Seven days

That was some week!

I’m a month into my sabbatical, have been to Norway and Madrid, about to go to New York, with Japan and Australia coming up at the end of the month…and yet I had one of the best weeks of my life at home!

I don’t want to blog about the main reason here, as now’s not the time or place, but suffice to say I’m in a happy place at the moment thanks to a special someone. I’m a lucky guy, and this is a lucky period in my life. Who knows how long this will last, so I’m just enjoying it right now in this little bubble of time before I go off on my big trip. It’s amazing to think how life can deal you a great card every now and again when you least expect it. You just never know what good things are around the corner. Want something to happen? Stay positive. Always have hope. Take a chance every now again. Sometimes, just sometimes, you get it.

 

A very small part of what’s made it a good week that I will blog about is the footy. The footy gods must have also been smiling on me this week, too.

I have to admit something that in some ways I’m not proud of, being a huge footy fan. But, I’m sure it makes for interesting reading, and that’s what this blog is mostly about, so here goes…

I went to Madrid and saw the first leg of the Real v Liverpool match, albeit not in the Bernabeu but in a local bar. I saw us take a slender 1-0 lead to Anfield. We’ve never played Real at Anfield. It’s the knockout stages of the premier club competition in the world. It was a huge game. Maybe our only chance of silverware comes from this competition. Unmissable – and it turned out to be one of the all-time classic Liverpool performances as we rolled them over an amazing 4-0. And do you know what? I didn’t have a clue on Tuesday night that the game was even on!!!!

10:15pm – Picked up an incoming text message, sent 9:40pm: “That was nice J ”

That was the first clue I had that we’d played: a text from a fellow Scouse fan who only usually texts me after a big game. It took a few seconds to sink in. Had Utd played and lost? Aren’t we playing tomorrow, Wednesday? I then realised the dates, and that we must have just played tonight. Oh crap. I’ve somehow forgotten about the game!! Shit! I can’t have done that!! No. Surely…I switch on the TV and put on the highlights. “Coming up…Liverpool and Real Madrid…don’t miss this one!!”

If you know me and know sport, you’ll know that to entirely not realise that your team is playing its biggest match of the season so far is….well, unthinkable. How did I do that? I wasn’t even particularly doing anything at the time…I just got caught up in this wonderful week. Wow….or what a muppet!

On to Saturday, and a game that I did remember about: Man Utd v Liverpool. We had to win – simple as that – otherwise bye, bye league title, hello Man Utd have-it-all-on-a-plate-for-you. It’s at Old Trafford, where we rarely score, let alone win. I hate these matches. I hate watching them. I hate seeing the happy mancs celebrate yet another victory. I was so not looking forward to the match – despite the fantastic Tuesday performance – that I was happy to miss the start of the game.

Twenty-eight minutes in, I go downstairs and nervously turn on the TV on. It warms up on another channel, and I slowly pumped in 4-0-8 and waited for the score to appear in the top left hand corner. Come on…come on….don’t let them be leading…don’t let them…. Man Utd 1 Liverpool 0. Noooooooo!!!! One second later I turn to the action and see Torres one-on-one with Van der Sar……he shoots….he scores!!!! It’s 1-1!!! I’ve missed the happy mancs for the whole period and have switched on at the exact time we go mental!!! Sweet! Get in there! Have it!!!!

What followed was simply amazing. Gerrard makes it 2-1 from the spot. Vidic gets sent off. Aurelio curls in a free kick leaving Van der Sar totally embarrassed. Dossena – Dossena for f***’s sake! – lobs the keeper to make it 4 – 1. 4 friggin 1 against the champions in their own backyard. Pinch me; I must be dreaming.

Ok, at the end of the day (to use a much-coined footy cliché) we’re still behind in the league and it is, after all, only a game. But wow…what a pair of results, eh? I mean, when will that ever occur again in the same week?

 

So, if I told you all that and the feeling of satisfaction that it gave me was just a small part of my good week then you might have an idea of how good my seven days were.