Tag: LCFC

The garden gathering

In a post I put up a few days ago I did mention that the wife had decided to invite some friends and family around for a gathering we usually have at the end of the football season, (Time goes so fast….) to either celebrate our success or to drown our sorrows. This year it was the latter as we were miserably incapable of putting on a decent show as a competitive team this season.

I stated that I had to put up the gazebo, due to the forecast saying there would be rain. I should have known better, as we are in a Bank holiday weekend it was bound to rain, I wasn’t wrong. Everyone had been invited around to help us celebrate/commiserate and to have a drink and something to eat, we also decided to incorporate a darts competition into the evening for a bit of fun.

Gazebo up and connected to the garden pub, bring on the rain!

The gazebo was suitably decorated with some football banners, food was in good supply in the house and a list of people who wanted to take part in the darts competition was drawn up.

The actual competition was a knockout format, and to add a little bit of extra fun I told everyone they had to have their photos taken in the pairs that they would be playing in, for this I had decided to use two of the “instant” Polaroid type cameras that I had recently repaired. My niece that I passed the first one I fixed on to, was more than happy to assist here.

The nights activity in miniature Polaroids

Pictures taken, lots of laughter and a lot of raised voices and joking about the competition began, 18 people took part and it was chaotic to say the least.

Games underway.

We eventually made it to the final with my nephew and cousin in the final, the younger talent shone through and young “J” won the competition.

Final pairing and the overall winner

I now have 38 fantastic little photos that really show the fun and spontaneity of the evening. We are going to get these into either an old style album or put them up on a board displayed somewhere around the house. Good old physical photos, on show just as they should be, not tucked away unseen on someone’s smartphone never to be seen by anyone else. At least people can look at these and say, “that group of people know how to enjoy themselves.”

I fallen in love again with this style of photo.

An interesting aside came from using these cameras. One other young family member loved these cameras so much she went onto a sale site and brought a broken one before approaching me and asking if i could fix it when it arrives. How could I turn that offer down so I had to agree. My brother in law who was there back in the day of the original Polaroid, wants me to get and fix an original one for him, it’s amazing just how young and old alike were totally impressed by this mode of photography, memories were rekindled, and memories were made….and I’ve got myself some work to do so I’m happy.

Another thing that made the wife and I extremely happy, is when one of the guests, our neighbours to be precise, brought us a gift for our pub which is totally Leicester city football club themed.

Our very generous gift from our neighbours

Last week i wrote of our captain and greatest player playing his last game for us : Jamie Vardy’s having his final party they brought us a shirt they had got signed by him and labelled up with the numbers he had achieved. I guess it helps that our neighbour actually works for the club, either way it was a superb gift that is very much appreciated.

So why are we looking at leaving this area, I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ our neighbours are just superb people. It’s going to be hard to match them anywhere else.

It’s been quiet in the vicinity today as I suspect there are a few sore heads as the last couple didn’t leave until about 3am this morning, we’ve spent most of the day cleaning up and had to get the gazebo and extra bits down and put away as they are coming to take the photos on Tuesday. I’m working late shifts so I’m not going to be around so I’ve got to do as much as I can to help prior to the full estate agent process kicking in.

Anyway, a great night was had by all, we have some super memories and meeting up with family and friends is always an enjoyable experience at gatherings such as this.

Have a superb weekend.

Jamie Vardy’s having his final party

In one of our shirts.

This is going to be a football post, so for those not interested please turn away now.

We play Ipswich town today and there’s going to be a massive party down at the King Power Stadium. Tickets sold out weeks ago, when it became apparent that one player would be leaving us after 13 years of creating memories and mayhem.

Goodbye to the GOAT 🐐

That was this chap called Jamie Vardy who played for a little club in the East Midlands called Leicester City. It’s his last day with us today, and never did I think I’d see grown men pass tears at someone departing. I know I will see that today.

I only know this as I’ve heard the talk in the terraces over the last couple of years. I’ve heard fathers say to their sons,” Boy you never see me cry, but the day that he leaves the club I will be a mess”

He stirs emotions and fantastic memories in equal measures.

