Vegas & The Aftermath

Yes was deffo a derby factor in the crowd Ralph, the guy said either side of 40k seemed the usual number tho to me it was something of a talking point as I was amazed at the number but I guess for him it was just another soccer match his team were playing. He didn't know what the attendance number was until I mentioned it to him which we prob wouldn't take much notice of if we went to our local match I guess.

I'm not sure re Beardsley, didn't Pele finish his career off there? I have it in my head that was the place to go for some high profile players back in the day. As you can see by the terrible grimmer and spelling I am on some rank bad internet and an iPad so haven't checked for names. It was a big deal for the Whitecaps, it seems there is a Cup called the. Custodia Cup ( that might be wrong name but was summat like that). It is a type of round robin thing between Seattle, Vancouver and I think it was Portland where the team that gets the most points from those games wins the CUstodia cup so it just played out like it meant more to the Whitecaps than the Sounders. They celebrated a lot at the end too so was certainly something important to them.

It's such a fantastic stadium and was rocking yesterday for the Seahawks v Cowboys game and I was again impressed at how the fans just mingle and sit together without a hint of trouble. Cowboys are so well supported and in an arena that is famed for its home advantage the Cowboys fans levelled that out a little with their support.

Did you travel around in the US when you had your spell in San Fran Ralph, did you have a favourite place?

I loved Vancouver Phil and would probably not have left if I could help it.

Vancouver in 1967 had a sort of mini-Haight-Ashbury on 4th Avenue with more than it's fair share of free love, marijuana, and psychedelic music. I can vividly remember Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" blaring out from one of the jukeboxes and "tourists" cruising by in their cars at weekends to look at the "freaks".

Kitsilano beach is another name that lingers in the memory from that era.

Unfortunately I got run out of town without my passport after a couple of months in Vancouver and had to climb over a barbed-wire fence to cross the border into the USA en route to San Francisco. Those were the days..

Whoa now, hold up.

You HAVE to tell us that story, even if it has to be a tad watered down to protect the guilty.

BUMPED.

No interest?

Say what?

Anyway, it matters not where you write it, just hurry up, we will soon be out of popcorn.

Joking aside, I don't care where Ralph writes his stories either, as long as he writes them. Truth be told they deserve their own thread.

I do think the fine detail is important though, I have quite a few questions that I would like to ask, but I'm afraid of touching a nerve.

Feel free to ask whatever you want Tom.

OK Ralph, we need to back up a bit.

When you say you rebelled against everything and everything, what sort of trouble did you get in to?

What was life like at boarding school?

What were your favorite subjects (I'm guessing English)

What did you want to do when you you left?

What did you think of the decision to send you away, were you pleased or hurt?

Do you think your parents thought they had no choice?

What was your relationship with your dad like?