Given my low participation in cross-site linking, XFN and memes in general, there was only a slim chance I would be tagged for the current ‘five things’ meme by anyone else. And so, in an act of onanism I have tagged myself.
Five things you might not know about me.
As a child I was a reluctant Coventry City supporter. I grew up in Coventry, but generally speaking had very little interest in the football club. Even after, in 1987, we achieved our (still) greatest success by beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 to win the FA Cup, I remained an apathetic kid with only a passing interest in the club. I once even sang about “Coventry Shitty”. I can't quite remember why.
Then in 1989 my dad contracted lymphatic cancer. My dad was a seasoned Coventry City fan. He went to Wembley for that legendary FA Cup final, having camped on the old Spion Kop (at the now demolished Highfield Road stadium; the Kop itself having previously made way for an all-seater stand) overnight in his sleeping bag and a bivouac to ensure he could get a ticket. This, to me, was even more hardcore and committed than queuing up outside HMV on Oxford Street for a Nintendo Wii! For Christmas in 1989, my mum bought my dad something he doubtless had wanted for many years: a season ticket for Coventry City's 1989/1990 season.
Sadly, my dad fell further ill and on Valentine's Day 1990 he died. My mother, I can only imagine hoping I would take up the mantle, gave me his season ticket and for the next six years I went to Coventry City's home games. At first I was still just a reluctant young lad of 10 who wanted nothing more than to escape the world, drawing his coat over his head and not paying one jot of attention to the matches. But in time, things changed. I found myself drawn into discussions of the atrocious refereeing or lack of midfield control with my dad's best friend Ray and his son Colin, who I went along with. It wasn't long before I was truly a supporter of the club, something which I am proud to still be to this day.
Another Coventry City story (sorry); my 8th birthday (less than 3 months after Coventry City won the FA Cup) happened to coincide with the 1987 Charity Shield match. I, along with my dad and a number of his friends, went to Wembley for the match as a birthday treat.
About 20 minutes into the game, I stood up on my chair to get a better view, but being a flip-back chair it promptly folded up and agonisingly pincered shut on my leg. In severe pain, I was wheelchaired off to receive medical treatment, but as the medics were informed it was my birthday this took place in the official players' treatment room inside Wembley Stadium, having taken a detour via the changing rooms.
I missed virtually the entire remainder of the game, however, which Coventry City lost 1-0.
And so the baton of insidious viral memeness must be passed on. For this task I elect the following individuals: