Shit To Look Forward To: January

[Fatty Facesitter]

Let’s face it, January is a bit of a miserable month in truth. It’s fucking freezing, we’re all skint until payday rolls round, all the festive decorations go back in their boxes, and your bosses all of a sudden decide they want to smash the opening quarter and you go back to work ruing how you didn’t feel relaxed enough during your Xmas break. 

But fear not, for apart from that rather gloomy initial outlook, there’s still a lot of good stuff to look forward to this month. 

Good Arrows! - World Darts Championships (1st to 3rd)

The first major sporting concludes in over the first three days as per tradition. It’s been a mixed tournament so far in terms of quality, but Luke Littler’s progression has been incredible to witness. Even a sub-par World Championships is still great to watch. Darts remains a fantastic spectacle capable of producing some wonderful sporting drama. I’ve never been live but I hope to save up some pennies and put that right for 2024. Good arrows indeed.

The Mike Castle Classic - The Traitors Season 2 (3rd onwards)

I was very late to the party on the first series having only caught up with it over the last couple of weeks. What a boat to miss. The best kind of reality TV bollocks. It may disappoint as they over complicate the brilliant original, but it should still be jolly good fun. If not, well, we’ll just have to revive the Mafia Scum threads. Don’t pretend you don’t want to. 

Snooker Loopy! - The Masters (7th to 14th)

One of the ‘big three’ triple crown events on the snooker calendar, the top 16 battle it out over a glorious week at Ally Pally. I’ve got tickets for the Monday night session featuring serial Welsh shagger and potting magician Mark Williams this year. First time I’ll have been in person at a snooker event in a while - will be nice to be back on with the punters having covered it from the press room previously. Always a great tournament with a great standard of play and an electric atmosphere. 

On the road to the big one - Royal Rumble (27th)


My favourite WWE event of the year - always good fun and it means we’re properly on the road to the annual spectacular of Wrestlemania as the picture starts to become clearer. I genuinely think this year’s Rumble has the potential to be the best in a while with HHH being able to fully put his stamp on it (I think Vince/Shane had a big hand in it last year but I might be talking bollocks). So it’s just nice watching a lot of bodies clatter into each other and throw each other out of a ring isn’t it? It always makes for fun cameos as well. Could this be Bossman’s year?

Football crazy - FA Cup 3rd Round (4th to 8th of Jan plus replays tbc)


I know, another sporty one, and not everyone gives a toss about the FA Cup anymore. But I’m a hopeless football romantic and I love watching the bigger teams take on some of the underdogs. There aren’t many standout ties this year sadly in terms of non league teams getting a crack at Prem opposition, but Wigan might spring a surprise when they host Man United, Liverpool vs Arsenal is an interesting clash, and Sunderland meet bitter rivals Newcastle for the first time in a good while. Maidstone United, the lowest ranked team in the competition, host League One Stevenage. 

Winner Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - UKFF Awards (Throughout)

I might be jumping the gun slightly as it might be Feb before the winners/losers are announced, but it’s always fun to look back on the goings on from the previous year and to celebrate and desecrate the goings on of yesteryear. Will Bacon complete another double? Will Chippy Tea take another thread of the year gong? 

What are YOU looking forward to in January? I’ve got a couple of railway trips planned to some big winter events as I enjoy my regular fix of train noncery. My brother and mother’s birthdays are both this month, agonisingly before payday, but usually a good excuse to hit the ale (I will not be doing dry Jan).

Edited January 1 by Fatty Facesitter

[HarmonicGenerator]

January is a bit limboish for me this year as I’m on jury service from the 4th, and won’t know til then if it’s going to be a day, or a week, or longer, or nothing at all. So I’ve tried not to plan too much, but we will be watching Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma in around 3 weeks time. Should be good theatre - haven’t seen either on them on stage before. Macbeth definitely did it - guilty.

Edited January 1 by HarmonicGenerator

[DavidB6937]

The Rumble is definitely the one that usually gets me through January. Probably my favourite event of the year. Just full of possibilities.

