Autobiography

sometimes at a restaurant, sometimes at
home, or maybe at Vanessa’s, or Jacky’s.
Occasionally we will break our golden rule and
invite our partners along.
And for me that is Lesley - the lady I wish I
had met when I was a sixteen-year-old boy,
when in reality at that age I was infatuated
with my childhood crush, Millie. Incredibly, our
paths crossed again recently - shortly after my
arrival at Upton Park. I bumped into Millie
behind the bar in the West Ham media room,
where she was working in a part-time job. I
had not known she was employed there, and
only discovered it when she came up to me
and threw her arms around me while I was
chatting to some of my broadcasting friends in
the room before the match against
Birmingham City.
It was a lovely reminder of how much my life
had come full circle; old friends and childhood
memories seamlessly mixing with the
wonderful events of the present.
And my present all revolves around the true
love of my life, Lesley.
Like all good things, meeting Lesley was
entirely unexpected and thrilling. Instead of
happening when I was 16, it happened in my
sixties.
Every Wednesday after work, Ralph and I,
along with two friends, used to play tennis at
my house. After the match we would go to the
Las Fuentes Tapas Bar in Purley where we
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