100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying (Part 3: 60-41)
Today, we’ve got County fans making model trains, reusing bread bags and giving up Twitter, and a York fan who likes to wear yellow
Wednesday 24 January 2024
NEXT HOME GAME: Harrogate – Saturday 3 February, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Doncaster – Saturday 27 January, 3pm
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and anyone else joining us today, a very warm welcome to IMPROVEMENT WEEK on The Scarf My Father Wore!
On New Year’s Day 2022, The Guardian published the following article: 100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying.
I care about all of my readers and subscribers, so having stumbled across the article recently, I thought I’d share it with you, to see if I can help improve your life in a small way. But the feature by The Guardian simply listed the 100 recommendations. There was no meat on the bones. How do we even know those 100 things will make any improvement to your life whatsoever?
There was only one thing for it. I’ve analysed the list myself, and with the kind help of fellow County fans, other football supporters, and writers, bloggers and podcasters from across the country, we’ve collectively produced the definitive guide to (slightly) improving your life this year, without really trying. If you try any of these suggestions yourself, please let me know how you get on!
Today’s edition is sponsored by Hatters Gin, joining The Scarf My Father Wore family for the first time! A huge thank you to Sacha, who’s kindly offered our readers and subscribers a 15% discount. If you’re running out of gin at home at the moment, head to hattersdistillery.com to get stocked up, and if you enter the code SCARF you’ll receive a 15% discount off your order at checkout.
Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.
Total distance so far: 46.68 miles
Total steps so far: 83,302
Total raised so far: £1,037
Total completed streets so far: 24 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)
Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.
Des Junior
60: Get the lighting right: turn off the overhead one, turn on lots of lamps (but turn off when you leave the room)
Jamie Summers, Stockport County fan
“Put big light on,” said Peter Kay that time. Cue the debate about the main overhead light not actually being that big after all; but it did make people think about ambience. Is the big light the best light, or are lamps just better all round?
I really like lights. Not as much as I used to when I was a kid. I liked them so much, in fact, when I was a toddler and was dragged along to some foodie thing at Derby County’s Baseball Ground by my family, I had to be removed for pointing out all the missing light bulbs in the ceiling. My grandpa took me to the car park and taught me how to deflate car tyres, but that’s another tale.
Anyway, fast forward to my 30s. I recently bought a flat with my boyfriend. We grew fed up of paying someone else’s mortgage and thought if it’s going to be eye-wateringly expensive, we may as well pay off our own.
We bought the flat from a lovely but slightly eccentric couple whose decor choices were… interesting, to say the least. Come moving day, we found (thankfully) they’d taken their chandeliers with them and left us with pendant lights instead.
We started decorating straight away and fitted one of those industrial style lights with a fancy bulb in the bedroom, accompanied by bedside lamps in the same style. It took about three months to find a bulb that actually worked in the overhead light, but the lamps didn’t let us down. Perfect ambience for bedtime reading or Twitter doomscrolling. The main light has a bulb now, but it’s harsh, so we don’t really use it.
It’s probably in my interests not to mention too much about the spare bedroom overhead light, which I took down to work out if I needed to paint the ceiling behind it. I do, and now I need an electrician to fix the light fitting. Oops. So lamps are the order of the day there, too – although admittedly by accident rather than by design.
It’s in the living room where the lamps are best, though. The overhead light has a cheap and cheerful light shade on it (nice one, Ikea) but it’s just not quite right. We got rid of wood effect wallpaper reminiscent of a Swedish sauna, settled on duck egg blue paint, and needed a couple of lamps to finish it off. So we’ve got a standard lamp and a matching table lamp from John Lewis (humblebrag). Simple and understated, but they genuinely make the room so much nicer with a warm glow that is perfect for an evening in front of the TV.
The pièce de résistance, though, is the lava lamp. An exercise in 90s nostalgia, but I could sit watching that weird blob of wax floating around all night, while crying about how much the electricity bill is costing me.
So, in summary, Peter Kay was wrong. Turn the big light off. Go for lamps instead, it’ll make your life better.
Rating: A good solid 7/10.
