I sit here writing this with a right quad muscle in a right old mess because, yes, I did play football last night. Or rather, I impersonated, highly unsuccessfully, a footballer. Playing with a quad tear and trying to use just one's left foot, when one is right-footed, is not, I have discovered, a recipe for brilliance. The net result of this act of stupidity is that my leg is so knackered that I'll need to be winched onto a surfboard for the next couple of weeks, and certainly won't be playing footy for a while.
However, my pain is ameliorated by Graham Shepherd's illuminating comment to a post of a couple of days ago. Thanks to Graham, I learn that Jimmy Pursey, of Sham 69, was a surfer. Perhaps not a surfer in the full-on sense of the word, but someone who can say, legitimately, that he has stood on a board and ridden a wave. It also transpires that Sham 69 were, in some way, at the heart of mid-70s UK surf culture, being regular visitors to Skewjack Surf Village.
Meanwhile, here is some surf news. First, I hear that Wavelength is under new ownership. Anybody know more about this? Secondly, top UK surf snapper Alex Williams - a man who has possibly been around almost as long as Sham 69 - has published a book of vintage surf photography. It's called Atlantic Surfers and its shots are from the 1970s (Sham 69's heyday, as it happens). It looks well worth the investment.
Talking of investments, that Sham 69 CD I bought the other day does have a couple of classic tracks, including the evergreen Hurry Up Harry (sans 'H'). A bargain at £5.99 and available from all services at Taunton Deane on the M5.
Sham 69...Skewjack...First&Last Inn...impromptu concert ?
Posted by: phil | February 18, 2009 at 01:23 PM