DIGS

Well, the next step that I have made in my quest to grow up is moving to a new place. As of last week, I am renting a suite in a house share in Guiseley, which is about 3-4 miles from where I was in Burley-In-Wharfedale. I share the house with two other working professionals; one woman and one man. The woman owns the house and so is officially my land-lady. The guy is close my age and has only recently moved to the area for work. They are both quite friendly and follow football. However, considering the woman is a lifelong Leeds fan, I have to keep my Manchester United flag out of the window or be evicted.

The house is a semi-detached 3 bedroom house in a new development. So, unfortunately I can’t say that I am living in a old English cottage sipping tea and writing blogs. On the positive side, I don’t have to worry about the roof leaking, old pipes bursting, or no heating. We share the kitchen and the living area, which is not expansive but offers plenty of space for 3 people. There is also a nice back garden for when it gets decent enough to spend time outside again. 

The best part about the house is it’s location. I can walk to the Guiseley stadium in 5 minutes; I can walk to St. Mary’s for work in 10-15 minutes; I can walk to get groceries in 5-10 minutes; and it is less than a 5 minute walk to the train when I need to go a bit farther afield.

The move was bitter sweet considering I was leaving the Inglehearns, who have treated me so incredibly well since I arrived. Maybe too well as a matter of fact…I was getting fat and spoiled under their watch. Fortunately, they are not far off and I will see the kids often in school and will be sure to visit them when my cupboards are running low 😉 

Overall, I think it is a good move for me psychologically as well. When I said I was getting fat and spoiled, it may not have been true in a physical sense, but there was something about me that was beginning to feel too comfortable. 

When I first came over everything was new and exciting, which made it easy to be motivated. The challenge is keeping up that motivation and hunger, even after you get settled into something. I am hoping that the move will help to re-invigorate me and refocus my efforts on the main goals and objectives that I have set for myself. 

Here are some pictures of the house and also the recent festivities in the snowfall!

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DIGGING

The other thing we’ve been doing here in Yorkshire the last few weeks has been digging away the snow. If you are conjuring up images of buried cars, skiing, and big four wheel drives at Wal-Mart, you are deceived – I am in England, not Denver. All told, we only had about 8-10 inches of snow, coupled with sub-freezing temperatures. However, England does not have (or necessarily need) the infrastructure and equipment to quickly deal with even a little snow, so there were some setbacks.

Most agonizing was the fact that there has been no football for the last 2 weeks. We have had 3 consecutive games cancelled and have had no chances to train on a real pitch. It’s nice to have a day off every once in a while, but a long break can be quite frustrating. It was even difficult to get good training in on my own. Most of the sidewalks were quite icy, so it was hard and dangerous to go out on a serious run. There were no fields (even artificial turf) cleared, so I couldn’t kick a ball around easily either. Although, I did manage to use the side of the house and the sidewalk a couple of times. 

Having said that, snow can be cool and fun…at least for the first day. The Inglehearn kids had one day off of school and so I brought them out sledging, had snowball fights and made snowmen. We invented a game called snowball chicken, where you all stand close and throw snowballs in the air. Then you all have to stand there and hope one didn’t land on you. It turned into a hit…no pun intended!

All the snow is gone now, it disappeared literally overnight, so hopefully we can resume life as normal now and get back out on the field. For those of you interested, I also wrote a new article on the team website called Snow Games. It will give you a good idea of where we are in the season and the challenges we will be facing after the break from the snow! I encourage you to take a look.

Why Digs?

After naming this post, I was curious, so I briefly looked up where the term “Digs” came from. The best story I found was that it had been used by soldiers in the World Wars who referred to their new trenches as “Digs”. I liked that explanation the best, but other’s said the term had been in use far before that by traveling actors; it was used as slang for their temporary accommodations. The fact of the matter is, so far I dig my dig and hope I didn’t dig my dig so deep I can’t get out. You dig? (Thank God English is my first language).

I hope to have more soccer news to tell you soon.

Peace all,

Seano