59: Make something from scratch
John K Bilsbury, Stockport County fan
My 16mm scale garden railway is a result of my fascination with a preserved line in Australia: the Puffing Billy near Melbourne. I had a live steam engine and I’d built some coaches from kits but there weren’t any diesel locos available, either fully finished or in kit form. I managed to get a dimensioned drawing of a DH loco and started to look around for ways of building one.
It turns out that the way to proceed is to draw the parts out on a computer screen with a Computer Aided Design package then get them etched onto brass sheets. This was all new to me but with a free CAD programme and a lot of trial and error, I ended up with some designs and sent them off. In the fulness of time and in exchange for enough money to make me hope my designs would work, a package arrived.
While the three sheets of brass looked promising, I now had to learn how to solder. Luckily, YouTube is full of how-to videos on this subject, and although my efforts were clumsy and sometimes unsuccessful, I eventually got to the stage where I could make bits of brass stick together.
I won’t bore you with the whole saga but I eventually ended up with a recognisable, if imperfect, model of a Puffing Billy DH locomotive. The point of this article, however, is that an old dog can learn new tricks. I’ve acquired some very basic CAD skills and touched the very edges of soldering, all of which was completely new to me.
This is the finished model:
Rating: I’d say a 7/10. It hasn’t made me lighter, less scruffy or wealthier but it stopped me vegetating in front of the television for a while and I’ve gained some skills.
58: Everyone has an emotional blind spot when they fight. Work out what yours is, and remember it
Alex, Grimsby Town fan and host of the DN35 Podcast
When you cover the most promoted and relegated football club in English football – a club which has seen its fair share of turmoil and grifters in its recent past – you better be prepared to get into a heated debate once or twice. You’ll absolutely get criticism – sometimes justified, sometimes not – but trying not to take it too personally is a battle people far more intelligent than I still struggle to win. To combat it, I’ve tried to discover that personal weak spot which is usually easier than you care to admit. For me it’s the thought that I’m portraying a generally negative persona, dragging everyone down and being a fishier version of Arsenal TV or the Man United bloke who falls off his chair in anger every time a goal is conceded.
On our podcast I do stupid rants. Sometimes they’re from the heart and sometimes they’re played for laughs but when you’ve been relegated twice to non-league or had Ian Bullshitting Holloway at the helm it’s not been hard to find content for a rant or two.
Recently, however, that’s changed. Our club (not unlike County) has been transformed in recent years. Playing it for laughs was great but what damage could it do now we’re not owned by an idiot and there isn’t a need to change the entire club anymore? I’ve tried to change just a little. I make sure we don’t record immediately after a game so no one is still foaming at the mouth after we lose 6-1 at home to Walsall. (Actually I’m still pissed at that.)
I do my best to get alternative opinions from across our fanbase and I’ve tried to start listening, rather than trying to win what I thought was an argument and not just alternative opinions. Most of the time I just try to shut up, and stop having an opinion on everything. Sometimes all you need to do is chill out and have another beer.
Rating: 7/10.
57: Send postcards from your holidays. Send them even if you’re not on holiday
Chris, editor of Preston North End fanzine The Nose Bag
I was following England a lot in the early 2000s. I was a young lad, living at home doing a bit of this and that which allowed me to follow England away. As was the status quo of the day, The FA had employed a system of not giving 18-30 white single males match tickets for away games. 6,000 tickets in Slovakia, nope. Liechtenstein, not on your nelly. And so it went on.
One day full of testosterone I was like a raging bull on that phone ringing Lancaster Gate to give them a piece of my mind. All I managed to achieve after throwing a few choice words about was a travel club ban. Not an actual police enforced travel ban, just a ban from their pesky brown nosing club.
From here on in, every away day I did with England for six years, I'd simply send The FA a postcard from the city where we played in, signed “Wish you was here, now banned EnglandFan+ xxxxx” along with a used match ticket for the home end. This included Almaty, Minsk, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Tallinn, Vienna, Berlin etc.
I never knew who read them and what happened to them – probably filed straight into the paper bin – but it gave me extreme pleasure to let them know by these childish postcards I was there and that they'd be waiting after each away game for it to land on the mat.
