Manchester nights out, university, football and no place for hooliganism

Hello all!

Firstly let me apologise for the lack of updates since I first opened this blog. I've had so much uni work to do its rather untrue, and it is still mounting. I shall try and blog more often, but I suppose I should firstly give an update and catch up blog since my last. So what have I done of any interest?. It ranges from a night out, uni work, football managerial change and an encounter with football hooliganism

Well last week it was my one of my best friend's 18th. We hired out a "Lucky Voice" pod (Kareoke basically, but thats branding for you) at a club in Manchester. It was rather fun and allowed me to portray my vocal 'talents' on numerous numbers such as "Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O Mine", "Lionel Ritchie - All Night Long" & "Right Said Fred - Im too Sexy" to name a few. We then went onto a Manchester indie club and as they say - the rest is history!

It was also nice to have the weekend off work. Being the PT work uni bummer I am, I hear shouts of "You barely work anyway". The weekend off was gratefully received. Rather tarnished by Oldham's hammering by MK Dons but uplifting at the appointment of Joe Royle as manager. John Sheridan had took us as far as he could, and I will forever be grateful of his service to the club as player and manager.

This past week has mainly been rounding off uni lectures. I had to give a group logistics presentation during the week which went as well as could have hoped! We pulled it off! Excellent! I also received my feedback from a graduate job assessment centre i attended early February for lets say a company in the automotive industry! I was told i did an excellent presentation, started off well as a leader but could have maintained throughout better in the group exercise and I could have structured answers better in Interview. Feedback taken on board ready for the next challenge!

Finally, this weekend was back to work. I have moved sections from knitwear to t-shirts. Was I bad on knitwear? or are my talents merely required for transferal elsewhere? I'm rather philosophical, but as long as I'm still collecting my wage, I'm not bothered! :)

I also encountered a bout of football hooliganism. After the euphoria of welcoming back Joe Royle, it soon drifted to deflation of losing 2-0 to our rivals Tranmere. Deservedly so. We lacked passion but we know Joe Royle's challenge wasn't going to happen overnight. For my family, attending football allows excellent bonding time with my brother and dad.

It was disturbing to hear fellow 'fans' discuss "are we going to charge them then?" after the game. Football hooliganism has no place in football. Tensions are high on the terraces but that's where they should remain. Football allows congregations of fans, sat with others who have the same passion and spirit for the end result. It allows us to vent our anger and rejoice in joy. Saturday was a combination of these. To avoid such conflicts, I left the stadium via another exit. But is it my duty to go out of my way to do so? Sadly not, but i realise at the end of the day it's just a game, regardless of how down I felt. There are more important things in life.

"Sound of the drums. Beatin' in my heart. The thunder of guns. Tore me apart. You've been - thunderstruck"
- Brian Johnson (AC/DC - "Thunderstruck")