Hesitation: Rejoice or Regret?
What seems a lifetime ago, aged sixteen, I was at college trying to figure out life, the universe, and what lay ahead. Cocooned with my college chums, often in the refectory smoking Gauloises cigarettes supplied by the rich Persian students, I realised that most of us didn’t have a clue what we wanted to become, … Read more
The price of freedom? £20
Not a King’s ransom by any stretch of the imagination but freedom nonetheless! Today I bought my ticket for Kent Kings versus Leicester Lions at Central Park Stadium, Sittingbourne, Kent next Tuesday (18th May), the opening Championship fixture. After what seems like an eternity, my normality will be celebrated with the breeze in my eyebrows, … Read more
Grassroots football: Who says I can’t spin?
Watching Notts County demolish Barnet at The Hive this afternoon (I don’t often use that word when referring to Notts) I wondered how the opposing press reporter would spin such a battering? Then I thought about my time as the pitch side hack for Whitegrove Arrows, the local team that my son Adam played for … Read more
Unbelievable! The hanging gardens of Hartlepool
Waking up this morning was rather surreal if not totally unpredictable. Hartlepool led the headlines. Many of you may ask, not unreasonably, where is Hartlepool? According to Google, “Hartlepool is a port town in the Borough of Hartlepool, of which it is the administrative centre, in County Durham, England. The town is 17 miles southeast … Read more
The utter genius of stupidity
Who hasn’t watched the classic Farrelly brothers comedy ‘Dumb and Dumber’ without wishing they had worn incontinence pants? Observing the idiocy of others at close quarters whilst sitting comfortably in isolated judgment provides our egos with the propellant necessary to literally laugh out loud! Yet is stupidity, arguably a compelling human trait if based on … Read more
LOL! Laughter Obscured in Language
Whilst watching a classic speedway meeting on YouTube during my morning ablutions, as is my want, I smiled when the commentator cried out, “And that is a fairy-tale ending for Hans Andersen!” Referring to the Danish Speedway star, as he battled to a fine win in the Speedway World Cup, there was an unambiguous link … Read more
Two straight guys have a gay time in the countryside.
COVID-19 has forced many of us to reconstruct our leisure time. West End shows have been replaced by a slow shop in Waitrose whilst the car boot experience has been substituted by a meander around Aldi. The centre aisle of the budget supermarket is a cornucopia of chattels from mini flamethrowers to violin cases and … Read more
Sold! The Heart of Football
As a lifelong supporter of Notts County, who currently languish just outside of the playoffs in the National League (fifth tier), you may think that what happens to the glamour teams in the Premiership is just a distant speck on the horizon to me, and that I should be simply ushered away from any engagement … Read more
Will all the racists please sit down!
As the closing arguments are being made in the Derek Chauvin murder trial in the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, I would counter the title of this reflection with a bellowing rendition of the 1983 Elton John classic, “I’m still standing.” Yet does my simple categorisation of good and bad really stand up to scientific scrutiny? … Read more