Rating: 7.5/10. It fit in well with my beliefs of being an independent no crap type of guy that I wanted to portray back then, when in reality some 60-year-old woman probably rolled her eyes and binned it.
56: Make a friend from a different generation
Craig Priest, host of the Mansfield Matters podcast
This one’s quite apt. I’ve never been one for making friends my own age. Even at school I only really had friends because I was a) the one with the football, or b) mad enough to play between the sticks and actually dive. I’d dive on anything, including concrete, which is why I won goalkeeper of the tournament at our school’s lunchtime 5-a-side competition.
I don’t know what it was. I just always felt easier with those who were a generation or two above. Those who grew up without a smartphone and knew what respect was.
One of my closest friends is a man called Alan Wilson, or Santa to his friends! Alan is the PA announcer at Field Mill and has been a good mate of mine for years. Now a regular on the podcast, I’ve spent countless hours in Alan’s company and I’m never bored. The story of how he met his wife is cute, his devotion to her even sweeter, and his approach to life – wear a smile and what will be – admirable.
At a pre-season friendly once, the turnstile operator mistook him for a senior (he was one year off) and without hesitation he corrected him, paid full price and put an extra £8 into said club’s pocket. We all looked at him in amazement, but he laughed and said: “What’s £8 compared to living with the nagging voice of deception?” He’s right, honesty allows you to be free of lies, having to remember what convoluted story you’ve told to another.
Everyone knows you can trust him, confide in him. I can’t think of a single person I know my age that I could hold that level of confidence in. Little victories or a life with an honest, conscious night’s sleep? Easy, take my £8!
Rating: 7.5/10.
55: Reuse all plastic bags – even bread bags
JD, Stockport County fan
I reuse my bread bag quite regularly for a bin now, seemed a bit pointless to just chuck a bag away. I mean, I wasn't going to use it to carry my shopping home in (although a new loaf would have fitted in nicely!). Anyhow, I have one hanging from my kitchen door handle to throw various, obviously non-recyclable bits in. Can't remember the last time I had to buy bin bags. It's not saving me enough to buy a County gilet, but maybe a drink once a season.
Rating: I’ll give it a Sutton 8. Easy enough to do, costs nothing.
54: For instant cheer, wear yellow
Michael Miles, editor of York City fanzine Y Front
When it comes to football casual wear, yellow has always been one of my go-to colours. It’s one that not many other fans will wear and it makes you stand out in a crowd. Of course you also get plenty of stick and with myself sporting a long beard I get plenty of fisherman jokes sent in my direction.
One occasion where I stood out in a crowd was a couple of years ago when I went with a mate who follows Sunderland to their away game at Doncaster Rovers. 4,000 fans packed into the away end. When Sunderland scored the winner at that end it was limbs (as the youngsters say) as the fans were going absolutely mental. If you watch the video there are 3,999 people jumping around like madmen and then there’s me in my bright yellow Cultura smock stood still and not moving a muscle.
Back in the mid 90s when York were in the third tier of English football playing much bigger teams than the Curzon Ashtons of this world, we drove down to Millwall on a Wednesday night. A club with supporters of some repute, as you might have heard. For this game I was sporting a brand new Henri Lloyd coat. Back then this label was the bee’s knees before it went downmarket and got chavvy. This coat – which was bright yellow, by the way – was as cool as they came back then and wearing it I felt the cock of the north. Of course it hadn’t occurred to me that this coat could be seen by the international space station, so could also be observed by three sides of the ground with me perched in the away end.
We parked near the stadium and had a walk round the ground before entering the away end. York took the lead and were looking likely to come away with an away win but of course we reverted to type by letting in a last-minute equaliser. Normally this would be felt hard by the travelling faithful but on that night it was viewed that it would appease the natives somewhat so maybe it wasn’t a bad thing.
On leaving the ground, to our horror we found that we now couldn’t walk the way we had come as it was blocked off and we were now funnelled down a road away from the ground. This was all well and good until you hit the main road and all the Millwall fans. They of course can see you walking up and me wearing this bright yellow coat where I thought I was the dog’s bollocks was now looking like I had dropped a bollock.
