Gellies™. If you have just clicked on this post, then unfortunately you have missed the red carpet, but if you read on then you will find out which auspicious establishment will be presented with one of my much sought after, or not, Gellies™.
Since last February I have kipped in 31 hotels, and I believe mostly showered in all of them as well. I can’t tell you how pissed off I get when hotels charge the weekly wage of a journeyman League One footballer have beds that are like sleeping on big white fluffy clouds with 46 pillows and showers that are glass encased tardises yet expect you to bathe with a thimble of watery liquid, that’s if you are lucky.
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“It was hard enough when it was 11 versus 11.”
Another home defeat on a pudding of a pitch. By all accounts we were never in it and for the second time this season Forest were simply too good for us.
The general opinion was that the referee and his assistant had a shocker sending off our Gallic prince but in truth after his heroics on Tuesday night Yann went from hero to zero and lost his rag and kicked out at a provocative Greg Halford to make an already difficult task impossible.
I have just had another look at Tuesday’s goals. Sweeeet. Love the way Haynes celebrated his goal, he didn’t know what the hell to do.
Now to recreate some of those celebrations at home starting tomorrow. In the early weeks of the season I was at the City Ground to see us well beaten by a very impressive Forest side under the obvious coaching of Sean O’Driscoll. They played the ball around quickly and cut through our defensive ranks like butter for 80 minutes. All of us that day were convinced that by now Forest would be knocking on the automatic promotion door but apparently needlessly it has been a bumpy road and three managers later they are among a possee of clubs ever hopeful of the play-off’s.
Maybe being owned by rich Arabs is not all it’s cracked up to be.
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Next Sunday’s Capital One Cup Final doesn’t only have fans from Bradford and Swansea excited, but around these parts Bermudians are eagerly anticipating the game too.
The reason for that? 22-year old Bermudian born striker Nahki Wells, who left the island in 2010 in attempt to make it as a professional footballer in England. Wells paid for himself to attend the then brand new Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy in Headingley, near Leeds where ex-pros Mark Ellis and John Hendrie are heavily involved.
Whilst there he had a season with the Academies affiliated non-league team Eccleshill United in the Northern Counties East League (6 levels lower than Bradford City in the pyramid) and after a couple of trials he ended up at the unlikely outpost of Carlisle United. I have spent time in both Carlisle and Bermuda and they’re unlikely to ever be twinned.
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“I’ve got a lot of trust in them because they play for the shirt and they play for the club and they play for each other.”
That’s why you love them isn’t it? Who would have thought that result eh? Our 7th victory on the road tonight and the players showed again a real heart for the battle but this time reversed a trend and after conceding and every Addick on the planet knowing what was coming next, Powell brought on Danny Haynes and he fired a delightful goal and the players held on for a great victory.
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I can’t really understand the frustrations of some Addicks fans, but then again I have felt strangely detached this season struggling to come to terms with differing opinions and only occasionally being able to form my own as I haven’t seen as many games this season as I did last.
In the absence of transfer funds Powell has, for this division, a workmanlike squad that he has made tough to beat – only 3 times have we lost by more than a single goal and in two of those we were deservedly beaten (Wednesday and Middlesbrough).
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“We gradually got into it but a few things went against us today but the players soldiered on”
Notwithstanding it was always going to be a tough game I heard little on the today’s commentary that gave me cause for optimism.
It was a sluggish start but just as we started to get more of a mention Hamer missed a straightforward corner and the Egyptian Gedo bundled in. I am a big fan of Hamer but his errors are becoming too frequent and I wonder if it is time for Powell to give Button a chance.
Back from a great but knackering week in Florida with work. I spent the last night of the trip with a client that owns the imposing Westin Diplomat in Hollywood north of Miami. They were very accomodating and it was a restful way to end the trip, which started in similar fashion last Sunday with a few beers with New York Addick on Ocean Drive in South Beach.
A weekend of not doing an awful lot is on the radar, although the weather here doesn’t appear to encourage doing much outside. Hopefully I can catch some of the FA Cup games on the telly, although the one I’d like to see doesn’t appear to be on.
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More points thrown away that now has us looking over our shoulder, when we should be nudging the play-off places.
