The Prawn Sandwich Brigade

I’ve watched Forest an awful lot this year, more so than the last five years combined, so it was great to experience matchday sat in the ‘posh seats’.

Since reconnecting with the good folk at LTLF back in August last year, I’ve met loads of new friends. One such person is Steve Gleave (aka The Vicar). It was his 60th birthday a few weeks back and he came up with the idea that a group of us should do the hospitality for once. It was an opportunity to have a meal and watch the game all together, rather than the usual scattered around the stadium.

The hospitality we went for was the Robin Hood Carvery. A two-course meal hosted by former Forest player Kenny Burns. Steve had paid for bottles of wine for each table and, because it fell on the same day, a sweepstake for the Grand National had been arranged. The weather for the day could not have been better, as we all met in the Southbank on an unseasonably warm early April Saturday. The meal was also pretty good, carvery’s are a hard thing to get wrong though…

The game itself didn’t turn out the way we’d have liked (we lost), but it was an entertaining game. A seven goal thriller that ended up 4-3 to Reading. Afterwards we had the chance to meet players as they made their way out of the ground, I took the opportunity of having my camera present to have a few pictures took of me with some players, and the manager! To top it all off, I won on the Grand National sweepstake. £50 in the coffers.

The drinking began in earnest afterwards. The nice weather, alcohol and the great company all made sure that it was a day to remember. I hadn’t enjoyed myself at a Forest game that much in a while, which probably says more about Forest’s recent slump in form than anything else.

February Stars

More of an update on a few things than anything else.

First off, i’m still jobless. Though the Job Centre now seem to be realising I’m getting nowhere, so they sent me on a course to a place called ‘Ingeus’. It’s like the Job Centre itself, only if they actually helped you rather than just giving you money. They went through interview techniques, how to alter your CV to make it more attractive to potential employers, and other ‘secret’ methods of finding work. I found it more interesting than I was expecting, though it did drag on far too long. Can’t complain too much though, I got a free lunch and my bus fare was reimbursed.

Away from job woes, I spent the weekend before my birthday helping my brother move across London. I say helping him move, but aside from loading things into and out of the van, I had to make my way across London myself (three seater van only!). Normally this isn’t a problem, but the journey from Wood Green to Ealing Broadway is SO LONG. Thankfully on arriving in Ealing, I was pleased to find that it’s actually really rather nice. Wood Green was all good and that, but it was very ‘inner city’, Ealing seems like the suburbs. Where they live now looks like the posher parts of West Bridgford! On the way back, me and my dad tried a new way to get back home, along the M40. We’ve since found out that it is the most boring motorway ever. The M1 is a killer, but at least when you get to Northampton you can judge how long you’re away from home.

I never did make it to the West Ham game in the end. Seems like it was one mission too far! I did decide to take advantage of amazingly cheap tickets to the Norwich v Forest game in April (only £12 return!), but lo and behold – Sky moved the date. It costs almost as much again to get a refund on your tickets, so I decided to make a weekend of it and found a cheapy B&B around the corner from Norwich station. Carrow Road is rubbish, but Norwich itself is lovely city and well worthy of a city break.

April itself is a busy month. What with pre-match hospitality in honour of a friend’s birthday at the start of the month, followed by the above Norwich weekender, and finally a tour of the Castle Rock brewery prior to our last home game of the season. I did a tour of the cellars in the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in December and I really enjoyed it (free beer helped!), this tour is longer  - as it’s an actual brewery rather than a cellar – plus as well as free beer you get free food.

Marvellous.

Gizza Job

I seem to have got somewhere in the never-ending story that is my quest for employment. Since I was made unemployed in July, I seem to have got precisely nowhere. I’ve applied for a stupid amount of jobs and most of the companies that I have applied to haven’t even given me the courtesy of a reply. Even a ‘thanks, but no thanks’! It is a true reflection of the desperate nature of todays job market when I don’t get anywhere with even the most basic of jobs (B&M discount retailers anyone?).

The Job Centre up their game after three months, and rightly so. Most people signing on are desperate to get back into work. There is still the percentage of people signing on who either never intend, or aren’t bright enough, to work, and that will never change. Problem I have with the change of tact from the Job Centre is they treat you as you aren’t doing enough to find work. This is despite the ongoing lull of full or even part-time jobs available in not just in Nottingham, but everywhere. To be fair to them, they have thrown all sorts of possible jobs at me, and in the past few weeks this seems to have amounted to a few replies of ‘due to large volume…etc’ rejections, but at least it’s a reply. And the worst case scenario is working back at Royal Mail for four weeks. So there is something, at least.

This past few weeks, I applied for two administration jobs. One of them is at a courier company in the outskirts of Bulwell and the other is a solicitors in the city centre. Living in Radcliffe, the solicitors is obviously the preferred choice due to the location. The one in Bulwell can’t be discounted though. It’s a full-time year-long contract. Money might be spent on buses, but it beats the hours that the solicitors are offering – just 21 – and I have a feeling they’ll beat the wage they’re offering as well. I went to the courier company today for the interview, they told me about the job and it sounds incredibly similar to the one I held at the ILF, and I let them know that. They seemed impressed that I essentially knew the basics of what I’d be doing anyway. I’ve read all manner of online documents on how to present yourself at interviews and I believe I came across well. The only things standing in my way are both location and someone with a larger amount of experience.

