Butterflies

I could say that it was my impending weigh-in yesterday evening that caused me to feel sick with nerves and butterflies all day but that would be lying and my mother always told me not to do that!!   The cause of my nerves was/is the football on Saturday!! I can't believe it! It's only Wednesday and I have butterflies just thinking about the game (have had since 7pm on Saturday evening to be honest). I also have difficulty thinking about anything BUT the game. I suppose other people will have been through this in advance of a big game, maybe a Cup Final or something but or some reason, I have not previously experienced it anywhere near as badly.

I started watching Wednesday when they were on the slide (big time) so have seen them be relegated 3 times and only promoted (through the play-offs) once. So I have been to big games, but mostly relegation deciders which we lost. It's not the same. In this case, we can't lose - we could end up third and in a play-off place rather than an automatic promotion spot, but even that is not "losing" per se. So why am I so nervous?? Surely the play-off final was worse than this?? Maybe, but I can't remember and I'm pretty sure I wasn't bricking it with 5 days to go!!

I think it's because it has been such a brilliant season and they've played well (almost) the whole way through so there's the feeling that we "deserve" to go up. Back in 2005 when we were last promoted through the amazing play-off final in Cardiff, it was thrilling but not this nerve-wracking. I think because we had not had that great a season. We had had a good run, right at the end and snuck into 6th place so getting to the final was awesome and winning it was a dream but it was not a season long aim. This year, we have been in the top 4 nearly all season so expectations of success have built up.

Then there's the fact that we're in competition with our local rivals so the thought of our losing and United profiting from our failure and being able to gloat is painful. And the fact that everything has gone right for the last few weeks....it's so unfamiliar for a Wednesday supporter that you tend not to trust yourself, hence the nerves.

And possibly also the fact that social networking makes things much more full-on. Back in 2005, when we were last promoted, I wasn't on facebook and there were no football forums to chat on. I would email some pals and chat about it in the pub of course but D wasn't into football and used to get impatient if I talked about it "too much". Now, it's wall to wall - on the radio, on facebook, the forums, since I was on telly talking about Wednesday loads of people at works talk to me about it. There's no escape.

All I can say is, it's very real and it's getting worse! I'm pleased that I'm visiting my parents today for a day as it might take my mind off things. Being with Rich means that we both tend to talk about Wednesday more and that just ratchets up the pressure. I can't believe that I've turned into one of those people whose life is dominated by sport. It's not usually THIS bad though!!

Enough!  (I can hear you say)  What about diet and exercise and non-football related topics?  Well, it was my weigh in last night and it was a success!  I raced home from work, packed the car, picked up the dogs and kissed Rich goodbye for the day and then headed off to my parents, stopping at the WI on the way.  It was only a dash in as I had the dogs and had a 2 hour drive ahead of me but I am pleased to report that I dropped 2 lbs last week.  After much to'ing and fro'ing I've now lost 4.5lbs so only 2.5 to go before my first treat.  I CAN do it!  I WILL do it!

I did then ruin it Maccy D for supper as I drove over to Lincolnshire.  Bluuuergh...  I KNOW I could have had something much nicer and healthier and, very annoyingly, I didn't enjoy it at all so I will learn from this retrograde behaviour.  Stupid woman!

I am trialling  working from home from Mum and Dad's twice a month so that I can get over here and give Dad a break and Mum some company more often.  It is hard to find time at the weekends what with golf and FOOTBALL (there I go again....) so midweek visits could be the solution. 

As it happened last night was a good night to pick as it was Dad's first  pub quiz-master session.  He had been "volunteered" to set the next  monthly pub quiz a while back and had delegated this task to me which I duly did some time ago.  in the event the quiz was cancelled as hardly anyone turned up (think the weather was dreadful or something) so it was re-arranegd for last night.  It was quite strange being in a pub quiz not as a contestant but as the question-setter.  Still, it seemed to go down well, plenty of banter and arguments and good scores but not TOO good.  Dad really seemed to be enjoying himself as the quizmaster so it was great to see him mixing it with all his chums.

So far so good.  It's also been nice having breakfast with mum and then hearing her fussing over the dogs.  I think this could be a good idea.

Anyway, my broadband connection has finally clicked through so I'd better get on with some work!