Football, Protests and Howard Jones

What a week!! And as much as I’d like to use the words of Warner Wolf and say “Let’s go to the video tape!” I’ll refrain, but here are some words n pictures...

Firstly a quick "Happy 70th Birthday Uncle Ian!" - was great to speak with yourself, Frase, Mum n Vanessa during your party. Cheers Cuz!

Well, I’ve now been protested against. Okay, so not me personally, but one of the joys of working on the ground floor is that you get to see the passersby out the window. This time it happened to be about 20 protesters chanting “Blood! Blood! Blood on your hands!”
It turns out that some time ago, another company that’s part of Axa was party to funding a research facility that conducted animal experiments. Made it interesting to leave the office to go get some lunch with placards of maimed puppies waved at you. I did resist the temptation to put a 'Free Puppys' ad in the foyer windows though! Unfortunately, we were advised not to speak to any of them, which is a pity because I was hoping to ask them about the details. As some of you know, I’m against any form of animal cruelty and narrowly missed a chance to spend time on the Sea Shepherd the other year. I’ve never made it a secret that I’d love to work for WSPA someday. In fact I defy anyone not to be affected by the documentary, Earthlings, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. Or the short film about the Japanese dolphin hunts that he also narrates - Earthlings.com or Youtube.com would be a place to start if you’re interested, but I warn you that both are VERY graphic in parts and not for the faint hearted.

But I digress... that same evening saw me head back to White Hart Lane for both football and Kelly’s 30th at the Brickies. Spurs were playing a Polish side in the UEFA Cup competition. European football has always had a bit of a special association with Tottenham and this one was certainly no different.
With London’s currently large and increasing polish population, trouble was expected and the police were out in numbers that I’ve never seen at a football game before. The polish group in the away fans section of the stadium were both amazing and fanatical as they sang and chanted all night even if I had no idea what they were singing. Unfortunately, there were many that had bought tickets to be in the home fans sections and this proved to be very foolish. Some football fans are literally quite mad at times, and it didn’t take long for the stewards to have their hands full trying to break up fights and remove the polish supporters from the home stands. It was happening everywhere.
It did detract from the game itself, which was actually quite competitive and eventually a win for Spurs, but some of the chaos in the stands did make you wonder a bit. Despite all that, the evening did have one very pleasant part to it. The elderly gentleman in the seat in front of me and I struck up a conversation when things ‘kicked off’. (Basically there was a fight a few rows behind us and he turned around to ask what was going on.) He would easily have been in his late seventies/early eighties. Plucky old fella, who reminded me of another eighty year old that shared his love of Tottenham with me many years ago. He even had thick black rimmed glasses, so we ended up chatting quite a bit for the rest of the game. Honestly, it really was like being at the game with Dig... Special.
Game over, and it was back to the Brickies to continue Kel’s celebrations (above) and round out the night there to avoid the trouble that had kicked off further down the road. (The polish support weren’t taking their loss too well.)

Onto Friday night, and it was a bit of a pub crawl with the work crew. A fun night out and funnily enough we finished about three blocks from work after having gone to about six different pubs!! No, we hadn’t gone in circles, there really are that many pubs around London. Good to chat to a certain pair of callers on the night too. Glad you’re both well!!

Then came Saturday night, and one that I was a little unsure of as to how it would go. Back to the IndigO2 again, this time for Howard Jones 25th Anniversary Concert. I’ve never been a huge fan, but I've always liked his music. He’s been a bit of a constant throughout the eighties and early nineties. I’ll wager that you can name about two or three of his songs, but if you played his greatest hits cd, you’ll recognise many more of his songs than you thought you knew.
As I’ve mentioned before, the IndigO2 is only a small venue inside the massive O2 complex (pictured), and one that is quite ‘intimate’ with the artists on stage. So much so, that I was actually sitting in the upper level only three rows behind Howards parents!! You could say that I did have a good view of the stage from where I was.
He actually put on a fantastic show, and each of his special guests did not disappoint. The highlight of his guests had to be Nick Kershaw (if you recall his two biggest tracks: “Wouldn’t it be Good” and “The River”). One keyboard, one acoustic guitar, two great voices and an incredible version of “Wouldn’t it be Good” - hairs on the back of your neck stuff! Just brilliant!
The first half of the show was mostly acoustic with the majority of the special guests, before the second half of the show which went full eighties synthesiser, band and lights. I’d never noticed just how much this era of music is really the birth child of the dance and electronica music scene of the late nineties and today.
His playlist for the night wasn’t the usual one you’d think, however, most of the major tracks were played at some stage and a few lesser known ones thrown in for his own reasons. “The Prisoner” was a highlight for me - it’s one that I’ve always liked, but rarely do you hear it anywhere other than if you play it off your own cd. He didn’t do “City Song”, which is probably the personal favourite, but I wasn’t complaining. A couple of new ones that will be released on next year’s new album were played too. He certainly had the crowd going with both music as well as banter between songs, which did add to the show and really seemed to capture that ‘intimacy’ I’ve mentioned before. A fantastic night all up and one that was far better than I expected.
One last highlight would have to be the extra item that I went home with. The concert was being both filmed and recorded (hence why I couldn’t get away with even a sneaked pic for you). The triple cd of the recording was available there on the night as you left the venue, and that was the only place (so they said) that it will be available! Despite not all special guests making it onto the cd (something about contractual reasons), talk about a bonus!! And I know this may sound a bit odd, but to have and listen to a cd from a live show such as this knowing that you were there, is just plain cool. It truly adds to the listening experience as you can picture it all again... [of course it’s playing in the background as I type!]

Sunday and it was a lovely sunny day (which Saturday was as well), so I rode down to Greenwich to join Karyn n Marty for the morning. First stop being a coffee shop for a coffee and (in my case) a giant scone, which we enjoyed on the nearby lawns of the university/museum in the sun. Having soaked up a good bit of sun while someone in the nearby building was having a very successful music lesson (and pleasantly adding to our time in the sun), we headed back into Greenwich Market to peruse the stalls and fossick about. Such a pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning!
Unfortunately, my time ran out, and I needed to get back to White Hart Lane for the afternoon. I’d accepted an invite to use a mate’s spare season ticket for the game against Wigan, and literally flew up to the ground on the bike. I have to admit that going through the Wapping Tunnel to get off of Canary Wharf was pretty cool - reaching over 50kmh at one point too!
Anyway, back to the game, which was a little lacklustre. It seems that both teams were feeling as lazy as we were in the Sunday sunshine. Well, that maybe harsh, as they did put in effort, but both teams just seemed to keep each other in check with neither side breaking through. Either way we just had a top evening back in the pub as the singing continued with folks making up all sorts of lyrics for some of the better known songs. An absolute crack up at times with some of what people came up with.
Then along came Monday, but not as its usual self. An evening spent getting to know a new friend and the usual ordinary Monday finished on a bit of a high...