Sunday 12th April 2009
Following our comprehensive win last night I have given the whole team the day off. A promise I will honour for the season. We’re at home to Lifosa this Friday, so my plans for today include going over what little information I have conjured up on our opposition and doing some housework.
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I have never grown accustomed to having days off, the day was fairly odd. Not knowing what to do with my time is not something that bodes well with me. I spent the morning doing household chores and tasks, something which I have found to be very therapeutic. Must make sure nobody ever, EVER! Catches me with my rubber gloves on, doing the washing up.
As hard as I tried to keep busy I kept looking back on my unexpected text at the end of the night. I had done especially well to make sure my time here went with little to no distractions; Selma’s text was like a shot to the head. How was I supposed to reply to that? As cruel as it may seem, at this stage the last thing I needed was an incident to keep my mind off my job. I deleted the text and decided that, for now at least, I would keep my mind off her.
# # #
By the late evening I was feeling down and depressed. Selma may just have been down or had a bad day, looking for someone comforting to talk too and I just left her. She was kind enough to go to the trouble of finding out how I got on and I ignore her.
In my depressed state I grabbed the only bottle of alcohol I had in the house, a ten year old scotch given as a goodbye gift from my former employers and drank myself into a deep sleep.
Monday 13th April 2009
I awoke from my sleep at 4am, dazed, confused and clearly still drunk. I fumbled off the sofa immediately regretting my actions from the night before. This was bad, I have never taken a sick day in my life and there was no way I could afford to take one now, what sort of impression would that leave on my squad ?. I still had time to work this off before training.
I put my clothes for training in my rucksack, put on my running gear and decided to jog to work. Passing the custodians and waste removal men at 5am, I caught a few looks. Hopefully they assume I am just an active manager. It is 4 miles between the training ground and my apartment, plenty of time to sweat off the drink.
By the time I arrived at the ground it was a little after 6am. I got showered and washed up and immediately got some coffee. My Assistant, ‘Eddie’ arrived soon after. Looked at me once grinned and suggested taking the morning session whilst I overlook procedures.
Known by all as ‘Eddie’, the nickname comes from his addiction to English rock band Iron Maiden. Eddie has been with Kaunas for five years and is a loyal employee. More than happy as the number two, Eddie prefers being the good guy who is not afraid to get his hands dirty given the call of duty.
I said my piece before training…
‘Welcome back, Holiday time is over. We still have a lot to learn so I want focus and expect improvements. Drills in the morning from Eddie and I will join in after lunch for some 7 a sides, Lets Go’
I stood on the sidelines watching them run the bleep test, head spinning back and forth. It was going to be a long day…