My Year in Lists

Books read from around the world

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I would attempt to read a book from every nation in the world. There was no way I was going to complete it in one year - it’s more of a ten-year challenge - but I’ve made a steady start. If you fancy reading any of them, Embers was beautiful; Wolf Totem was wonderful; Shantaram was so rich and so full and Germinal was bleak and brilliant.

Nostalgia by Mircea Cartarescu (Romania)

An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe)

Jock of the Bushveld by Jaroslav Hasek (Czech Republic)

Embers by Sandor Marai (Hungary)

A Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (Netherlands)

Germinal by Emile Zola (France)

The Eternal Son by Cristavao Tezza (Brazil)

Madame by Antoni Libera (Poland)

Milkman by Anna Burns (Northern Ireland)

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Nigeria)

I Bought a Mountain by Thomas Firbank (Wales)

If This is a Man by Primo Levi (Italy)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia)

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (Germany)

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (England)

Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (Kenya)

Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong (China)

The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher by Ahn Do-hyun (South Korea)

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (America)

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (Australia)

Green Days by the River by Michael Anthony (Trinidad and Tobago)

Saturday Bloody Saturday by Alastair Campbell (Scotland)

The Castle of my Skin by George Lamming (Barbados)

Small Island by Andrea Levy (Jamaica)

Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb (Belgium)

Books about Christian Theology

Shortly before lockdown, I went to a discussion group at my church that inspired me to take more time with books about God, so most mornings, I’ve read a chapter of one of these and been encouraged and got my day off to a good start. I particularly recommend Looking for God Knows What, Think Again and 7 Women. 

Looking for God Knows What by Donald Miller

To Own a Dragon by Donald Miller

Think Again by Jared Melinger

Rooted by Edward Rhodes

Prayer by Tim Keller

Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin

Crossing the Divide by Owen Hylton

The Beauty of Jesus by Clifford Pond

None Like You by Jen Wilkin

The Circle-Maker by Mark Batterson

King’s Cross by Tim Keller

Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund

7 Women by Eric Metals

Can I Really Trust the Bible? by Barry Cooper

A Year with C.S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis

Is This It? by Rachel Jones

The God Who is There by Francis Shaeffer

Books read to my children

I started reading chapter-books to my boys when they were four or five I think and thought that at some stage, it would peter out. They’re twelve now and we still enjoy sitting and reading together, setting up their dreams with adventures. What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible has been the highlight and has inspired me to start writing again.

Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz

A Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

The Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Nightshade by Anthony Horowitz

Incomparable by Andrew Wilson

A Boy and a Bear on a Boat by Dave Shelton

What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible by Ross Welford 

The Person Controller by David Baddiel

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

Graphic Novels

I love graphic novels and Gene Luen Yang is my absolute favourite. I read the autobiographical Dragon Hoops and within it, he was given the role to be the writer for Superman and so I followed him there and wasn’t disappointed.

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Rusty Brown by Chris Ware

Superman Smashes the Clan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru

Other Books

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Station Zero by Philip Reeve

Board Games

Lockdown meant the Board Game World Cup in my house and these were the games that featured. Agricola is the greatest by far, but if you want something simpler, Camel Up and Colt Express and really fun games.

Agricola

Bookcase

BN1

Camel Up

Carcassonne

Careers

Codenames

Colt Express

Dominion

Monopoly

Powergrid

Qwirkle

The Really Nasty Horse-Racing Game

Risk

Scrabble

Settlers of Catan

Stone Age

Ticket to Ride

Tsuro

On the Underground

Card/Dice Games

Cards Against Humanity (Family Edition)

Hearts

Ligretto 

Monopoly Deal 

Perudo 

Pit 

Qwixx 

6 Nimmit

Sky Jo

Skull King

Sushi Go

Throw, Throw Burito 

You’ve Got Crabs

Films watched with my family

During lockdown, my boys and I treated ourselves to a Marvel film each Friday, so they dominate the early list. Antman is my favourite of the Marvel characters and Dangal, a Bollywood film about wrestling, is superb.

Ironman 2

The Lion King

Thor

Avengers Assemble

Iron Man 3

Thor: The Dark World

Captain America: Winter Soldier

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Antman

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange

Spiderman: Homecoming

Thor: Ragnarok

Avengers: Infinity War

Antman and the Wasp

Captain Marvel

Avengers: End Game

Spiderman: Far From Home

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Dangal

Coin Heist

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Zikkomon

Jumanji: The Next Level

Enola Holmes

Happy Gilmore

Home Alone

Ready, Player One

TV Series watched with my family

Race Across the World

Alex Rider: Point Blanc

Gladiators (1997)

The Letter for the King

Task Master

Red Dwarf

Films I’ve watched

Creating this list made me realise that I watch very few films on my own, but the limitations of not being able to leave my classroom during lunchtime at school and a friend’s recommendation of Bollywood films means that four of the five films I’ve watched have all been Bollywood. If you’re going to watch one, go for Lagaan (or Dangal).

