by Katie Isham. Summer is well and truly here: it’s time to get outside and play out. Try to recall the long summer holidays of youth. How much time did you spend indoors? The days of hanging around with your friends at the park or making up games in...
Columns
View from the Kingsland: Dream big, dream now
by Nick Mabey. This is the time of year for dreamers. The dawn of a new season before a competitive ball has been kicked. This is the time for fans to dream of what might be over the next ten months. Southampton FC sit proudly joint top of the...
Suburban Safari: Our Common Ground
by Katie Isham. The Common. Such a place that needs the grand definite article to herald its arrival. I’ve thought long and hard about a Suburban Safari to take in The Common but it’s impossible to capture in a singular visit. You could have a daily walk on The...
View from the Kingsland: the post-season pre-season blur
by Nick Mabey. Back ‘when I were a lad’ the gap between football seasons seemed to go on forever. Tired, bruised players disappeared for months or so it seemed. The same players, with one or two exceptions, would roll back in tanned and heavy for the dreaded pre-season training...
Suburban Safari:From the Suburbs to the Shore…
by Katie Isham. Somewhere in a nearby magical land, in a kingdom behind a Co-Op, where the grand towers of industry watch over the landscape, there is a pathway from the suburbs to the shore. It may not have grand beginnings but it opens out onto one of the...
View from the Kingsland: The Transfer Window
by Nick Mabey. When I was a small boy transfers were worn like tattoos on our arms and windows were something we looked through while watching Play School. Nowadays the two words have joined forces in a twice-a-year cultural ritual for every football fan to suffer/enjoy (delete as appropriate)....
View from the Kingsland: the annual commitment
Picture: Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, Saints fans’ Player of The Season, in action against Liverpool in the last game of season at St Mary’s/Chris Moorhouse/Southampton FC. by Nick Mabey. It’s that time of year again. No sooner does one season end I’m asked to reconfirm my commitment to the...
Suburban Safari: Anyone for Tennis?
words and pictures by Katie Isham. A Suburban Safari should be a chance to explore another side to favourite locations; to make time to appreciate the beauty in the everyday steps taken. But also, provide joy in finding a hidden surprise amongst the familiar. And most significantly, to observe...
View from the Kingsland: The Doldrums
by Nick Mabey. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed this column is a week later than usual. I could make up some fancy, but oh so plausible, excuse for this but, truth be told, my writing has hit the doldrums in the same way as my football team...
Suburban Safari: Back on the Bluebell Trail
by Katie Isham. This time of year is synonymous with the bluebell explosion of the British woodland. You’ll find local enclaves at Manor Farm, Victoria Country Park, further out into the New Forest and of course, in the Old Cemetery on The Common. But for now, come explore the...