Saturday, October 02, 2004

Well I think my decision to track down football in Sheffield was an inspired one.
Didnt rain in Sheffield, well not as badly as it looks like it did at home.
I did have a friend sat in front of a computer and texting me the Charlton score throughout the match, at 1-0 down I turned to MH and said, "That's it now, we're gonna lose 4-0."
The Sheffield/ MK Dons match, was pretty dire, not as bad as some of the others that I have seen in the past there, but I guess it had to be better than being at Highbury!
I also got to see Ben Chorley, like I said he was someone I knew from school, but we mixed in different circles, me in the "loner/loser" group, and him in the "popular, lets tease, bully and make everyone else miserable" group.
So I was in two minds about going up to talk to him after the match.
But THe way I figured it was that, he probably didnt remember me, and he is a professional footballer, they get trained to be nice to people.
Well in most cases anyway.
But I was pretty nervous about it.
I waited while he talked to a couple of lads that he knew and a couple of times I saw him look over and give that sort of "I know you" nod.
Anyway, afterwards, I asked if he was the Ben I had known from GCSE Drama and he was and I said I was in your class but you probably dont know me.
But he did, and we did a little catch up and I wished him all the best in his career.
I was proper shaking afterwards, I guess some of those school memories will never go away, but He was really nice and I know its all sort of PR but I did get the feeling that he did acknowledge me as a person and I also got the feeling that if we had met under different circumstances like out of school, we would have been mates.
I know its all PR to him, but it did make me sad that we couldnt have been mates and that I allowed myself to have got so much grief at school and never stood up for myself.
Still it was like closing a chapter of my life, I am no longer afraid of those idiots and I can move on with my life.

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