That's right, I'm going audio. So instead of giving up reading halfway through, now you can fall asleep listening to my dulcet tones! I thought that I might start off by recording all the previous blogs. I was going to say for the visually impaired that are unable to read what I've already done, but really it's just to save me having to write a whole load more stuff, just to get something to record. The good news is, that with all this lockdown and virus stuff going on, I seem to have a lot more time on my hands!
So, back to important matters, the new football season is up and running, although watching our highlights last week, it's more of a canter than running. Best part was Harrogate Town, first game in the football league and they stuff Southend United. So a 1-1 draw and losing on penalties in the something or other cup the week before, although annoying is not looking quite so shabby. This week will be the test; all well and good beating Southend, but they were rubbish last season, still having problems off of the pitch and still staving off a winding up order. I can't see them fairing too well this season either. If Harrogate do well this week it will be more of a guide as to how well they might do.
We are pushing the ball around the hallowed turf of Prenton Park this week, or should I say lush new carpet of a pitch. I really do hope we do well at home this season, it can make all the difference. It will be so different without the SWA, filling The Kop and being the 12th man. That said, we are only a few shy of 4000 season tickets, that's pretty good considering no-one knows when they will all be let back in to actually watch a game. Even as stands with these trial games, only 1000 are being let in, although if as was planned 25% of the ground capacity get to attend if the dreaded 'R' number drops again, then all those 4000 should just about be ok.
What I'm really hoping for, is that we actually score some goals! We've now got 4 or else 5 strikers and as many attacking midfielders so we should be taking the chances that are being created. It is encouraging that chances are being created, but we really must do more with them.
But still no fans. All those teams that voted not to play out last season, as with no fans they couldn't afford to play. Can't hear any of them complaining at the minute. Still, there's no relegation or promotion to be decided after just one game, is there? Unless they do it alphabetically, then we're down again! Macclesfield Town have been wound up by the High Court with unpaid debts and no way of settling them, I bet there are other teams who are not too far behind them, especially with no fans and very little in the way of income. It will be interesting to see how many make it past Christmas if there are still none or only very limited fan numbers by them. It will be sad obviously, Tranmere so nearly didn't make it through the 1980's, so we've nearly been there and we know how sad and frustrating it is. We now have a Chairman who not only loves our club but knows what it means to the local community,
We're fortunate that his job was rescuing companies and so he and his wife have been able to turn the club around and get it on a sure footing financially. Even so, there have been casualties job wise, as well as having to close the hotel. Let's hope this all slows down again and life can move back to a more, what we call normal.
It's not all about money, yes we need money to live in a comfortable way, but at the end of the day it's about people's lives, their well being, their mental health. We need to be there to help each other through life, to encourage and support each other. To lots of people it's just doing things a bit differently but to some it's hard for them to cope, not knowing what's going to happen, when they can go out, when they can see family and friends, it's very stressful for them and they need support, encouragement and care.
Right! Back to the mundane. Does anyone know how I can get rid of the ferny type moss that has taken over my lawn. The lawn looks lush and green but give it a couple of days and it's all small feathery leaves that are showing through leaving the grass behind. I've sprinkled Weed and Feed, didn't seem to do much, a few brown patches but I think that it's killed off everything apart from the grass and what I wanted to kill. I even gave it a jolly good soaking (after I sprinkled it, generously, for the second time) but still it keeps on coming. I will not be beaten, I will see if there is something else I can try. I've got all winter whilst it generally seems to grow less than the grass.
The Jobs list has now been re-typed to make it easier to read, after all the crossings out, cryptic notes and my wifes scribbled additions. I've managed to do a few jobs from the new list so it looks as though I am busy during the day whilst she is at work. I've even managed to do a few jobs that are not on the list that I have been meaning to do for a while. Schoolboy error! I should have written those on the list, then I could have crossed them off and made it look like I've done even more.
But what I enjoy, is when she spots that something has been done and mentions it and I say, oh I did that weeks ago, and it's taken her ages to notice.
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but we had a rat in the garden a few months ago. I put a poison bait tray down a few years ago when we spotted one once before, and we haven't seen one again, that is until a few months ago. I checked the poison, gone! so I put some more in. The rat kept coming back, it was eating the bits that had fallen from the bird feeding stations fixed to the wall at the end of the garden, it just went along the wall and then disappeared back again. So, I got a trap. 2 days later I went down to check it, result, one dead rat. So I set the trap again and made sure the bait in the box was still topped up. Checked it every couple of days, nothing.
Then one afternoon I'm looking up the garden and there is a magpie on the path, on it's side with one wing up in the air, not moving. Great I thought, a dead magpie! Then it moved, it had it's head stuck in the rat trap, brilliant! So I dashed up the garden and had to try not to spook it as I made to release it. I managed to get hold of the trap and squash the spring so that it could escape. It rolled its neck a couple of times, squawked and flew away. I decided not to put the trap back down as it was clearly a danger to others and seemingly not to rats.
Then last week, my wife and daughter noticed that the rat was back, it was fat and obviously an adult, and it wandered part way down the garden. A couple of days later I saw a smaller one in the roof of the garage at the end of the garden and it was trying to get down to the bird feeders, in the end it gave up and disappeared into the roof space. A day or two later it was spotted again, this time it had climbed up the wall and was hanging on the peanut feeder. It then made its way onto the feeding table and tried to get to the bird seed. When it went back on the peanuts a little while later, I went up the garden, shooed it away and removed the peanuts. Now neither the birds or the rats can have them. It did come back looking for them but hasn't been seen since. We suspect that they are living in the brambly undergrowth on the otherside of the garage block that purports to be the garden of the maisonettes behind us.