Eastern European Extract

It was splendid to encounter earnest and engaging G at The Buzzcocks concert, younger brother of H who was probably my best friend in about 1978. Nostalgically, I recall whole Saturdays spent in the J household frantically contesting Subbuteo tournaments, getting into angry music like The Jam and The Boomtown Rats (the first album I ever bought was 'Tonic for the Troops' from the old Tesco on Northgate Street), reading Smash Hits and eating beans on toast for tea in front of Dick Turpin starring Richard O’Sullivan. Great days. G has moved back to Gloucester with his closely-cropped girlfriend of eighteen months, L, who hails from a former Soviet state. As the evening progressed G took me to one side and enquired keenly, ‘Hey Mart, what do you think of the Latvian then?’ I can state with no little confidence that I have never been asked that question before nor do I expect to consider a response to it ever again. What unusual phrasing!

I shall be popping to Stade Kingsholm tomorrow to watch our second team in action and anticipate watching, inter alia, Vickery, Simpson-Daniel and McRae in action. I sense that Melville might play Gomarsall at nine, an ignominious end to his Gloucester career and a bit of an insult if you ask me. At the time of writing I have absolutely no idea who Gloucester's opponents are.