The Philanderer
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
1st floor, ladies and childrenswear, going up......
This weekend sees the first of a series of tower runs, as focused hill runners charge up the 42 flights of stairs in , wait for it, Tower 42 in the City of London. The male winners are expecting to do it in about 4 minutes. That's ten flights a minute, one every 6 seconds!!
It takes me back a few years, this tower running, and like a lot of things the youth of today think they invented, they didn't.
In 1982, a chum of mine, Neil Brown and I embarked on an adventure to the Far East. We were both single having recently come out of relationships and decided to go away for a few weeks. Our mate Figs fixed us up with accommodation in Singapore with AMF Phil, a Spurs supporter, and we made our own plans from there.
We were both fairly fit blokes so to break up some of the days we decided to have our own 'SuperStars' competition over the duration of the holiday. We started off with swimming which I won by virtue of doing the breastroke leg first, and holding Neil off on the return freestyle. He then trounced me at tennis, even after giving me a 0-40 start each game!
His racquet skills came to the fore again in the squash, but it was a close fought thing which finished when my bat smashed against the wall in the deciding set. We were in Penang, Malaysia by now, having tied the beer can pyramid competition on the train from Kuala Lumpa.
The hotel had a giant chess set in the grounds, and so we incorporated that into our competition. We set up after breakfast and gained a few interested parties as they made their way to the beach. Imagine their surprise then when we were still playing when they trooped back for lunch.I managed to dig myself out of a big hole to win that one, which left Neil and I all square as we returned to Singapore prior to our flight home.
Now Phil and Anne, our hosts, lived on the 32 floor of a condo somewhere down Nathan Road so it seemed sensible to have a decider by running the tower. So Phil went down in the lift with each of us in turn and timed us as we charged up the stairs. It was close, but Neil beat me to take the FESP trophy and the bragging rights.
The difference of course with Tower racing is that everybody starts off at the same time, imagine the scrum at the first corner eh!
It takes me back a few years, this tower running, and like a lot of things the youth of today think they invented, they didn't.
In 1982, a chum of mine, Neil Brown and I embarked on an adventure to the Far East. We were both single having recently come out of relationships and decided to go away for a few weeks. Our mate Figs fixed us up with accommodation in Singapore with AMF Phil, a Spurs supporter, and we made our own plans from there.
We were both fairly fit blokes so to break up some of the days we decided to have our own 'SuperStars' competition over the duration of the holiday. We started off with swimming which I won by virtue of doing the breastroke leg first, and holding Neil off on the return freestyle. He then trounced me at tennis, even after giving me a 0-40 start each game!
His racquet skills came to the fore again in the squash, but it was a close fought thing which finished when my bat smashed against the wall in the deciding set. We were in Penang, Malaysia by now, having tied the beer can pyramid competition on the train from Kuala Lumpa.
The hotel had a giant chess set in the grounds, and so we incorporated that into our competition. We set up after breakfast and gained a few interested parties as they made their way to the beach. Imagine their surprise then when we were still playing when they trooped back for lunch.I managed to dig myself out of a big hole to win that one, which left Neil and I all square as we returned to Singapore prior to our flight home.
Now Phil and Anne, our hosts, lived on the 32 floor of a condo somewhere down Nathan Road so it seemed sensible to have a decider by running the tower. So Phil went down in the lift with each of us in turn and timed us as we charged up the stairs. It was close, but Neil beat me to take the FESP trophy and the bragging rights.
The difference of course with Tower racing is that everybody starts off at the same time, imagine the scrum at the first corner eh!
Labels: kuala lumpa, penang, singapore, tower 42
¶ 6:35 PM 0 Comments
Monday, July 23, 2007
"The batsmans Holding, the bowlers Willey"
The third Saturday in July always means a day at the Lords test match, that's cricket for anybody viewing this from abroad. Its an institution I have been a part of, for almost as long as I can remember.
I first went with my dad in 1962, to see the famous West Indies side captained by Gary Sobers, and including the mighty fast bowlers Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths. England's Ted Dexter stood firm against them to score 86 runs and it was an innings widely regarded as worth more than the hundred which eluded him.