There were five in our party and I was at the front. Once we got to the road with all the Millwall fans the realisation hit me that they were all walking to the right but we needed to go left. Against the human tide and me looking like a trawlerman. Of course we were getting a few looks but it was a case of keeping my head down and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. I looked round and saw my mate had his head buried that far into his jacket that he looked like he had no head.
Thankfully the junction was coming up and I swiftly turned left away from the throng. I had got about two yards when a big booming voice with a Yorkshire accent shouted: “Mick tha’s going t’wrong way lad.” (I wouldn’t mind but he doesn’t even speak that broad Yorkshire normally.) I stopped dead and expected to become actually dead in the next few seconds. What was he thinking! Thankfully the locals’ dander wasn’t up and fortunately we made our escape into the night.
Despite this scary experience it’s never put me off from wearing yellow at football matches. It brings a little ray of sunshine to the damp dark terraces.
Rating: Wearing yellow is an 8/10 on the happiness scale.
53: If possible, take the stairs
Dan Levy, Stockport County fan
Stairs are fabulous exercise. I used to work in a 22-storey building in London and tried to walk up a couple of times a day. The restaurant was on the top floor, and acted as a magnet. I ended up plumper but with thighs and calves of iron. Obviously most people used the lifts, but there were a surprising number of us stair users, including one bloke who used to run up a few times every day.
I also always tried to use the stairs on the tube when I lived in London. Most stations have fixed stairs as well as escalators. Some have a spiral staircase where there are lifts, and advertise them as for emergency use only. The longest ones are at Hampstead, I understand. Did them once, and they are very long indeed. My regular was Lancaster Gate, as a quicker alternative to the lift.
Once upon a time, I had to hang around at Edgeley Park after games. About 30 minutes after the final whistle each week, Rodger Wylde would appear and go for a run. His usual thing was to run up and down each staircase in the ground at pace. Very impressive it was, seeing him sprinting up to the top of the Cheadle End after a busy afternoon of patching up the players.
Rating: 8/10.
52: Cook something you’ve never attempted before
Mike Wilson, Stockport County fan living in Australia
I left home at about 20 and moved into a flat on Heaton Moor Road with three other lads. We rapidly became self sufficient, even if it meant such predictable meals. Chips, eggs, beans and bacon can be quite versatile, but there is a point when you start to wonder.
The range expanded. Spaghetti bolognese was easy. Chilli con carne soon followed. Shepherds pie, rissoles, lasagne. OK, all minced meat in tomato but still expanding. Chicken? We can do that. Full roast chicken dinner. Fried chicken? Nah, job for The Colonel. Sausages? Pork, beef, Italian in a tomato sauce. With rice? Easy. With polenta? Classy.
Eventually, settle for finding an obscure restaurant with an untried cuisine. Romania, Nepal, Myanmar, Peru and Fiji are all out there just waiting to be discovered.
Rating: I never mastered the finer techniques of French or Italian cuisine, but I have managed to survive over 50 years without significant food poisoning. I'd say 8/10.
51: Buy a newspaper
Des Junior, The Scarf My Father Wore editor
I used to love buying newspapers back in the day. It was always one of the most exciting days of the summer (before girls and alcohol came along) when the Manchester Evening News published the new fixtures.
Morning newspapers were also the first opportunity to check a midweek County score from time to time. I vividly remember doing this in October 1995 for County’s League Cup game at Ipswich. I was still at primary school so I must have gone to bed before the game at Portman Road had finished – especially as the Hatters had forced extra-time – and for whatever reason I hadn’t checked Ceefax or even the radio when I woke up. On the short walk to Norris Bank, I nipped into the newsagent’s, and punched the air in delight upon discovering Jim Gannon’s 106th minute winner, to clinch a memorable cup upset in Suffolk.
I still like to buy physical copies of books and magazines but I tend not to buy newspapers these days. Occasionally I will, though, especially for a memorable County game, and the biggest victory I’ve ever seen in my lifetime certainly falls under that category.
Rating: Oh come on, do you even need to ask? This one has to be an EIGHT out of ten!
