29th August 1991 Day 40

The Diary
It pissed down in the morning so we gave the stadium a miss and headed to Harajuku to get a T-shirt each. Unfortunately the shop said they were just for officials so we headed back to the stadium. The session was quite triumphant by British standards so far. Two silver medals and a bronze. I thought sally Gunnell was going to catch up and get first place. She wouldn't get into the German team though. Too ugly. And Roger Black was good for an Emlyn coming off the final bend. Shame he couldn't quite hang on. Bubka did though. What a man, reminds me of Steve Plint in a way. 

Linford

Ben Johnson

On the way home we passed Rodion Gataullin in the back of a bus. He was not happy, punching and kicking the seats and obviously turning the air blue in Russian. It's only a game Roddy.

Not another one.....

Quick pizza, one beer, early night.


2011
back to Steve Plint - he was a 4.20m pole vaulter. Famous for his plant. Where is he now ?

28th August 1991 Day 39

The Diary
The rest day. I don't call sitting in a coach for about 8 hours a rest. Up early for the 2.5hour journey to Mt Fuji. Stopped at a Japanese motorway service station for 15mins which was only 15mins less than we stopped at Mt Fuji. The coach drove us virtually to the top from where we couldn't see the bottom because of the cloud cover. This made it seem like a small hill.  

The day trip so far had been marred by the self-centred xenophobic rantings of a boring pratt by the name of Benny Goodman (seriously). He thought he was funny but he was upsetting quite a few people on the bus. I forgot to say big-mouthed in my adjectives. He should have stayed at home and watched it on TV, as he obviously would have been happier. God knows how he could say that Roma 87 was better organised and less of a rip-off than Tokyo.


After leaving Mt Fuji we had another long drive to a hotel for dinner. They must have just emptied a few airline trays onto plates and they had us out quicker than McDonalds. Next stop Hakone, where we were whisked up a boring hill in a cable car, down again and onto a ferry for a 10min boat ride. On the boat was Dave Buzza, ex-school mate of Plinty's, ex-Lufbra and in the GB marathon team. This was the third time on this day trip that we'd bumped into him and about 6 times during the week. Why couldn't we bump into Katrin Krabbe ?

Back on the bus, quick stop at a fish shop (not a fish and chip shop) and then onto the station to the bullet train. On the train I was sat next to the syrup and we talked about Melbourne 60, Tokyo 64, the World Vet Champs and horse racecourses of Yorkshire. Actually, he was quite interesting. But I was more interested in his syrup. Bad. Bop was sat with three schoolgirls but they soon all fell fast asleep. Maybe it was the Alex Higgins cue action.


In the evening the boys had another night on the piss. The same story, easy to find a drink with a meal then the struggle to find somewhere that would just let us drink. Eventually found a bar that was like the inside of a pirate ship and got pissed. Chatted to an off-duty policemen and on the way home passed the drink-induced unconscious suits in the park.


2011
Plinty - see http://gazoz91.blogspot.com/2011/07/whats-it-all-about-then.html. The groom. 


Racecourses of Yorkshire ? 1. Wetherby 2.err...can't name any others. Ripon maybe.


Alex Higgins cue action. Mark Knopfler's guitar technique. Bop's standard chat-up lines. Hence his success with the fairer sex. Not sure how he lured Denise but she must have been into snooker. 


In my Dow Corning years the Pirate Bar became a favourite haunt. Looked, creaked and smelt like the inside of the Black Pearl.. Or was it the Black Pig ?


The moral of the story ? Don't go on an organised coach trip.

27th August 1991 Day 38

The Diary
Didn't bother getting up for the morning session - thanks to the previous night - but instead walked to the Emperor's Palace. This time the Eastern Gardens were open. Nothing could stop us now, the thrill of a lifetime. Except they were crap. Nothing like we'd imagined - no pagodas, colourful flowers, fountains, bridges, water features etc. but instead there were a few grassed areas (keep off the grass) and some castle walls. They really need to sort out their parks.

Katrin Krabbe - prettier than Sally Gunnell, fact.

Back to the stadium and as usual Akabusi did us proud. Krabbe was worth watching even if she'd walked, Michael Johnson did walk it, and, god why do we have to suffer them , the French won the 400m for women. Konchellah came from nowhere to win the 800m in the same way he knocked McKean out. An early night in anticipation of tomorrow's trip to Mt Fuji.

