"Hot Rails To Hell"

Happy Places, Lost Friends and Rock 'n Roll

The beginning of 2019 has been quite reflective for me. Despite my own assurances that I won’t “look back” I’ve spent a fair amount of time reviewing where I was three years ago. I was in a really crappy place, getting towards the end of the Chemo / RT cycle and suffering like heck. It’s so easy to think to yourself “This time three years ago………..” that’s not a healthy place to be, life is forward, not backwards. So, to elevate the gloom we’ve booked our first holiday of the year. Three nights in Porthcothan, our “Happy Place” in March should go some way to getting me back on track. As well as the traditional evening at the Seafood Restaurant I’ve also booked in for a guided photography walk with Kate Whis Photography for the Tuesday. We’ll be walking from Rock to Daymer Bay and taking photographs as we go. I’ve been following Kate on Facebook for a while now, her photos are superb and resonate with me due to the locations. It should be a good morning, three hours of walking, talking, photos, Neville, Carol………….. what more could I ask for? The resulting photos will be published once we get back. I’m really looking forward to the experience, whilst I’ve been taking photos since I was in my early teens, I’ve never really had a lesson. 

Earlier this week I was chatting to a friend on Facebook about Badminton, and the possibility of making a comeback on the court. Back in the day, and I’m going back 40+ years ago here, I was a fairly decent player. I played County and South East England at a representative level. My parents drove me all over the country at weekends for tournaments and County matches. I made a lot of good friends over the years of playing. Two friends stick out, two friends I’ve lost contact with over the years and would love to speak to again.

The first of those friends was Robert Day. I first met Rob at the U13s Berkshire Restricted Tournament, he was an U13, I was an U12. I beat him J Ok, he’d just recovered from a broken hand, but I still won, about the only time I ever did beat him at singles. The next year we came across each other at various tournaments and matches and struck up a close friendship which would last through the next 15 years or so. He introduced me to parties, the Red Lion in Wokingham, smoking (I'll forgive him, I should have had more will power!), the B52s and photography. We made a formidable doubles partnership, based on grovelling our way out of matches with superb defence that would wear the opposition down, ok, we bored the pants off them, but it worked. Rob and I had our ups and downs, he once pinched a girlfriend of mine and married her, I eventually forgave him, it was a lucky escape on my part. When he and the said stolen girlfriend emigrated to the US of A Carol & I took on their two cats, Tiffiny and Tucker. The marriage didn’t last (Not Carol and I, we’re still together), but Rob came back to the UK on  a fairly regular basis, when we’d meet up for a pint and a chinwag. The last time we saw each other was about 10 years ago when he was over with his new wife. We played an hour of badminton, I won, that was the last time I played, and I haven’t seen Rob since. The last I knew Rob was working in IT in San Diago.

The second of those friends was Jane Willoughby. We first met whilst playing for Reading Youth BC as the age of 13. Jane went to Maiden Erlegh School, was an all-round sportswomen, drank pints, and lit her fags by using the biggest box of matches known to man. We struck up a great friendship, stretched at times by me being a prick, and we were a feared mixed double pairing in the Reading leagues. Jane was very bright, passed her A Levels and went on to get a great degree from Loughborough University before embarking on a career as a Primary School teacher. She married Anthony Wilkes a number of years ago, and again, for one reason or another we lost contact. I would dearly love to get back into contact with both Jane and Rob. Searching FB, Twitter and Linkedin have thrown up no results, maybe the power of Social Media and random blog posts will prove to be more successful.

For a sport that meant so much to me when I was growing up, I just gave up overnight. I’d been playing a match about half way through the season, got home quite late in the evening, my knees were killing me, I hadn't enjoyed it, and I never picked up a racket in anger again. Both Anna and Max went on to represent Berkshire at Junior level so perhaps sport does run in the genes.

(I suspect I'll be told off for posting this pic of Anna when she was probably about 13)

To keep with the throwback to the old days theme of this blog on 22^nd February Carol and I are off to the Hammy Odeon, ok, it's now known as the Hammersmith Apollo, but will always be the Hammy Odeon to me, to see Blue Oyster Cult, a band that Rob introduced me to back in probably 1978 / 79. They’ll be best known to most people by their only UK hit, Don't Fear the Reaper The last time Carol and I saw BOC live was 24 years ago when Carol was very heavily pregnant with Anna. We travelled up to the Marquee in London, an iconic venue and the stewards found us a quiet area to watch the performance from, I think they were worried she’s go into labour during the encore. I’m slightly apprehensive about the gig, the two original members of the band must be pushing 70 years old now, but I guess good music never dies. in our numerous trips to the Odeon in years gone by it always seemed that the same support band were playing, three pints on London Pride were their name :) 

I haven’t yet had a date to see the Plastic Surgeon for the next cancer op. but I see that as a good thing as it can’t be that serious. I have had a couple of massages on my neck as the lympth nodes are a bit swollen on the right underside of my chin, as is one of the muscles effected by the surgery, so it’s likely I’ll be seeing the massage team for a while longer yet. I'm beginning to feel defined as a person by the cancer. A few years ago at a schools rugby festival I met one of my old school masters who I hadn't seen for probably 30 years. He looked at me and said, "I can't remember your name, but you were the badminton player weren't you?", that's how I was defined as a kid. Then it was probably as the bloke who was the easiest in the world to persuade to go for a pint after work. Now it's as the chap with a hole in his throat. Oh well, better than the other option I guess. 

That’s about it for this update. I really hope that next time I write I’ll be able to say that Rams have been promoted to National 1. They currently stand 12 points clear at the top of the league with eight games to go. 

As always, thanks for reading.

To be continued………………

#Shoulder2Shoulder

Neville in his "Happy Place"  - Porthcothan Beach