50: Hang your clothes up
Matt Evans, author of USA 94 – The World Cup That Changed The Game
The night before an early shift, I always get myself prepared by hanging my clothes up. Not only that, but fill the kettle up, cereal box next to your bowl, keys and wallet in your jacket pocket, trainers by the door. In the morning you’ll be very pleased you've taken the time to do this.
Rating: A solid 8/10 on the improvement level for me. This prep massively helped me with my mental health after some time off work.
49: Don’t have Twitter on your phone
Hannah Brown, Stockport County fan and co-host of The Lower League Look
Saturday, Day 0
1.23pm: Agree to remove Twitter from my phone for a week. Spend the next however long using it as normal on the grounds that I didn’t actually say when I would remove it. Realise that bargaining is one of Kubler-Ross’s stages of grief and give my head a wobble. It’s just off my phone, I can still go on Twitter. This is fine.
3.42pm: Still haven’t removed the app. Check my screen time to find that this week so far I have spent 11 hours and 28 minutes on Twitter. There isn’t data for today yet; I feel like this can only be a good thing.
Sunday, Day 0 (again)
9.27am: I apparently forgot about the challenge. And with a four-hour trip to Aldershot I think I might start this on Monday instead. Or potentially, later this afternoon, depending on the result.
Monday, Day 0 (again, sorry)
11.36am. Oops. Might have to wait until Tuesday.
Tuesday, Day 0 (today’s the day, I promise…)
11.36pm: Oh yes, I was supposed to be doing this. Right then…
11.37pm: It is done!
11.48pm: My life is improved, it works! This is magic! I can end this experiment immediately.
Wednesday, Day 1
9.08am: I feel like I actually need Twitter for something useful today – finding out whether we can collect Wigan tickets from Wigan. WhatsApp groups are no help. I might have to try… Facebook!
9.45am: Give up and ring the club. Check Twitter on my iPad. Somewhat underwhelming with zero notifications and nothing particularly exciting on the feed. Realise that neither the Lower League Look or Look Sports Media accounts are logged in on my iPad which perhaps explains why it’s so quiet. Shameless plug: follow both accounts for news updates, articles and podcast releases.
Thursday, Day 2
10.57am: Remember Twitter exists and check my account on my laptop. Am delightfully ignorant of any meltdowns after last night’s loss to Wigan which is actually quite lovely – there isn’t the same temptation to scroll mindlessly on my laptop as there is on my phone. Maybe there is something in this after all…
10.52pm: “Did you see what Joey Barton said on Twitter?” loses its impact a bit without screenshots of all the ridiculous things he’s said. But in two days it’s the first time that I’ve actually missed it.
Friday, Day 3
I realise that the laptop Twitter experience, with less aimless scrolling, and not being easily able to add photos etc from my phone, means that I’m tweeting a lot less. Since this started I’ve sent two replies, and reposted one tweet, and I’m not even missing it.
Saturday, Day 4
Tweeted from the browser on my phone at Morecambe. Horrid experience.
Sunday, Day 5
Realise belatedly that you can’t join Twitter Spaces on iPads or laptops. The browser version on my phone seems to work OK but I spend the first few minutes asking if they can hear me and then explaining exactly why I don’t have the Twitter app at the moment (gave The Scarf My Father Wore a plug, you’re welcome).
Sunday, Day 12
I don’t think I’m going back. I’ve spent so much less time on my phone and the mindless scrolling has pretty much stopped. Happy to use the web browser version in social media emergencies but they’ve only really been on matchdays.
Right, what’s next? I could be fixed by February.
Rating: The day after the Aldershot defeat I’d have said 10/10. On a normal day I think probably about an 8. I’ve used my phone a lot less – my battery has easily lasted all day – and it’s actually been a lot easier than I thought it would be.
48: Buy a bike and use it. Learn how to fix it, too
Ian Cookson, sport and exercise psychologist (in training)
I had always ridden as a child, and my stepfather was big into personal responsibility, making us clean and maintain our bikes. As a child of the 70s I think that was partly necessity as we had no money.
I stopped cycling as many of us do, and then when we had children there was the inevitable clash of getting kids to nursery, and ourselves to work. We couldn't afford two cars, and so as I was only working in Stockport I started biking to work. That's where the slippery slope began.
