The ‘Sage’ Page 2

Stories from someone who ‘Really’ is as old as he looks

Weimaraners

Ryanstock

Weimaraners

2011

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Just sitting here and enjoying a glass of wine has reminded me of when I took my very first glass, or rather several bottles of wine for the first time. This has nothing to do with dogs or useful tips so if you want to close down now I would quite understand. This is just an unashamed trip down memory lane. Another sip of wine and I am back to 1966, the year England actually won something, the World Cup, I was in my early teens and a mad , mad football fanatic. Seriously I had trials with several professional clubs over the next few years but I was not good enough and rather than worry about what might have been I did as I always do and moved on to something else and if I look back I can say that my life has been full, fun and most of all, not yet over. Another sip of wine and yes I was in France during the first week of the World Cup on a school trip. We had a young sports teacher with us and seeing that I was a ‘bit of a lad’ he suggested I might try the cheap wine.  As soon as we arrived in our hostel in Paris I made it down to the local shop, I was about to purchase my wine when a few of the other lads came into the shop and asked me to get more wine for them. Luckily I could just about remember ‘Dix bouteilles de vin, and merci beaucoup’. Ten bottles of wine were soon returned to us by the shopkeeper, that’s two for me and the rest for the other lads.

When everyone was asleep in bed I decided to try a drop of the red stuff but at that age I had a great failing, whenever I drank I never knew when to stop. Although underage in the eyes of UK law to purchase alcohol I was a tall lad for my age and had been experimenting as they say these days with beer and cider for a year or two and did not find it a problem being served in local pubs in our village. So when one bottle was finished I opened a second, says he as he drinks from his glass, just for stimulation you understand. By 2.30am I was being held under the shower by the rest of the lads to try and stop me from singing, another long term failing, I enjoy singing, usually out loud. Fortunately I did not wake any teachers and on this occasion I only had a hangover to deal with the next day.

We stayed in Paris for just a few days and then moved to the Loire valley to visit a few chateaux and churches, did I forget to mention that my year was the first year that a previously private girls school taught by nuns was turned into a secondary modern, so we had a couple of the nuns on this trip, hence the church visits. They were not enamored by boys and initially found us difficult to deal with as we were generally unruly, anyway I digress, back to the story. We played the French at football and took on all comers at the hostels we visited with a passion of playing for the honour of our country. The holiday soon went and we were on the ferry home when I bumped into my teacher friend and we had a beer together and by the way I would never grass him up, he was sound as far as I was concerned. I managed to obtain a few more beers and once we were in England we all embarked on the train to take us back to the midlands and to the coach station. I made my way to the back carriages and found some French people who were coming over to see the World Cup. It was not too long before they produced a few bottles of wine and we engaged in some friendly banter followed by a song, me singing I can’t get no satisfaction by the Stones. For some reason when I reached a crescendo I would punch the air which the French people seemed to enjoy, we travelled for several hours with me doing requests for my French guests until some travellers summoned the guard and minutes later I was removed by the Headmaster and sat the rest of my journey in shame next to one of the nuns, who I think had taken a vow of silence. I was supposed to be collected at the coach station by my parents but when they arrived home they found me collapsed on the sofa singing along to match of the day. I cannot remember how I got home but I had brought each of my family a french stick, that was original I thought, and they were amazingly still intact

The 60’s was a decade of extremes, people say if you can remember it you were not there, that is not strictly true as I can remember every embarrassment of that decade.I was never afraid even in those days to express myself and walking along with flowers in my hair, borrowed from a garden was a common sight. Fashion went through a total transformation during this decade with natural fabrics emerging with new looks, mini skirts, jump suits, trouser suits, large floral prints came on strong, later in the decade came hot pants, everything was bold and some would say radical. Our parents had seen nothing like it before. Fabrics in cotton, linen. wool all with a new twist and then the synthetics arrived with rayon, nylon, polyester and acrylics. I was never ‘into’ fashion as a teenager, I liked to see the mini skirts  and to wear my denim jeans and jacket, they were my trade mark. I suppose like most teenage lads in the area where I grew up we were more involved in football, beer and hoping to date someone we liked. We were working class and expected our lives to be in the manufacturing industries that dominated our areas, life was mapped out or so we thought. The music was the first thing that I could relate to as my older brother and sister were always singing rock & roll tunes, early in the 60’s we had groups that sang pop with words that you could sing along with and it was usually bright and happy. There was still rock but a new sounding rock music, blues and my all time favourite. The greatest music that emerged from that decade was Tamla Motown and that stays with me to this day, Elaine calls it chunckety chunck music.

By the end of the 60’s I was engaged to be married and settled down with a house and a mortgage by 1972. Unlike many of my friends this was through choice and not necessity, for some of them their new found freedoms came at a price. It certainly was a decade that changed many lives, and created quite a few.

It is funny how things turn out in life as gradually the manufacturing industries in our area began to fail and were closing down causing shock and dismay to friends and family, they knew nothing else and there were no emerging jobs that they felt they could undertake. I remained in the manufacturing sector until my mid 30’s and then sometimes you are forced to make a life changing decision. I have made a few of these and whether by luck or judgement I have moved forward successfully. I made my change into technical sales and soon progressed into management roles, I switched from chemicals, adhesives and moved into fabrics and within five years I had reached as high as I believed I could achieve and was invited to become a director of a plc subsidiary. Who would believe that I would finally finish my employment by buying part of a business that required me to travel around Europe where I could now enjoy quality wines, and be visiting the fashion forecast and fabric shows in order to provide fashion fabrics to the main players in the high street. Making formal presentations of our ranges, promoting our business philosophy and our ability to service their every need.

Today I enjoy the company of my Weimaraners, more than I enjoy the company of most people if I am honest. Tonight I am enjoying my wine and the chance to look back, these days I drink in moderation and for relaxation.

Come back next week and see what takes my fancy then. I did tell you, you never know what to expect !

JULY 1st Week