Nottingham Forest 3 - 1 Milwall

Forest turn around a 1 goal deficit to sit safely atop League One as we head into December. The reds were a bit shaky first half, letting Ben May get the goal to put Milwall one up, thankfully though Forest got their act together second half.

Junior Agogo equalised for Forest, with James Perch putting the reds in front. Ian Breckin later made it comfortable for the reds, having a chance late on to get his second and Forest’s fourth, but alas he missed.

The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Quarter Final against Bristol City is next, followed by the trip to Salisbury City in the FA Cup. A little respite from the league when we really could’ve done with a few more games to try and cement our position at the top. Trouble we have is that Scunthorpe, Yeovil, Bristol City and Tranmere are all either winning or within a few wins of our 41 points. I hope by this seasons end we’ll have a massive 10 point gap.

DSaster

Have realised I’ve been neglecting my poor old DS in recent months, what with trips abroad and purchases of consoles, so I’m on the lookout for cheap, decent DS games. I’m searching for Wario Ware: Touched but finding it increasingly hard to find.

The GBA slot in my DS could also do with some new game, so shall fix this problem shortly….!

Textbook!

Had a textbook evening on Wednesday. Headed off to my mate Jim’s new house in Sherwood, armed with my copy of Dead Rising and 8 tins of beer bought at a bargain price at, err, Bargain Booze.

Sherwood, it seems, is full of off licenses, pubs, takeaways… you name it. Certainly not lost for things to do in this part of Nottingham.

Anyways, we play Dead Rising the wrong way, killing the survivors and finding the most stupidest costume out there. We also found out that the least effective weapon against zombies is food. And the most effective is a hot frying pan!

After personally consuming five cans, i managed to get a respectful enough score on Burnout Revenge, before the 360 was packed away for the night and we moved onto the Mighty Boosh.

I’ve never seen a comedy series as mental as this. I love odd comedy, but this is something else. Will certainly be buying the series boxset of this next week!

Climbing up on Salisbury Hill

Nottingham Forest’s reward for beating a poor Yeading side 5-0 is a trip away to Salisbury City.

Doing slightly better than their West London counterparts in the Conference South, the wiltshire side still shouldn’t provide the reds with much of a test. If Calderwood continues putting out a full strength side for cup competitions (as he did on saturday), then we shouldn’t really have much to fear.

I’d like the go to this game, as I’ve been to Salisbury about a year ago and quite enjoyed visiting the place. It made up for the extortionate prices they were charging at the nearby Stonehenge.

Away from footie, the return to the mundane after my quick visit over the channel has left me hungry for more. I’d not been abroad before last week and now I’ve done it, I wanna do it some more! Current prospective holiday destinations for next year include a weekend away in Amsterdam (enjoying the, erm, sights…) and a lads weekend with my brother in Bratislava.

A long way in the future of course, as the debt-making holiday of christmas is just around the corner!

First time for everything…

Last weekend was one of firsts for me. First time i’d been abroad, first time i’d been to France, first time i’d been on a plane and perhaps most embarrassingly of all, first time I used my passport despite having had it since 1999.

I got it long ago for a school trip to some technology park in France, only to see the trip fall through. Since then, i’d had a few opportunities to holiday abroad, but for one reason or another it never happened. So I had a passport with just 3 years to run, and a picture of fresh faced young kid who looks nothing like he does now.

I booked the weekend in Paris long ago, plenty of time to save up a bit of holiday cash and do some homework on Paris sights and sounds and the like. What was also getting to me was the first flight in a plane. Nothing to worry about, i’d told myself long beforehand, but that didn’t stop me getting nervous. The mind thinking irrational thoughts, reaching a crescendo when I arrived at East Midlands Aiport.

Obviously the mundane and routine nature of flying in a plane soon put my mind at rest, and I soon entered the ‘wow! we’re so high up!’ stage of childlike fascination. Landed in Paris in the early hours and spent the best part of the morning walking the streets with a suitcase that didn’t much like the cobbled Parisian streets.

Managed to get by with my severly limited french, with the phrase ‘Parlez vous Anglais?’ coming into frequent use. It didn’t stop many of the locals spouting french at me though! Luckily all the hotel staff were multi-lingual. Even if at times it was mangled Franglish.

Paris was a nice city, if a little too touristy. It isn’t like the coast, where there are off seasons where it’s pleasant to enjoy without the hordes of people making your life a misery. The main sights were predictably overcrowded, with the Eiffel Tower being the busiest. I was actually thinking of going up it, with the prices not being as bad as I originally thought they might be. However, the queues stretching back down towards the Seine put me off doing anything other than taking pictures.

Coming back on the Monday, I copped the full force of the new security measures. Making the trip out seem relatively painless in comparison. The security checks seemed to take an age, with the main culprits being Japanese tourists who had no clue what they were meant to be doing.

Would definetly go back to France sometime in the future but somewhere less touristy. Though the south french coast certainly looks appealing!