Chesterfield FC – Where were you?

I can’t tell you how many town games I have been to because I never kept a count.  Even all the away grounds become a bit blurred, but from York to Rochdale to Walsall and Anfield and even the couple of times at Wembley, I appreciate how much joy the club brings to members of the community.  I always feel sorry for those who grew up in a town without a local league club as through all the hype and hooligans, the atmosphere and shared ecstasy and misery is something that is worth a thousand TV games.

So, here was my little contribution to football and Chesterfield FC.  Not much, but something which I am very proud of and had I have lived in Chesterfield at this time, I am sure I would have got more involved in.

Driving Test

I’ve kept this piece of paper for all these years, not so much to remind me as to why I failed my first driving test, that was clear, I nearly ran into a Land Rover.  No!  The reasons I kept it was as much to remind me of who McGregor is.  You see when I was learning to drive at 17, so were all my friends, and the talk ‘down the park’ was always about “when is your test” and who do you have, actually, you don’t know who you had until you turned up, but no one wanted McGregor!  I’m not sure why more people seemed to fail with Mr M, maybe because once you knew you had him you lost all self belief, or maybe he was just harsh.  Either which way, I passed the next time I don’t remember the assessors name!

The Free Lions

As England fans, Ross and I getting our name into the England Fanzine for the Ecuador game on the 25th June 2006 was a nice touch even if it was for a DAFT PHOTOGRAPH

When I was 20 and earned AU$220 a week

I was having a few beers on Friday and the topic turned to what people earned, never an easy topic!  Out of everyone, only the young 18 year old was happy to share his salary and I was a little embarrassed but reminding him that he is 18 and although he spends the same time at work as everyone else, he earns less than is enough to live on because the employer can get away with it.

Later I checked and when I was 18 I worked at Stakis (Bar and Hotel work) and then Pople landscapes.  I was a student and so only worked 20 weeks a year, but still I earned the “going rate”.  Below is a copy of my slip, with you will notice: Zero holidays as I was casual and I paid NI but no tax because I was under the thresh hold per year.  That is how bad it was.

Two years later and I had my degree and was working for my first year on the DNA database, profiling DNA and analysing results on Macs.  A good job, but did it pay well?  Below is my pay slip from 1999, as you can see I was paid 250 pounds a week, but still I wasn’t paid for holidays and so basically didn’t have any. I was now taxed and it all added up to about 11k per year.

Gymea all age 8s 2007-2008

This is the end of season photo

Back: Aaron, Paul, Jimmi, Alex, Tim, Phil, Dil, Joel

Front: Brad, Itch, Jia, Chris, Gray, George, Mag

Missing: Jared, Bucko and probebly others I can’t remember :-/

Sometimes you just can’t sleep

So you get up, look outside and think, Jesus!  What am I missing?

6am this morning, a Saturday, and worth it.  I celebrated with a banana smootie

16 teams ready to play football – Stopped by rain

Can you believe it?  I’ve been living in Sydney for a little over 2 years and this is my 3rd year of this competition, the Sydney Law firm Soccer, and the 2nd time the rain has stopped it.  That is 2 more times than I have ever seen, any game, at any level, stopped in the UK.  What more is there to say.

Nice service

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