According to The Times, this date would appear to be a popular one for sportsmen and women. Amongst the great and good listed, are Tina Cook (Olympic three day event silver medallist), Serge Blanco (the best French full back of all time), Padraig Harrington (three time Major winner and Ryder Cup Captain), Sir Clive Lloyd (brilliant captain of a daunting West Indies team), Edwin Moses (400m hurdles Olympic gold medallist, twice, and world record holder…..one of the all time greats), Dwayne Peel (ten years a Welsh rugby international) Chris Rogers (Australian cricket international for seven years) and …….”Amanda Anisimova, tennis player, World No 28, 19″. Why on earth does The Thunderer elevate a little known American teenager, who has yet to achieve anything, to the ‘Birthdays today’ column alongside such sporting luminaries; not to mention the likes of Queen Raina of Jordan, Dame Liz Forgan, Martin Bell, The Archbishop of York and Richard Gere, to name but a few? Would it be revoltingly sexist and ungallant of me to suggest that it’s because they think she might be the next Anna Kournikova? Having consulted Google, she does appear to have all the necessary physical attributes……
A few months ago, Bojo and The Scientists declared a national shutdown. Unless you are an essential worker, stay home. Apart from bankrupting the Country and seriously harming the minds and bodies of the Nation’s youth, this had one unexpected side-effect. Quite a lot of people have realised that working from home isn’t all bad. However, Bojo and the Yes Men (previously known as The Cabinet) now want everyone back into their offices to save all those poor businesses in the cities that are being destroyed for lack of customers, What delicious irony! Thanks to modern technology, the Non-Essentials rather enjoy not spending anything between two and four hours a day packed like sardines on heaving commuter trains, or joining the motor infestation on our creaking highways, fighting through the masses of heaving humanity, only to sit behind a desk in an unhealthy office, when they can do pretty much the same work in calm relaxation at home, face masks not required. There must be great sympathy for the Pret à Mangers of this world, but maybe this signals a sea-change in the way we live and work?
Another impact of Covid is that angling is making quite a comeback. For long it’s been the leading participation sport in Britain, but cycling has been creeping up on the blind side. Apparently though, split canes and reels have been flying off the shelves along with flies and maggots as, particularly the younger generation, take to the river banks. There are very few sports that I haven’t tried at some point in my life. My first experience of fishing was as a nine year old when a Prep School friend took me home for the weekend. His father was a keen angler and I vividly remember standing on Lowestoft harbour wall, seemingly miles above the water, trying to cast for the first time with an enormous rod and a reel that I didn’t understand. Picture the scene; small, nervous boy dwarfed by a massive rod, launching a heavy leaded hook and bait far into the raging waters. The result was inevitable. Looking like a fly, well and truly encased in a spider’s web all attempts at rescuing the tangled line proved futile. As I recall, a knife and waste bin were required….and a large handkerchief for distressed child. I can count the number of times I have fished since on the fingers of one hand and I vividly remember each occasion. When it comes to mind-numbing tedium, it’s probably only exceeded by the golf club bore reliving his round, shot by shot. I am talking riverbank fishing here, I do understand that fly-fishing for salmon in a Highland stream or fighting marlin in the Caribbean probably do have their attractions.
Strangely, I didn’t notice any world renowned anglers celebrating their birthday today.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 