100 December

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. My job at the International Stores gave me a wage that made visits to Priestfield Stadium affordable yet it took away my Saturday afternoons. The Lord, if he existed, could be a sod sometimes. Football Monthly magazine bridged the gap and eased the pain. Every month I’d scour the magazine counter at Twydall Post Office, eager to snap up the latest issue and read every word, adverts and all. Football Monthly was the magazine for any committed football fan and I committed for life when I sent off for this…

And sometimes I bought one of these…

At school… Paul, John and me didn’t walk home when it was raining. Instead, we joined the mad scramble at the depot after school, firstly to get on the bus and secondly, to get a seat downstairs and avoid sitting in the smog upstairs. Now that we were old and sensible we no longer looked to avoid paying, but old habits die hard and if the conductor’s cry of ‘any more fares’ lacked any kind of threat or expectation, it was difficult not to turn an innocent gaze to the window.