When the West Indies batted, Conrad Hunte, Roland Kanhai and best of all, Basil Butcher stroked the ball to all parts of the ground. I was fortunate to meet Sir Gary at a golf event in St Lucia a few years ago, and found him a pleasant, approachable and humble man. Struggling now with arthritic knees, he was still able to swing a golf club in the same relaxed manner with which he batted and bowled. He and Botham, who was also playing golf, still have it in all rounder terms for me, well ahead of Freddie Flintoff.
And in my 45 years (groan) of going to Lords, I must have seen them all. Great batsmen from all countries pitting their wits against equally great fast bowlers. Catches, sixes and subtle cricket have all been a joy to behold.
I have been privileged to watch several times from the boxes in the old grandstand and be treated to lunch and tea in relative luxury, but more generally I have been there in the company of good friends, both male and female.
This weekend my wife was there as she has been for neigh on 17 years. It was our first date then, and the first date in the diary now, ahh, and we joined with Figs and Goodwin for our traditional lunchtime going into teatime session. I met Figs about 30 years ago when we were both working in Croydon, and although he has been 'our man at Wimbledon' for a long time now, we still try to do the Lords gig as we have always done. I met Goodwin through Figs when he kindly put me and Neil Brown up in Singapore when we were doing the Far East in about 1982. That though is a story for another day.
The cricket is still the focal point , but the whole social event which surrounds it is equally important these days. Test matches are the ultimate test of skill and courage as epitomised in the past by Brian Close and David Steele, and the crowd are made up of true aficionados of the game.
While it is good that 20/20 cricket has wafted a breath of fresh air through the game, and embraced the younger generation, the fifty over side of things seems to be struggling to keep pace. The recent home Ashes series has shown how equally exciting the five day game can be and good cricket, good banter and above all good friends will keep it top of our Summer social calender for many years to come.
I first went with my dad in 1962, to see the famous West Indies side captained by Gary Sobers, and including the mighty fast bowlers Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths. England's Ted Dexter stood firm against them to score 86 runs and it was an innings widely regarded as worth more than the hundred which eluded him.
When the West Indies batted, Conrad Hunte, Roland Kanhai and best of all, Basil Butcher stroked the ball to all parts of the ground. I was fortunate to meet Sir Gary at a golf event in St Lucia a few years ago, and found him a pleasant, approachable and humble man. Struggling now with arthritic knees, he was still able to swing a golf club in the same relaxed manner with which he batted and bowled. He and Botham, who was also playing golf, still have it in all rounder terms for me, well ahead of Freddie Flintoff.
And in my 45 years (groan) of going to Lords, I must have seen them all. Great batsmen from all countries pitting their wits against equally great fast bowlers. Catches, sixes and subtle cricket have all been a joy to behold.
I have been privileged to watch several times from the boxes in the old grandstand and be treated to lunch and tea in relative luxury, but more generally I have been there in the company of good friends, both male and female.
This weekend my wife was there as she has been for neigh on 17 years. It was our first date then, and the first date in the diary now, ahh, and we joined with Figs and Goodwin for our traditional lunchtime going into teatime session. I met Figs about 30 years ago when we were both working in Croydon, and although he has been 'our man at Wimbledon' for a long time now, we still try to do the Lords gig as we have always done. I met Goodwin through Figs when he kindly put me and Neil Brown up in Singapore when we were doing the Far East in about 1982. That though is a story for another day.
The cricket is still the focal point , but the whole social event which surrounds it is equally important these days. Test matches are the ultimate test of skill and courage as epitomised in the past by Brian Close and David Steele, and the crowd are made up of true aficionados of the game.
While it is good that 20/20 cricket has wafted a breath of fresh air through the game, and embraced the younger generation, the fifty over side of things seems to be struggling to keep pace. The recent home Ashes series has shown how equally exciting the five day game can be and good cricket, good banter and above all good friends will keep it top of our Summer social calender for many years to come.
Labels: croydon, Gary sobers, Ian Botham, lords, singapore, ted dexter
¶ 10:36 AM 0 Comments