Lagaan

Yesterday

Pahuna

Haider

Three Idiots 

TV Series I’ve watched

Gavin and Stacey

Extras

Alan Partridge: Mid-Morning Matters

Liar

Noughts and Crosses

The Nest

Quiz

Kenny

The Last Dance

The Stranger

Sunderland ’Til I Die

The Tiger King

Safe

The English Game

Anthony

Peter Kay’s Car Share

Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

Motherland

Life

The Salisbury Poisonings

Friday Night Dinner

Running

Lockdown and limitations of many activities meant I ran a lot more this year, topping 800 miles. Next year, I’d love to hit 1,000.

January: 39.2 miles

February: 39.4 miles

March: 60.9 miles

April: 84.5 miles

May: 116.5 miles

June: 109.9 miles

July: 117 miles

August: 82.7 miles

September: 36.2 miles

October: 26.9 miles

November: 64.9 miles

December: 31.7 miles (so far)

Football matches attended

Three draws and then a depressing defeat to Palace started the year off and then Brighton matches were behind closed doors, so I went down the road to Saltdean and have enjoyed their excellent start to the season.

Brighton 1-1 Chelsea

Brighton 1-1 Aston Villa

Brighton 1-1 Watford

Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace

Saltdean United 1-3 Eastbourne Town

Steyning Town 1-0 Saltdean United

Saltdean United 2-2 Pagham

East Preston 0-8 Saltdean United

Wick 0-2 Saltdean United

Saltdean United 2-1 Broadbridge Heath

Little Common 1-5 Saltdean United

Saltdean United 3-1 Epsom and Ewell

Saltdean United 2-2 Deal Town (2-3 on penalties)

Saltdean United 2-2 Eastbourne Town 

Brighton 1-2 Southampton

A Season with Saltdean II

At the end of October, I wrote the ill-fated words, “Live football is still out there” as I described my adventures with my newly-adopted team, Saltdean United. The live football I had so enjoyed at Hill Park was about to be snatched away from me along with much of life, but before our daily existence was stifled by lockdown, I enjoyed the generous and warm reception my piece of writing received and one last pre-lockdown game, a 3-1 victory over Epsom and Ewell in the First Round of the FA Vase.

The response I received from the people of Saltdean was both warming and genuinely exciting. I’m used to footballers and football teams being pretty inaccessible. I love going to watch Brighton and Hove Albion, but the closest I’ve ever got in recent times to having any connection with the team is a snatched selfie with bit-part player, Ezequiel Schelotto, when he happened to be at Hove Park just after I’d completed a park run. I get that Brighton aren’t going to give me much attention. There’s thousands of us and so I accept my position as spectator - dedicated fan, but a voice amongst thousands. 

One of the wonderful things about following a lower league team is that they have time for their fans - there’s less of them to go round of course, but the more time I spend with Saltdean, the more I feel like they are a club that seek to do things well. They seem to care not just about the football on the pitch, but about being a positive part of the community and their warm reception of me is part of that. More importantly, simple but powerful things like collecting for the local food bank show that although they’re a small club, they want to use their position to do good. 

The first to react to my article was the club themselves through their Twitter feed who expressed their enjoyment of my words and offered me some free merchandise in gratitude: that was a lovely gesture. 

The next to respond was the manager, Bryan O’Toole. When his message popped into my inbox, it was genuinely thrilling. I know that he’s just a normal bloke involved with a local football team, but it felt like I’d received a private message from Jose Mourinho to let me into his managerial secrets. Bryan had read my article and enjoyed it and he was kind enough to fill me in with some of the details that tell the story of Saltdean’s season. I had worked hard to try and remember the names of the players during the early stages of the season and then suddenly, the joint manager and almost the entire team had disappeared and it had been confusing as a supporter, but it had also been welcome as the quality of the football dramatically improved and Saltdean went on a nine-game run of victories. Bryan told me how things needed to change and how most of the squad were let go and he went on a signing spree after a mixed start to the season, bringing in fourteen players in ten days and they were quite some players, individuals who shine at this level. Only two of the original line-up remained, defensive stalwarts, Sean Roddy and Joe Shelley. 

The fact that these two remain is testament to the quality they bring to the side. Simon, my match-day companion, never says Joe Shelley’s name without following it with “best player in the County League.” He is such a wonderfully cultured centre-back, so calm on the ball and has also weighed in with important goals, twice scoring the winner in narrow games. Sean Roddy, likewise, is an excellent ball-playing defender and his delivery from set-pieces has been important for the Tigers this season. He’s a firm favourite with my boys, largely for the moment when he said, “Thank you wee man” to one of my sons when he returned the ball to him quickly for a throw-in.

