110 High Hopes

In the news… the investiture of Prince Charles took place at Caernarvon Castle. How he got be Prince of Wales I don’t know. I was more Welsh than him.

At home… I sat down to watch Wimbledon on the telly, hoping to see Julie Heldman, an American girl I’d taken an interest in the previous summer. When I found out she’d been knocked out already, I lost interest in tennis for another year.

Lunchtimes… Kevin Garlick my old Twydall mate made me laugh when he referred to the television programme Magpie as Shagpie, and I laughed even more at the outrageous names he gave Tingha and Tucker. For nigh on three years Kevin had been a peripheral figure in the school football circle but when he joined us on the field for lunchtime matches that summer; he showed a remarkable talent for goalkeeping. Throwing himself at everything, he specialised in two handed punching.

Every dog has its day and mine came on the running track in a PE lesson. Halfway round the first lap of an 880yd I found myself holding second place in a heat devoid of the usual glory boys. Eddie Adams had a good lead on me but sniffing a chance of glory, I started pushing harder. By the start of the second lap I was right behind him.

I’ll stay on his shoulder and try and take him on the final bend, like real runners do.

Though I knew nothing of the science behind the strategy, I’d seen Olympic runners do it and thought it a good idea. Much to my amazement the plan worked. Accelerating past Eddie on the final bend I gave everything I had in a sprint to the finish.

I won, by what margin, I didn’t care. Winning a race, any race, was a moment to cherish for a school nobody. Furthermore, at the stroke of Mister Charlesworth’s pen, I’d become a Sports Day competitor in the 3^rd year boys’ 880.

Romance

I still hadn’t asked Lindsay out. Besides being short of money, catching her on her own was impossible in school and difficult after school. Shaking off my friends was one problem, another was Ann Howe. She and Lindsay always walked home together and twice I’d been left following the wrong girl when Lindsay vanished somewhere on Gillingham Road.