He and I have been meeting up, on and off, for a good few years now and with the exams and everything in recent weeks I haven't seen him in a while.
Anyway, we usually go to this same hotel because it's quiet on a Sunday evening, they have good coffee and it's kind of a routine now.
So we were out there tonight, chatting about this and that and then his face lit up. What was he staring at? Well not what but who. This is who.
This is Peter Stringer, a player from the Ireland Rugby Team. He was part of the team that yesterday won the Triple Crown.
I realise at this stage that most of you reading this will have no clue about Rugby, the Triple Crown or how the heck any of this matters.
Well, in these parts where I live Rugby, specifically the Six Nations rugby tournament, is a big deal and one that many people like to follow. The tournament involves teams from 6 nations (duh) namely Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy.
So we were sitting in the hotel sipping coffee and shooting the breeze (or something like that) when this guy walked in. He was wearing his training gear or whatever it's called (rugby shirt and jogging pants) and then right after him a whole load of other Ireland players arrived, clearly looking for their dinner.
Some of these lads [1][2][3] are big. I mean 6' 8" or 125 kilos/275 pounds kind of big. This mate of mine was just flummoxed. Yep, that's right. Look it up. Flummoxed.
He was like a kid that's just met Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes and David Hasselhoff at the same time. OK, bad example.
So, I sojourned to the restroom to answer the call of nature and when I came back, smelling all Gilchrist & Soames, there he was chatting to one of the players. I didn't catch what they were chatting about, but boy was he chuffed.
It was great. He's been having a rough time of late and this little chance encounter with some of his contemporary sporting heroes really light up his week.
They all went off to dinner, we finished up and then hit the road.
It's good when life throws up these little moments.
See. Sometimes good things happen too when I leave the house. It's not all mysterious.
3 comments:
Wait, did you really just reference Arnold from Different Strokes AND The Hoff - in the same post?
Whew!
Always fun to run into the local heroes - sounds like a good sighting!
Peter Stringer was getting petrol at our local station here in Cork last week (before the Scotland game!).
As he filled up his car, a guy in his 50's went over to him, thumped him on the arm and thanked him for the best sporting occasion of his life. Stringer was grinning from ear to ear.
Then he went in to pay - which took about 15 mins, because everyone in the shop wanted to congratulate him and shake his hand.
Those guys must have been on such a high the week after that game!
Yeah they must have been really buzzing. We saw them after the Scotland game and it was a bit limp I suppose so they were looking low-key and kind of quiet. Maybe they were just being cool.
My mate nearly wet himself though. Hilarious.
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