On a positive note it was another good performance, and one that we can carry forward from others beginning at the turn of the year. Jack Butland kept Birmingham in the game but to score so late, which is rare for us in itself and to give it away was sickening especially since 3 points were vital on Saturday when I look at the next two away games.
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On my way to Miami for my companies annual Symposium where mostly we’ll be holed up in a South Beach hotel. The event kicks off tonight and ends on Thursday.
The weather will pay havoc with others getting down to Florida as America’s north-east has been stunned by a ‘snow bomb’ including my old mate New York Addick, who was back on his old stomping ground and has hopefully made it down to Florida where he is working next week. I hope to meet him later for a drink.
I’ve just about got over last Saturday and a Palace mate described the game as I heard and read many Charlton fans. Holloway tactically out-did Powell but only late in the game after he got everything right in the 1st half but stood and watched like everyone else us miss chance after chance that eventually cost us.
Birmingham come to The Valley tomorrow and it is hard to remember that they finished 9th in the Premier League as recent as 2010 but they are now one of many clubs in the Championship struggling to comes to terms with harsh financial realities despite another parachute cheque recently being cashed.
Birmingham’s story of ownership and long-overdue accounts like the Portsmouth takeover is a consistent news item on the sports pages and they sold future England ‘keeper Jack Butland to Stoke on transfer deadline day for £4m but he was immediately loaned back. The Blues turned down £6m from Southampton in the summer but the club were desparate for the money and it was all paid up front.
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We spent a week in Costa Rica last August. For a small country (19,000 sq. miles) Costa Rica is overloaded with choices but it was the quiet isolation of the crooked finger shaped Papagayo Peninsula that we chose as our destination.
Costa Rica is an earthy jewel like no other, a string of volcanoes and the Andes-Sierra Madre range carve a rugged backbone between the Pacific and Caribbean shores. More than a quarter of the country is protected and Costa Rica has long led the way in ecological sensitivity.
Did you know that for a place that represents only 0.01% of the world’s landmass, is home to 5% of it’s wildlife? You do now.
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On my return to work this morning I passed a monstrosity of a yacht moored in Hamilton Harbour. It was flagged as Bermudian, with ‘Hamilton’ written in neat letters on it’s stern.
The yacht is called ‘Eclipse’ which rang a bell with me and after a Google, I remembered that the 533 ft, $1 billion super yacht belongs to a certain Roman Abramovich.
‘Eclipse’ is one of the Russian gazillionaire’s five boats but the one sat in Hamilton just outside of my office window is the world’s largest private yacht, 1 ft 8 in longer than the ‘Dubai,’ which belongs to Sheikh Mohammed. It is ladies all about the length.
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Charlton know how to ruin your weekend, and I’ve had a good one, but it could’ve been great. Walking around Bal Harbour in the Florida sunshine earlier today I was told by my other half to “bloody cheer up” but I realise it could have been plenty worse. I could’ve been one of the many Addicks being kettled outside of Selhurst today. There’s little less degrading to an adult football fan especially after seeing your team get beaten by one of it’s fiercest rivals.
Another January transfer day full of hot air.
Aston Villa did buy a couple of teenagers and Sunderland splashed out on a Newcastle fan but other than ‘Arry increasing QPRha’s debt burden, Arsenal were the days surprise big spenders. Goalkeeping prospect Jack Butland moved to Stoke but the headlines were once again grabbed by David Beckham, who signed for PSG until the end of the season and will donate his salary, believed to be worth a total of around £3 million, to children’s charities.
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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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My final Top 5 of 2012 involves the Addicks. 2012 was an exceptional year to be a Charlton fan, and it’s been a number of long years since we can say that.
Five highlights was pretty impossible especially when mostly my matchday experience means stomping around the living room trying to follow the commentary on the radio or sneaking too frequent looks at my mobile for Twitter updates.
Nonetheless I picked five, each memorable to me for different reasons and here they are, My Top 5 Charlton Athletic Defining Moments from 2012:
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With Thursday’s transfer deadline fast approaching any additions to the squad look unlikely. Chris Powell has been increasingly vague and in the post match press conference on Saturday said “That’s a great question…If we do, great, If we don’t, we just get on with it” suggesting he has not been given any funds to make any moves, even for Rob Hulse, who now seems destined for Millwall.
