Boxing Day Blues

Boxing Day rolled in and I decided to go for a quick run. The thick ice was still on the pavements as the only thing being gritted was people's teeth in frustration. I stuck with running on the road, but this is a city and taxi drivers see runners as fair game, so I decided to run around Cringle Fields. In the short distance (the width of a pavement) from getting off the road on to the field I fell over on the ice. Cringle Fields are the council football fields. They have many uses, ranging from a race track for joyriders, to a holiday camp site for travelers. I used to walk the old Labs (Harold & Frank) on there and often I would stumble across a burning car, a stolen cash register or gypsies faeces and hedge trimmings. Anyway, on Boxing Day it was covered in ice, and tell tales signs of 'doughnuts' in the ice and mud showed the tradition of joyriding stolen Rovers is as ever popular.

Later on we had planned to go and see some good local football. Man Utd were not playing at home, Altrincham's game against York was postponed so we ended up watching Stoke, who were playing local team Manchester City. To do this we first had to become members of MCFC, and were all issued with id cards that we discovered later did not work. We all went so it was a good experience wandering through parts of Manchester that have been demolished and rebuilt since I was a lad. Once at the stadium called Eastlands, we found our seats up in the gods. Actually they proved to give a good view and much better than I thought. I love the little oddities that go on at football matches. At this one they put up a picture of a blue moon, and then everyone sings it. The boys in blue had an easy game ahead of them against Stoke. We could see Teves in all his glory, but could see he is one of those 'I'll let the ball come to me rather than go and get it' players. Anyway some East European looking fella scored first and the game picked up pace. 2 minutes before half time I was sent to get the hot chocolates and avoid the queue. As anyone who has ever nipped out of match early to go for a pee or catch the bus will know, this is actually a guaranteed way of making one of the teams score....just as your back is turned. In my case I got the pleasure of seeing the goal (Teves actually made a run) on the monitor above the pie stand, whilst I waited another 10 minutes for my hot chocolates.

Post game we had the thrill of more queues to get out of the car park. With the fuel gauge flashing empty, it was a nervous 40 minutes wait in heavy traffic until we found a petrol station. So that was our trip to Eastlands. When we returned home to Dunbar our members certificates and goodie bag were waiting for us. Who knows if we are down that way again we might pay them a visit if the Stockport County game is off.

Photos: Eastlands FC ground, that Teves goal at the pie shop and the boys in blue take on the mighty Stoke City.