Jackdaw Chatter - The Quarterly Magazine about Stow-cum-Quy
Any Other Business
(The stuff of the moment)
With the Cherry blossom all gone, the lambs growing into fine young sheep
and the year not divisible by four it must be World Cup time.
A group of friends has organised a sweepstake and guess what? Yours Truly
has got Brazil. They may be favourites but I don’t think they’ll
win it. Watch out for the Argies, is my advice. I do remember watching the
1966 final but it was the1970 tournament that first captured my imagination.
I was a chorister at Birmingham Catherdral at the time, and every Sunday we
had to sing at both Matins and Evensong. In two years of doing so I only ever
missed one service: evensong on June 21st 1970. Why? to watch Brazil 4 Italy
1, arguably the finest WC final ever. Italy had an imperious strike force
of Riva and Boninsegna but were blown away by the might of Pelé, Rivelino
and Carlos Alberto. Little did I know that, eight years later, I would find
myself in Italy (just after the WC in Argentina) learning Italian in Perugia.
Lo and behold, the victorious Argies hove into view to play a match against
little old Perugia themselves. I had the great joy of watching Ardiles, Kempes
and the redoubtable Daniel Passarella in the flesh (I wasn’t naked, just
there in person, as were they).
Then three weeks later, I was in Milan and had the opportunity to go to a
pre-season friendly at the San Siro. It was a testimonial for the golden boy
of Italian football, Gianni Rivera, whose partnership with Riva, over the
previous years, had become legendary. The Argies had travelled up from Perugia
and were now playing AC Milan. Can’t remember the score but it was a
fantastic occasion.
Now it’s 2010 and Quy is rooting for Eng-er-land. I’ve got my hanging
basket up, from Darwin Nurseries, naturally, with an array of white petunias
on the outside and red begonias in the centre. Very tasteful, I think. All
the best.
Nigel
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