TNH – The Northern Hemisphere

Article Featured in issue 33 February 2019 of Berwick Rangers Supporters Trust magazine…..by Michael Conboy.

I wake up shivering for the second day in a row, pulling the duvet over my head I release a big sigh and curse him again, has the old man turned the central heating off again, surely not?
It’s the 8th December a day after my 47th Birthday spent the day in Berwick town centre with my Father, The Castle, The Curfew, The Barrels, The Leaping Salmon, to name a few followed by an Indian take away. No offence but I am not 5 years old anymore but the old man took great pleasure in telling every man an and his barking dog that it was my Birthday after a few festive drinks, fair play to him we did get free food at the Indian restaurant near the old bridge.
We are staying at West Sunnyside House under the friendly watch of Kathleen the property owner, which is about a 5 minute walk to Shielfield Park if you take a short cut through the car park of the sports centre.
We have been here since Thursday, its now match day Berwick Rangers v Peterhead a tough prospect, but under Johnny Harvey there seems to be a positive injection in the dressing room and some of the recent results reflect that.
Its 8.00am I flick the central heating back on and mutter some profanities under my breath, I hear movement in the apartment he is up and lively, I do the same we have coffee and cereal.
He is twitchy he loves being outside, a seasoned golfer, birdwatcher, walker a general outdoors man. I have just about slurped down a cup of Nescafe instant and he is stood there in front of me fully fleeced up……..”I am going for a walk”. I wonder whether I should be searching his pockets for the remote control for the central heating!
A few hours rest to get sorted before the big game against Peterhead, the hours pass the door opens and a jubilant voice shouts up “what a walk, I went to the football ground met a guy from Paris who worked in IT in Glasgow he was meeting the club secretary about writing about the club”.
Both ready we make our way to Shielfield Park, thirsty we head for the Black and Gold bar. Always a friendly atmosphere, there are some Peterhead fans having a drink also which is lovely to see.
I always like to visit the club shop, I am an impulse buyer so I need to buy “things”, me and “The Central Heating Controller” make our way through the turnstiles and head to the club shop. He buys himself a badge and treats me to a club polo shirt, a belated Birthday present.
We wonder down to the food van its always great to be in the ground see the players warming up in the background, it’s got to be fish and chips on cold December afternoon, we stand in the ever growing queue for the Chippy van they smell amazing! I turn to Dad only to find he has turned himself the other way and is talking to a woman behind us in the queue, always the conversationalist he loves to chat to random strangers. But the common ground here is the football. I join in and it turns out she has driven down from Scotland and does some work with the Peterhead players, as we chat the sun has come out and she comments that she has brought the sun down with her from Scotland.
Fish and Chips in hand we make our way to the stand as the whistle blows for the first half, I am going to refrain from giving a what would be a painful match report but the first goal to Peterhead came after just 2 minutes! We were 3 nil down at half time. The blow was made slightly more palatable as we ate the best fish I have had in a long time with our fingers.
We need a half time beer so we head out of the ground and back into the Black and Gold only to be greeted with the barman man handling a blow-up doll, I can only assume there must have been a hen do in the function room that evening, unless she is the team mascot.
We sup up and head back into the ground for the second half, my Father makes a comment about where we sit, he wants to be higher up, I could have suggested he brought his binoculars but in the current climate of “Bielsa Spy Gate” it was a good job I didn’t.
51 mins goal number 4 to Peterhead, we don’t seem to playing that bad a fair percentage of possession, 48% to be precise. We just haven’t had enough shots on target, 78 minutes the final nail in the coffin 0-5 Peterhead.
The final whistle blows, we make our way back to the cottage. I am cooking a Chilli for us both. On our return I head upstairs and hear a clicking noise. That bloody central heating!! Turns out its pre-programmed to go off after two hours….oops!
I shout down “pour me a glass of red”.