Having finally finished the Philip Pullman trilogy I was reading I am at last getting stuck into one of my Christmas presents - Ian Holloway's
autobiography.
I have only just started it but it looks as if it is going to be readable.
Being of West Country origin myself, there are already some references that have brought a smile to my face and have made me realise we have quite a lot in common.
For example, he, like me, calls plimsolls '
daps'. So named,
apparently, because the factory making them used to have a sign outside saying "
Dunlop Athletic Plimsoles". As a child I was encouraged to say '
pumps' because '
daps' was deemed somewhat common in 1970s Gloucestershire. Being the rebel that I am, though, I still call them '
daps' today (
only please don't tell my Mum!).
And those of you who read Ollie's BBC column on a regular basis will know that there has been considerable debate about his nickname of "
Stinger", following his
explanation that he was given the nickname because that is what he calls stinging nettles. I'm definitely a '
stinger' girl I have to say.
Ollie and I are a similar age (although I have more hair than him). Which means that I would almost certainly have seen him playing live during my very brief earlier dalliance with football in the early 1980s when I used to occasionally go to watch Bristol Rovers with my then boyfriend. I can't pretend I remember it though.
Spooky then that with all this in common our paths should cross again with a mutual interest in the fate of Leicester City Football Club.
Of course, whilst I am not suggesting that he is only financially motivated, Ollie does get paid for loving The Foxes. Whilst I do it completely for free.
I wonder if he calls woodlice '
chucky pigs' like me.
1 comment:
Daddy Gramphers....is what i call them babe. Olly is a janner of the highest kind.....I expect he drives a cortinal
JVIP
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