I started enjoying it, I started cycling further. I had to change jobs and was then cycling 13 miles to work on occasion when I didn't have the car. By now I had started retraining as a psychologist, and once I'd completed my masters a PhD came up at Manchester Metropolitan University in social identity and transport choice, with a focus on… cycling.
All this did was further embed my love of cycling, and the understanding of how beneficial it can be for the individual and for society more widely, in terms of improving people's health and reducing carbon emissions. I now cycle regularly to work, for leisure and to the odd shop.
What I also realised after a while was that bicycle shops had waiting lists for repairs, and they charged for them! So I built up my tools, taught myself a few things, and now rarely have to rely on bike shops.
Who knew my stepfather’s insistence on bike maintenance would take me to a doctorate!
Rating: Erm… 8/10? I mean I was studying psychology anyway, but the PhD in identity and cycling has certainly added something to my skillset.
47: Drop your shoulders
Matthew Cuss, Stockport County fan
Gently dropping your shoulders helps posture and pain, especially as you turn 40. Not out of disappointment due to County only winning games by a paltry seven goal margin but to relax the muscles around the neck and shoulders, releasing tension built up by GMR’s coverage of Manchester Citeh.
(Other benefits of dropping the shoulder include losing that last defender and feeling like County legend George Best in the process.)
Rating: 8/10 (as recommended by medical professionals).
46: Don’t save things for “best”. Wear them - enjoy them!
Vicki Jeffery, editor of education and parenting blog Blossom Education
I’ve never been known for having a good sense of fashion. A pair of jeans and a band name T-shirt have always been staples for me. However, when I have bought more expensive or less casual items, I used to be reluctant to wear them, reserving them for best. I guess it was how I was brought up in some respects, where we had to wear our better clothes to church on a Sunday.
Nowadays, I wear my better garments whenever I want to. What’s the point in spending money on something that will spend the vast majority of its life in my wardrobe or chest of drawers rather than on me? Clothes can have an impact on how you feel about yourself and your level of self-confidence, so go for it!
Rating: 8/10.
45: Eat salted butter (life’s too short for unsalted)
Des Junior, The Scarf My Father Wore editor
You absolutely cannot beat a tin of Heinz baked beans on top of fresh toast smothered in Lurpak.
Rating: 8/10. A point off as it’s not the healthiest option to spread on your toast. And another point deducted for the fact Lurpak was costing about nine quid a tub a few months back.
44: Set time limits for your apps. Just go to the settings on your smartphone and add a limit – for example, if you have an iPhone turn on Screen Time
Greg Ingham, co-host of It’s Only A Game
I've put into place time restrictions on my Instagram usage, allowing me to allocate specific time to be on it. I'm just not getting sucked into endless scrolling on my commutes and dinner breaks.
I've activated sleep mode on my phone too. As a new dad, I've consciously set boundaries, ensuring I refrain from responding to WhatsApp messages beyond a certain hour in the evening.
Rating: I'd probably say 8/10 as it’s certainly made a difference. I should probably do it for more apps.
43: Politely decline invitations if you don’t want to go
Oli, co-host of Sheff United Way
You’ve worked hard all week, you finally get a day with no plans where you can relax and take some time to just sleep in, watch crap TV, maybe do some gaming… oh wait, what’s this message?
“Are you doing anything tomorrow / at the weekend?”
Oh no. Here it comes. Because it feels rude to say, “Yeah I’ve got plans to do absolutely nothing on my own.” So we get invited and have no good excuse.
I don’t know about you, but I get stressed. Very stressed in fact about how to decline these invitations. We need to normalise saying no, but saying no in the right way.
“Sorry but not this time thanks.”
“I do just want to have a lazy day to myself actually mate. I’m sorry, maybe next week.”
Let’s all start to politely decline invitations, because if there’s one thing in this list for my key new things in 2024, it’s to take this on board and protect that time for myself!
Rating: 8/10.