26th August 1991 Day 37

The Diary
Sally Gunnell looking good - but not good looking - as were Roger Black and Kriss Akabusi. Not much to cheer about in the men's 800, 10,000 and 200 though. Paid to go into a kid's playground thinking it was a park entry fee. We found a decent Buddhist, or was it Shinto, shrine in the middle of nowhere. No amount of good luck charms would change the GB fortunes it seems.

In the evening Graham x 2, Glenn, Andy and I went out for a drink. As usual we spent ages searching around trying to find a decent bar we could afford. At one point we were greeted by oohs and aahs from some particularly gorgeous Japanese women as we entered a bar. "Sit down" said the manager. "How much?" (Ikura) we asked. "one man 25,000 Yen" he wrote. 125quid each, to sit down, before the drinks. No way Jose (Iie). We scarpered before they charged us for breathing the air. We wandered around a bit more and came across a fairly large karaoke cafe bar and they seemed quite keen to have us. We had to eat with our drinks but no-one had eaten anyway so we stayed. 

A chinese waitress interpreted the landlord's pidgin English into her pidgin English for us. Her name was something-something-noshi. After getting up and murdering another karaoke number Glenn thought his luck was in with Noshi. They did "Love me tender" as a duet but when it came to the crunch "what time do you finish work?" he was about as close as Tom McKean. Looked good but failed to get past the qualifying round.


2011
Sally Gunnell - the secret love of Graham's life and an Essex girl to boot.

25th August 1991 Day 36

The Diary
This was the day that " Carr Rewis" broke the world record but that will get a lot of coverage elsewhere so all that I'll say is "wow". It was about this day that we noticed that many of our fellow athletics fans could pass themselves off as trainspotters without too much trouble. The French were becoming annoying with their "hallo, halllooo"whenever anyone got vaguely near obscuring their view - whether anything was happening or not.

Easy rider

We journeyed across to Ginza, a posh shopping area. where the streets are closed to traffic on a Sunday. Had a slush puppie type freebie and watched old Tokyo Joe busking before dashing back to the stadium for the evening session and the sensational (Copyright Fluff Freeman) 100m.

The Flag (No French in sight)

2011
100m - 6 men under 10secs, by far the greatest 100m race of all time (at that point). We were there. Not the greatest event of these championships though. That was to come later.

24th August 1991 Day 35

The Diary
Up bright and early to catch the first round of the 100m. Zut Alors. We were seated next to the French. Anglo-French relations could deteriorate over the next few days. At dinner time we walked over to the trendy punk/young people's shopping area. There seems to be a real obsession with things British or American and there were loads of shops selling flags. I purchased a large Union Jack in the hope it would get us on the BBC but we'll probably need a British winner first.

Back at the stadium by the warm-up track a chinese-type from Reuters took photos of us in the mistaken belief that we were British athletes. We were tempted to sign our names as Roger Black and Tom McKean though I'm glad I didn't admit to being the accident prone Scot. The Japanese have a lot of marketing giveaways to advertise their products and by the end of the day we'd had more freebies than Nick Faldo. Cough mixture, sweets, fans, drinks, m+ms and balloons.

In the evening we escaped from the main group, along with Glenn, to go for a drink. We discovered a quiet bar and settled down. Suddenly we discovered it had a karaoke machine when a couple in the bar got up to sing. It's taken a bit more seriously here. Glenn decided to join in and treated us to the worst version of My Way in history. The machine should adjust the voice to make it bearable but it gave up the ghost with Glenn. Then a couple of cynical Irish lads came in and one of them did a rendition of Danny Boy accompanied by the landlord on electric guitar. A veritable Elic Crapton. 

I won't mention the mouse on the stove top as we didn't eat.


2011
The trendy area in Tokyo was almost certainly Harajuku. 


I was still referring to lunch time as dinner time back in those days.


I still have the flag and it's served me well at other events particularly the Sydney 2000 Olympics.


Graham was convinced he was Roger Black incarnate. He was more like this famous Roger.

From todays Sydney Morning Herald

I thought this was a fine companion article..... 

Top 10 most surprising things about travelling

August 24, 2011 - 11:20AM

Comments 72

It's true ... when you're travelling, the ubiquity of Starbucks is your friend. Photo: Getty Images

Doesn't matter how much you've travelled, the world always has the power to surprise. That said, for the inexperienced traveller, there are certain things that are guaranteed to shock you when you hit the road...

