Picnic waiting after solving palace maze
I’VE always thought Boxing Day is just about the best day of the year. This is despite the fact that it can also be a day like today when you’ve got indigestion from the day before. And it serves you right!
I’m actually watching the first session of the Boxing Day Test as I write this. It’s an opportunity to get this story down on paper in an unhurried way, before I get loaded with a second helping of yesterday’s Christmas pudding.
India is 1-52 and its team members probably won’t have any chance to eat any pudding until after close of play. I have no idea how many of the players spent yesterday with their families, but a day with the family sets most people up for a great Boxing Day.
It certainly gives me the chance to remember how I have previously spent this very happy part of the year.
Boxing Day was always very special for me and my brother because we spent a significant part of the holiday playing soccer for Hampton in the local derby against a nearby suburb.
Beveree was the venue and attracted many local soccer fans burping their way between abusing us and trying to keep warm on a typical chilly winter’s day. It was a great way to recover from too much pudding and a fair few glasses of white wine.
Many people today would be surprised by the quality of the soccer and the rivalry it caused with other supporters, many of whom would be supporting local football with an enthusiasm rarely seen these days.
Soccer in those days and at the level my brother and I were fortunate to experience was a huge challenge and at the very core of our lives.
The great strength of the Football League in the UK was, and still is, the weekly clash between reasonably talented players with their determination to make their home club the best in the district.
There was much skill on the field and a genuine desire to come out on top.
Playing soccer for Hampton was a continuation of our family’s surprisingly numerous connections with Hampton and even Hampton Court Palace.
The palace and its grounds meant a great deal to my relatives and many other people.
My grandparents spoke regularly about their jobs in the palace grounds. For example, they often talked about the famous Jean Tijou iron gates that separate the palace grounds from the banks of the river Thames. Built in1695-1700, they are a particularly pretty part of the gardens and remain as an important feature. My grandfather spent 25 years restoring and painting them and had regular visits from Queen Mary.
Other relatives were gamekeepers and lived in cottages in the grounds and one young man was an apprentice tennis court carer – but he left and joined the London police force!
As youngsters, we found great delight in a regular battle with the Hampton Court Palace maze. There was nothing better on a nice Sunday afternoon than trying to be the first to the middle of the maze and climbing the ladder. From there, we could watch others struggling!
Once we had found our way out, there was with a fine afternoon picnic waiting for us on the grass. The family probably ate more ham sandwiches there than the Royal Family had hot dinners!
And finally, how about this for a coincidence! An uncle of the fence painter was a horse trainer in the royal stables in Hampton.
He was charged with accompanying horses from the royal stables in Hampton by boat to the new Governor of Queensland in Brisbane. He liked it here so much he stayed and became a vet in Esk!