What’s it all about again?

Finally I can bask in the glory of my beloved football team winning a trophy for the first time in my lifetime!  It was an amazing day at Wembley on Sunday, and one that will live long in the memory.  My friends and I left early and beat all of the traffic, we arrived at 9.10!  The Stadium Shop wasn’t even open!

We soon took up a position at the top of Wembley Way watching all the Saints fans (and the odd Carlisle fan) swarming up from the station, a sea of red and white scarves and flags and hats, and coach after coach arriving each bringing 50 more fans in by road.

I haven’t been inside such an enormous stadium since we were still in the premier league and the atmosphere was so exciting!  The only thing wrong with it was the several empty stands opposite.  I don’t understand why there weren’t many more people wanting to make the journey down from Carlisle, but then apparently, they have been in that final four other times before.

During the match our team was just like our team - Rickie was his usual superb self, Kelvin Davis made a few great stops, Papa Waigo danced and the young lads gave their all.

I couldn’t quite believe it was us when I watched the players climbing the steps to the royal box to be presented with the trophy.  I have to admit that a tear of pride escaped my eye.

So it may only be the ‘paint pot cup’, but it is success, it is winning something as a group, us playing our part as supporters, the team getting deserved glory and recognition.  The whole town of Southampton now has a buzz about it, a belief that there are great things to come.

I have felt quite weird and floaty today.  Like I’m there but I’m not really there.  I keep having these fantasies of an exciting life, of a passionate love affair, of true understanding from another person, but then they fade, and it’s like waking up from a dream and realising you’re somewhere completely different to where you had convinced yourself you were.

So what’s occurring?  Got my ticket for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final today at last - thank goodness for that!  I went to the club shop yesterday and bought some over-the-top merchandise to take.  Would have looked pretty pathetic if I’d had to stay home with my big foam hand and my red and white flag!  I actually think Rickie Lambert might be the new Matt Le Tissier, especially after seeing the goal he scored on Saturday to seal a 3-0 win against MK Dons.  Finally it’s exciting to watch my beloved Saints again, even if we are in the 3rd tier of English football.

Seeing as it’s another sh*tty day and evening weather wise (Spring, anyone??) I’ve decided I’m not going out.  I’m sure there’s plenty of interesting and educational things to watch on the tv.

Have just seen that advert for Diet Coke on the tv with the puppets.  Maybe I have some weird aversion that dates back to childhood, but I find that advert really creepy!  I think it’s puppets in general.  To quote Gareth from The Office; “I don’t trust the way they move”.

I now have a cold which has annoyed me completely!  It’s as though I was carrying on for ages with the worry of the presentation hanging over me, and when that was over the place where the worry had been stored emptied out and was replaced by a cold virus.  Still at least no-one will try and tell me it’s swine flu this time.

I have been so glad to get the last week over with.  The big presentation which I was dreading happened on Tuesday, and whilst I won’t say I absolutely smashed it and received a standing ovation from the listening audience, a minor personal victory was won just by getting through it!

I saw Seth Lakeman in Southsea on the 5th (thanks for the comment by the way!) and he was absolutely marvellous - a good night was had by all!  Some of his older tunes like Riflemen of War and Kitty Jay had people out of their seats, but his new album Hearts and Minds, which he suggested will be out in May, also sounds like it’s going to be really great on this evidence!  I know my friends find it somewhat odd that I just have to keep going back to see him again and again, but there is something about him…I can’t quite describe it, but when I watch him on the stage, it is like I’ve been picked for a team, like I’ve won a prize, like all’s right with the world, just for a little while…

Maybe it dates back to the first time I saw him, on tv back in 2006.  I’d just had my heart broken for the first time, and I had been walking round in a numb, grief-fuelled haze for two days, and when I saw him there on the tv singing Lady of the Sea, for just the couple of minutes that he was on, I felt ok again.  Like a spark of hope had been lit.  Recovering from a broken heart is a long and painful process, but it’s amazing how people do.