1. Aeroplane food isn't that bad

It's an old cliché, but really, unless you're flying with an American carrier, aeroplane food isn't that bad. I've had a great meal on AirAsia – I had to pay for it, but it was legitimately decent food. Beef rendang – get in. And the noodle dishes on Singapore Airlines could be served in restaurants.

2. Starbucks is your friend

I once saw a bumper sticker in San Francisco: "Friends don't let friends go to Starbucks". And that might be good advice at home, but when you're travelling, Starbucks... isn't that bad. For starters, if you're in the States, you'll get a decent espresso coffee rather than the filter crud that the cafes all serve. Plus you get free Wi-Fi to check your emails, and a free newspaper. There are worse ways to start the day.

Advertisement: Story continues below

3. The "@" key is painfully hard to find on foreign keyboards

It's like a game of Sudoku, only more annoying. The keyboard is taunting you – there's the "@" symbol, right there in front of you, but how... the... hell... do you make it appear?! Ctrl + Alt + Shift 2? No, wait, Shift + Caps lock + Alt + F5. Wait, wait... Del + Down arrow + Shift 5 + Enter? You'll forget who you were trying to email by the time you've figured it out.

4. Stereotypes mean nothing

Every time you think you've got a certain nationality sussed, you'll find an exception to the rule. You'll meet inefficient but jovial Germans; laidback Israelis; gruff Canadians; sober Englishmen; quiet Americans. And even cultured Australians. Seriously.

5. That good advice you got is bad

"Make sure you go to 'x'," your friend will say, "it's amazing." Except, it isn't. Not to you, anyway. Take people's advice on board, but all means, but remember – it's your holiday. Do what you want.

6. Street food is safe. Well, relatively safe.

You always hear horror stories, but street food is generally safer than the stuff you get from restaurants, mainly because you can watch it being cooked in front of you. And an added bonus is that it tastes better. Just look for the stand with the longest queue, and go nuts.

7. Squat toilets aren't that bad

First time I walked into a toilet cubicle and saw a hole in the floor I turned around and walked straight out. I am not doing my thing in there. But after a bit of practice, getting the hang of holding your balance and making sure your aim is right, squats are actually pretty comfortable to use. Sitting's better though.

8. Travellers' cheques are pointless

About 15 years ago they were a must, but with the massive proliferation of ATMs around there world, there's really no need to carry travellers' cheques unless you're going far, far off the beaten track. These days cashing a TC is like trying to deposit a box of gold doubloons at most banks.

9. Everything costs more than you think it should

But, but... TripAdvisor said my cab should only cost 30 euros! Why is it 40 euros? And surely beers don't cost this much. And Lonely Planet said I should budget for $60 a day, but I'm way over that! Sigh. Travel always costs far more than you think it will. Do your research, work out a pre-trip budget, then double it.

10. No one cares what happened while you were overseas

This is a little surprise waiting for you when you come home. All those amazing experiences you had on the road? No one wants to hear about them. No one wants to look at your photos. No one wants to see your souvenirs. You'll just have to start a blog...

: 

23rd August 1991 Day 34

Diary
Had a guided tour of the traffic jams of Tokyo whilst being taught the finer points of Japanese life by Marie. Unfortunately, when teaching us some Japanese symbols she asked what two trees were. "Six" came the reply. You had to be there. We only had time for a quick look around a temple before being taken to the stadium for the opening ceremony. It was during the temple trip that we came across the old duffer with the appalling syrup. Not even a close fit and an awful style to boot.

A lone skydiver hitting the target

The opening ceremony was as boring as expected but to make it worse, it pissed down. To rub things in, we missed the GB team when we were hiding from the downpour. When Sakamoto came on with his Action, Image, Exchange bit we decided we'd had enough.


2011
Ryuichi Sakomoto


Tokyo trafic - see here


The whole visit to Tokyo was an amazing eye opener for me - I'd had little or no exposure to Asia and thought Tokyo was fantastic and mysterious. When I left I firmly believed it was unlikely that I'd ever visit again. Five years later I was in a job in Sydney that involved working in Tokyo for a week every month. In little over 2 years I visited there 25 times and not only did I know the difference between kanji, hiragana and katakana but I was pretty good at reading kana and could even speak a little Japanese. The bars of Shinjuku were like a second home and I even watched Boro reach the FA Cup final with a mate in a Tokyo bar. 


