COMING TO TERMS WITH MOVING ON

Over the last couple of days people have asked me where will i go what will i do and although i have not given it a huge amount of thought it does not frighten me in the slightest.I might go to Brighton or Hove Actually or possibly Galway or maybe go and live with my mother or even stay round here,really not that sure,but the point is i have some choices.The things i am looking forward to doing most are things i do not have time to do in the pub game,like go visit my daughter or son at the week end when they have time to see me,or visit my sisters or even my mother when she is not well which is not very often,i also love Horse Racing and Football,i will do both a lot more.I dont have the same insatiable desire for life that i used to have that has been taken a bit by my stroke and the fact i am finally growing up,i think,oh and also i am getting older.Life does not go on forever and there are a lot of things i would like to do before i depart the only problem is we do not know how long we got so one has to squash in as much as one can before the whistle blows.I am quite sure i will find it difficult to move on because this life i chose has a way of getting hold of you.I always enjoyed the vagaries of it and the different people and their different ways,dont think i have liked everybody,because i have not,but i also know that people have not liked me or my way.The ones i would really like to stick two fingers up to,are the begrudgers,that band of people who over the years spoke to me from their ivory towers,telling me i would not last six months as i heard on many occasions,and people who left because my opening hours did not fit in with their lifestyle,tough,and the guy who told me five or six years ago that i would be out of business in four more months,to you my friend i say,"you know nawting",you are a fool.I know who all these people are and i can tell you one thing for sure they will not be getting an invitation to my party,to say goodbye to all my great friends.

Gerry will be leaving the Building in April

I have been dropping little hints for quite a while now,"summers almost over","the time is nigh","54 and almost out of the game" and the like.I have been in negotiations for months now,and finally agreed a price a few weeks ago.Today we exchanged and i got 10% of the price and will be leaving here on the 28th April.This news will be greeted with great joy by some but hopefully a few will be sad to see me go,i know i will be sad to leave.This place has got my mark and thats for sure but it is a difficult business,especially for someone with my ailment.Maybe if i had not had the stroke i might have stayed on,but i did have it and i am hearing loud and clear what my body is telling me.I will not leave without a party,with Rocol and Sillo and Malcolm and all my musical friends from all over will be here and i shall make a speech probably and maybe even sing a song.Tonight i am going to London to have a meal with my daughter,she is the only female in my life now and the one i most like going out with,strange how life changes.Anyway i thought i would come on here and let you know i am leaving,i wanted to let you know what is going on because i want to say goodbye to you all.

SILLO AND THE BAND NEW YEARS EVE

I booked the "PIANO MAN" and his band for New Years Eve,might as well go out with a bang.I think they have a new girl singer.Also having two Christmas Parties with Music on the 12th Dec and the 19th Dec which i will attempt to sell to all you folks so beware.Another thing i would rally like to organise is a day at the races before i depart,i think a day at Sandown or Kempton or even Ascot over the sticks in January or February.Shall we go on a week day or week end,that is the question?Or maybe dear old Plumpton 3 miles down the road and a joy of a place,how many people have never been there?i will wager quite a few people have never been to the races in their lives,i think you are missing out on a great event.So heres your chance,roll up roll up!
Benitez done it again over the week end,he turned over Alex again,but can they go on and win the league,i am not so sure about that.As i have said before on here and you can check back i have been unstinting in my praise for Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal team,and i think they will win the league and possibly the European Cup.Thats my view and i am sticking to it.Sport at the moment is a bit like the pub trade,very iffy,but with great things on the Horizon.

THE TIME IS NIGH

I remember that on placards in town when i was a kid,some guy would walk around with a placard on his front and back saying that.Who payed him to do that?must have been some underground church or maybe a watch company,but what a job?imagine if its raining who cares if the time is nigh,its already here, get out of the rain you fool.What does it mean?is it religous ?like the end of the world is coming but everyone knows it is we just hope its not soon.Maybe he is the Harbinger of Doom,some people are forever on about that side of things,but The time is nigh is a bit of a cop out. If your honest the time has always been nigh ever since that was first said,whenever that was,but it must have been a while ago,i have not heard anyone say nigh ever i dont think.Anyway getting off that subject,my Daughter came to see me last week to introduce her new boyfriend.He is Australian and his name is Cameron.This is not usual for Naoise only special boy friends get introduced to the oul fella.We had a nice meal and a few drinks,a sort of getting to know you dinner.I couldnt help but notice Cameron"s hair,it was very modern and very nice Naoise told me but it got me thinking what on earth my ex wifes parents must have thought of me when i first showed up with my hair down my back and a beard.The wild man from Borneo had nothing on me,when i look back at photos now it makes me laugh,it would make you laugh,but it was fashionable,believe it or not.I never considered myself a dedicated follower of fashion but i did have some real dodgy clothes and hair styles.I was once described as the man that fashion forgot,back in 1977/78.
Nothing exciting happening on the sporting front except Ireland drew France in the World Cup play offs.Hard game but not impossible.