The responses to my article didn’t stop there. I’d referenced Saltdean’s centre-forward from the ’90s, Matt Allen, in my article and he responded to my writing, telling me that the rumour that Sheffield United were interested in him came to fruition and he did indeed spend a brief time at Brammall Lane. It turned out the current centre-back, Marcus Allen, is his nephew. Current players, players’ parents and even the referee from the game I’d written about responded to my article. 

And then Boris said it was over or at least, over for a month and I had to sit and wait until the Tigers could roar again.

Today, they finally opened their jaws to receive the visit of Deal Town in the FA Vase. On the drive down to the ground, I led my boys in a rendition of “Oh, Trevor McCreadie” and we all anticipated that the talismanic centre-forward would not have let his eye for a goal cloud during the football fast. The temperature over the course of the last month had steadily dropped and I wore a pair of tracksuit bottoms underneath my jeans and went with five layers on my top half. My feet though quickly went numb and repeated shuffling wouldn’t bring any sensation back into my toes, but it was worth it. We were back!

The excitement of the occasion was boosted by the fact that this was a game that could catapult Saltdean to Wembley - four victories and that’s where they’d find themselves and the idea that this little club could be playing in the vast setting of Wembley was so exciting. The game seemed to start well. The opponents Deal Town had come in their own branded bus which seemed quite something for a team playing at this level and alongside their bus wedged into the muddy path leading to Hill Park, they also employed the common and dull footballing tactic of ‘parking the bus’ or perhaps they just struggled for possession and had to sit deep in their own half, hoofing the ball hopefully forward only to see a tide of tigers coming back at them. Somehow though, Deal kept Saltdean out with shots pinging off the bar, repeatedly blocked by defenders’ backsides or flashing across the face of goal. And then, against the run of play, Deal made a rare appearance in the Saltdean half and a cross into the box led to a scruffy goal. 0-1.

There’s plenty of time to go we reassured ourselves and before half-time, Trevor, wonderful Trevor twisted and turned like a politician avoiding a difficult question before smashing the ball high over the keeper to equalise just before the break. One new rule that affects matches is that half-time team-talks take place on the pitch and this means that if I can get my children to quieten down, I can listen in on Bryan’s words of wisdom. I wonder whether he has to edit himself for the wider audience. He told his team that they had the quality to win - of course they did - but warned them that he’d been knocked out of the FA Vase a hundred times and usually to a pretty average team. They had to be at it. They had to go out and win the game and not let it slip away.

The second half was similar to the first although chances seemed more scarce and it felt like we were sliding towards… towards what? Would there be extra time or would it go straight to penalties? I asked the Deal substitutes who were warming up in front of me, but they didn’t know. You’d think it would be an important detail that they should be aware of. They scuttled back to the bench to check and came back to tell me that if scores were level, there would be extra time, but moments later, the referee was beckoned over by the bench and he told them that it would go straight to penalties. Had I initiated this conversation? I don’t know, but thankfully the referee knew how the match should conclude.

Moments later though, it seemed that it was irrelevant anyway. There were just a couple of minutes left on the clock when the gradually improving Deal snatched the lead again. Gutted. We were into the final moments and it seemed like the Vase dream had been cruelly snatched away. We were into added-on time and every time Saltdean poured forward, one of the giant Deal defenders managed to smash it back up the pitch, but the whistle remained unblown and one last chance came when a deflected shot spun away for a corner. Set-piece deliveries had been inconsistent, but this one was good and debutant, Josh Clack, rose high and his header bulleted into the back of the net. As I screamed my joy, a rush of exhilaration destroying the frustration I’d felt moments before, eight-year-old, Eli Green, attending his first Saltdean game, summed it up perfectly: “This is brilliant!” he exclaimed.

And so, penalties it was. Surely, the script was written. A glorious last-minute equaliser was going to lead to shoot-out glory. It would make for a great narrative. The plucky Tigers coming from behind twice before advancing into the Third Round of the Vase. I dearly want to end the article with the happy ending that I felt confident would come, but I don’t get to write the script. As the icy rain fell, Saltdean blasted two penalties over the bar and another came bouncing back off the post. Deal went one better and triumphed 3-2 on penalties and then piled on top of each other joyously while I trudged away with the sense of angry injustice that football fans irrationally feel. Bryan had been knocked out the Vase for the 101st time and again, by a team that were thoroughly beatable.

But… there’s always a chance for fresh hope for football. Saltdean sit top of the table and travel to Horsham YMCA on Tuesday. They’ve never won the Sussex County Premier League before and this year, they have a great chance.