Wank Holiday Monday

The past few days have been the worst in a long time, for different reasons!

I’d had some Krispy Kreme donuts on Sunday evening, and some Scampi Fries, an odd combination of foodstuffs and I thought no more of it until about 10pm that night. I had what felt like indigestion, so I took some Remegel just to be on the safe side. As the hours went on the pain got gradually worse. Indigestion normally disappears at this point so I knew something was wrong.

Then I started feeling sick, and promptly was. About 1am in the morning and the stomach pain was crippling. I phoned up NHS Direct who told me to make my way to the NEMS centre on Derby Road. So, in the early hours I got my dad to take me along in what seemed like the longest car journey ever. We got there, and while the doctor managed to get things sorted and get some kind of diagnosis, he took his time over it. I was in agony!

Rather than admit me to the QMC, the hospital just literally over the road, he said to go to the City Hospital, 3 miles away. Feeling sick again, I couldn’t contain my guts any longer and disgraced the North Entrance of the City Hospital (apologies for the poor bugger who had to clear that up in the morning! ). It was close to 3am now and I was on a hospital bed, hoping for a diagnosis and more importantly, the medicine!

I was hooked up to a drip and given plenty of morphine. In a much more calmer state in the morning, the doctors told me I had Gastroentiritis - which is sort of the worst Stomach ache you can have. Not too sure how I got this, whether it was infected food or too much rich food, but I definitely do not want to feel that way again.

So, I spent all of Monday and most of today in the hospital. Before I left, I was in much more of a better state so was more appreciative of the work the nurses do there. The staff in the Harvey One ward at the City really did their job brilliantly, and today’s meal wasn’t half bad either.

Of course, the misery of the Bank Holiday was compounded with news of Derby’s promotion to the Premiership. The big hope here is that they’ll go the same way as last year’s play-off finalists Watford, and sink like a stone. I can but hope!

I doubt I’ll be at work this week after the past few days, as I’m physically and mentally shattered.

Hit the road, Jack…

Forest wasted little time in starting the summer clear-out, with nine players shown the door. Most of which were out of contract and in Pedersen’s case had already expressed his intention to leave the club. What was a bit of a surprise was Jack Lester not being given a new contract. He seemed to have finally got his act together in this league, toning down his tendencies to dive and actually scoring the odd goal!

I can understand Calderwood’s intention to clear out the deadwood and start again, with this many players leaving the club, it is pretty certain that the manager is starting some sort of mass recruitment drive this summer! Hopefully it’ll have better outcomes than the bizarre signing of James Henry earlier on in the season…

I’ve had a massive amount of publicity for this blog, all thanks to the rather excellent Through The Seasons Before Us. A ‘one of a kind’ dedicated Forest blog which is always well written and always worth a read. The guy who writes this (still don’t know his name!!) asked to use one of the pictures I took before the Rotherham game as the header for his blog. He obviously saw the quality of the photographs taken ( ) and chose the very same one I use for the header of this site! It’s no problem to me, I’m just happy that people think enough of the pictures to want to use them themselves.

As a result of that, the hits and views of this blog have shot right up! A captive audience!! What do I do next?

Death of a Dream

Where do we go from here?

Nottingham Forest 2-5 Yeovil Town. The morning after the horror show before. Forest were never at their best in the first leg, got two penalties and convinced themselves that all it needed was a continuation of their Huish Park ‘performance’ to take themselves to Wembley. What we got was a capitulation straight out of the Nottingham Forest 2003 Book of chucking away a play-off semi.

Yeovil were on top straight away, got the goal they needed and things looked bleak. Then out of nowhere, Scott Dobie scored to regain the 2 goal advantage. Calderwood took no chances and with 10 minutes to go took off Jack Lester and replaced him with Wes Morgan - the worst move he could have made.

