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Warning – this blog post contains several bits of good news, including meetings with 80s film & TV stars, a musical genius and brushes with greatness on the football field.

Anyone not in the mood for unusual cheeriness on the present author’s part, look away now, because we start at Liverpool Comic Con, a biannual bonanza of toys, costumes and general geekiness which me and B just love frequenting.

This time our theme was Ghostbusters, after she became smitten with Frozen Empire and I was secretly elated as I got to resurrect a costume from a Uni party a quarter of a decade ago.

The real highlight of the day was me posing for a photo next to One Eyed Willie’s Bone Organ (really) and a guy in a white baseball cap walking past and telling me “you look perfect” in a familiar Californian drawl.

It was none other than Sean Astin, Mikey from The Goonies, a film I’d watched a thousand times in childhood, and the waiting hordes of people who’d paid hundreds for his and the other LOTR cast ( we also spotted Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan et al but I’ve never been into that sort of thing) must have been so envious seeing me agape at having been paid a compliment by an early hero, for free!

Even B was especially impressed as she loved him in Stranger Things, and it was only in writing this I learned he is the son of Hollywood royalty Patty Duke. He was also brilliant in 50 First Dates. I’ll be honest, we felt like minor celebrities what with the dozen or so people who came up to ask for selfies afterwards – one guy took the photo above and said we were his favourite cosplayers from the whole weekend! – and even though we saw John Cleese, Jay & Silent Bob and myriad other pop culture legends, my chance encounter with Ziggy from Grange Hill will last nearly as long in the memory.

The theme of Scouse actors and recognisable scenes continued with the excellent second series of The Responder, featuring many local areas of interest (we’d seen it being filmed nearby last year) and then a lifelong ambition of scoring at the College Road end of the MTA as Elijah played in a Summer tournament there every Saturday morning (more of which later!) which featured this iconic celebration, captured by the official photographer for prosperity.

Other notable seminal moments came with the final series of Inside No 9 – and the poignant final episode – and The Gathering – again, filmed locally and featuring friends of friends but also making the city look beautiful.

The most surrreal moments of early summer were still to come…

On a trip to Bootle Strand, never the most inspirational place at the best of times, a familiar face boarded the bus and sat a few seats in front of me and my bewildered daughter. It was none other than Michael Head, whose new album I’d been listening to all that week as it entered the top ten, whose earlier stuff as part of Shack had shaped my youth and before that The Pale Fountains for many others, who had a mutual friend and whom a colleague had been to see recently in an intimate church gig and subsequently waxed lyrical about it… yes, that Michael Head.

I probably made a bit of a show of myself but he was a perfect gentleman and obliged for the obligatory photo aboard the 53 as a document of the time I met a musical maestro on Merton Road.

An even more bizarre encounter than the ones which have gone before came at the private hospital I’ve been frequenting for investigations into an ongoing back issue and a man in the waiting room having a similar procedure to me, an ex pro golfer originally from the town I’ve called my second home for twenty years and a fascinating guy but a rather sad figure; I’d call him a kind of guardian angel like the elder characters in Its a Wonderful Life! or The Golden Vision, sent to give me a message of sorts. I know his name but will keep it hidden in case anyone knows him… suffice to say he gave sage advice and I’ll remember him fondly.

Lighter moments and a new found fascination for the kids with Jim Carrey movies, just as the Home Alone house went on sale and a similar theme ran through the second best thing I’ve watched recently…

That I binge-watched Eric over a whole weekend whilst WW was- puppets and graffiti, what’s not to love? – which evoked the late Maurice Sendak’s beautiful Where The Wild Things Are, Sesame Street , Basquiat (and even our own travails of letting the first born walk to and from school in preparation for high school) all set in early 80s New York, a period which fascinates me. It also featured a cameo by a certain Bobby Schofield who I used to teach and I was so proud to spot him I reached out to commend him on his performance.

Many were uncertain about the lead character but he struck a chord, even wearing the same watch as me, and the music in there was epic. I won’t spoilt the ending – beautifully shot and soundtracked – so here’s another classic from the six parter.

Talking of Basquiat, I took the kids back to my roots for the degree show at JMU and was thrilled to see not just the quality of work on show but a Jamie Reid retrospective. He’d come to talk to us back in 2000 and we were thrilled to be in the presence of such an important artist and activist whose legacy lives on.