42: If you’re going less than a mile, walk or cycle. About half of car journeys are under two miles, yet these create more pollution than longer journeys as the engine isn’t warmed up yet
Matt, editor of Barnsley fanzine Ey Up & Down
I’ve always been a bit of a self-proclaimed eco warrior. I’m a runner, I walk places, use trains, buses, have an electric push bike, and I even have an electric skateboard – and at 47 I look like a right pillock on it! But just to put your minds at ease, I still think Extinction Rebellion and that Greta lass are a pain in the arse.
I live in a lovely village just to the north of Barnsley. We have six pubs, three churches, lots of shops, and unfortunately quite a few community Facebook groups. I’m sure most people reading this are a member of such a group, which contain boring curtain twitchers desperate to find something to moan about, or even worse, some doorbell footage to upload. Our local Facebook groups are used by thousands of local Karens – one week dog shit might be the hot topic, then a flurry of missing pets or people asking for highly skilled tradesmen who charge next to nowt that can come build an extention starting next Monday for 40 quid a day.
Anyway, there’s nowt like a planning notice to fire up the local neighbourhood Facebook militia. Any time houses are getting built, Facebook erupts with nimby anger. It’s always the same moans and groans: not enough school places, not enough GP surgeries, too much traffic. It’s hard to disagree with these points apart from one. I grew up in this village so I remember it back in the 80s and 90s and there’s one thing this village has much less of these days. It’s not school places, GP surgeries or housing estates – it’s pedestrians. It’s 2024 and the locals have lost the ability to walk anywhere. Traffic can be bumper to bumper but the pavements are deserted. Maybe if the residents of our wonderful village got off their fat arses and walked their kids to school, or walked to the shops, or picked up their takeaways on foot, they’d have less time sat on Facebook moaning about everything. They’d all be healthier too, the air would be cleaner, it’d be much safer for kids to play out, and they’d all be fitter.
So the next time you’re going somewhere less than a mile try walking it. It’s magic, but watch out for the dog shit.
Rating: 8/10.
41: Set up an affordable standing order to a charity
Steve Jones, Stockport County fan living in Cyprus
We have two set up: one to help working donkeys abroad, the ones carrying the bricks, and one for orphaned orangutans in Borneo. A small donation out of my pension which I don’t miss at all. I love to help other people and especially animals in particular. Anything I can do to alleviate suffering to people or animals gives me great satisfaction in life.
Rating: 8/10. I don’t want recognition, I just try to help in a small way. Helps me to sleep at night.
Part 4, counting down from 40 to 21, will be on The Scarf My Father Wore tomorrow. Click on the subscribe button and you’ll receive it for free in your inbox.
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Sacha took a break for a year (just fulfilling online orders), following the birth of her second child, before starting back up in October 2023. “I’m not trying to get away from my 17-month-old and 3-year-old… honest!” she told me.
Sacha’s moved to dedicated premises in a secret location in Stockport, just a 10-minute walk from where it all started in Edgeley. There’s exciting things planned for 2024, including a brand new flavour, a Ruby Red Raspberry Gin. When you add a mixer, the pink usually disappears, but with this new Raspberry Gin, the nice pink colour remains. Oh, and it tastes amazing! Fresh and fruity!
Sacha’s got a delicious range of gins, and now’s the best time to sample them for yourself, as she’s kindly offering The Scarf My Father Wore readers a 15% discount. Simply enter the code SCARF at checkout. Also, if you purchase a large bottle of gin, enter the code FREEGLASS to receive a free glass.
Visit hattersdistillery.com to grab your bottle of gin!
Photo of the day
The Crown, Chorley
I went to Chorley last night for their National League North game against Chester for a new groundhopping series I’m doing for the website. (I’m a geek, I know.)
Popped into The Crown for an orange juice, and spent some time chatting to a lovely couple, Mick and Joyce, who’ve been married for 53 years. Mick, who’s in his 70s, had spent the afternoon pulling down a bloody big tree in his garden that was dangerously leaning following the storm. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
Today in SK
🎬 Cinema
Two films at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. Priscilla (15) at 2.30pm and 5.30pm, followed by One Life (12A) at 8pm. Click here for tickets.
🍺 Food and drink
Whether you like it hot or cold, head down to Coffee Block (SK1) to get your matcha fix. 8am - 5.30pm.
