Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

Being the son of a fanatical football fan means that more than likely, it's a case of when you start going rather than if . In Oliver's case it was always inevitable, although I hadn't planned on it being so soon. The plan had been to mention football as much as possible and tell him everything about the Gills and put it off until he was five years old so that I could build up the anticipation and excitement. On his fifth birthday he would go to his first Gills game - as a mascot, making his Gills debut by leading the side out at the hallowed turf of Priestfield. As always with best intentions and perfectly laid plans, they go awry in amongst a set of strange circumstances. When Gillingham drew Stockport at home in the FA Cup second round it wasn't exactly a tie that caught the imagination, but a home game I would not have wanted to miss. I had decided to go for the pay on the day option, not imagining a sell out by any means! But as the game drew closer I b...

"Exactly 100 years ago today, HMS Alert and HMS Discovery sailed past Plymouth on their way from Portsmouth on an Arctic exploration mission which was to keep their crews away from home for nearly a year and five months. One of the members of this expedition, led by Captain Sir George Strong Nares, was a Newton Abbot man, Mr Henry Winser, who was picked as ship's carpenter for the team at the age of 24 because of his strong constitution. The expedition suffered many hardships and accomplished much, reaching 30 miles nearer the North Pole than any previous arctic explorers, but still fell 400 miles short of its target. The "Advertiser" of November 4th, 1876, summed up that the venture had demonstrated "that to reach the Pole is an utterly impracticable undertaking... deemed not to be accomplished by human energy." Henry Winser was believed to have been one of the sledge party which spent 70 days on the ice in conditions so rugged that it could only...

Earlier this year I wrote about a book I had read, A Quiet Belief in Angels, by Roger Ellory and how, since then, I had purchased all his previous works and had been enchanted by the epic worlds his creations had surrounded me. Last week his sixth book, A Simple Act of Violence was released and I eagerly visited Waterstones to get my copy. Roger Ellory doesn't write simple novels. They are vast in scope and character and although they share a similar theme, human nature, human relationships and the analysis of human behaviour against all odds, they are all vastly different. The synopsis for A Simple Act of Violence, provided by Amazon: "Washington, embroiled in the mid-term elections, did not want to hear about serial killings. But when the newspapers reported a fourth murder, when they gave the killer a name and details of his horrendous crimes, there were few people that could ignore it. Detective Robert Miller is assigned to the case. He and his partner begin the t...

In amongst the confetti and champagne that has flowed freely over the past two years, and looks set to continue at least until our own marriage in 2010, Saturday night marks the dawn of a new era. Mummy of the group Stephanie hits the big three-0. Although her birthday isn't until the 13th of October, current times amidst the credit crunch and close proximity in dates to sister in law Nadine and her best friend Kelly, both of which also hit the special landmark around the same time, sees a triple celebration as the three glam girls mark the occasion with a party to end all parties. I have a fear of hitting 30, due mostly to my own memories of when Dad celebrated his. A surprise BBQ at the house arranged by mum was not at all welcomed as Dad spent the whole day in a birthday depression rather than buoyant celebration. Being an impressionable eleven year old at the time wondering what on earth was so terrible about being 30. Was that the age that in which terrible thing beg...

During the summer of 2008, Mummy and Daddy decorated Daddy's old bedroom from when he was a boy, ready for you so that you had somewhere bigger to play. You had been sleeping in the nursery, which was Auntie Jessica's old room and Mummy and Daddy thought that we may need to keep the nursery for the future in case a brother or sister came along. Daddy wanted to make you a Gillingham Football Club room, but Mummy was worried that you would grow up and not like football! I said that she was crazy, all boys take after their Daddy's! We had both seen a brilliant football bedroom idea in a book called, Creative Spaces for Kids so decided to model your new bedroom on that, complete with a changing bench and football goal built into the fireplace. Daddy decided to take the idea further and wanted astroturf instead of carpet! Although he did get carried away, he knew when to stop, the floodlight and advertising hoarding ideas he had were sensibly scrapped!!! Mummy and Daddy t...

With the American Screen writers strike hitting at the back end of 2007/ beginning of 2008 many tv shows were unable to film due to lack of scripts. It has had an effect across a lot of television exports, no more so than 24 which was just about to air series 7 when the strike hit. Not wanting to have a gap inbetween shows the creators of 24 decided to postpone series 7 a full calendar year, much to the annoyance of huge 24 fans like myself. However, they haven't been sitting there twiddling their thumbs, instead they have been 'making the best series' they can, and as a special treat filming a two hour prequel which will air on Sky One sometime in November. The following is a teaser trailor of the prequel, named "24 : Exile" Jack's back, and I for one cannot wait!

