At Last

Phew! At long last the season started and we got a win! Great fun. Not the most fluent, flowing game, but every point counts. I thought we improved in the second half and I was so confident of victory that I even laughed at some of the mistakes we made.

I went early to the ground, the club having warned about possible queues before the game. Partly because they were expecting a large number buying tickets on the day, partly because many season tickets still not collected and, slightly worryingly, because some season ticket books not even printed. Anyway, I got there early, was given my book and was out of the Ticket Office in about 5 minutes, even asking the young man who served me if that was all there was to it! He seemed to think it quite amusing when I asked him if there were full instructions inside the book.

As it's in the same building, I visited the Megastore (actually a small shop attached to the Ticket Office. Our bookshop was bigger than the Forest store, but that's another story), but not to buy, just to check out the new season home shirt. I like it and can't make up my mind if I prefer it plain and sponsor-free. Have to wait until the sponsor logo goes on, I suppose. Bit disappointed that the away shirt is not ready yet (stop press: just announced and it's a sort of grey), but, unlike most seasons, I can have a look next week.

Having got there early had a bit of a downside, I had a few hours to wait for the start of the match. No problems for this man. First a visit to a local supermarket for petrol and some food. Then a considerable time spent texting the family telling them of my safe arrival. Now, younger members of my family seem to be able to compose a text message and send it in nano seconds. For me, it is a nightmare. All that button pressing, then going back to clear the letters and start again and trying to find the correct phone number is no way to spend a morning. Finally jobs done, I headed back to the CG.

The Riverside Festival was on, oh joy. Organised just for me to spend a couple of hours whilst waiting for a football match. It was great fun to be amongst the people out there determined to enjoy themselves and the time passed quickly. Then off to the Boat Club to get my new Supporters Club pack and hand in my season predictions, can't remember what they are, but I'm sure I'll be the winner come May. Supporters Club pack not ready, something to do with the diary not being printed, but that didn't matter, just pleasant to have a pint in convivial company.

Finally a snooze in the sunshine on the banks of the Trent and it was game time. As I'm doing all 46 games this season and visiting the other 91 clubs, I am closely watching the pennies and had a big decision to make. Do I buy a programme? I had been thinking of mementos to collect during the season and , despite several ideas, decided I really didn't want 90 odd key rings or lapel badges, particularly of clubs I didn't care about. So, in the end I have decided to buy a programme of each of Forest's games and leave it at that. Photos and videos of other clubs not in our league will have to suffice.

One last note on my first season ticket. I had naively supposed that the vouchers would be taken in numerical order (see, I really do need instructions), so I checked that Number 1 was readily available and approached the turnstile. There to be told by a charming young lady that it was actually voucher Number 10 that was required and that others throughout the season would be similarly random.

So we're off and running. Now I'm getting excited about my visit to Blackburn (and not many do get excited about a visit to Blackburn) on Friday, the game on Saturday and my extra visit to Deepdale to see Preston's historic ground. Sorry, people of Blackburn, it was just a joke about your town. I hope you don't take revenge on Saturday by taking all three points..