Saturday 7 February

Today’s blog will be a simple of account of my day, what happened on an ordinary Saturday. Last night we were quite late to bed because we watched the last two episodes of a thriller that had been recorded before Christmas. I made a mistake, as I did not realise that the last episode was an extended one. If you add to that are new “retired” habit of reading late in bed it was well past midnight when we shut our eyes. So I suppose that was the start of Saturday 7 February.

As a result of that late night it was quite a late start in the morning, well past 9 am when we made it down for coffee and toast. I then had a bright idea; it is then that the warning bells ought to have sounded, Nigel – bright idea!!! We are going out to dinner with friends tonight and the lady of the house likes good chocolate. So I suggested that we should visit a bakery and chocolatier about 20 miles from Scarborough. The added benefit would be a good pie or sausage roll for lunch. Firstly there seemed to be a lot of traffic around for a winter Saturday, I had failed to realise that this was diverted off the main road because of planned maintenance. Then after a fairly tiresome drive we arrived at the shop, it was shut, no doubt for annual holidays or something like that. Now small businesses that do not keep regular hours are one of my bête noirs. I love supporting these sorts of places, but it is really frustrating when they are not open at popular times, particularly after a long drive.

So it was back to Scarborough, this time for a quick visit to the supermarket and then lunch. Then of course it was off to Middlesbrough for the soccer. As usual Iain and myself had much to talk about. The drive over the moors was spectacular as there was still some snow on the ground reflected in a misty milky sort of winter light.

The omens were for the game were not good, Boro were unbeaten since August and Charlton the opponents had barely one in that time. Also we had the curse of winning the January’s manager and player of the award. No problem we were ahead after five minutes, it would be a stroll. Then they equalised and the jitters set in. The second half was easier though I never felt we were comfortable. Another win, but unfortunately those teams around us also won. So back home with that great post match victory feeling.

As I said tonight we are going out to dinner with friends, where there will be great conversation, food, and drink to roundup Saturday 7 February.