Records Aplenty In Joyous July

A long delay on this and all blogs which will become more clear as the catch-up goes on but July saw the mix of football and RL attendances combine while gaming hit new highs. 

Sport

Football wise, physical attending continued with Skem U in pre-season on the road and the opening trip of the month being a 6-0 win at Sefton Athletic before a 3-2 loss to Widnes and 1-0 loss to Accrington Stanley U23s both coming at home. 

Physical attendances continued in RL but after a delay due to a virtual attendance with no away fans permitted at the away trip to St Helens which saw Wigan lose 24-6. Attending resumed with a Huddersfield Giants double as Wigan won 16-12 at home before an adventure on both bus and train later that week with a friend saw a 14-12 success up at the John Smith's Stadium.

Joy continued with a 25-12 home win over Wakefield Trinity before what became the final away trip of the season (no travel for the remaining games) at Warrington Wolves saw another bus/train adventure and a 21-8 defeat. 

The Women extended their perfect start with a 36-10 win away to Featherstone Rovers Ladies before losing 28-6 against Leeds Rhinos Ladies. The only attendance was a virtual one for a 12-4 loss to York City Ladies which was played at Odsal on a Monday evening. 

Life

The Countdown Weights reached began the month on 119 per round and ended with 121 in progress  the month ended with the next milestone of 400,000 lifts reached midway through the month itself which became the best month of all-time at 38184 beating the record of 37864 from March. 

Updating on the friends front, more exits of short-term ones and despite reaching the wonderful 2 year Friendiversary with my long-term friend, our connection has lessened with her message/post replies becoming fairly rare still. The main positive from June of a new friend has seen the connection grow massively so good news on that front. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with a massive new record month which included a run of updates and new additions leading to a total of 378 unlocks for the month and as always more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure July Summary.

As the month has seen a mix of home and being out and about, highlights below are boosted by some adventures. 

Physical Sports Dominate June

After May included physical attending return to RL, June saw the first football/RL physical attending weekend since Mar 2020 while Sport overtook Gaming as the focus for the first time this year. 

Sport

Football wise, physical attending resumed with Skem U beginning pre-season on the road in a 2-0 loss at Stockport Town with more planned for July both home and away. 

Physical attendances continued in RL with a slight delay as the away trip to Huddersfield was cancelled due to a COVID issue with Hudds. A first physical home game at the DW Stadium came with mixed joy as the happiness of being back was dented by an 18-8 loss to Hull Kingston Rovers and was followed by virtual away loss of 14-6 to Wakefield Trinity. The wait for a home win would sadly extend into July due to a humbling 40-14 defeat to Warrington Wolves on the 30th. 

The women continued their perfect start to the WSL season with a 22-8 win over Castleford Tigers Women and was the only action due to the derby against St Helens Women being cancelled due to COVID issues for the Saints. 

Life

The Countdown Weights reached 118/119 per round as the month ended with the next milestone of 350,000 lifts reached on the 2nd with June itself becoming the second best month of all-time (37728) behind the 37864 of March. 

Updating on the friends front, more exits of short-term ones and despite reaching the wonderful 2 year Friendiversary with my long-term friend, our connection has lessened with her message/post replies becoming fairly rare. The main positive is a new friend who is based over here and hopefully will become a long-term connection. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with a reduction unlocks wise due to more time being spent on games rather than the usual carousel but still a decent total of 114 for the month and as always more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure June Summary.

As the month has seen a mix of home and being out and about, highlights below are boosted by some adventures. 

Mixed May As Physical RL Returns

As the title announces, physical attending finally returned in May to RL if only with one occurrence in the form of Salford Red Devils v Wigan Warriors at the AJ Bell Stadium which was ironically the last physical RL attendance of 2020 but more on that below. 

Sport

Football wise, physical attending continued with a negative in the St Luke's Cup ties with a 6-1 home loss to Sandbach United before a 3-1 home win over Runcorn Town. The final group game saw hopes of reaching the final ended in a 4-2 loss to hosts Winsford United. The Academy also had a chance at success but the final two attendances of the season saw home losses to Mossley (4-1) and Ossett United (6-4). 

As the physical began to come to an end in football, virtual attendances continued in RL with Super League mixed success for Wigan Warriors men's and women's teams. The men's team opened the month with a 20-10 loss to Hull FC in the Challenge Cup Quarter finals before returning to winning ways a 30-16 win over Leigh Centurions. The long awaited return to physical attending arrived as mentioned above with the visit to Salford Red Devils resulting in a 17-16 win. 

The women continued their perfect start to the WSL season with a 38-0 win over Bradford Bulls Women and 68-10 victory over Huddersfield Giants Women. However, the success sandwiched an exit from the Challenge Cup in a 30-24 defeat to a newly built York City Knights Ladies. A new addition to the year's attendances was at Scholarship level with a virtual 22-20 loss to Huddersfield Giants U16s.

