My Memory – What Premiership Football Match?
If football is not your thing – please don’t let that stop you reading this as I think there is a really important message in this story.
On Sunday my wife Babs and I called round to see our son Tom and in fact our daughter in law Vanessa as they had just returned from there honeymoon.
One of the topics of conversation was Scott Parker who is now Manager of Bournemouth football club our local team.
Now this has never happened to me before and it totally took me by surprise. Tom chipped in with something that I could not remember AT ALL.
He told me when he had first seen Scott Parker was at a football match that I had taken him to. It was a football match Southampton versus Charlton and Scott Parker had scored and fabulous goal. The story went further, Tom told us that I had gone to the toilet and had missed the amazing goal scored by Scott Parker.
WHAT!! I thought my memory was good – but this had really jolted me.
I just cold not remember ever taking Tom to a professional football match.
With the going to the loo story added I thought he was joking.
A few months ago I was with a friend at an Arsenal football match and I thought that it was a shame that I had never taken my son to a football match ever.
The problem was that Tom was a sports lad and played football and swam competitively. So I was a constant taxi every weekend to his events – no time for being a spectator.
When we got home I asked Babs to look up in her diaries. She has kept diaries throughout the years and are great for looking up anything we have got up to.
There it was Sunday December 7th 2003 I had taken Tom to Southampton versus Charlton. He was 12 years old.
My Excuse!
In fact it was a very busy weekend for me because on Saturday evening I travelled up to London Airport leaving at 5pm to take my daughter Zoe to catch a Quantas plane to Australia. She was only 15 years old and in those days there was a service for unaccompanied yougsters up to that age travelling on a long haul flight. It was in fact excellent and from the moment we had arrived at the airport there was one of the stewardesses alloted to take care of Zoe. Real VIP treatment for me as well as Zoe in the departure area.
We had worked in Muscat, Oman in the Middle East for eiqht years and the expats working there were from all over the world. One of Zoe’s school friends was Anna Deeley who was from Australia.
Great as working abroad was – there is a time to return. All very well except that Zoe and Tom were not so keen to return as they knew very little about UK. The truth is they were very upset by the huge change in lifestyle. Zoe was 9 years old when we returned and she knew exactly how to stick the knife in. She had a photo of here Muscat schoolmates right beside her bed and when I went in to say goodnight she would ask questions like “Dad when am I going to see my real friends again?”
How do you answer that?
Even in the early days of the internet Zoe was able to keep in touch with her former school friends which lead to her getting invited to go to Australia to stay with Anna’s family.
Nothing nicer, Christmas in sunny summer Ozzie with friends you were longing to be with. Babs put in her diary that Zoe was buzzing with excitement.
In fact – Zoe was still flying southward when Tom and I were at the football match,
So that is my defence – my mind was miles away!! (ok – just a pun!)
I am assuming that we arranged the football match as something exciting for Tom as his sister was clearly over the moon.
I have to admit I still can not recall going to that football match.
There is one further thing that is worth comment. Tom’s memory of the match was not totally accurate. He thought that I had missed the only goal of the match. In fact it was Southampton 3 and Charlton 2.
I have in fact now seen the goal that I missed going to the loo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZksTLDTUo4
I Want To Know What Else I Have Forgotten
There are many times that I have thought – I wish that I had asked my parents more about my memories of the past. I can’t now as they have passed.
What I now intend to do when we are talking among ourselves as a family is to ask the kids about their memories of their upbringing years.
I would like to know what else I have missed.
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