Sunday, December 05, 2010

Comics, Tuck And Cricket

Boys are easily pleased.
Can you ever take the little boy out of the middle-aged man? Would you ever want to? Last night, with the kids in bed and Mrs. Pop out on the lash with her mates (at least that’s what she told me), I did what I always do when left to my own devices and reverted to a much younger version of myself. I found a live stream online of the second test match from Adelaide, and sat down to watch several hours of uninterrupted cricket. But that wasn’t all. I had my comics too – the latest issues of Private Eye and the wonderful Groundtastic magazine. And my tuck – a health-defying combination of cheese and onion crisps, Lindt milk chocolate, and Tyrconnell Irish single malt whiskey. Oh, and some indie-pop as well, of course. The latest Sufjan Stevens album provided the soundtrack. Only deep fatigue finally forced me away from my amusements and up to bed.

Today, Mrs. Pop headed abroad on business travel. The kids are back at school tomorrow, so they will need an early night. With two days of the test match left, I wonder what I’ll do this evening? Maybe contemplate further the fact that, after three and a half decades of generic life experience, there’s not much difference between myself aged ten, and myself aged 45. We men are really not all that difficult to please.

5 comments:

Gorilla Bananas said...

Did you ever place dice cricket? That was a real schoolboy favourite.

Ian Plenderleith said...

Yep, for hours and hours on end, with neatly annotated score cards (never had the official version, you just needed two normal dice). And on long car journeys I'd play 'vehicle cricket' - single for a car, four for a lorry, six for a bus, and a wicket for a foreign number plate. It's probably been patented and sold in cartons by now.

No Good Boyo said...

It's true. As I watch young Bendigeidfran grow, I see that his basic interests - having a dump, hitting things, gawping at Peppa Pig, eating meat and sleeping - are ones that I share.

On rare occasions when I have the house to myself I sit in my underpants eating curry and ice-cream, watching old horror films. Washed down with a malt or some Jack Daniels. Bliss.

Ian Plenderleith said...

I think curried ice cream will front the next big culinary trend in Britain.

No Good Boyo said...

Pistachio thickens a balti. Word.