Away from the attending, the month was a perfect one for Liverpool with five wins which secured third and of course a Champions League spot. The joy began with a 2-0 win over Southampton followed by a trilogy of away wins at Manchester United (4-2), West Brom (2-1) and Burnley (3-0) before rounding off the season with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Life

The Countdown Weights reached 116/117/118 per round as the month ended with the next milestone of 350,000 lifts in sight and totals of 1700 becoming more regular. 

Updating on the friends front, more exits of short-term ones but also new connections which have grown wonderfully with my long-term friend still sticking with me ahead of the 2 year Friendiversary in June. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with the domination lessening due to the sporting increase but still posting a good haul for the month of 200 unlocks and as always more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure May Summary.

As the month has seen a mix of home and being out and about, highlights below are boosted by some adventures. 

April Attending Becomes Physical

As the title announces, physical attending finally returned in April with the first 2021 live match coverage coming as Skem U visited Sandbach United but more on that below. 

Sport

Football wise, the joy of physical attending began at the aforementioned visit to Sandbach United with Skem U and in a 4-1 win, Skem started the St Luke's Cup with instant success in the tournament created by the next opponents Winsford United who sadly defeated Skem 3-2 in the first JMO visit of 2021. 

Attending returned across the other two levels with mixed results, joy in seeing the Academy team defeat Runcorn Linnets with a 4-2 win which came as a huge boost as the lads lost 7-1 at Linnets a few days earlier after a couple of tough away losses. The Youth team resumed action in a 5-0 loss to Atherton Collieries 18s and sadly ended their season due to player unavailability. 

As the physical arrived in football, virtual attendances continued in RL with Super League in full swing and Wigan Warriors in perfect form across both the men's and women's teams. The men's team opened the season with a 34-6 win over Wakefield Trinity before beating York City Knights (26-0) in the Challenge Cup. They ended the month unbeaten after three more league wins over Leeds Rhinos (19-6), Castleford Tigers (22-12) and Hull FC (16-14).The Women made a perfect start to the WSL season with a 52-8 win over Warrington Wolves Women. 

A return to physical football means two sections here and the second being Liverpool's action, April began with wins over Arsenal (3-0) and Aston Villa (2-1) before consecutive 1-1 draws against Leeds United and Newcastle United which dented top four hopes. 

Life

The Countdown Weights reached 114/115/116 per round as the month ended with the next milestone of 300,000 lifts reached on the 23rd just ahead of the anniversary of the idea's formation on the 28th which was great to reach especially with progress increasing day by day. 

Updating on the friends front, more exits of short-term ones but also new connections which have grown wonderfully with my long-term friend still sticking with me. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with the domination lessening due to the sporting increase but still posting a good haul for the month of 205 unlocks and as always more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure April Summary.

As the month has been homebased with some trips out, highlights are limited but a few are shown below.

Virtual Attending Joins Gaming In March

A quarter of the way into 2021 and sadly physical sport attendances are yet to return but in a month that included the anniversary of the original lockdown, such a return to attending is clearer with mid-April the likely date. 

Sport

As the news of potential attendances arrived, virtual attendances began for the year starting with Wigan Warriors pre-season visit to Salford Red Devils which saw a 20-6 loss but the month ended with a comeback win of 20-18 in the Super League opener against Leigh Centurions. Physical attendances are likely in May/June but there was also news that the Women's SL will begin in April and though it'll be viewed virtually its a positive that its happening this year after the 2020 season was cancelled just before it was due to begin.

Football wise, it was a mixed month with no action after the 15th but two losses and two wins before the break. The losses being Chelsea and Fulham (both 0-1) and the successes, a 2-0 win over RB Leipzig to advance in the UCL and 1-0 league win away at Wolves. Good news came late in the month that Skem U action will return in April across all three levels so next months post will hopefully include highlights of the action.

Life

The Countdown Weights reached 113/114 per round as the month ended with the milestone of 250,000 lifts reached on the 12th.  April will of course see the idea reach its anniversary on the 28th which shows just how quickly time has passed since I devised the mix of TV and exercise in this way so a special stats section will feature next month. 

Updating on the friends front, sadly the exit of a long term friend was a permanent one while my longest online friendship is still going as a re a number of newer ones with connections across the world from Australia to America. 

The crafting side of things saw all three builds for my birthday completed with the LFC Stadium  being the toughest with 4500+ pieces but it looks amazing now completed as you will see in the below highlights section. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued completions being the main factor in March but a nice haul of 240 unlocks overall and as always more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure March Summary.

As the month has been homebased, highlights are limited but a few are shown below.