Sports in all countries stir up passions with the supporters, and on occasions an individual becomes a target for derision or is catapulted to the heights of being the greatest within that team’s history and that is what has happened here.

Like him or loathe him, to the supporters of our club he is a legend. He’s labelled as our greatest of all time (GOAT) and rightly so. We have had many fabulous players pass through our gates but none with the longevity and appeal of Vardy.

There is this aspect of football called “Shithousery” that he excels in. His celebrations after scoring are legendary, he mimics the crowd and he stirs emotions in all parts of the stadium, he is unique and there is simply no one else like him in the English football leagues.

He is our last player remaining that has connections to the Premier league winning team of the 2015/16 season. Today will be his last ever game in one of our shirts and it will be a sad day for sure.

Today is going to be a day of celebration as well, just like the premier league presentation, the club is promising a number of activities today and we are even being told to remain seated at the end of the game as more activities take place. What that is? No one knows.

And what better way to put it than having another of our legends talk about him

Tomorrow we will be a team without our most influential individual. We have had an awful season and it just seems to be getting worse. Next season will be interesting, we will be in a lower league once again, but missing the strength and leadership of this one guy. I know one person does not make a team, but one person can severely influence a team and we will need to find that individual again.

Thanks for the memories “Vards” your 500th game for us today, let’s hope you continue to make records by scoring your 200th goal.

And all the very best in all you do outside of Filbert Way.

Legend.

Disappointment and football

First day off in a while recently. It was a lovely day and it was entirely spent with the wife. A lovely day but she had to put the mockers on it.

“Do you fancy going to football tonight?” She said, I stood looking at her in shock, what a way to ruin a lovely day.

Let me add some substance here, in that we are both season ticket holders at Leicester city. Anyone who follows football will now realise my predicament. We are not a football team really, we are a collection of eleven blokes who just don’t know what the hell they are doing on the pitch, however tonight we broke another record, the first team ever to fail to score a goal in eight consecutive home games. We really are the bad. We are dire. And we have a manger who is like a little rabbit caught in the headlights. He’s out of his depth, bless him.

Anyway I don’t want to bore non football fans as you don’t really deserve that.

Anyway I quite reluctantly agreed to go, so attired in the team colours off we trudged.

Game starts.

45 minutes later at half time we are leaving the stadium, we are 3 goals down, we have played awful, and the only fun and laughs we have had is listening to the away fans taking the mickey out of us all, they were very good at this.

It was disappointing to say the least, but do you know what neither of us were surprised or affected, we just realised that we had made a poor decision and went home and had a drink to laugh at it all.

And there is my question. When does feeling disappointed become acceptable and normal?

This is what the internet says;

Disappointment becomes “normal” when it’s a frequent, yet manageable part of life, rather than a persistent source of distress. It’s about learning to accept that not everything goes as planned and finding ways to cope with setbacks, rather than avoiding them altogether.

Google

And that’s what being a football supporter (At least at our club) is, in a nutshell.

Being so bad has taken us beyond being a persistent source of distress to becoming a frequent more manageable part of our life. And we just have to accept we are really that bad and take it just like a friendly slap on the back. Something is wrong at the KP and needs attending to.

Good I’m glad I’ve cleared that up then.

Have a wonderful day, be happy.

Only the good die young

Never a truer quote.

And today it’s hit hard. Really hard.

I have been on a run of night shifts this week, and when I awoke this afternoon, I checked my phone and I had a missed call. I listened to the message and tears flooded my eyes. A fantastic colleague and friend had passed away as I slept and its hit me hard.

20th April 2014. We won.

Chris had been a slave to the big “C” for a couple of years now, he had his ups and downs and for a while he seemed to be winning. But that bastard Cancer did not allow him any respite and today I have lost a wonderful friend and colleague.