Trying to sit on a slender lead against a never-say-die Yeovil side was never going to work, and sure enough they fought their way back into the tie, taking it into extra-time. David Prutton got the red card his substitute performance deserved, this is the guy who has apparently calmed himself down after disgracing himself with referee related incidents at Southampton. All in all, the night was taking an awfully familiar turn, with own goals, sendings off and a comeback all similar to the night at Bramall Lane in 2003.

With players getting injured after the 3 subs had been used, we had half the team wandering round as the walking wounded. And the inevitable end of the match saw Yeovil get the winner their performance deserved in the second half of extra time. A sense of disbelief for Forest fans everywhere. How the hell did this happen?!

Is it Calderwood? The players? Chairman?! I can only give my heartfelt apologies to all fans who were there last night. I suppose I got off lightly by only being able to listen to the game. Certainly everybody I’ve spoken to who were at the game seem so frustrated at our failure of a club.

Where do we go from here?

Que Sera?

Is Friday a time for a celebration? Well it already is for me, regardless of whether Nottingham Forest complete the job tonight and go on to Wembley.

The DSLR camera I bought last August has finally been paid off. In a moment of true madness, I decided not to buy the camera outright, opting instead to buy it on a “Buy Now, Pay Later” deal and promptly forgot about it for four months. With this hanging over me, coupled with the credit card bill which still stands at near £2000, I was having some sleepless nights worrying.

In April, however, I decided to be ruthless and spend all incoming money on getting this debt out of the way. Being paid today has enabled me to pay off the last £50 owed. As well as now owning the camera many months after buying it, I now have just the credit card to overcome, which is a damn sight easier to pay off than the dreaded deadlines of Clydesdale’s ‘Buy Now’ deal.

The other celebration, of course, could come later tonight as Forest entertain Yeovil at the City Ground for a place in the Play-off Final. Forest have been boosted by the news that Grant Holt, John Curtis and David Prutton are all back to full fitness, so I’m hoping on us getting a few goals tonight and killing the game off. We really can’t rest on our laurels tonight and I fear Yeovil are gonna throw everything at us. But we’ll come through alive!

I’d decided long ago that I was going to Wembley should we end up in the Play-offs, but a quick glance at the prices that both Derby and West Brom have been given for seats at the Championship final, it seems it’ll be quite an expense for seats closer to the pitch. About £80 to be exact! That put me off initially, but seats at the top of Wembley - riiiight at the top - are at a more reasonable £30. I was worried that I’d see none of the game properly, but have since realised that it’s Forest and Wembley. These two haven’t seen each other for many a year, it could never happen again in my lifetime!

I’ll know for certain later on tonight what I’m doing next weekend. I’m nervous already! YOU REDS!!

Lots of things to see and do!

I originally intended to be done with the blog, but I thought sod it, there is still life left in the old Blog yet!

In the week off, i’ve given it yet another makeover. I want to change over to a hosted blog eventually, as the amount of customisation options is a lot more impressive than the bare bones features you get on the free option. Ah well! I’m able to spend a bit more freely after next week when I pay off the last £50 owed on buying my camera on credit last year. And later in the year i’ll put the same effort into reducing my Credit Card debt.

Forest gave it all they got on Friday evening, which wasn’t much. They had two penalties given, one stonewall, one not, and scored them both. The harder away leg is out of the way and they shouldn’t have much problems at the City Ground. I intend to go to Wembley should we get there, as it bothers me that I never went to the old stadium. I also know plenty of people who are making the trip down to London, so transport shouldn’t be a problem!

Last day of the Premiership today saw Sheffield United drop down to the Championship after just a season. I would have prefereed to have seen West Ham make the drop, after their dodgy dealings earlier in the year, but I’m quite glad to see Neil Warnock out of the Premiership - never been a fan of his.

Update on my fitness - I’ve now lost almost four stone and intend to make it six or seven by the end of summer, I left Hoofers and have yet to join another gym. Not certain whether it was that effective as I’ve carried on losing weight since i left the gym. I’ve considered buying one of those sit-up frames for use at home, but any expenditure will have to wait a week or so.