“Care to make a wager?” I said this to a friend during a discussion we were having. He quickly responded that, he was sure that I knew he wasn’t a gambling man. His answer completely took me by surprise. I was utterly stumped. Here was a man, I thought, who reaps the benefits of a democratic, capitalist society and he was saying that he did not gamble.
So, I inquired, “What is gambling?”
“I just don’t bet and stuff like that,” he responded.
We all do things in life that we later regret. More often than not; it involves pairing off with a tubster after a heavy night on the ale; or ‘Lenny Henry syndrome’ as it’s known on the street.
I am particularly ashamed of my behaviour while on a family holiday in Greece. The hotel manager struggled to understand the wife’s thick Glaswegian accent, and jumped to the conclusion that she was mentally challenged. I should really have set him straight, but a good parking space is hard to find.
I’m all for good-natured banter at a football match, but supporters are beginning to overstep the line. Harry Redknapp commands respect from all the major players in the game, such as Frank Lampard and Jamie Redknapp, yet the colourful manager endured a torrent of vitriolic abuse when Portsmouth traveled to Aston Villa.
As the match slipped away from the Villans, the Holte End outrageously suggested that Harry had bunged the referee. That accusation is entirely without foundation: Harry prefers goods inwards to dispatch.