Nostalgia & Comics

If Coningsby and Tattershall aren't thriving, Boston is more than making up for it. Coming into the train station this morning, I thought for a moment I'd somehow ended up in the wrong town - they've finally built the new Asda on Sleaford Road, the one that had been in the planning stages for as long as I can remember! They've knocked down all the old derelict buildings that used to greet train visitors to the town, added a new road and made the whole place look a whole lot prettier!

And that's not all. In the less-than-two-years since I was last there, they've also done the Pescod Square development thing that had been talked about for years! Now there's a lovely little pedestrianised area with lots of shiny new shops, with Pescod Hall sitting prettily in the middle. As opposed to the scruffy old car park and building site there was the last time I saw the area. And Boston now has not one but two bookshops! If you'd told me that a couple of years ago when I was living there, I would have called you a raving loony of some kind. Admittedly one of them is a Works, which doesn't really count, but the other is Ottakar's, which definitely does.

And what's more, the 2006 comic annuals are out. It's getting silly, nowadays. Soon they'll be coming out two years in advance of the cover date. But I got the new Broons book and the latest collection of old Broons and Oor Wullie strips, which is great. The latter even contains handy information like the name of the current artist, so now when I complain about his rotten art and campaign to get Ken H Harrison back, I can refer to him as Peter Davidson instead of "PD". And he was the same one who drew the strips, unsigned, in the eighties. I thought he was, but then it might have been someone else using his character designs and style (as opposed to Harrison's VASTLY superior ones).

It rained all day, alternating between downpours and constant drizzle, which made the football pitch a bit heavy going for the poor players. There was no mud, because they're really looking after the ground nowadays, but there were huge puddles dotted around the pitch, despite the best efforts of the people who were out before the game prodding it with rakes.

Rochdale's mascot is a dragon, and a very friendly looking one, too. I don't know his name, but I'd imagine it's Dale. I gave him a quick wave, although it's bad form to cheer on the opposing team's mascot, because us dragons have to stick together. He looked much cooler than BosCat, although the two of them seemed to get on quite well - rather than going around entertaining the crowd before the game, they stood around chatting in a corner of the field most of the time. Makes you wonder what giant cartoony animals talk about when they get together.

As for the actual game, it was great! Noel Whelan put us ahead with an excellent shot early on, but they equalised a couple of minutes later with a soft lob over the head of Nathan Abbey, who'd wandered out of his goal to watch the action. In the second half Rochdale went ahead with a scrambled goal after the ball slipped through Abbey's hands from a corner, but then we got a penalty somehow (I didn't see what the referee had found fault with, but I'm not complaining), which Whelan converted.

Abbey made up for anything he'd done with a couple of great saves, and then Alan White popped up out of nowhere to get the winner. Twenty minutes of somehow not conceding another goal later, Boston had their first win of the season! And all because I went along to watch! My cheering and occasional abuse-shouting made all the difference.

So, a great day all round, although I must get some new shoes. The hole in the sole of my right boot is inconvenient when it's wet. My sock gets soaking wet if my foot goes anywhere near water. Still, it was worth it. I'll have to go to another game or two this season if we're going to avoid relegation...