...so who were those mysterious Mexicans down in Portsmouth on Sunday?
Legend has it their blow-up "woggle" held the key to Fulham FC GREAT ESCAPE.
After a debut appearance at Reading the "woggle" (and a variety of other inflatable objects) managed to keep Fulham afloat.
Needless to say Fulham are the most literary side in the Premier League. Not only is Roy Hodgson a J P Donleavy fan, quoting from Schultz in pre-match interviews - the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword" was first thought up by Edward Bulwer-Lytton who used to live IN Craven Cottage! Ok, so he now has a prize for bad writing named after him but still, how many so-called good writers can claim to have famous lines of their writing remembered for hundreds of years? He also wrote "It was a dark and story night" - perhaps the most infamous opening line in history.
Yeah, that was quite a day. Interviewed on Setanta and Sky TV then watching a miracle happen before our disbelieving eyes. I'll take a relegation scrap over winning the league every time, so long as there's staying up at the end of it!
Incidentally I'm engrossed in James Kelman's Kieron Smith, Boy at the moment and there's a fantastic description of Kieron being hoisted over the turnstiles to see a Rangers VS Celtic game. Then there's BS Johnson's The Unfortunates that contains a description of a Man City game, there's Hornby's Fever Pitch...I could go on...
There's no shame in loving football and books. But wearing a silly hat and 'tache is just pure drunken daftness!
Hello Matthew, and Adam,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading and enjoying your blog since last summer, but this is my first comment...
I'm delighted to see you're reading Kelman's Kieron Smith, boy. I just finished reading it at the weekend, and already I miss hearing Kieron's voice. It's a novel that sings, sincerely a beautiful piece of art.
All the best with the new shop.
Lizann, Glasgow.
Hi Lizann,
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the blog. Kelman is a truly great writer but, as is the way with these things, I suspect he will remain in the "wilderness" until he dies when everyone will start going on about what a genius he was!
(Ok so he won the Booker once but that seemed like a reluctant acknowledgement - I think it was Simon Jenkins who referred to Kelman as an "illiterate savage"!)
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, he'll be safe then.
Will come to visit the shops next time I'm in London, probably July/August.
Lizann
Which one is Adam and which one is Matthew in the photo?
ReplyDeleteI've visited the Waterloo bookshop a couple of times, did wonder who was C and P, but I bet you're really tired by now of people asking.
Guess you'd need to keep introducing yourselves in your new shop for a good while, or maybe you could try name tags "Crockatt" and "the Other One"!
Pol
Only one of the Mexicans is C & P affiliated.
ReplyDeleteThe other is a customer of the shop but not involved with running tings.
Adam is not a Fulham fan for some reason. He seems to be more into Bristol City. Weird. Don't understand it myself...
it's a bit lke ant and dec isn't it?
ReplyDeleteyes, but how do you tell which one is C and which one is P??
ReplyDeletePolly
(and are you related??)
wot - like ant'n dec?
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean you have to give back your Penguin prize?
C is the one with the silly 'tache...
ReplyDeleteP is not in the photo I repeat ('cos he's upset now!)P is not in the photo.
Polly - the bookshop is called Crockatt & Powell - I'm Matthew Crockatt and he's Adam Powell. Sometimes it feels as though we are married but we are not related.
The way to tell the difference between us is to ask if we love the writing of Cormac McCarthy.
If the bookshop dude says Nah, you are speaking to Adam.
If he starts blathering on about genius etc that'll be me - Matthew.
Hope that clears things up.