Weekend "ends" early

Weekend "ends" early

Toni came back from mum's on Friday in tears. The gearbox has developed a fault - third gear keeps popping out - and she had to drive all the way without it, with the thought that other gears might fail. It's booked in for Wednesday - it seems when I make noises about having enough money to put some away, the damn car decides it wants to grab some. Depending on the costs involved - I hope to God it's not a new gearbox (it should just be a ball bearing, but if that's fixable, who knows?). Mind you, if it is, does that mean there's nothing else that can go wrong with the car in the foreseeable future? New engine, new tyres, new gearbox, new reverse light switch - better keep an eye on the steering wheel...

Consequently we used public transport - at a hefty cost of £40 for both of us (which is no doubt why many people don't use it as much as they should be encouraged to) - to travel up to Saxmundham on Friday night. It was well worth it - Joe's play was very entertaining, and he was head and shoulders above everyone else there, and it was good to catch up with both him and Jo (remind me to bring the TV themes collection on CD the next time I'm up!). The grey greasepaint in his hair was very effective, although I did wonder for a moment if I'd missed 20 years of our lives. Mind you, thinking about it a little more, I'd only miss 15 or even 10 years considering how old we are. Depressing thought, or just an indication of how time marches on?

Yesterday we were both able to go to the game - Jimmy and Rob from the SHA posse arrived promptly with the tickets, and they headed off to the pub with four other Bluenoses. We were set to join them, except I revealed my lack of experience in these things and turned up at around 2pm, when the bouncers had closed the pub to new people. As a result I didn't see them again - by the time we got back, the car had gone, so hopefully they were able to beat the gridlock around the ground.

As for the match itself, Blues gained a creditable 1-1 draw at Colchester, who'd won 12 of their previous 13 games at home, beating three of our promotion rivals (Southampton, Preston and Derby) in the process. A good, solid performance, and man of the match went to goalscorer Stephen Clemence, who provided a virtuoso performance in midfield. His cajoling and encouragement of the players around him made him appear like he was the captain - our actual captain kept quiet as usual, but at least his own performance was pretty decent on the right wing.

Whether we can build on this result is another matter - a lot of people were frustrated by the way we set ourselves out, and while I disagree within the context of this game, if Blues are being that negative as an overall policy, then I suspect the play offs will be the best we can hope for, which is criminal considering the individual talent that is on the books at the club.

As for today, while the car is still drivable, I didn't want to risk it on a 30-mile round trip to Sudbury, so instead we have a more relaxing day at home. Well, Toni does, I have to finish writing a tutorial...