Yesterday, York racecourse was Mr & Mrs Strachan’s destination of choice. Ladies Day at the EBOR meeting our locale for a sensible flutter on the gee gees** and a swift shandy or two. ** – For the uninitiated, gee gees are horses not a Bee Gees tribute act. The enchanting Knavesmire course, scene of Dick Turpin’s hanging in 1739***, not to mention the place where in 2013 Mrs Karen Strachan […]
I’d a rare break from writing yesterday. Leaving casa Strachan at 7.30am and not getting home until 11.00pm rendering opportunities of putting pen to paper nigh on impossible. My destination the city of Nottingham – Robin Hood’s manor, domain made famous by Brian Clough, home of Boots the Chemist and place my late dad served his National Service in the 1950’s. My odyssey, though, wasn’t to cross swords with the […]
I’m penning this offering accompanied by the BBC Radio Leeds commentary of the Leeds United v Rotherham United. The voices of commentator Adam Pope and ex-Leeds player Noel Whelan my self-inflicted distraction to the writing process. As you’d expect this following of events at Elland Road handicaps my focus and concentration. Attempting to write a narrative when your completely distracted is a new experience for yours truly. When I endeavour […]
“I’ll give you a clue, he won the medal while riding a horse.” Well-meaning words from the question master to myself and team mate. His attempt to assist our floundering efforts at answering his question “At what sport did Sweden’s Anders Garderud win a gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games?” It was the early hours of a morning circa 1990, five men sitting at a wooden dining table […]
As a child growing up in the 1970’s, my aspirations for adulthood were to mirror my then hero Allan Clarke. A fledgling dream to lead Leeds United’s (LUFC) strike force to domestic and European honours, like Clarke, clad in Puma football boots and gleaming number 8 sock tags. Unfortunately, they were existential desires that were never fulfilled. As the aging process took it’s natural course, I learned you need more […]
There’s few things that rankle with a Yorkshireman more than defeat by sports teams representing the House of Lancaster. Witnessing Lancastrian ‘troops’ returning west over the Pennine Hills with a battle victory lodges in their trachea like a carelessly swallowed wish bone. Yesterday evening was a perfect example of this disenchantment by players and supporters of the white rose county’s cricket team. Despair manifesting from the sight of seeing Lancashire […]
Summer evenings don’t get much better than a tea of fish and chips from St Michael’s Fisheries, then a short meander down the road to the Emerald Headingley Stadium to witness a t20 Blast cricket match. A scene that, in the company of my son Jonny, came to pass yesterday afternoon. In my book, a belly full of fish and nerks (as my dad had a tendency to call them), […]
