Bury FC - never fail to disappoint

 Bury FC are back at Gigg Lane. Or they were. Today’s penultimate game of the season against Padiham was played at FC United’s Broadhurst Park Stadium. Gigg Lane has taken a battering this season and the grass pitch is due to be ripped up and a state of the art 3G pitch is to be laid in its place. 

Bury were supposed to walk this league. Well, they haven’t. They have stuttered and stumbled all season long and look to be finishing in 3rd place- into the lottery of the playoffs. The prize being promoted into the Northern Premier League system. 

Before tonight’s debacle against Padiham Bury had everything in their own hands. The message was simple- win your remaining two games and go up as champions. 

Tonight shouldn’t have even mattered. Bury should be far out of sight by now. Their budget is a hundred times bigger than most other clubs in the North West Counties Premier League. The amount of late goals and leads Bury have squandered this year has been truly shocking. Three points were even knocked off for fielding an illegible player in the first game against Glossop North End- a game Bury won 5-1. 

Despite attendances being on the whole above 3000 for every home game, Bury were subjected to playing behind closed doors for two games as well due to several incidents of poor crowd behaviour. No one can deny this season has been a rollercoaster. 

So back to tonight. Just a nice easy win needed against a resurgent Padiham side… nice and easy. Padiham didn’t read the script and slotted home after 12 minutes. Oh dear. After chasing the game for 80 minutes, Bury went further behind- 2-0 with 20 to go… Connor Comber added a consolation goal in injury time but it was too little too late. 

Bury, providing a miracle happens on Saturday against local rivals Ramsbottom, can still win the league. However this seems unlikely. Hope I’m wrong. 

Social media- time it stopped

 Social media is a massive part of everyone’s life. However, it doesn’t have to be. My experience with social media over the past 12 years is that it has simply made me feel miserable every time I use it. It has never made me feel good about myself- not once. It has amplified everyone’s voice so much so that the internet is a wall of noise. 

I have tried to quit social media before but I’ve always returned. I am addicted there is no doubt about it. The time I’ve wasted scrolling on social media is frankly disturbing. I’ll never get that time back. I’ve wasted three hours today. Stuck in a room looking at a screen into people’s lives who I don’t even know. Frankly it’s weird. The whole set up. 

I’m going to try my best to come off it 

Bury Transport Museum and overseeding the lawn

 On a wet and windy Saturday afternoon, when your wife is knee deep in work, you need an activity to pass a couple of hours. When your son is Britain’s number one train enthusiast then Bury Transport Museum is the perfect place for us. At a mere £8 for a Dad and lad (4) it couldn’t be more competitively priced plus I get a warm glowing feeling knowing I’m contributing to local history and causes. 

We slowly make our way through the old cars, buses and trains. There are interactive exhibits for kids too such as how to build different types of bridges including one with a keystone which I have always wondered how they work. Now I know. There is a huge timeline along one wall which details the history of Bury’s transport network from 1790 until the modern day. How things have changed! 

For us though, more so my little boy, the piece de resistance was the Hornby model railway which had been set out to mirror Bury’s train stations that were in action right up until the 1960s. I’m pretty sure he’d watch those trains all day long. There is also a dressing up area with a Brio track as well. Something for everyone. We will no doubt return. 

Our other project has been renovating the front lawn, which was full of moss. Hopefully after scarifying, aerating and now over seeding, in six weeks time it will be completely restored. Fingers crossed. Just got the back lawn which is a bigger prospect entirely.

Aerating

 I like to think I’ve achieved something in every single day. Today’s achievement was aerating the front lawn which sadly I haven’t took a picture of. Maybe tomorrow. So it’s now been scarified and aerated and the only thing left to do is seed it and cover with top soil. I’ll do this tomorrow hopefully with photographic evidence.

One thing I do have photographic evidence of is the back garden. I think the plants are looking nice for April 11th. The alstroemeria, which is bottom left, I split a section off it and planted it in the opposite flower bed. Touch wood it seems to be doing ok despite the lack of sun. 

I also managed another run, just round the estate, but this tired me out for the rest of the day. 

Night scrolling

 Hmmm the no phone at night didn’t go too well. It’s easier said than done. I’ve been scrolling for over an hour and now I’m writing this. 

Going to sleep now though. At least I’ve read a bit of my book Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee. Our teacher Mr Newton read extracts of it to us in year 6. 

Running and a full service clean

 No matter what happens, I always return to blogging and running. Funnily enough they are two things that I have done today. I had a lovely two laps of Jumbles Reservoir today. It was basically deserted due to the drizzle. As you can see below, the ticket machine- which has been out of action as long as I’ve ever been going to Jumbles- has seemingly been crashed into. It’s a real mess but at least you don’t have to pay to park. 

The river was very high which is highly unsurprising considering the biblical amount of rain we have had this year. We are still in danger of non league football matches being called off and we are in April. This is unheard of. It’s largely rained today too. 

I’ve done lots of cleaning today as I am off work on my own. I feel a bit guilty sitting doing nothing so I hoovered and dusted the bedrooms and did the same in the living room. I feel a lot more settled when I’ve done some cleaning. I feel more productive. 

I’m thinking of imposing a phone ban when I’m in bed. I’m not a fan of phones but do accept they are part of life so I’ll have to accept them. However it does annoy me when I think of the time I waste scrolling needlessly through things I have absolutely no interest in. Not playing on your phone is easier said than done however. I’ll let you know how it goes.