Back to football, and another massive heart in throat moment when E got scouted by a big northwest club in a tournament on the Wirral. I won’t say too much so as not to jinx it, but he performed superbly only a few days after falling out of bed and cutting his head open leading to a trip to Alder Hey (and a call from social services) so played in a bandage and it must have brought him to the attention of a representative of said club and we’ll see what happens there.

The nearest I got to greatness was trailing boots for Ryan Giggs and Reebok when I was twelve, so the recognition for him at merely seven makes me so very proud.

Next up, a fantastic gig by Richard Hawley, following his excellent new album (with the standout track for me being the brilliant Prism in Jeans) preceded by a visit to the impressive Renshaw St Food Market for a spritz, Mexican fare from Baja and excellent Chinese courtesy of Mong Kok (really) and the ubercool White Hart pub where I played the fanboy again, meeting one of my favourite graphic designers and an all round good guy. Check out his website!

All this played out over the opening weekend of the Euros, when football came back to the fore – predictors had been filled in, stickers tentatively collected, new kits ordered and excitement filled the household (well, half of it!) but the music was ten times better than anything German football pitches could offer.

Theatre of a different kind, though still loosely linked to events in Germany, came the following weekend with another date at a local am drama group and a great little short play at Lucilla House. We’ve been past the place hundreds of times, whether feeding the ducks or staggering back from the local (pre children) but this was our first foray inside and the performance itself, Figments was an excellent play within a play which started and ended with the Tales of the Unexpected theme tune so I knew I was in for a treat given how much I loved that series.

The lead character looked familiar… he had more than a look of my (and Elijah’s) current favourite footballers, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, simultaneously impressing at the tournament, so I made a beeline for him when entered the bar afterwards to commend him on his performance and we worked out we had several mutual teaching friends and I’d actually met him in said local last year! Imagine the awe on E’s face the following morning when he pulled up alongside us on his bike and quizzed him about his favourite footballer… it must have brought him good luck as he went on to win the players’ player of the year award at the subsequent MarinaFest prize giving which brought yet another tear to my eye.

Africa Oye was an enjoyable day out, some great music and fun rides and a foray down ‘Bohemian’ Lark Lane, which was replete in the sunshine; IF was a great, thought-provoking and nostalgic trip back to childhood at the cinema.

Oh, such a Pangloss I’d become!

More tears of joy were to come when B’s team won the league and she got player of the match on the final game. As she nears the end of y6 and the transition into high school, we prepare for end of school plays, confirmation services and long goodbyes, I get the feeling there’ll be a few more of those moments from us all…

We end on another positive and the brilliant Inside Out 2, perfect for any of us with teenage or pre pubescent girls – Anxiety is an excellent addition to the brain-based emotions, and it prepares you perfectly, let me tell you – and as if by magic, one of the best characters is also voiced by the brilliant Ayo Edebiri, one of the stars of The Bear, who even directed an episode, of which the third series dropped last week on Disney+ and it’s quite simply mesmerising and magnificent in equal measure.

Some critics were divided when the new episodes were made available, with comments that it has slowed down a bit and doesn’t make the progress the first two series might have in its earlier episodes but the opener is so clever in recapping what’s gone before, and very beautiful in the plating, and the second episode is particularly intense, which is what I love about the series so much, and the viewing thereof was succeeded by the ever excellent The National at Glastonbury.

Now, I do love a bit of SZA, but this set for Sad Dads was the perfect headliner act of the weekend for me, even if Coldplay’s addition of Michael J Fox was the most emotional, but I said I’d stay upbeat and optimistic regardless of the circumstances, so won’t dwell on the sadness and tears that that moment also caused.

Later that week, a good omen was delivered when Frank Cottrell Boyce was named Children’s Laureate. Richly deserved, not just for his excellent books and plays and scripts and screenplays, but also the way I’ve seen him interact with young people in myriad circumstances such as open evenings as well as in the doorway of our local chippy… they were my own kids, and he was brilliant with them as he was with me, when our paths crossed at a literacy event a few years back and he gave the most enthusiastic speech possible about a statue he’d seen in the foyer of the venue on the way in to speak.

