Strange Luck At The Southern Championships
Saturday is an early start. Before the sun rises from
shapes in mist there is bacon, beans, egg and toast. I forgot my sunglasses,
have to squint across Devon to the palm trees of Paignton, until I am in the
hall that echoes with anxieties and gathered friends. Today I wear my yellow
shirt: it means I am here to shoot troubles, shush nerves, mop stuff up. Today
I have a solo small boy to usher, and one lost, and three wrong divisions in
two adjacent rings. I have some permissions for photography to liase, one
post-fight cry, one pre-fight potential sickness. Where am I queries go
uncounted. Two please don't let me miss my fight but I need the loo dilemmas,
one sorry kids you missed your call. One big yell for a medic to the men's tag
team event. One bout of fielding medical questions to a crowd of puzzled
children. A dislocated knee, I tell them, rarely fatal, often painful. Yes, to
hospital, I tell them, he can have an anesthetic then while the patella is
repositioned. Oh lucky, says a wide-eyed lad: I had that when a dog bit me it
was the best sleep I ever had!
Assured that all is well off they run to find out more
stuff about the world.
My niece and her beau bring back some Southern bling. |
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