It maybe a long standing joke amongst our circle of friends that Stuart never wins anything and always finishes runner up, although he knows that isn't exactly true. This weekend sees him marrying his long term beau, Aimee, a partnership in which he has always been a winner. Although we were in the same year at school, it wasn't until our GCSE year that Stuart and I became friends outside of school and Stuart started coming to occasional Gillingham games with me. Becoming friends with Stuart was a defining point in terms of the basis of our group dynamics. If I hadn't have become friends with Stuart, I wouldn't have become as good friends with Gareth, nor introduced to Mark, Reaso or Will. Like me, with Steph , Stuart met Aimee at a fairly young age. The exact circumstances on their meeting are a little frosty, but I think it was through a friend of the golf club, Darren, whose sister, Sarah had a stunningly beautiful best friend called Aimee, or at least ...

Millions of people are blogging just as you read this, for millions of different reasons. It may be about their favourite football club, Formula One team, sport, political party, sharing technical knowledge or for business. They may be like me and use it as a place to keep family up to date with their personal goings on. My blog started on July 20th 2006, and this is my 100th post! I have written much about nothing, from the Gills, to various goings on in the footballing planet, the story of Stephs pregnancy and the experiences we have had as a new family. I have shared books that I have read and paid tributes to friends and wished them luck as they have entered marriage. Stories have been told about trips I have made and exposed secrets of stag weekends abroad. All in all, it has been a pleasure to write such random ramblings and long may it continue. Thank you to everyone who has posted a comment or told me personally that they have enjoyed, cried or laughed at my mutterings. I...

I am not much of a birthday fan, I really don't know why. They contain all the things that I enjoy and love; beer, presents, champagne, chocolate, cake, clowns, balloons and bouncy castles. But on Saturday I 'celebrated' my twenty-eight birthday and wasn't in the mood to shout it from the rooftops. In the build up to my 'big day', Stephanie asked me on a daily basis whether I wanted to have a BBQ and get everybody around. In all honesty, no I never, it would mean drawing more attention to the fact that I was another year older. It would also mean getting drunk, which I wouldn't have minded but have been doing a lot of that recently and so wanted to do something a bit different. I have no idea where my fear of ageing comes from. It is a fact of life, as soon as we enter the world we are a moment older than we were just now. I wouldn't say that I sit and dwell upon my mortality, but for me an annual birthday is a reminder that your one step closer to y...

When we were growing up, I doubt very much whether Mum and Dad ever imagined a scenario whereby they would have five grand-children with the possibility of more on the way. On Friday, with the birth of Elijah, Jessica's fourth and probably final child that scenario became a reality. Stephanie and I are really happy for both Jessica and James, and indeed the girls too for finally having the boy that they both craved. Thinking from a personal point of view, I am particularly glad as it means Oliver will grow up with some male company on the Bird side of the family, and takes off some of the pressure on Stephanie and I when we get around to Baby Bird MrkII . If Jessica had another girl, and Baby Bird MrkII was also a female, poor Oliver would be surrounded by women and be bossed around incessantly, eventually driving him loopy. As it is, Oliver will have Elijah to play football with and climb trees etc, allowing Stephanie and I to pray for a girl, giving us the "perfect" ...

It used to be, or so I am constantly reminded Stag parties consisted of a curry in the local town, followed by a bar crawl and maybe a stripper chucked in for good measure. With the opening up of cheap flight routes across Europe Stag parties are now weekend affairs and life experiences - none more so than the weekend away to Budapest. Best man for the occasion Mark, declared that Groom to be Stuart should not know where we were heading for his stag weekend and so we were all sworn to secrecy, succeeding where most thought we would fail. I was so determined not to be the one to let the cat out of the bag that I even went as far as telling Stuart I was just as much in the dark as he was. Flying from Luton helped us massively in our task, as driving around the M25 at three thirty in the morning, past the M11 junction missing Stanstead threw Stuart even further off the scent. It wasn't until arriving at the check-in desk that the mystery was finally solved. Even then it wasn...

