Memory Lane Part 16A: A Cultural Mini Detour To The 80s

Carved in 1890 from wood and wax, this sculpture in the collection of Sheffield's Weston Park Museum depicts a 21 match bout between 12th century Samurai, Kawazu Saburo and Matano Goro. Matano was beaten and obviously was left humiliated. Like all good losers, he then had his opponent assassinated. *takes notes*

Now this is not only a wonderful work in wax and wood - stunningly lifelike - but when I sent a pic of it to my old friend Professor Darren Ashmore over at Akita University a while back, he reminded me of spending time in the museum when we were but level 2 Frothers in the 80s. We would often sit in galleries, and talk games, absorbing the culture. As Darren said, one particular snowy afternoon stands out in our memories.

Secondly, in the grounds I came across the site where once stood a 3-sided stone-built park shelter, now sadly replaced with this:

Back in 1987 over the weekend of the Triples show, whilst all my club mates slept in hotel beds, I was living with my parents about 10 miles out of the city in a semi rural area which had no buses first thing on a Sunday morning or last thing Saturday night. 

And so, after the Triples night out, I bid farewell to colleagues and their mattresses (for I was poor, back then) and collected my sleeping bag and rucksack from a public locker, before climbing over the wall of the museum (quite a feat in leather trousers and clogs, for I was something of a 'Goth' back then') and settling down for one of the coldest nights of my life in that long gone shelter. 

On Sunday I climbed back over the wall and arrived ahead of everyone else, looking and feeling like shit, and thereby blending in splendidly, with those, hung over from a good night out in Sheffield, who then told me that had they known, there was a spare hotel room at the Hallam Towers hotel up the road, paid for by the club.

It's odd how a simple walk can evoke such deep memories.

As well as good memories, these places cause me to relive some old upsets, and I delved back into the 80s and a rather upsetting past  involving gaming friends sleeping with girlfriends, and a life ban from a well known gaming store which was a put up job and which so called friends knew of, and said nothing for 25 years. At 16, things like that leave a mark on you. 

(Note: You can read about it in all it's lurid glory in 'Real Life's A Bu**er! -  A Tale Of Sex, Dragons And Rock 'N' Roll')

It's going to take a lot of ironing out, but these days I do feel better with myself, and frankly I'm just going to let other people think and say what they like, and let them deal with their own issues. I'll speak as I find, and if that's objectionable to some, they will now just have to get over it! 

At the end of the day, you are not in anyway obligated or bound to reading this blog.

And so, I will leave you there as I have just seen the time and I have to et some work done.


TTFN