Second City Derby

Had to get up around 6 am yesterday to meet Paul Harris as he was gracious enough to come pick me up and bring me back to the Cookley Sports Club which is where my friends from the Kidderminster Lions arranged to have our pre drinking before the Aston Villa match against the dirty blue nose scum from Small Heath . This match is a heated match and will always be a heated match but this time the police force seemed to have everything in place to keep us all safe . Firstly all the pubs in Birmingham city centre were not serving alcohol until after the match which is why my friends found us somewhere to drink :) it was quite the place there and I personally liked it :) the service was good , pints were yummy and the view for me at least was quite serene .... Nice and calm before we step into the rage .

After mowing down my bacon sarnie and meeting some good friends and making new friends it was time to get on the bus and drive to the motorcycle museum to meet our police escorts ... Yes we get escorted to the sty to hopefully maintain our safety . I've heard many stories about our buses bring bricked by those 6 fingered inbreeders ... Yes I don't like them .... I hate them ... And they hate us !

There were fans yelling and swearing at us with unfriendly hand gestures flying everywhere but no bricks or cups of urine . We got into the gates safely and parked buses and made our way into the ground . Immediately I found someone to pair up with to tell and swear at , as we all do :) the game itself wasn't the most exciting but when we scored our goal to go up 1-0 everything went mental . I'm surprised I didn't fall onto the pitch . I was in the 10th row and apparently some friends saw me on tv and kept getting messages . I did a live feed on Facebook on the way in and wanted to do more but my phone died and yes I'm an idiot ... Had my charger with me , but i didn't charge that so I had no way of posting more live feeds from the stands for my friends back home :( sorry guy ... 

The atmosphere was electric but it was not like anything I was expecting or warned of . There was no danger at all ... In fact last years match that I went to against these same scum bags at Villa Park had more scarier scenes then this so I was a bit disappointed .... I did see some coins flying at our crowd and a few flares but aside from that there wasn't anything exceptionally mental . Wouldn't be the first time those goofs disappointed me though . For most of the game we were winning and their fans were silent , something like a library hahaha ! They came back to life later on in the match when they got the equalizer and that sucked ... Hated seeing those bastards cheer and enjoy themselves but really they were more happy with getting the draw then we were . 

Anyways we ended up drawing with them lot and then we were forced to wait as the city fans were sent off and we were kept in the ground for 30-45 minutes . Felt like forever and our concession stand was not selling alcohol during the match to sober us up :( I had a chicken balti pie which was good considering where it came from hahaha . St. Andrew's is a shit hole dump we really should have redecorated that place for them hehehehe !!! From what I saw there were a good number of villa stickers everywhere which made it feel more comfy :) when we finally got on the bus we got off in Stourport and went straight to a bar which was a private club and wee watched some more footie on the telly and got back on the piss . It was fun then our crowd thinned out and we went to a pub I've been to before on the canal where there was live music and we made some new friends . We got pissed :) then went to get some curry to bring back to my friends place who I'm not allowed to mention as he is supposed to be off work sick . So let's keep that secret ok ? Ok ! We got this chicken madras which burned my friggin mouth and I couldn't finish it ... Felt bad but I just couldn't ... I hate being wasteful :( we started to watch the World Series but I started fading away and eventually crashed out . 

Today I am waking up on my couch for the night thinking yesterday was pretty awesome and that I am lucky to have the friends I have . Thank you Paul Harris and all the Kidderminster Lions for another great day out . See you all next weekend for the Blackburn match ... UTV ! Today I will meet some other mates for an ale and curry night ... Yes drinking is part of the equation here for everything and I like it :) 

Yucky Jet Lag

Alrighty so here I am in beautiful Birmingham . It wasn't easy getting here with 3 flights that we're all delayed but somehow I made it unscathed :) actually I'm quite surprised that my bag made it to . Just remember if you need your baggage/equipment to arrive same day as you to always book with connecting flights that have at least a 2 hour layover . I was not in a rush to get here to play hockey upon arrival so I risked it when I booked these flights with a 55 minute layover in Zurich . It became even more riskier when my flight from Montreal to Zurich was delayed and even though the cabin crew kept saying we will make up for the lost time in the air we never did .... In fact we arrived when my next flight was boarding !!!! So what's the chances I catch this flight in another terminal and even worse what chances don't have to see my bags when i get there ??? If you ask me I would say slim to none ! I was wrong .....

