Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 13 August 2012

13 August 2012

Miss Guest Diary writes: My mum had a phrase she would use to describe how I'm feeling this morning: after the Lord Mayor's show. Judging by their Twitter feeds, a lot of other Britons are sharing this feeling of anticlimax today. And why not? We've had two weeks of athletic achievement variously labelled as "amazing", "unbelievable" or "I don't know how to describe this", bracketed by opening and closing ceremonies which showcased British history, culture and music in some quite bonkers ways. Nicely encapsulated last night, I felt, by Eric Idle urging us to look on the bright side of life and a bunch of sixtysomethings singing about their generational angst. Priceless!

As Town fans, we have the additional weight of the anticlimactic and decidedly lacklustre performance at Southport. I was feeling quite optimistic before the game, having been impressed by some of the pre-season performances, especially against Hull and Scunthorpe. But, as usual, new signings who seemed promising in pre-season failed to deliver in a competitive game. The notable exception was Aswad Thomas who was, once again, superb.

I was going to berate loan signing Nathan Pond, but then I saw he had acknowledged his "shaky start" and accepted responsibility for the goal Town conceded. It doesn't change my opinion of his performance (dire), but it has made me respect him as a person and want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe I'm just being too negative. Shouty, who is not renowned for his positive outlook, has told the Telegraph that it was a "thoroughly professional performance" and is pleased with the way the players gelled as a team. Hopefully, Town will perform better in tomorrow's home game against Stockport County. Checking out their website to see whether they have any ex-Town players to score against us, I noticed they all appear to have very sensible hair, as did the Southport team on Saturday. Should we be concerned that, with the advent of Nathan Pond and his shaved skunk look, the ratio of silly to sensible hair in the Town squad is increasing?

I mentioned last week my planned cultural tour en route to Southport, so I thought I'd report back on how it went. The Miro exhibition was both enjoyable and interesting, the Antony Gormley statues were oddly disappointing and we didn't make it to Tate Liverpool. This omission happened because we decided to visit the Walker Art Gallery first and then got distracted by the World Museum next door, which is definitely well worth a visit.

But I have to admit that the most rewarding event of the whole trip happened on Saturday evening somewhere near Worksop - listening on the car radio to Mo Farah win the Olympic 5000m. Rumour has it that the Town coach broke down around that time, making the players' journey home a little less rewarding, I suspect.