Chris was a signaller on the route between Leicester and Peterborough and I used to regularly meet him at signal boxes between Melton Mowbray and Oakham. He, like me was a fan of Leicester City football club, and we loved nothing better than to talk about the club and try to sort the issues out in our own way, just as every football fan across the country does.

Chris spotted on Tv at the Leicester v WBA match 20th April 2024

The pictures above were broadcast on BBC tv when we were playing West Bromwich Albion in the championship in April 2024. We won that game so we both had something positive to chat about.

Something to talk about

51 years of age is no age at all.

Chris was a wonderful human being and a lovely soul. He always had a smile to greet you and there was always the offer of a cup of tea the moment you walked through the door. Some people are put on this earth to make others lives better, and Chris was one of those people. Now he has left us and the world will be a sadder place for it.

My life has been blessed for knowing him, he was an outstanding work colleague, and i am glad our paths crossed. He will always be remembered with fondness.

RIP friend – Foxes never quit

Off to the game

Yep, Leicester city are in action again today and for us long suffering supporters it’s another snowy, cold and windswept day in the East Midlands.

LCFC
Balders….thats me

Our visitors today are from Wolverhampton, just an hour up the road.

Here’s hoping for a good day.

Update:

Well, we were well and truly slaughtered today, not sure our team even turned up. Met a nice chap from Columbia who had travelled all the way from there to watch us play. I feel really sorry for him. Hey ho. You win some and you lose some, today just wasn’t our day.

Happy days everyone

Shopping

What are your favorite websites?

The one I spend the most time on is EBay. It’s where I get most of my stuff to repair. Secondly it’s probably Amazon and from then on there are a Number of smaller sites I take in.

I follow a number of blog sites of people who are kind enough to follow what I do. I check in to all of them regularly to see if anything has changed. I probably check in more when I haven’t seen anything for a while as I’m concerned that I’ve heard nothing, but I’m probably just overthinking it as they’re probably just living busy lives like most people do.

I only post regularly as I use it as a coping mechanism / Journal as stated in the past.

There is a good site where you can see all the cameras on the island of Iceland, all set up to show views of the volcano’s when they kick off, great for planning a trip to see something different.

Beyond that I look at the Leicester football club site occasionally, but to be honest they are not doing it for me this year so I tend to avoid it if possible.

Have a good day all, may it be a peaceful one for you.

Day trip to Southampton

Tickets for todays game – Saints v Foxes

“We’re on our way” 😂

Being a Leicester City fan is a crazy ride of unimaginable highs and dark and gloomy lows, at the moment we are on the low spectrum and todays long coach ride to Southampton for todays game is not a journey I am looking forward to to be honest considering our dire performances of late, again after a couple of high scoring games we have collapsed…..spectacularly.

The journey down from Leicester was a pleasant enough one with no issue’s regarding traffic, for a Saturday it was good, most unusual.

Our coach to Southampton

St Mary’s is a similar ground to our own and has a capacity of around 32 thousand. On arrival my wife and I made our way to a local hostelry to indulge in a couple of swift ones. On completion of this task we made our way back to the ground to meet with a friend coming down from London and then went into the stadium ( for another swift one) and to taste a local sausage roll. Suitably fed and watered we made our way to the stands.

Our view from the stands

And that’s where it all started to go wrong. To say we played poorly was an understatement, our second game in succession without a shot on target. The game was awful, but that’s part of the “joy” of being a Leicester fan, god we couldn’t be consistent if we tried. I love the away days though as there is some good banter between rival fans, unfortunately the yob elements are still there but that’s just down to a few knuckle draggers who try to ruin things for others, thankfully though it’s only a minority and not seen as an issue overall.

We lost 1-0

Game over thank god and now for the journey home, it’s been a lovely day. I got to spend valuable time with my wife who is a devout supporter and as I’m working so many different shifts it’s good to get some valuable down time.

Days out in this household are rare, so when they do occur they are treated as mini breaks away. The score could have been better but that’s not going to change the way the earth turns for us so it’s just a case of onto the next game.

Good company, plenty of laughs and time with the one you love. Who could ask for more?