by Katie Isham. This may seem like a rural safari, but we’re just ahead of the curve. The suburbs are coming. Out on the periphery of Southampton, on the other bank of the River Hamble, housing estates are multiplying, stealing space from green fields for our ever-increasing population. The...
Columns
Suburban Safari: Shopping for Life in Bitterne
by Katie Isham. In the east of Southampton lies Bitterne village. Not what one would usually think of as a village, but still more than worth a visit. It may not have the popularity of the city centre or the cool kid chic of Portswood, but Bitterne is a...
View from the Kingsland: the player pathway
by Nick Mabey. It’s been a good few weeks to be a Saints fan. Performances and results are in the ascendency and everyone is smiling again. So goes the rollercoaster that is supporting a football team. Whenever we have a spell like this we get a lot more media...
Suburban Safari: Stoke Park Woods
by Katie Isham. It’s time to go get lost in the trees again. Is there anything more wholesome than pulling on some wellies and going wandering in the woods until you a) get lost b) lose a welly in a muddy puddle c) get lost, lose a welly, get...
View from the Kingsland: Winter Breaks and Transfer Windows
by Nick Mabey. If you hadn’t noticed, the Premier League is in the middle of a two-week winter break (23rd January – 7th February). I get a bit twitchy when there is no football at this time of the year. So the idea of a two-week vacuum has not...
Suburban Safari: Ocean Village
by Katie Isham. Okay all, admittedly, it’s pretty grim right now. Grey days and even greyer moods. Even the sun seems to have gone into hibernation. Despite the days getting longer, the lack of sunshine is shrouding life in abject winter gloom. Ocean Village is a locale of Southampton...
View from the Kingsland: New owners, new hopes, old fears
by Nick Mabey. After four years of a form of nothingness with our previous owner, and many months of speculation, on 4th January the Saints were finally taken over by a new company, Sport Republic. If the previous regime was marked by inertia and silence, or perhaps more kindly...
Suburban Safari: Big pond for a little walk
by Katie Isham. Short days of January call for a short walk. Time is tight and we must make the most of our precious daylight hours when we’re not constrained by work or that seasonal existential dread exacerbated by the current state of the world that keeps us...
View from the Kingsland: Sam McQueen, support for a local lad
by Nick Mabey. I was very sad to hear Sam McQueen had been forced to retire from professional football at the much-too-young age of 26 after a three-year series of problems stemming from a serious knee injury sustained while he was out on loan at Middlesbrough. Sam has told...
Suburban Safari: A Calshot of Colour
by Katie Isham. After all the panic / excess / stress / chaos (delete as appropriate) of the festive period, the time is right for some outdoor indulgence. Nothing beats getting outside for some big space, big air and big colour. Consider this a preventative attack on the January...