TW3

That Was The Week That Was happened in my very young years – it was a satirical look at the news broadcast by the BBC in the very early 1960’s. I call on that famous name because this week has been very much a TW3 week for me and as a result there have been no posts 😦

Normally I’d have been covering the next steps of building a truck company in France: Taking on Cee’s B&W and Fun Foto challenges and probably a couple of other things too. But is has been one of those weeks where I’ve been buzzing around like the proverbial blue tailed fly.

I last posted on Monday 13th but I was already in a negative time zone at that point. Wingate & Finchley played Corinthian Casuals in the FA Trophy on the 11th – an important day as we remembered service men and women killed or injured in action and I had the photos from that match to process. It was a day to remember because of the Care that ‘Casuals put in to the event. We came away with the points but it was a very even game and 3-1 probably flattered our performance. Here’s Rob scoring a very nicely headed goal…

Sunday was Remembrance day and one for church. Monday saw me going to the Orthodontist with Alasdair – a wasted journey as it happened because there was some mix up regards the appointment (we’ve been down there again today to get his braces serviced!). Tuesday saw me doing my photographic duties as the first team played Brightlingsea Regent in a strongly competed league match. We won it in the final minute as Ben Pattie capitalised on a defensive error……But a draw would probably have been the right and fair result.

Wednesday and I was attending our Under 23 team match against Brentwood Town’s U23 side. I try to get along to the ‘youth’ matches a couple of times each year but this season Dean, the current coach, has been getting on my case regularly to come and photograph them. Sometimes people forget I’m a volunteer 😉 It was a good game with the team running out 4-2 on the night with that man Pattie scoring a Hat Trick. It was also a reminder of how young our senior squad is as Nathan and Jake also play in in both squads. It was also a reminder of just how keenly fought these fixtures are and how parents at youth games get too involved for the best interests of their child. I saw a parent abusing one of the linesmen for giving their child offside and then telling the young man he was definitely onside when frankly he clearly wasn’t. That’s misleading the player which means he’s going to continue to find himself offside – why can’t parents be honest with their children in sports???

This tackle which is both fair and outside the penalty area drew a volley of expletives from a visiting parent/fan claiming it was a penalty…… which the visiting manager picked up and abused the referee such that the ref had to warn him. I hope he has subsequently given some consideration to whether he should be using foul language in front of teenagers? Abusing the Referee may be a Fan’s prerogative but managers should set a good example 🙂

Thursday and I’m in the Dentist’s for the prep work before getting a crown fitted after one of my older fillings broke. That knocks me out for the day and most of the next one too. I had bad experiences with dentists when I was a child and it’s taken close on 40 years to get me to the point where I can go regularly again. Thanks to my Good Lady for supporting me and to the patience of the young lady dentist at East Finchley Smiles. I’m still a nervous wreck when I come out but at least I can go in there and get the work done now. Back for the crown fitting next week.

Friday and we’ve got to go into school to meet the Maths teacher regards Alasdair’s progress. He needs to work harder – well we already knew that but I guess it always needed underlining. Whether the message has sunk in remains to be seen.

Saturday and it’s weekly shop and then off to visit Woodhouse College open day so that Alasdair can gain some more info about courses he may wish to do for A-Levels. At least he knows what grades he needs to achieve now. It wasn’t like this when I was at school – so much pressure on the students to get the required grades to go to College and then once again to get into University. Maybe that was because I was only deemed good enough for a Technical Modern education by the government policies of the time 😉 I went straight into work at 16 as a technician and I was an ‘Engineer’ all my working life which I guess was what the old Technical Modern Education was intended to make me – is that genetic engineering by selective tuition? My son’s generation will find it very different because they are forced down the ‘academic’ route. I did find out one thing of interest at a careers exhibition we attended a little earlier in the year. Apparently the government, after pushing everyone down the ‘University’ path because that’s what they did to become the good politicians that they are (you are permitted to smile here!) have suddenly realised that they have a serious shortage of Technicians (people like me) so they’re looking at reintroducing a form of technical schooling from 2020. Too late for current students who perhaps don’t feel that the college and university path is for them 😦

Sunday and it’s the coach down to Leatherhead where we succumb to an absolute 4-0 hammering… and are left wondering why we bother for 10 minutes or so then we pull up our pants and get ready for the coming week. It’s enough to make you weep or sleep… 😉

This week’s going to be another that will be almost as bad… I’ll post when I can 🙂