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I was right hacked off when I switched my mobile on around lunchtime locally here in Colorado after our flight had landed. Even more disappointed to find out the circumstances.
I had a bad feeling about today, especially when I read last night that the ‘Massives’ had signed Leroy Lita on loan. Seemed obvious to me.
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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I wanted to take to these pages and congratulate Phil Parkinson and his Bradford City team. If anyone deserves to be a focal point for a fairy story then it is the Yorkshiremen.
As for Parky, he is as hard working as a manager as he was as a player. In fact his image of a limited but courageous and loyal midfielder has followed him into management and the plaudits for what his team have achieved are fully deserved.
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It’s my turn to witness some minus temperatures today when I fly to New York with work. Winter is upon us in Bermuda, but the temperature remains in the late 60’s (18°C), but you’ll be pleased to hear that it did rain on Sunday!
New York has a low of -9°C today and I have had to grab some gloves and a scarf from the pile of clothes we have ready for skiing next week when we are off to Colorado.
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Hamer, Solly, Evina, Taylor, Morrison, Wagstaff, Jackson, Pritchard, Stephens, Wilson, Kermorgant. These eleven men were playing in League One last season. Add in the subs and leaving Fuller to one side, the other 17 players representing Charlton Athletic at Ewood Park this afternoon have previous to this season only played between 25-30 games at this level between them.
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Five more favourite things from 2012. The following five begin with two things anomalous to Bermuda – a decent café and a decent shop both with very good service. The third was my best loved local restaurant and finally two stunning reminders of paradise. Here are my Top 5 Bermuda Things from 2012:
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We love Waggy don’t we? I’m not convinced by him technically at this level, but no Addick can ever knock his hunger and I think like most a smile crossed my face yesterday when I saw him named in the starting XI.
Waggy is my son’s favourite player, but like a lot of supporters, he thought he’d moved on. After the 22-year old scored yesterday I saw a tweet by John Sullivan (yes, he’s still with the club too) that said: “Buzzing for you Waggy. You’ve worked so hard all season with very few rewards!” Addicks everywhere are nodding in agreement.
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The Championship managerial merry-go-round continues in earnest. After 2 wins at Blackpool Michael Appleton was headhunted by the Venky’s at Blackburn and signed up as quick as you could say chicken kiev.
Appleton’s managerial record is a little worse than mine on FIFA 13 (semi-pro setting) but he exclaimed that “I am delighted to be joining such an historic club. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I am excited about the challenge we have ahead of us,” which I believe he also said when he joined Blackpool.
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Last night I was invited to the first night of the annual Bermuda comedy festival at the City Hall. Like almost everything in Bermuda the laughs were shipped in, although unlike the fruit and veg at least it wasn’t stuck on the dock whilst the dockers went on strike this week.
This is the 7th Annual Just for laughs festival and lasts through the weekend. Scottish comic Danny Bhoy was the main act but we were kicked off by local funny man Jonathan Young, who whilst his routine wouldn’t travel well was very good and we all agreed we’d pay to watch him again for a longer stint.
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Whilst Powelly this morning probably told the players not to worry themselves over the abysmal performance on Saturday and concentrate on the league, many of the supporters, and not surprisingly those that paid good money to sit through it, can’t seem to shake it from their memories.
Dave took to his loft to find out exactly how rubbish our Cup form was and he did. He wrote that in 66 seasons, we have failed to win an FA Cup match in 34 of them! In fact by my own calculations we won a quarter of as many FA Cup matches in two seasons – 1945/46 and 1946/47 than we did in the next 66.
As Dave points out, since we lifted the famous Cup in 1947 Charlton have had only four Cup runs, namely in 1981 (lost to then old Div 1 leaders Ipswich), 1994 (went out to then Premier League leader Manchester United), in 2000 (lost to Bolton Wanderers) and in 2006 (went out Middlesborough). Truly shocking.