Traitors S2 is definitely up there though. The first series was the most addictive thing in forever. Can't wait to see if they totally fuck it up this time or somehow manage to keep the magic going.

And it's my birthday on the 20th. I have a love/hate relationship with birthdays as I imagine most people do, especially when you get older. And it's always been a bit rubbish having it so early in the year. But at the very least it's an excuse for good food so I'll take it.

[SuperBacon]

Southampton vs Walsall in the cup with my 10yo next week, right behind the dug out.

"Why are we going to see Walsall?" "Because it's cheap" "Can I high five Bella-Kotchap?" "He left" "Can I high five Lavia?" "He left" "Can I high five Ward-Prowse?" He l...yeah why not"

Coupled with a trip to High Score, the arcade, and me dragging her round the art gallery. Lovely stuff. 

[Gus Mears]

I've booked a week off in mid-February that I'll spend most of this month looking forward to. Mental health always nosedives this time of year, so some time off on the horizon will hopefully take the edge off. When I eventually take over this country, Christmas is getting moved to the end of January. This spell up to March is far too long and always wank.

Edit: Christ, just realised it's a leap year and all, so even more shitty February than normal.

Edited January 1 by Gus Mears

[johnnyboy]

Formula E Unplugged (think own brand "Drive to Survive") starts tomorrow to lead in to the new season which begins with the Mexico City e-Prix on Saturday week.

 

[BomberPat]

something my girlfriend got me into doing is booking stuff in January well in advance, so it's not going to break the bank during the month itself, but it means there's something to look forward to during what is otherwise a miserable time. Well worth doing.

We've got tickets to go to the BBC Earth live experience thing, as that was one of my Christmas presents to her, and we're going to see the My Neighbour Totoro play for the second time this month.

[Jesse]

I dropped the money for a Lifetime Membership to my local indie cinema, meaning I get one free ticket a month and 20% off any others.

This month I'm going to see one of my favourite movies, Ghost in the Shell, on the big screen surrounded by other nerds. Can't wait.

[Keith Houchen]

11 minutes ago, Jesse said:

I dropped the money for a Lifetime Membership to my local indie cinema

Glad you were able to find all of it and purchase that membership! 

[RedRooster]

Drag Race Season 16 begins on January 5th! There’s a never-ending string of Drag Race shows these days, but for whatever reason, I’m not yet bored of it.

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Start a new job in the middle of January.

Have been Head of Marketing and Comms at The Oval for 2 years, before that did the same for Frank Warren and even before did it for DAZN/Bellator (even got to live for a while in Manhattan). That is to say, for someone with no disercinble talent that I'm aware of, I've been very lucky to have some really wonderful jobs in sport but always wanted to work in football.

In January I start as the new Head of Marketing at Portman Road for Ipswich, and I'm properly buzzing. Not my team, but I'm sure they will be in time.

Yes. An entirely self-satisfied post, but after a bleak 2023 where I lost people and saw others I love have a horrible time, I'm hopeful 2024 can be a more positive one.

Viva la Tractor Boyz.

[Onyx2]

38 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Drag Race Season 16 begins on January 5th! There’s a never-ending string of Drag Race shows these days, but for whatever reason, I’m not yet bored of it.

 

DragCon for me in a couple of weekends' time. It was so good last year, can't wait for this one.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Nee Taskmaster tonight. I'm far too happy about it.

[FLips]

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Drag Race Season 16 begins on January 5th! There’s a never-ending string of Drag Race shows these days, but for whatever reason, I’m not yet bored of it.

 

Ah we love a bit of RuPaul's Drag Race in the Lips household.

[Fog Dude]

On 1/1/2024 at 1:22 AM, Fatty Facesitter said:

Let’s face it, January is a bit of a miserable month in truth. It’s fucking freezing, we’re all skint until payday rolls round, all the festive decorations go back in their boxes, and your bosses all of a sudden decide they want to smash the opening quarter and you go back to work ruing how you didn’t feel relaxed enough during your Xmas break. 

