Big Down and Big Up

I've had some week... Whether many of you managed to read my long post about the horrific week at work I suffered, I do not know, but I was ordered to take it down with immediate effect by a rather angry Mother Mitten, who did kind of have a point. I got into trouble with the FA for my Twitter comments, however wrong it was, and putting a link on there to this blog, telling everyone the ins and outs of my job wasn't the most sensible move I've made. There is a distinct difference between my refereeing career and my actual career. Being disciplined from the FA is considerably easier to handle than being disciplined at work.

Anyway, after that, more problems have been created by the chap who covered me but I've gone past the stage of caring too much. It will hopefully be fixed by Wednesday and we can all move on.

After all that, I enjoyed what was possibly the best weekend of my life in Newcastle. The journey there was hellish, a whole 6 and a half hours. 2 of these hours were because we were stuck in a traffic jam caused by a pile of sand in the road, leading to single-lane Friday night A1 traffic. You couldn't make this up. When we finally got there, all 5 of us enjoyed a weekend of major antics, banter, jokes and good old-fashioned fun with highlights including Moore vs Chubby Dancer, Colin vs Scottish Sock Lady, 3 of us vs Polish Bouncer, Mitten vs The Joker, Triples, Forming a Band on the Street finished off by Beddoe and Colin falling asleep in the bathroom. Shall I go through them all, one by one?

Moore vs Chubby Dancer I believe it was in a place called Sam Jacks, although I'm not totally sure. There was a lady walking round offering ... "personal" dances to anyone for a set amount of money. Us as a group had decided already that we were going try and embarrass shy and retiring Moore, and this was the perfect way to do it. I paid the lady a fiver, (well worth it trust me), and filmed her "brushing up" against a kneeled and visibly embarrassed Moore who couldn't have looked more awkward if he was an comic book salesman in a brothel. Comedy Gold.

Colin vs Scottish Sock Lady Also on Friday, Colin spent some of the night in pursuit of a buxom Scottish lady who was just leaving some club in a complex called 'The Gate'. Her and her friend, (who me and Beddoe "distracted"), were just staggering home when Colin pounced. I've no idea what they were talking about, but Colin ended up giving her his socks in return for a kiss. Which we naturally got on film.

3 of Us vs Polish Bouncer Upon getting back to the Travelodge that night, at a truly superb 3.30am, we were so loud. Something hilarious had happened with the taxi driver, (although I can't remember what), and we were all laughing whilst also trying to keep quiet, obviously leading to more laughter. Imagine me, Beddoe and Colin, all drunk as skunks, shouting along the corridor without a care in the world? After a while of this, the Polish bouncer who was manning the doors came upstairs and gave us a "final warning", threatening to chuck us out if we weren't silent immediately. Oh, and at this point, Colin's trousers fell down. Standard.

Triples On to the Saturday night, we were coaxed into this new "club" called Luna, who were claiming to sell triples for £2.99. I was sceptical, but ordered a triple JD and coke none the less, and made sure I watched her put 3 measures of JD into a glass. In fairness, she did, and I was charged the promised £2.99. I only had 1, not wanting to go overboard like previous trips like this. Beddoe on the other hand...? Let's just say it contributed to his state later on...

Forming a Band in the Street After being complimented on my new shirt, which had, 'You Know You Want to Tweet Me' printed on the front and my bright blue sun hat, myself and Colin persuaded two Mexican men to give us their instruments on the street. They were buskers, but for 5 minutes, myself on the guitar and Colin on the keyboard/harmonica/piano thing, we were entertaining the streets of Newcastle. Sadly, my guitar skills didn't gain any money.

Colin and Beddoe Fall Asleep in the Bathroom Speaks for itself, but those triples didn't go down to well for Beddoe, who I found slouched in the bathroom on our return at about 4am that night. Colin joined him for a snoozy on the bathroom floor, and I do have photographic evidence!

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It was a phenomonal weekend, and I even got back in good time to watch Bedford CC record the 2nd of their 2 wins in my playing absence. Overall, I think it was the best weekend I've ever had. So many stories to tell, and everyone had a good time. Many thanks to Marriott, who drove us there and back, and generally spent the night making sure we didn't get into more trouble than we did!

But, you guessed it, as soon as I walked in from the pub quiz that I attended after the cricket, at about 11pm, a wave of anxiety hit me as I remembered the troubles of work. I have developed slightly more resolve than I had when I started in the world of work a few years ago, where I would of probably walked out in fear of being severely reprimanded by now.

Just in the last couple of hours though, I have been reading through a few other blogs on here, with similar topics, and realised something. A lot of people went through their adolescence and early adulthood with severe depression and anxiety, which affected every aspect of their lives. They couldn't go out in public because they were so nervous, their friendships affected, and therefore I presume their overall happiness. I am perfectly fine in social situations, but when it comes to work I am devilishly scared of getting things wrong. But generally, I do have many, many good moments, such as this weekend for example.

Many people don't have that, and I have to remind myself that I am somewhat lucky. Even if sometimes it feels like I'm the unluckiest person on the planet.

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P.S. Mitten vs The Joker has been eradicated from my memory. Major case of a super pair of beer goggles going on with that one... Oops!