Finally, General Election time! I have to stay apolitical and neutral because of the day job I do when not ruminating on what to share with you every couple of months… but let’s just say we end on a positive note, too.

On to the next one.

We start, and end, with football.

Another Euros approaching, and the end of the season being nigh, football has understandably been high on the list of priorities in my mind this past few months, not least because Betsy has had a few games for the school team. They’re doing well, winning a few, and she’s trying her best (but is not the next Alex Greenwood, who actually attended the same primary school) and even turned her hand to netball in a couple of games recently, preparing for high school which we intrepidly await.

There was also the additional problem of yet another Everton points deduction, but there’s more on that later…

TV proved a nice distraction in the meantime. The very good Too Good to be True and the ever excellent Great British Menu, plus the sad news about Dave Myers, announced as it was the day after an excellent Liverpool based episode which I implore everyone to watch on iPlayer.

The best thing I’ve watched recently – which is also available on the BBC platform – was How to with John Wilson – like nothing else on TV – first episode about finding public bathrooms in NYC. Like a blend of Wes Anderson & Spike Jonze meets Found magazine (to which I was once a regular contributor) meets Louis Theroux… small details, like hand signals noticed among native New Yorkers on a daily basis akin to those used by baseball players. The Mets fan, with his glass collection and his recollections of his first game, took me back to NYC and the memorabilia I bought here (wish we could have gone to a game but it was close season) then forward to my own collections and son and our excitement as the new stadium comes ever more real, as does relegation and what would come with that.

And the hoover convention in episode 4 has to be seen to be believed… the ending is particularly poignant.

Other good things we’ve watched in the past few weeks? Passengers: Stranger Things meets Twin Peaks meets Happy Valley meets myriad other Netflix series with dismembered animals and odd teenage characters. I really liked it. As I did Red Eye, not quite real time but largely set on a flight to China (and it put me off flying for a while) then of course the return of Masterchef.

The kids had artworks in church as part of their Easter Art exhibition – a lovely lead in to the upcoming holiday. We went to see the new Ghostbusters, Frozen Empire, which I really loved as it evoked the original more than any of the other reimaginings. Technology has obviously made a film like this all the more possible and realistic, but it struck a chord with us having visited several of the locations featured heavily in it, such as the Hook & Ladder fire station and the lions outside the Public Library – who comes ‘alive’ in the film quite magnificently.

More ‘wow factor’ was to come later that week, as we were lucky enough to attend the Etihad Stadium for the Man City v Aston Villa game.

Little E has adopted City as his second team and obviously he’s thankfully oblivious to the suggestions of oil empire corruption which besmirch, for many, their greatness. What’s undeniable is that they put on a good show, both before the game what with the blue carpet arrival before a crowd whipped up by a brilliant DJ and then the game itself, a stellar performance especially by the Stockport Iniesta which reminded me of seeing the ‘solutions man’ star at the Nou Camp exactly twelve years earlier.

It was the little things I noticed. The vast campus with the training ground nearby, the bus loads of Sheikhs, the crowded megastore, the Asahi on draft, the Pierre Koffman fries on sale, the friendliness of staff searching bags, the myriad homelands of the fans being interviewed on the big screen. Surreal, but whetting the appetite for what we have to come in a couple of years if things calm down.

The moneyed Mancunian experience continued the next day, spending Christmas money at the Trafford Centre.

Twelve years of marriage was celebrated with our first taste of Mowgli – with some delightful orange wine…

very good, it was too – and it inspired me to recreate the Goan fish curry (stank the house out but tasted immense) alongside some delicious aperitifs at the elegant Municipal hotel, and digestifs at the very cool (though hard to locate) Nord.

The next day, more generosity of friends allowed me to enjoy / endure an Everton victory, notable for a freak goal and a chance meeting with the esteemed actor, Ian Hart. From his early role as Rabbit in the brilliant One Summer, via Backbeat and Boardwalk Empire, to more recent performances in Tin Star and The Responder, I’d long admired his acting and only a couple of weeks previously felt starstruck when we saw him going for coffee just around the corner from our house. Now, here he was stood skulking on WSAG island and we had a good chat before he obliged to a selfie.

More culture came with a great little exhibition at the Bluecoat, a retrospective of sorts, created quite brilliantly by Babak Ganjei. It was very ‘me’ but the kids loved it, too!

