The Farewell Tour Begins

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let's start with a quick word about what I'm reading. I've finished Mark Cowan's Far From The Massive Crowds about a season as a fan watching Northern League side Guisborough Town FC and I'm happy to say that my views haven't changed now it's been read. A hugely enjoyable book and I'd recommend it to any football fan.

The next book on the pile of e unread turns out to be The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield. She's a writer some of whose stories I have listened to and liked but this is the first time that I've really properly approached her work. I'm looking forward to this.

Anyway as I mentioned yesterday subject to some completely unforeseen disaster the house move is going to take place sometime in the middle of May. So six, seven weeks in the future. It was my intention only to mention it passing until then. But something happened that I felt needed to be posted now.

Since the Sold sign appeared in front of the house I can't really say I've spoken to the neighbours. It was just a case of our paths not crossing more than anything else. And yet yesterday in the afternoon having returned from doing some shopping I saw one of them. For me. Being a solitary sort conversations with the neighbours are mainly polite friendly and short. Mainly just an acknowledgement of each other's presence before we both go our separate routes. This though was different.

"When are you moving?" she asked.

When I responded that it would sometime in the middle of May she said that the family would be missed.

Needless to say I was stunned. I'm rarely good with an instant response when something unexpected comes my way. Thank you was really the best I could muster.

Then later that evening we had a knock on the door. It was children from the house opposite. They had some boxes we could use for the move. The wife went to collect them.......she stayed an hour.

After she came back to what is still our house so that myself and our daughter could still confirm he existence the wife went to the other neighbour to give her the precise news. Again she was told by the lady of that house that we'd be missed.

Now I'm under no illusions here. Whilst I would like to think I'm liked the person who really would be missed is my wife. She has that lucky gift of being liked by most people instantly. I'm just the man lucky enough to have married her.

She is however also very honest. As I've explained previously in this blog she is the driving force of this move and was not hesitant to tell people why she didn't want to stay.

And yet, the way things have turned out it would appear to be like saying you want to move from Manchester United to City but getting a standing ovation at Old Trafford in your last game.

Life is sometimes very confusing.

Until the next time.

D H Lawrence,Oscar Wilde and Guisborough Town FC

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Chatting and reminiscing about a couple of towns in my last few posts does mean that I need to go through the books I have and am reading during the past days. Given that the next few posts will revert to the house moving situation which all of a sudden has moved a lot quicker it's better that I deal with it today.

Have finally finished The Rainbow by D H Lawrence. Nothing has changed from my earlier post on the subject. Lawrence is still the literary super villain of this blog and I doubt it will ever change.

When that was finished the next amongst the pile of ebook unread turned out to be Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde.

The best way to describe these stories is this. Imagine you've gone to a fancy restaurant. Having had the main course that you didn't enjoy you're then presented with something relatively light as a dessert. After eating it, you realise that just going home and having some chocolate ice cream would have been more substantial, tastier and cheaper.

That's my view of this book. Though not awful these semi comic stories (so don't expect a laugh a minute) are OK in themselves (though the last one, The Portrait of Mr W H needed some editing) but ultimately too light to be remembered warmly.

So the next ebook, and the one I'm currently halfway through is Far From The Massive Crowds by Mark Cowan. This is a fan's diary of the 2010/11 season of the team he supports, Guisborough Town of the Northern League.

It came with many advantages immediatwely, it's a football book (tick) it's a football book about a team and a league I've little knowledge about but appreciate given the attitude of fans of bigger clubs to the League of Wales (tick), it's a football diary where few people outside the North East will have any idea of what's going to happen next (triple tick and an explanation mark for the excitement of it all).

What it also has now I'm reading it is a genuine sense of humour, a writer who is honest when his team doesn't play well and also has the capacity to like other teams whilst always being faithful to his first love. That I would argue is the sign of a true football fan.

If this was a man you'd be having friendly banter with him down the pub. It's so far the most enjoyable book I've read this year.

D H Lawrence, Oscar Wilde. And yet it's a book by Mark Cowan about Guisborough Town FC that's the best of the three. Who'd have thought it?

Until the next time.