With my wife Karen being at her parents home in the People’s Republic of Birtley for the weekend, I spent yesterday in the company of a massive pizza. It didn’t possess Karen’s charm, nevertheless it proved to be an agreeable companion during my binge-watching of rugby and a dramatization of the 1990s trial of OJ Simpson.

My missus has gone up to the north east of England to try install blue-tooth speaker software allowing Alexa to understand her dad’s frontier gibberish dialect. A move assisting Karen’s pater to get the most from his new Echo sound system.

Hopefully, it’ll mean the consummate family man can then listen unhindered to ‘Ladsy in reed’ by Chriss Boorgers, ‘Lineblark from the Coonty’ by Greg Crampbells and ‘Neenty Neen Prooblems’ sung by the blark wed ta Beyondsa………. Three songs that are his favourite listens, apart from the sound of his own voice.

Now when the man, who saves his new false teeth for best, shouts (because he’s a bit deaf) “Alexa, getten wor plays listings the naz!” the all seeing, all knowing lady in the speakers will have the wherewithal to fulfil his request.

One of the rugby games I watched yesterday was Ireland v Wales in an annual encounter as part of the Six Nations tournament. It didn’t quite give the assembled crowd the excitement of The People v OJ Simpson, but an entertaining match nevertheless.

Witnessing the game brought to mind a Welsh acquaintance who’s recently had to quit his family tree investigations. A consequence of hundreds of ‘Jones the Baby’ being born in Wales on the same day as his granddad.

With regards the Netflix binge-watch of  ‘The People v OJ Simpson’, I was transfixed by this account of the double-murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994. An adaptation that also told of the subsequent investigation, concluding with the trial and acquittal of the former American footballer.

Perched precariously on my coffee table, the hot and spicy pizza and an equally alluring beer, joined me evaluating the debris of evidence presented in the case. Over several hours, the TV drama showing the metronomic manner in which defence and prosecution teams gained the upper hand throughout trial preparations.

Unless the director had a budget to shoot an alternate ending, I knew OJ, or ‘Juice’ as his friends named him, would walk shortly before the end titles ran. However, despite knowing how this real-life drama concluded, I became gripped by the series of events being broadcast in front of me.

Manipulation, investigation, dedication and lots of other ‘ations’ were afoot by some of the advocates involved. Their assignment to either to gain Simpson his liberty, or lock him up and throw away the key.

It seemed nothing was off-limits for the litigators when attempting to gain the upper-hand in pursuit of their goals. The throwing of mud and chaff from both sides all adding entertainment value for it’s prurient global viewers. An audience of millions gorging on scraps thrown from the table of TV’s most fascinating of reality show.

On occasion, these distraction tactics had little, if anything, to do with the events of the June 1994 murders. Distastefully, gossip and tittle tattle appeared to take the limelight, when the brutal slaying of two people and the subsequent emotional affect on their families should have held centre-stage….. What do I know, though?!

Did OJ do it? – The jury said “No!”