The real highlight of the holidays – well, to be honest, arguably also 37 long suffering years of support – came quite unexpectedly, as the best things in life often do. I spoke last time about my disappointment with the Blues on the commercial side; a couple of phonecalls and emails was all it took for them to restore my faith for now, but I’m not allowed to talk about it on social media, so that’s all I have to say about that.

The club may well be a mess off (and sometimes on) the field, but a day like the one me and Elijah experienced couldn’t have been bettered (well, a couple of players couldn’t be there, but the ones that did were fantastic both going through training drills and when signing autographs after the session) plus we were treated like kings before and after getting up close and personal with the first team squad, manager and legends of my youth.

I felt very fortunate to have been offered the opportunity not just to meet everyone and see the other side (hospitality, coaching, camaraderie and the human side of players – special mention for Coleman, Tarkowski, Keane, McNeil, Andre Gomes (who remembered hugging Betsy five years ago) and Youssef Chermiti who, according to Elijah, smelt of ‘fruit and flowers’) but also to see his excitement and the look of excitement and awe on his face when up close and personal with his heroes who seemed to really appreciate this encounter nearly as much as we did.

Whatever happens, I love you.

The very next day we visited the beautiful little Lancastrian town of Heysham for a lovely lunch to celebrate my mum’s birthday and, afterwards, the setting for – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – the greatest music video of all time.

A haunting graveyard, in picturesque scenery, seemingly a world away from the maelstrom of football fervour. Imagine my surprise, then, that only a few weeks later, the bizarre worlds of Sean Dyche and Blossoms aligned with his cameo in their new video, which has to be seen to be believed…

Football, and Everton, are magic again – three victories in a week, the last of which we were very lucky to attend and I even realised a lifetime ambition of bumping into the King of the North himself, the great Andy Burnham whilst he was marching down the Goodison Road.

It wasn’t exactly a spectacle, but the relief as we left the stadium, to the beautiful strains of ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’, was palpable, and the excitement I witnessed on Elijah’s face at Man City, this scrappy victory which meant survival for another year, and the excellent Marine season closer as they approached their own moments of glory in the Liverpool Senior Cup and League Play Off Final, reminded me of the seminal quote from Fever Pitch which had a huge impression on me when I was learning about the game, and being a fan, myself.

“Football has meant too much to me, and come to represent too many things.

See, after a while, it all gets mixed up in your head, and you can’t work out if life’s **** because [Everton] are **** or it’s the other way around.

I’ve been to watch to many games, spent too much money, and fretted about [Everton] when I should have been fretting about something else. I’ve asked too much of the people I love.

OK, I can accept all that.

But I don’t know, perhaps it’s something you don’t understand, unless you belong…”

That Saturday evening, Elijah knew he belonged.

As I always have.

Apologies for not writing for a while, I know you’ve missed this – what was a monthly – confessional but now reappears every four months or so… Four months, in fact; four months in which two countries have landed on the moon, Shed Seven got a number one album (reminding me of the halcyon days of GCSEs being something I did, not taught) whilst Gladiators has returned to our screens, our King has declared his illness (hopefully he’s on the mend) and I’ve also had loads going on.

So has a friend.

Suffering back pains for a year, he also lost loads of weight, and couldn’t ignore any longer. He went the Doctor, was given a scary prognosis, endured CT scans and a FIT test – he can laugh about it now, but at the time it was terrible – the lowlight of the whole situation was his getting someone else’s used test.

The replaced test came back positive – the real difficult parts were telling his wife and his parents. An even more difficult colonoscopy ensued and, being a fellow Everton fan, the news of the points reduction whilst he was int he waiting room waiting for the outcome, didn’t help matters, but thankfully the outcome of the latter at least was positive. He now awaits the results of a MRI, a surreal experience, he says, so please pray for him.

Anyway, as I said, it’s been a while! I’ve watched loads of good films recently: The Killer, especially its soundtrack; Tenet, a little confusing but nicely so; The Outsiders, forty years old but still a classic; Jumanji: Next Level (fun and family friendly); Sicario, my favourite topic, classy and exciting; I’m Thinking of Ending Things, weird but good; Project Power, intriguing and fun; The Killing of a Scared Deer, simply surreal; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, too much CGI but I liked Phoebe Waller-Bridge in it; Dune (part one) which I had to spread across three sittings, it’s that long – I loved the original when I was a little ‘un, and thought this was even better – moody and cool as, with Timothee Chalamet proving why he’s deemed the actor of his generation.

