Whilst many people start the new year with resolutions and fresh starts, I opted this year for a week of transitioning into the next year. I knew my diary was full and that I needed to pace myself for an exciting adventure at the weekend. The winter weather with days of freezing temperatures and storms also didn’t inspire new routines.

However this week was an epic week of football. My son loves his football and normally he and my husband attend the games together. However since his brain injury my husband finds it hard to do night matches and the journey on Saturday would have been too much for him so I accompanied my son to two games this week.

The first was Wednesday night and the final game for a much loved player, Antoine Semenyo who moved to Man City the next day for a club record transfer fee. We have loved Semenyo not simply for his football skill, enthusiasm and passion but for his commitment and dedication to the club. He always came across as a kind, humble and genuine person, a perfect role model. The match was our farewell to him and when he scored the winner in injury time, the atmosphere was unreal, the fairytale ending. It was one of those nights that you will always remember.

As if Wednesday wasn’t memorable enough, I also got to fulfil a footballing wish on Saturday by going to St James park in Newcastle to see a game. I have been a football fan since I was young and have been to hundreds of matches both home and away, albeit among the lower leagues. When the FA cup draw was made and it was confirmed as a Saturday afternoon kick off, everything seemed to align. It was the first week back at school so a quieter week and it felt if I was going to go this was my chance. We went on the supporters coach as I wasn’t going to drive the near 800 mile return trip. As seen by the photos above, we left at 3.35am on Saturday and returned at 3.18am the next day. In the few days beforehand I had jitters about the weather conditions for the drive, especially getting from our rural location to the Bournemouth stadium, an hour’s drive on country roads. Amazingly despite weather warnings about storm Goretti we were relatively unscathed, a few branches on the roads but no snow or ice. The wild deer were definitely more of a worry. However, it was astonishing to see the heavy snow in the Midlands as we passed through, with conditions improving as we headed north.

The stadium was as awesome as I had hoped. We walked around the ground and I got to see the statues of Sir Bobby, Shearer and Milburn. We took lots of photos from all areas of the ground and the view from our high seats was spectacular. We got to savour the atmosphere and it was lovely to see Kevin Keegan’s Tifo. Both Sir Bobby and Kevin Keegan are two of my footballing heroes and it was fitting to see them both celebrated at Newcastle. As much as I was excited by St James I was there to cheer on the opposition and what a game it was, 2-2 at full time, 3-3 after extra time and then sadly Bournemouth lost on penalties 7-6. I don’t often go to the games but gosh did I see two special matches this week. One of my resolutions this year was to have mini adventures and I feel I have made an excellent start on this.

After such a busy week, it was good to have a lazy Sunday, although I did take my son to football training in the afternoon. I also got ready to start my half marathon training, look at nutrition etc.. I do have plans I just needed to wait to start them.