Monday, February 28, 2011

The joys of being an Arsenal fan...

Ah, Arsenal. I have so much to say, but the first thing I ought to say is that I love Arsenal. Well, obviously. It's a weird one, but no matter how many times the team disappoints, when you look at things in the cold light of day, you cannot help but love them more! I did say it was weird...

Anyways, where was I? The last time I blogged, I mentioned that I was going to the Newcastle live screening, right? And what a memorable game that was! Shame it id for all the wrong reasons...

I planned to get to the Emirates early, when I got to Finsbury Park where I was to meet Chris, I found out that he'd be quite late, meaning I had to walk all the way to the Ems on my own. In hindsight, that was NOT a good sign! Anyways, so as not to be "on my own" for too long, I walked as slowly as possible, although it was ridiculously windy, I would have been better off walking as fast as possible!

Got to the Emirates on time (ofcourse) got my drink, found somewhere comfortable to stay whilst waiting for Chris. Pre-match entertainment was Charlie George answering a few questions. Just your bog-standard questions, nothing remarkable.



The general mood was one of quiet confidence. There were no nerves or anything, it seemed. 5 minutes until kick-off, still no Chris, so went to have a look at the pitch (through the plexi-glass) where they were doing that thing they usually do with the UV lights, I think?


It looked cool! I almost missed the first goal as a result! Newcastle feels like a million years ago, given what happened on that day and yesterday, but we did have our good moments. Theo's goal was amazing, less then 40 seconds in as well! And before we were off that high, goal number two! This time by  Djourou. Chris hadn't turned up still at this point, and I was extra pleased I didn't choose to wait for him. (I'd learnt my lesson before! I remember the Blackburn game last season that finished 6-2. We went for the game together, but unfortunately, he had the tickets. I say unfortunately because he was so late, we could only make the second half! Lucky for me I waited for him outside the Arsenal shop, where they were showing the game, so I didn't miss any of the goals. Would have been much better to have been in the stadium for the half, ofcourse, especially as it was 3-2 at the end of the half! Sorry, Chris!)

Anyways, less than 5 minutes gone, and it was 0-2 already, and HUGE smiles on everyone's face (or is it faces? Nevermind!), and oh, there Chris is! Had to find somewhere else to stay as there weren't any seats where I was and it wasn't the most convenient place to stay. But seeing as there were screens everywhere, finding somewhere else to stay wasn't a problem. Went round the corner, had to move a few chairs over, but eventually found a decent enough spot, but before we could contemplate sitting, 0-3! Robin! Pretty much sure EVERYONE, including the Newcastle players thought it was game over at that time. Ofcourse it was! Oh wait...

I'd bought myself some Chinese from the Arsenal restaurant (bloody pricey it was, but I couldn't resist! Not because I thought it'd be great, but because it was at the Emirates!) And seeing as they think everyone at the Emirates can handle using chopsticks, that's what was available. I remember thinking to myself that I was having more trouble dealing with my chicken chow mein that the boys were having going through the Newcastle defence! Famous last words (thoughts), huh?


But umm, on that note, I gotta go! It's 7.30pm and I'm still at work! Need to catch the bus in 10 minutes! Will continue tomorrow! (Sorry Yinka!) :-) I'm sure I'll get round to Birmingham at some point tomorrow! ;-)

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Happy anniversary to me...

So it's been a year this week since I wrote my first post on here. 2nd of February, to be exact. Feels so long ago. I started one because... not really sure to be honest, it just seemed like a good idea. I lot has changed in my life over the past year, and it hurts a bit that I haven't been able to blog here as much as I would have loved to. But what hasn't changed is the fact that I love writing. I just haven't been able to do that much of it these past few months.

But new 'year', new beginnings, right? I haven't been really settled this past year, but by the end of this month, there will be proper structure to my life and I promise, yes PROMISE, that I will blog more. Honest. There's more I want to write now, but it'd spoil future posts, so I'll hold off for a bit.

This is my first post this year actually (very awful effort), so umm, happy new year! It's never too late to say it, alright?

We've (Arsenal, ofcourse!) been doing pretty well this season, and I'm really optimistic we'll win something this season. We're in the final of the Carling Cup, yay! I may not be going to Wembley for it, but I'm glad I went to the two home games we had in the competitions and I'm glad I was part of those who were able to 'help' the team get to the final. Would have been brilliant if I was going to Wembley, but I'm not mad that I didn't get the chance to get tickets for it.

I haven't been to that many games this season, but hopefully that will change soon. We play Newcastle away today, 3pm. It's not on tv ofcourse, it being a 3pm Saturday game, but I will be going to the Emirates to watch it, as they were nice enough (well, for the small sum of £8) to have the game screened live in club level, so I'll be able to watch it. I'm not reminding you what happened the only other time I've been to one of those live sceenings. It was the Sp*rs away game last season...

But yeah, hopefully the boys do the business.

And hopefully it doesn't take me another 4 months to write my next post!