Its the last day of June 2008, and this time last year I was embarking on a 19 country world tour. During the first month, I found myself in New Zealand and in its capital city of Auckland. It is hard to believe that almost 12 months ago I jumped off Auckland harbour bridge one…
Read MoreIts taken me a while to actually post about the first club team I ever supported. This is because I was kind of waiting till I had some useful photos of times following Glentoran, but then I realised that I won’t have these photos any time soon. My parents have them all!! So I’ll begin…
Read MoreIt was a great few days out. It was a great time. It was me being with my mates all over again. The mates that had been there with me through the 1990s and early part of this century. The whole plan came together and I forever thank Michael and Gavin McClelland for their organisation…
Read MoreA grey 1980s sky skimmed over sheltered Newtownards as I appeared on this planet. It was Sunday March 30th 1980 and there I was free to the world in Adair House in Ards Hospital, Newtownards, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom / Untied Queendom. I love Newtownards for some reason, and I’ve seen a hell of a…
Read MoreWhile I was young I spent most of my life in Bangor, Northern Ireland. I never supported the local football team, Bangor FC, as my team of choice (and my Dad’s and my Grandad’s) was Glentoran FC who played in East Belfast (a 20 minute drive) and I used to go to watch them. However…
Read MoreCasting my mind back to Tuesday September 11th 2001, it was a day that will stick long in the memory of so many people. God forbid I never witness anything on that horrific scale in my entire lifetime. Before this I had remembered the news stories from Chernobyl, Herald of Free Enterprise, Countless IRA Bombs…
Read MoreI will mention Manchester in other posts, notably the England v. Northern Ireland match of 2005, but in 2006 I travelled up to Manchester to represent the South of England Northern Ireland Supporters Club in the annual five a sides tournament for mainland NISCs. This was the first one, and was organised by the North…
Read MoreIt was in September 1998 that I began working in Tesco. I had plenty of work experience and knowledge before that in different fields (Media Studies course placements; School work shadowing; School work placements; Watching Mum in A1 Car Hire; Shadowing Dad in BT; Boys Brigade Volunteer Work; Writing for Football and Music Fanzines; Editing…
Read More“It feels just like we just got started” – Sleeper and Louise Wener. I love delving back into my mid 1990s record collection and did so recently with my Sleeper albums. Sleeper were a girl fronted rock/Britpop band who had three albums between 1994 and 1997. I got into them in early 1996, mainly due…
Read MoreIn the first week of my 2007 World Tour, I was in Toronto, Canada. I had booked to stay there for six days, but was totally unaware at the time that Toronto was hosting the Under 20s World Cup! What a pleasant surprise then when I disembarked at Toronto Pearson Airport to see an advert…
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