Bee
Gees on the Beach in Birmingham ©
By
Michael Casey
Well
England won 2 nil, Sweden forgot how to
put an attack together, a bit like losing the build instructions for an IKEA
product. My daughter saw the match in China town with her Maths Viz friend, we
have high hopes he gets into Cambridge such is his skill with high and exotic
numbers. Though when she told me where she saw the match I told her about my
old company’s high and exotic numbers. Which brought more joy that any World
Cup match.
You
see it was our work’s Christmas party so
the company issued beer tokens, 2 pints each. This was very kind of them,
especially as the nature of our work, and the fact this company could out drink
anybody, and no this is not an empty boast. I was the sole shandy drinker in
the company, rather like an accepted Leper. Dom, God bless him used to look at
me with amusement, and say “A Girlie” as he poured my pint maybe 30 years ago
now. A Girlie being a pint of shandy, which is half lager and half lemonade.
Tragically Dom died as a result of a fire. So whenever I think of a Girlie I
think of him. Some bright spark, who shall remain nameless decided to photocopy
the beer tokens. We the staff needed no encouragement to drink excessively, but
with beer tokens galore, the beer flowed even more.
The
following week the bar bill was to be settled, but instead of say 400 free
pints, beer was cheap then. The bar presented
my old company with a bill way way higher. Which my company promptly
refused to pay. So an entire company of experienced drinkers were banned from
that bar. Which happens to be where my daughter and her friend watched the match today. Such
sweet memories. So like a nomadic tribe my company packed their tents and
decamped to another bar, 50 yards away. We had to be close to the office after
all, we could not leave the Chinese Quarter, which was very pubescent at the
time.
Which
brings me back to my Bee Gees, they are singing as I talk to you I thought they deserved a spin. Though they
are a bit mellow, not because they are singing a slow song, but because I’ve
got drops in both ears, prior to having them cleaned out. It may help the
Tinnitus I’ve acquired, which may or may not be due to too much water in my
ear. If I stopped washing my hearing would be better, but you wouldn’t want to
stand next to me, you’d stand far away and shout at me. And all your shouting
would deafen me, so it might just be best to stick to email or posting my
thoughts here.
The
good tracks are coming now on the Bee Gees double album, outside its very sunny
and quiet. Everybody watched the match here in England, my wife said the roads
were deserted, and everywhere was quiet as she stormed the shops. Now the next
match of the day is on. Russia v Croatia is happening now so everybody is
watching that. England v Russia at the next stage would be interesting to say
the least with another poison attack in Salisbury area. Though all in all
Russian World Cup has been excellent, fantastic people, as usual people, all
people are let down by Governments.
So
as you read this you will know the final score, one football match in a day is
enough for me. Birmingham feels like a beach, majestic in the sunshine and my
fuchsia are sprouting like beans in my front and back gardens. That’s the joy
of sunshine, everybody feels happy and are talking to each other. If you add a
great win, with a wonderful goalkeeper what could be better? Pardon, I can’t
hear a thing, all I can hear is a gentle banging on my front room wall. It’s my
neighbour I’ve got the speakers too loud, all the cotton wool in my ear and so
on.
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