Much to my shigrin ... My equipment did arrive with me ... How ? I don't know :) but I do know I was quite surprised as I waited at the baggage claim all I thought was there is no way it made it but it did . I then walked to the car park and waited for my good buddy Karl McNelly to pick me up and we headed into the city center quickly to grab my new Villa top and get my phone sorted at Vodafone with my new SIM card .... Yeah my old number I had is no longer but that's no big deal anyways . 

Hotels were ridiculously priced when I was booking this trip and I am lucky enough to have a solid friend like Brett Bates and his family . Elaine Bates is Brett's mum and she is quality people :) I am lucky enough to be able to use Brett's room while I'm here and it is saving me loads . That was my next stop out pretty much near BearWood . Coffee was waiting upon arrival and I got the rundown and given my own key then I jumped in the shower (man did I stink) and went for a 25 min walk over back to Karl's to go watch some footie at the pub . We went to The Bear which is the bar I met Karl in a few years back before going to that Slam Dunk Fest . Funny part of that story is that I ended up giving the bartender there a free pass , Ben Lucas you are a lucky fella :) it was nice to see you again ! I had one of the greasiest burgers I have ever laid my eyes on with a few pints and then jet lag kicked in . 

Karl and I hiked it back to his and had another pint there before I hiked it back home . The walk back was interesting seeing kids trick or treating ??? It's not Halloween yet ! And fireworks everywhere for the Indian festival Dawali ( hope I spelled that right ) of course when I got back to Elaine's place I caught my second wind and she was getting ready to go out with her friend . The cocktails were flowing so I got to try the lovely vodka that I brought over for her ... This Georgian Bay Vodka is quality ! I couldn't go out again though as have to get up early for this massive derby match against a team I hate with all my heart ! I can't wait to shout my lungs out for my Villa . 

Today was a great day :) 

I'm back !

Before I start this I admit sometimes I get a bit carried away when I'm writing but I still have no regrets . It's been a while since I've had anything to write about as I've been focused on paying off the debt I accumulated last year .... These things happen when you fund your own trips and go overboard . Heck this is my vacation right ... I should go all out right ? Hahaha debts paid , I have a clean slate and my credit card is in my wallet snug and happy . That being said I am gonna try to keep it reasonable . 

It took a while to get back to an airport and jump on a plane , my last flight was coming home at the end of January . Honestly I don't remember the last time I waited 9 months to travel . Yes it has been quite some time but now I'm back and I'm gonna try to keep you my reader(s) entertained .... So far nothing crazy has happened .... 

Started today in Toronto , got in an uber with a super talkative driver which doesn't bother me but it is the polar opposite of taxi drivers that don't speak at all . No big deal , got to terminal 1 at Pearson with no problems and then got to the check in desk and things got a bit dicey when the agent told me my bag was overweight . Yes I know it is but its only goalie equipment which I called I. To let the airline know I was carrying .... I really did my best to butter up the agent even said I have a bag in my bag with gear I could carry on .... She said that bag was too big ???? This is a first is what I told her and she said how is that possible and I let her know that I have that bag pre packed and waiting to be carried on because I've done this before , many times . She said it was impossible but I am sure she believed me ... It made her ponder and look and look again at her screen and finally she said listen , there isn't anything that says I should charge you for overweight and finally she let me go .... PHEW !!! It would have cost me an extra $100 but thankfully that wasn't the case and I can gladly spend that $100 in a pub tomorrow lol ! 

Not sure if I mentioned that my first flight has me sitting here in the land of the dirty Habs ! You know the team with a toilet seat as a logo ;) great city but man I hate that friggin team . Did you guess I'm in Montreal ? Wish I could go out and see Adil or Vince ... Almost seems strange that I'm here not seeing them . Oh well :( I guess I will just sit and wait here for my next flight which takes me to Zurich . On the flight here I fell asleep as we were delayed a bit .... Pretty sure I was snoring , loud ! Woke up with dry mouth hahaha . Got to start watching the last X-Men flick on the flight and hopefully I can finish it before I fall asleep on way to Zurich . These are the little things that make The Travelling Goalie happy ;)