The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £4.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £2, and 3 for £6 on Jägerbombs. 12pm - 11pm.
Ignore the “beer police” and support your local pub in January. If you’re in Stockport today, pop into The Petersgate Tap (SK1) for a pint or two. 3pm - 10pm.
For those on a gluten-free diet, finding a nice portion of fish and chips to tuck into can be quite difficult. But on a Wednesday at Fishers of Cheshire (SK2), gluten-free meals are available. 11.30am - 2pm, 4pm - 9.30pm.
Any pizza and two drinks for £14.95 at Platform 5 (SK8). 12pm - 8pm.
Treat yourself to lunch at Mediterranean Cafe & Bar (SK23). A full range of mains, salads, jacket potatoes, paninis, baguettes and wraps. 10am - 10pm.
❓ Quiz nights
Enigma (SK1). 8pm. (And there’s a 10% discount on all drinks!)
Flying Coach (SK7). 9pm. Free entry. Chicken wings for just 25p.
The Scarf My Father Wore works closely with venues on a daily basis to bring you the most comprehensive guide to all of the best offers and events taking place across the whole SK region. Click on the links below for full details of everything taking place in your area over the next few weeks.
SK1 / SK2 / SK3 / SK4 / SK5 / SK6 / SK7 / SK8 / SK9 / SK10 / SK11 / SK12 / SK13 / SK14 / SK15 / SK16 / SK17 / SK22 / SK23
Random County fan of the day #24 – Tony Smith!
One final thing before you go… if you’re looking to learn to drive in January, or lose a few pounds after Christmas, or even get some work done at home, please contact our fantastic advertisers!
🎨 Art & Gifts: Kate O’Brien Art
💈 Barber: STUDIO26 Haircare
🪟 Blinds & Shutters: Bauhaus Blinds & Shutters
📚 Bookkeeping: Eleven Accounts Services Ltd
🍰 Cake Maker: Claire Green Bespoke Cakes and Catering
🧽 Car Valeting: Rub A Dubz Detailing Ltd
🧼 Carpet Cleaning: Pro Clean Carpet Services
🏠 Carpets & Flooring: Kingsway Carpets & Rugs Ltd
🐈⬛ Cat Sitting: The Crazy Cat Ladies Cheshire
👶 Child Health: The Sleep Nanny
🤹♀️ Children’s Entertainment: Stockport Hero Hire
🧹 Cleaning: Beespoke Cleaning
🚙 Coatings: Colourtone Ltd
🦮 Dog Training: Paws High Peak Dog Training
🚘 Driving School: CFN School of Motoring
💷 Financial Services: The Mortgage Mill
🔥 Fire Protection: Radial Fire And Security Limited
🍸 Gin: Hatters Gin
🛁 Grout Refresh & Recolour: GroutGleam Stockport
💇♀️ Hairdressing: C West Hairstylist
🛠 Home Improvements: Menzies Develop & Build
💻 IT Services: Bridge Computer Services
🪚 Joinery: SAW Contracts Ltd
👨🍳 Kitchen Appliances: SW Appliances
🔑 Locksmith: APL Locksmiths Ltd
🚐 Minibus Hire: Westfield Minibuses
🧤 Oven Cleaning: That Oven Girl
🖌 Painter & Decorator: BGM Decorators
🧱 Plasterer: Tate Plastering Services
🚰 Plumber: GTG Gary the Gasman
📕 Publishing: Victor Publishing
🛖 Roofing: ADM Roofing Services Ltd
☀️ Solar Panels: Malbern Solar Ltd
⚽️ Sports Coaching: UK Sports Coaching Ltd
🖊 Tattooist: Heatons Tattoo Club
🪵 Timber Supplies: Portwood Timber Division of Illingworth Ingham (Manchester) Ltd
👨💻 Web Design: SITEZO
⚖️ Weight Loss: Slimming World Reddish & Bredbury with Shlean
🪟 Window Cleaner: R ‘N’ B Window Cleaning
🏋️♀️ Women’s Fitness: Sophie Pavey Fitness
🧘♀️ Yoga: Greenshoots Yoga