An explanation

Hello followers of @LFCladiesfans,

I'm writing this blog post to firstly apologise for being somewhat absent over the last few weeks.

While travelling home from the last away trip to Sunderland I got a phone call telling me that my grandparents had been involved in a car accident and rushed to hospital.

Unfortunately my Grandad didn't recover and passed away in hospital on 11th November.

As you can imagine when I've not then been at football matches it's been a bit mad at home and whatnot, and so I took a step back from my blog and @LFCladiesfans social media accounts.

I never want to do half a job on my blog so that's why there's been no match reports or the like for the last few games, but now I'm back and we have two more games before the end of the year to look forward to.

Finally, if you'll indulge me I'd like to tell you about my Grandad. He was born James Patrick Carroll in Kiltimagh, Ireland and grew up on a farm with his Aunt, Uncle and younger brother.

When my Grandad turned 18 he moved to England, arriving in Liverpool in the 1950s where he met my Grandma.

They got engaged shortly before my Grandad took a job in New Zealand, there he was nicknamed Irish Jim and even trained with the All Blacks!

He sailed home from New Zealand across the Pacific Ocean, stopping at the Pitcairn Island and down the Panama canal.

Grandad wasn't done with travelling the world and a few years later took a job working in the Sudan! Here they nicknamed him the 'man with the pipe'.

When he eventually returned home to Liverpool and retired aged 61, he was approached by Ogdens Tobacco Company who asked him to join a team of tobacco testers - he always said this was his dream job!

My Grandad was always full of tales of his travels and of his childhood home in Ireland, he was also a Blue - would you believe it! He'd always tease me about the Reds if we weren't doing so well, but I learnt to give as good as I got.

The final time I visited my Grandad on the Friday night, he was asking me how Liverpool were getting on and I told him a lot better than Everton! He always had a big smile on his face, on that final night still laughing and joking about how I was a Red.

If I can live a life that's half as full as my Grandad's, I'll be happy.