The solicitors, in the office district of Nottingham (Regent Street), is a similar office/admin assistant. It involves a little bit more activity, as I’ll be delivering items to nearby offices a lot of the time as well as running around after the various solicitors that work there! It’s a Monday – Wednesday job share, which would work out well for nights out on the piss on Fridays, and being just five minutes from Friar Lane the location is better than I could have hoped. Pay isn’t fantastic (about £6.50 an hour) and, as I mentioned earlier, the hours are less than I want. Both jobs have their plus and minus points. As far as this one is concerned, I received a letter from the office manager there selecting me ‘as a possible candidate’. They sent out an application form and asked me to explain how I fit the criteria they set out. Now, I know I’m good with the words, so this was easy – it’s being good with the words that I’m not amazing at.

So, I’ve yet to get an interview there – whereas I’ve had my interview in Bulwell. It could be a pivotal work in the working life of Peter Collison!

Kind of related, in as much that when I get a wage I can buy these, is the news that Nottingham Forest are selling Half Season Tickets for the end of December onwards – the first game being Derby at home on the 29th. They start at £250 for the relatively rubbish Lower Brian Clough and rise to nearly £270 for the preferred destination of the Upper Bridgford. I’ve enjoyed the games I’ve been to so far this season, and the company in the Globe, so I’m really quite keen on getting a ticket – regardless of how things are going on the pitch.

And a wage will also mean I can get an iPhone 4, after months of pining over it. I’ll be getting the sim-free version, because I have no plans to pay stupid amounts of money for calls and messages I don’t often use. Plus, I’ve grown attached to my mobile phone number, I seem to have had it for years…

Lewis McGreatGoal

As much as I hate not working, I’m enjoying being able to do pretty much anything I want, when I want.

I went to see Forest play yesterday, beating Ipswich 2-0 and seeing Lewis McGugan score with one of the greatest free kicks ever seen! After sitting in the chilly Upper Bridgford stand, freezing my arse off in the name of NFFC, I headed back to the pub and eventually into town where a group of the LTLF regulars were going out on the piss. As I’ve said on here previously, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a few from the forum so it was really good seeing them again. Plus every time I go to watch the Reds, I end up meeting somebody new from the forum.

I actually amazed myself with lasting the distance. Anyone who knows me will know I peak with my drinking far too early, most of the time ending up at home by midnight. I was up till 3.30am last night! After singing and dancing in the Approach (again with the dancing, I can’t dance so why do I try?), we went to Rock City. After about an hour in there, the remaining five of us then went for a curry – at 1.30am. The Mogal-E-Azam near the Theatre Royal stays open until 2.30, so in we piled for the best curry in Nottingham. I last went there, also with LTLF, in about 2004 – it hasn’t changed. It’s still amazing curry! I did let myself down by ordering a Tikka Masala, which is the equivalent of ordering a steak in a turkish restaurant, but it was really tasty. And I could blame the drink too.

The next Forest based get-together would seem to be the ‘Audience With…’ night on the 4th of November. The last one was good fun, hope this one is as well.

Lastly, I got offered a four-week contract at Royal Mail from the end of November. I knew I would, shame it isn’t a bit longer though really. The confusing thing now is what do I do till then. Keep signing on? Sign off? I’m actually going to the job centre tomorrow so I guess I’ll find out then.

Know Your Audience

I had a great time at the ‘Audience with…’ a few weeks ago. The three former players (John Robertson, Gary Birtles and Tony Woodcock) were very good value for money, with perhaps Robertson worth the admission price alone. After he’d had a few, he seemed intent on getting up from his seat and launching into his own personal audience with! The place was pretty full, and it’s made up my mind to attend the next one of these events, featuring – bizarrely – Mark Crossley, John Sheridan and John Roberston (again!). I can’t think what binds the three together, Sheridan’s link with Crossley in their respective coaching careers might be the reasoning here. Anyhow, it promises to be a good night – and I get to go free, thanks to friends in high places.

Watching my first game in years was also a good day, forgot how much I like being in a football stadium watching real live football! What I hadn’t missed was the misery that seems to be inherent in the old blokes up in the Brian Clough stand. We were 2-0 up and they were still being negative! Nevertheless, I’m going back to the City Ground for the Ipswich game at the end of the month. There is a forum get-together afterwards, and with my last one five years ago – it is definitely time to get drunk in the name of LTLF!

Job hunting? I think some of the jobs I’ve applied for, I’d have got no question a few years ago. Even the shittiest jobs I’m not getting! I went to the job fair in Nottingham, which on the whole was a rather pointless exercise. I’ve since discovered that Royal Mail are taking on staff for Christmas. I know I left RM for better things, but needs must. The ‘interview’ for the Christmas casual job is as simple as checking you are who you say you are, and ‘what times can you do?’. If i get turned down for this, then kill me now.

I’ve also took it on myself to find this years new music. Every year I happen upon some new music somewhere. Whether it be new albums of artists already on my ipod, or music similar to what I like, I always end up with something new. Not so far though, not at least until I discovered last.fm. A rather handy tool to expand your music library, it’s led me to get into quite a few bands I’d never considered before. Electric Soft Parade, Easyworld, Turin Brakes, Black Kids, South, Broken Bells? I’ll browse Fopp in the next few days searching for these artists albums. There’s nothing better than discovering new music.