A blustery Sunday morning run around a windy Common. The SW4 gusts cancelled out the audio coming through my AirPods.
All I could hear was a wall of whistle and distortion - which was no bad thing as I had loaded up yet another podcast trying to explain why Forest are so crap this season.
The Two Stars podcast from the Athletic is very polished - and so it should be with the paywall model that props up the organisation. The level of insight is decent. Tell me something I don’t already know remains my main need from any news source. Two Stars usually delivers.
In-between the Claph’ham wind and crap football analysis there was a decent take on the stadium improvements at the City Ground. My last pre-Covid visit was back in February 2020, before Lockdown 1 was called. I thought that I had said my farewells to the Peter Taylor Stand.
I’ve no idea when a return to Trentside will be possible; I’ve no idea when a return to the Fair City will even be allowed. But hopefully I can return to the City Ground and have one more memory from a stand where I first watched Forest some 45 years ago.
Gosh.
Also coming out of the Two Stars podcast as I plodded around the Common was the revelation that I missed Brian Rice Day this year. Oh well. EVERY day should be Brian Rice Day, tbh.
THAT Brian Rice goal, #OnThisDay in 1988.
👌 #NFFC pic.twitter.com/juGdgq4Hm4
— Nottingham Forest FC 💙 (@NFFC) March 12, 2021
I displayed similar athleticism for my fifth consecutive day of Clap’ham Common running. I still feel fresh and could probably continue for the week ahead. The lovely lido re-opens on Monday morning, and so I won’t get to test my running boasts.
Lockdown 3 was over all around Clap’ham. Much like Battersea Park yesterday, the Common was rammed. Organised sport seems to have returned a day earlier than the regulations allow. The Rule of Six is already the Rule of Twelve around some parts of SW4.
You can sense the level of pent up lockdown frustration out there. It was a little too much for me as I tried to weave my way around the Wankerville crowds.
I felt more comfortable back on home turf and lovely Larkhall Park. There was a few dog walkers and young kids kicking a ball around. Larkhall Park hasn’t yet registered on the radar for the Bright Young Things of SW4.
The run was decent; the wind subsided by the time I reached SW8. The podcast was finished and Forest are still magic.
Yeah?