But fear not, for apart from that rather gloomy initial outlook, there’s still a lot of good stuff to look forward to this month. 

Good Arrows! - World Darts Championships (1st to 3rd)

The first major sporting concludes in over the first three days as per tradition. It’s been a mixed tournament so far in terms of quality, but Luke Littler’s progression has been incredible to witness. Even a sub-par World Championships is still great to watch. Darts remains a fantastic spectacle capable of producing some wonderful sporting drama. I’ve never been live but I hope to save up some pennies and put that right for 2024. Good arrows indeed.

The Mike Castle Classic - The Traitors Season 2 (3rd onwards)

I was very late to the party on the first series having only caught up with it over the last couple of weeks. What a boat to miss. The best kind of reality TV bollocks. It may disappoint as they over complicate the brilliant original, but it should still be jolly good fun. If not, well, we’ll just have to revive the Mafia Scum threads. Don’t pretend you don’t want to. 

Snooker Loopy! - The Masters (7th to 14th)

One of the ‘big three’ triple crown events on the snooker calendar, the top 16 battle it out over a glorious week at Ally Pally. I’ve got tickets for the Monday night session featuring serial Welsh shagger and potting magician Mark Williams this year. First time I’ll have been in person at a snooker event in a while - will be nice to be back on with the punters having covered it from the press room previously. Always a great tournament with a great standard of play and an electric atmosphere. 

On the road to the big one - Royal Rumble (27th)


My favourite WWE event of the year - always good fun and it means we’re properly on the road to the annual spectacular of Wrestlemania as the picture starts to become clearer. I genuinely think this year’s Rumble has the potential to be the best in a while with HHH being able to fully put his stamp on it (I think Vince/Shane had a big hand in it last year but I might be talking bollocks). So it’s just nice watching a lot of bodies clatter into each other and throw each other out of a ring isn’t it? It always makes for fun cameos as well. Could this be Bossman’s year?

Football crazy - FA Cup 3rd Round (4th to 8th of Jan plus replays tbc)


I know, another sporty one, and not everyone gives a toss about the FA Cup anymore. But I’m a hopeless football romantic and I love watching the bigger teams take on some of the underdogs. There aren’t many standout ties this year sadly in terms of non league teams getting a crack at Prem opposition, but Wigan might spring a surprise when they host Man United, Liverpool vs Arsenal is an interesting clash, and Sunderland meet bitter rivals Newcastle for the first time in a good while. Maidstone United, the lowest ranked team in the competition, host League One Stevenage. 

This is obviously pretty much my January highlight every year aside from maybe the Bother's Bar Poll of the Year results night, since it's too cold and wet and miserable to want to take in any other form of entertainment or socialise, plus this time I'm skint anyway. Thank goodness a quarter of the ties are on free-to-air TV across 5 days now! 

If I had a partner then I might enjoy St Dwynwen's Day more, or if I were north of the border Burns Night might be more fun. As it is it's just me and knockout footie: the same weekend you've got the equivalent rounds of the Coupe de France and Copa del Rey (the Portuguese counterpart is always done and dusted by the end of October, sadly), then later in the month there's the Fourth Round, the League Cup semis (last-ever two-legged ones this year *sniff*), last 32 of the Scottish men's and women's Cups plus the English women's one and even some midweek Coppa Italia action starting tonight. All there to keep me sane until things slowly begin to pick up again in February.

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

In January I start as the new Head of Marketing at Portman Road for Ipswich, and I'm properly buzzing. Not my team, but I'm sure they will be in time.

Yes. An entirely self-satisfied post, but after a bleak 2023 where I lost people and saw others I love have a horrible time, I'm hopeful 2024 can be a more positive one.

Viva la Tractor Boyz.

Good on you for getting a job in football, but your Spanish grammar could do with some work there amigo. You never know, it might come in handy when they qualify for Europe!