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Next up on the Chicago Addick Top 5 agenda are hotels. When I am old I’d like someone to just move me into one of the five I have listed below. I stayed in 25 hotels in 2012, some for pleasure, some because of necessity. Five stood out from all of the rest and here are my 5 Favourite Hotels:
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Our cup run runneth over. My, that sounded awful on the radio, although a mate at the game said it was worse than that. We really must have one of the worst cup records in the country.
More disturbing is our home form, and that is now just 3 wins in 15 Valley games this season. Today was a perfect platform to turn a corner, build on the excellent win at Watford and get our name in the hat with a chance of a plum tie, but, nope.
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Putting the mighty Addicks to one side for the moment, other than the League One title winners, 2012 was a sensational year for sport. There were many screaming at the telly, jumping up and down moments but here were my Top 5 Favourite Sporting Moments of 2012:
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Are we? It has been just one solitary year in six seasons that The Addicks have reached the 4th Round of the FA Cup and I would think that a nice plum 4th Round draw would be very beneficial to the club.
First of all we have to overcome Huddersfield, a team I saw grab a last minute penalty equaliser against us in November. Town have only won once since then, although they have had a number of draws. They got smashed by Leicester last weekend and Simon Grayson may well look to make some changes on Saturday, Powell’s will be more enforced.
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Back to the annual Chicago Addick Top Five and next up is restaurants. My five were all in the United States, but each one very distinguishable. Here were my Top Five Restaurants of 2012:
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A fantastic result yesterday that epitomised the team spirit under Chris Powell. It’s always nice to win on New Year’s Day as it sets an encouraging tone and hopefully a result of this eminence can see us go on a little run like we did after Cardiff.
We had just equalised to make it 3-3 with Twitter in confusion to who had scored when I was told “for the last time” to turn my phone off as we sat on the runway at Gatwick yesterday, so for this Addick I punched the air in delight around 7 hours after the rest of you.
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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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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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From East Sussex to the The Royal County of Berkshire today to see two really old friends of mine. Really looking forward to seeing them and another change of scene (and bed) before we head back to Bermuda on New Years Day.
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By the sounds of it, a much better performance today and a far better game than Boxing Day delivered.
For some strange reason the table looks a lot healthier tonight and the results run for us pretty well today.
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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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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.
If I have a New Year’s wish it is for our board to put any thoughts of sacking Chris Powell to the backs of their mind. Since Christmas Day two Championship club owners have fired their managers, both in what I consider hairbrained circumstances.
On Boxing Day Sean O’Driscoll’s Nottingham Forest side dismantled a revived Leeds United by playing the only way O’Driscoll’s teams know how to play. After his post match press conference he was sacked by the Al Hasawi family, one of whom was only watching his plaything for the first time!
Blackburn spent an age moving on public enemy number one Steve Kean. He was finally put out of his misery and was booted out by Rovers’ Indian owners despite being top before his last game in charge. He was replaced by Henning Berg on a 3-year contract but 57 days later he too was gone.
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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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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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A third consecutive defeat for the Addicks today and I suddenly find myself looking again behind us instead of above us. The more negative amongst us will point to one win in six and i confess to being slightly worried particularly amongst the backdrop of some hopefully unfounded ‘Powell’s days are numbered’ rumours.
I was in the pub for the majority of the game and was left to follow the game on Twitter but after recklessly conceding an early penalty, to be 0-2 at the half simply left too much to do against a team more hungry for points than us, and once again Powell’s charges were left chasing a game.
As someone once said, not all the legends play on the pitch. Very sad to hear that Colin Cameron passed away this morning aged 76.
Colin Cameron will long live in my memory as his name is all over treasured programmes and books around my house and office. He was Mr Charlton. RIP Colin.
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.
Christmas Eve, my favourite day of the year.
A quick fly around Wallingford this morning, which retains its charm even in the rain. A couple of last minute purchases, a coffee and a mince pie and then back to my illegitimate brother and sister-in-laws for a family party.
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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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A disheartening defeat yesterday if truth be told. I know little about the game after being stuck on the M25 for hours on our way to the Oxfordshire countryside but as Dave said and I alluded to yesterday, the defeat puts down a marker for the season, and consolidation would be a success in my book.
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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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Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
