{"id":10801,"date":"2017-02-05T11:05:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T11:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=10801"},"modified":"2017-02-05T11:05:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T11:05:05","slug":"celtic-diary-sunday-february-5-a-fundamental-fault-with-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=10801","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Sunday February 5: A Fundamental Fault With Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just to make things a little easier, we’ll sort of divide todays piece down the middle. Unless I start rambling and we go off on all sorts of tangents, which lets be honest, wouldn’t be all that unusual.<\/p>\n

We’ll start with Friday’s sleep out at the Bet 365 stadium, home of Stoke City, and then we’ll move on to todays game and matters concerning that.<\/p>\n

Actually, today Celtic play St. Johnstone. Its on the telly.<\/p>\n

Lets move now to part two.<\/p>\n

The sleep out. I’m making no apologies for making this the main theme.<\/p>\n

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Leaving work on Friday the enthusiasm for a night out with what the radio was calling Storm Doris, which sounds more like a character from a Dickens novel, was beginning to wane, not least when a works colleague and fellow Lennon CSc man-lets call him Billy, because he hates that-pointed out that in the rules of the sleep out alcohol was “not allowed inside the stadium” which presented difficulties for him in is bid to “get into character “. A shocking stereotype, but then, as you’ll see thats kind of the point.<\/p>\n

We were trying to deal with the subject with our usual childish humour.<\/p>\n

To cheer us up, on the way back from Widnes, a northern town near \u00a01920 if you fancy looking for it, we rang the Radio 2 drivetime show, hosted by a chap with the unlikely name of Simon Mayo, to get a song on and get a shout out for the event.<\/p>\n

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We were fortunate to be able to tune in as my clock only goes up to twelve, and even more fortunate to get through to the show, where we explained to a lass who sounded very young, very blonde and very squeaky who told us we would probably get a call back.<\/p>\n

After much discussion we agreed You’ll Never Walk alone ” would be the appropriate choice, ignoring Bill’s suggestion of YMCA by the village People-he was already “getting into character ” -admittedly more through fear than anything else.<\/p>\n

We never got a call back, and it was only later we worked out why. You see, someone obviously upset him in the past, and he now wants no further part of anything connected with Celtic.<\/p>\n

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We can only wonder what was said to the man who makes blandness an art form. ( and at Radio Two thats an incredible achievement )<\/p>\n

Anyway , he didn’t ring back and so therefore is a knob and will take some catching for this weeks award.<\/p>\n

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Undeterred, I went home to “get into character “, which involved several layers of clothes and a collie dog before we headed over to the stadium.<\/p>\n

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One of my sons had given me two sleeping bags to go with two thermal type mattress thingies to sleep in, half of which were plundered by fellow members which added to the sense of being in character as one of the real worries of sleeping on the streets must be what happens when you finally get some sleep and someone else helping themselves to whatever little you may have.<\/p>\n

Thats where the collie dog comes in useful. And the steelie boots.<\/p>\n

The layers of clothes weren’t overly practical either. At one point I got my feet tangled in my sleeping bag and fell forward, unable to move my arms quickly enough to break my fall, but luckily enough my forehead got there in time.<\/p>\n

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Anyhoo, we managed to get ourselves together and settled in for the night… and we needed to<\/p>\n

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We were settled in the concourse, cleverly using the still warm wall under a food bar to lean against, at least until it cooled down. Strictly speaking of course, its not outdoors, which ruined all of our earlier attempts to get into character, but believe me it was still bloody cold. Had we actually been out on the pitch or the car park, then the paramedic chap on duty would not have been moaning about having had nothing to do when he came over to us at around \u00a0six in the morning.<\/p>\n

We did have a suggestion for him, because one of our lads, lets call him Bill, \u00a0had fallen asleep the other evening after a curry, which he described in a text to his girlfriend \u00a0“I think my ears are bleeding ” before falling asleep .<\/p>\n

We’ve all described a curry as “making our ears bleed ” at one time or other, so imagine his surprise when his girlfriend , after having found and contacted me via social media, was speeding towards his house-and they live in different towns- with Cheshire Emergency services on standby and the Air Ambulance pilot grumpily getting his jacket on.<\/p>\n

Anyway, as yer man slept on, I asked the paramedic if he minded waking him up, and in a soft and concerned voice, telling him not to worry too much, but his ears were bleeding.<\/p>\n

He refused, probably correctly, citing that “you should never wake a man when he’s asleep, leaving me to ask-and I’m still a bit bemused –<\/p>\n

“Well, when do<\/em> you wake him then ? ”<\/p>\n

“That’s the real NHS, bone bloody idle “, I explained to another colleague, himself a medical man at the NHS.<\/p>\n

“Fuck off ” , he gently advised, from below a pile of material that made him look like a jumble sale with a hat on.<\/p>\n

See, told you I’d ramble. I want to show a contrast which you’ll hopefully see later.<\/p>\n

At the start of the night, the Stoke City FC Community Trust came round to take what I figured was the “before ” picture in a series of two, presumably primarily designed to take the place of an early morning body count.<\/p>\n

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SCFC Community TrustVerified account<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u200f@<\/s>StokeCity_CT<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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