We can’t wait for part two – saw the trailer today, in fact, which brings us to my pick of the bunch and Wonka.

I saw that trailer a while back and thought it looked like Wes Anderson had spliced La La Land with the newest Matilda and it was even better than that! Our favourite bit was in the zoo, but the nuanced nods to the original (especially with Neil Hannon’s immaculate score which cleverly referenced the classics at the right time) left me with, I don’t mind admitting, a tear in my eye and a new found addiction to Dairy Milk.

Meanwhile, we’ve celebrated the kids’ successes: MOTMs and goals aplenty at football (and a couple of arguments with opposing dads), star roles in Christmas plays and carol services, a return to gymnastics for B (met Dan Purvis from the Olympics, really nice guy) and also found our new favourite cafe, The Potato Moon Cafe, literally around the corner, what with its impressive artwork and even more delectable Cruffins.

Oh, and we got an Alexa (evoking an episode of Black Mirror – their knowledge and predictions of deliveries is scarily accurate) and Betsy was on TV whilst Elijah got in the programme again and even met Sean Dyche after the Tottenham game, when not one of ten players bothered to stop and sign his shirt but thankfully the gruff-voiced, Kasabian-loving, smart-shoes wearing Midlander did.

Here he is, doing just that for an agog E.

Christmas came, well enjoyed, with some over indulgence, and some great Secret Santa gifts. Meanwhile, said friend is also putting weight on, a good sign for him. We watched loads of re-runs and quiz shows – my new year’s resolution is to get on one – and enjoyed Fool Me Once on Netflix. OK, a little formulaic if you’ve seen Harland Coben’s stuff before. Mr and Mrs Smith, on Amazon Prime, is very cool and very clever (for those of us who saw the original in the cinema!)

Plus, we are very excited to be going to see Richard Hawley in the summer, at whose last Liverpool gig I had a long chat with the genius Bill Ryder Jones whose new album, is a thing of beauty.

It gets more than a thumbs up from me.

Less attractive, though equally engrossing, is my new found interest in the Gridiron. Baltimore Ravens are my team but they didn’t quite make the Super Bowl although I still really enjoyed the match (well, Usher’s performance and especially that of Alicia Keys) and my love with American Football started thirty odd years ago with the team helmets featuring on Marathon bars, their iconic designs etched in my memories of Saturday morning swimming lessons and trips to the vending machines, but abated, then more recently returned what with the character storylines of the still excellent This is Us and the reason for my affinity with the Ravens, the underrated Silver Linings Playbook.

Talking of films, I heard recently that it’s twenty five years since the release of several seminal films of my early adult life: American Beauty, the focus of my dissertation (and now deemed inappropriate due to Kevin Spacey’s demise); Being John Malkovich, relevant because of celebrity obsession and A. I. paranoia, and Fight Club. More resonant than ever, what with male angst, kickback against corporate culture and omnipresent cosmetic surgery… it also reminds me of my single serving friend, whom I met at a very strange time in his life.

As previously stated, the half term break has allowed me to write this, and it brought with it a lovely stay at a retreat replete with a sauna and steam room (my new favourite escapes) and – now, here comes the long awaited art- a trip to the serene walls of the Lady Lever Gallery, some real hidden gems there including an all time favourite The Scape Goat by William Holman Hunt. Meanwhile, a friend was at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and saw this beauty which I’d never seen before but really resonated with me, for obvious reasons:

Talking of which, Valentines’, which brought equal measures of excitement at a bottle of Fernet Branca, inspiring a new favourite cocktail (the aptly named Hanky Panky!) and disappointment at the organisation of a player meet and greet event that same day, at which E was meant to meet his hero but ended in despair (after a two hour wait, due to atrocious communication by the club) which resulted in a compensatory visit to the resplendent Liver Buildings, and a great exhibition of the artwork of the brilliant Paul Curtis.

Still, we’ve also got to spend some time in the garden – a sign that Spring is about to be sprung – so we have to hope that things are getting better for us all.