In an attempt to open communications with the people behind the Ebbsfleet Landmark I was provided with contact details for Land Securities by a fellow blogger who shares similar opinions to me. I list below the transcript of our email correspondence (so far) in the belief that by sharing this information other people can learn more about their take on the project and have a further understanding of what's being planned. Good afternoon, I am writing in the hope that this email is one of many concerns voiced regarding the five shortlisted designs for the Ebbsfleet Landmark. Upon hearing of the idea initially I was led to believe that the landmark was being developed for the residents of Ebbsfleet as a vocal point, a place that made them feel "at home". I asked myself the question - How can you build something for somebody who isn't even there yet? Surely the people of Gravesend, Northfleet, Swanscome and the local area, the people who have been there for years need to f...

For claiming the anonimously sent vouchers! Proof that a) at least one person visits the website b) online marketing/advertising is the future and c) blondes live up to the stereotype!

Just a quick posting to thank everyone who came to our party on Saturday evening and we hope that everyone had a great time! Both Stephanie and I have been overwhelmed by the gifts that we have received and we hope to send out individual thank you's shortly. The reason for this post is an SOS! Someone sent Stephanie and I some Next vouchers and we don't know who they are from! If you were at Bluewater Next on Thursday 12th June at roughly 6.50pm, can you let us know who you are so we can give you a big hug like everyone else?

It has been very quiet in the blogging stakes since the 22 nd May when I wrote "10 conclusions for the European Cup Final". Things should hopefully pick up again shortly with our engagement party this Saturday night, and Stuarts stag weekend at the end of the month. Although the European Championships have been on over the past week I cannot say that I have been entirely enthusiastic about the whole affair. The games that I have managed to sit and watch have been tepid affairs, and I seem to flick over or walk out the room just as a goal is scored. The pick of the teams after the first round of matches has been Portugal, Holland and Spain. Of those three I would like to see Spain go all the way, purely because of the Liverpool connection and the fact that I dislike Ronaldo (verging on hatred) about the way that he seems to be treating Manchester United with contempt over the whole Real Madrid saga. Finally, Holland, very pleasing on the eye to watch, play amazing football, ...

After yesterdays post looking ahead towards last night's European Cup Final I thought it would be only fair to keep the same format in summarising the event. 1) I would not like to be John Terry this morning. Good job I am not a betting man! I would have bet big money on him scoring as he walked up to that penalty spot. He was distraught after that, and you can hardly blame him. The 2008 European Cup, ten years down the line will be remembered for John Terry's miss if anything else. 2) Ronaldo confirmed that he is an arrogant muppet . Just what the hell was he doing with his penalty kick? If anyone deserved to be in John Terry's shoes last night it was him for the way he ran, stopped, jiggled and missed his penalty. 3) I must have had a premonition about Drogba , deserved to go. Shame it wasn't earlier. For a man of his size and stature he doesn't half throw himself about easy. 4) Manchester United should have been out of sight by half time. 5) Chelsea shou...

Tonight sees the very first European Cup final featuring two english sides in what is quite possibly the most overhyped game ever in the history of football. Yes, it is good that two english sides are playing, but does anyone remember last years FA Cup final, which was quite possibly the most boring game ever? Here are ten things that I hope to see in tonights game: 1) Chelsea lose 2) Drogba gets sent off in the first minute and walks off crying 3) That I am still awake before the end of the first half 4) Ronaldo takes his premier league form onto the 'big stage' 5) There is more than one goal 6) The winning goal is scored by Englishman 7) Someone mentions that 'massive' Chelsea couldn't sell all their tickets 8) It doesn't go to extra time and penalties (except if it is a 4-4 draw) 9) If Chelsea win there is a blackout so we don't get to see the celebrations 10) Avram Grant and Alex Ferguson have a punch up on the touchline

It seems as if we have been catching up for lost time. No sooner had we announced our engagement just a month later we have booked a venue and set a date for our 'Big Day'. We will be getting married at the Little Silver Country Hotel on September 11th 2010 at 2pm! During the saga that was my proposal of marriage I assumed that Stephanie would want to get married abroad, a European destination such as Cyprus, Greece or Turkey. I had actually told people when asked that this would be the plan! It surprised me therefore that she wanted a slightly more traditional wedding at home surrounded by her nearest and dearest. In the week that followed our proposal I hit Google with vengeance and our postman seriously considered retirement due to bad back having been forced to deliver brochure upon brochure advertising wedding venues across the UK and Ireland! Admittedly I did go overboard looking at stately homes and medieval castles fit for people with larger budgets than ourselves. Eve...