Gaming Domination Extends While Sport Suffers In February

Two months into 2021 and sadly Sport still remains a homebased activity which means Gaming time continues to be the dominant for the year so far. On the subject of time, it passes very quickly in Lockdown as after reaching 33, a few weeks before the first Lockdown, I ended the month aged 34 and still we are in a Lockdown phase.

Sport

Hopes of any physical attendances in the near future suffered a huge dent with the curtailing of the Non-League season for a second year in a row. This was followed by the news that any spectator attendances would be in mid-May at the earliest meaning the upcoming Super League season will begin homebased and also mean a full calendar year between attendances.

The mixed news above was hindered further by a woeful month for Liverpool with any title hopes ended. A trilogy of defeats to Brighton (0-1), Man City (1-4) & Leicester (3-1) saw form hit rock-bottom before a 2-0 win over RB Leipzig kept European hopes alive. However it was simply a stop-gap form wise as a first home Merseyside Derby defeat since 1999 saw Everton win 2-0 though thankfully a win on my Birthday (2-0 vs Sheffield U) meant ending the month on a positive.

As referenced last month, the new Super League season would usually be in full swing but at least unlike in Jan, has a confirmed structure and start date of late March as well as detailed fixture schedules. Also, news on 2021 ST's has been revealed with my renewal due to be sorted soon just with a potential first physical attendance not until May/June. 

Life

The Countdown Weights reached 112/113 per round as the month ended with the next milestone of 250,000 lifts within sight for March. Sadly actual weight is still around the 129kg mark but is steady rather than increasing like in Jan. 

Updating on the friends front, sadly the exit of a long term friend seems to be a permanent one with any chances to re-connect cut off but the two mentioned as close in the Jan post happily are still with me as are a few new friends with a mix of UK and overseas based connections. 

After initial progress of the LEGO Minifigures puzzle, it was finally completed during the month (as seen below) and new projects are on the horizon after being gifted two Lego sets and the LFC stadium set with the latter being the final one in the set of the Santa, Ball and Bus and any completions will be detailed in the next summary post. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with a first ever monthly double of 300+ unlocks with 303 in February and more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure February Summary.

As the month has been homebased, highlights are limited but a few are shown below.

Sport Halt Sees Gaming Dominate January

The phrase ' New Year, New Me' is the tradition of many when one year ends and another begins but in my case it was the New Year, Same Old Story' as 2021 began with Sport at a personal level still on hold.

Sport

On a wider view in January saw both highs and lows with Washington Football Team defying their horror 1-5 start to win the division despite a 7-9 record with a 20-14 win over Philadelphia Eagles before exiting at the Super Wildcard Playoffs stage to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31-23).

Liverpool's month began with a 1-0 loss at Southampton before improving with a 4-1 Emirates FA Cup 3rd Rd win over Aston Villa. Form dipped from there though with a 0-0 PL draw with Man United and 3-2 FA Cup 4th round loss to them sandwiching a 1-0 home loss to Burnley which ended the long standing Anfield unbeaten record of almost four years. The month ended on a high though with two 3-1 wins in the capital over Tottenham and West Ham United.

Usually, the new Super League season would have begun by now or would be due to begin this week but of course in the current situation, it is still planned for mid March and no idea of if any fans will be allowed by then as at Wigan, the renewal of Season Tickets hasn't even began yet so who knows what the future holds.

Life

Due to the lockdown, personal life has been limited to home based activities with the Countdown Weights reaching 110 a round midway through the month with the next milestone of 200,000 total lifts reached on the 28th. The other type of weight is still higher than I would like it to be with being at around 129kgs but hopefully once things go back to a new normal, exercise will move to its previous high levels.

The new year also saw my cursed run continue female friends wise with a long standing friend of over a year simply no longer replying and a couple of newly connected friends in December doing the same so in online terms, I have two close female friends, one based here in the UK and my longest of all time based in the USA with hopes of reaching two years in June. 

Alike previous years, January has seen the crafting from Christmas gifts continue with the LFC bus and Santa built and the LEGO Minifigures puzzles making good progress as seen in the highlights below. 

Gaming

A huge boost last year when sport reduced and has continued that into a superb start to 2021 aided by the Microsoft Rewards 10k and True Achievements Warboats challenges. A best ever month stats wise saw 376 achievements, 23693 TA points (decreased due to points changes) and 20085 G, more details can be seen in the Xbox Achievement Adventure January Summary.

As the month has been homebased, highlights are limited but a few are shown below.

2019-20 Catch-Up

After an 'annus horribilis' for the world itself, a return to this and all my blogs is a possibility but with a huge backlog to do which would likely be a time waste with so much information irrelevant and out of date.

The last two years can easily be summarised in my 'Out and About' video series with the playlist available Here 

The first new post to follow this will be a review of January which will be posted at the end of the month.