Next month Christy and I are taking the kids there for a 2 week holiday. I'd better start refreshing my language skills.


"Action, Image, Exchange" - this was an in-joke that meant it was all a bit esoteric and arty for us. The kodo drumming was good though.


Syrup - Syrup of figs - wig.

Goodbye beach balls

I can't believe that in the diary I didn't mention how disastrous the opening ceremony was. The wind and the rain messed everything up. Most of the sky divers missed because of the wind and the large yellow inflatable balls that were supposed roll down overhead from the top of the stadium to the infield by the crowd were just blown out of the stadium and disappeared. Some poor Japanese families probably ended up with 20ft diameter yellow beach-balls in their backyards.

22nd August 1991 Day 33

Diary
This morning we were shown how to get to the station - which we'd already discovered. Then, along with Ian, who'd won the trip in a raffle, we caught a tube to the station and then walked to the Tokyo Tower. The tower is supposedly taller than the Eiffel Tower but you could have fooled me. Anyhow, we manged to get Graham up in the lift. He had his eyes shut but he survived. A Japanese couple got us to pose for photos with their daughter and then we signed our names for them. Strange people the Japanese.

 We went to the Emperor's gardens and palace but they were shut. Typical. In the evening 10 of us got together and hunted round Shinjuku for something to eat. We found somewhere that could get us all in a midst lots of laughter and pointing at the pictures outside we managed to order a selection of dishes. The third one was absolutely inedible. Afterwards we spent a couple of hours searching for a bar that sold only beer - in vain.

Graham and Ian

2011
Shinjuku Station - the world's busiest train station and the dividing point between the hustle and bustle of the bars , shops and life on one side and the government buildings and businesses on the other side.


We bought our tickets through David Barnett's Track and Field Tours Company and there were many other British fans staying in our hotel. Ian was a freelance vision mixer and filled us in on some BBC insider stories - but you'll have to wait until 1st September to find out more.

Bop hanging on

Graham was (is) notoriously scared of heights. I remember him pinned to the wall of a staircase in a museum in Germany because it had a pendulum hanging down the middle. He looked up at the pendulum and froze. I think we peeled him off the wall and carried him down. Getting him up the tower was a major coup. Another friend of mine, Dileep, is similarly scared of heights and when we went to Paris together he ended up stuck at the top of the Eiffel Tower for several hours waiting for me. He went in the lift and I went up the stairs and when I didn't see him at the first stage I thought he'd chickened out. He'd actually gone all the way to the top. This was in the days before mobiles and I couldn't find him anywhere so went sightseeing for the rest of the afternoon while he hung for dear life at the top of the tower. He he.

21st August 1991 Day 32

Diary
Arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport. All of the guidebooks make out that it is quite difficult and expensive to do the forty miles from the airport to the city. But despite the fact that I didn't really know where I was going, it was easy. Here's how you do it. Firstly, feign ignorance of Japanese (easy this bit) and try to ask directions from a girl holding a Tokyo '91 board. Secondly, don't object when she ushers you on to the journalist's courtesy bus for  a free ride. Finally, keep your mouth shut and take the free can of Coke.

The Budokan (I think)

Got to the hotel and bumped into a very tired David Barnett who gave me a room key and directed me to Bop. Tired he might have been but awake he certainly was, so we headed into Shinjuku for food. People, lights and bars everywhere and we couldn't understand a word. But we decided to take pot luck, literally, and steamed into a bar and ordered a pot of noodles and some omelette type things. 

We didn't quite steam in because we couldn't operate the door. It looks like pointing at menus could be a good way of communicating our hunger. Afterwards, we got lost for a while, wandered through the red light district and eventually through the park and back to the hotel. It's safe to walk in even the dodgiest looking parts of Tokyo. Amazing.


2011
I think we stayed in the New City hotel - see here.

20th August 1991 Day 31

Diary
Up early, left Oz a couple of dollars more - he had about $30 for 3 days, including board. But  didn't care as I was off to Tokyo. The plane was about half-full and I had a window seat on the back row. Unfortunately there aren't many sights in the Pacific. All of a sudden we crossed the dateline and.......it was tomorrow.

2011
$30 - Oz was notorious for being a little close to his wallet. $30 was probably about twice as much as he needed. Mainfish.


We split up for a couple of weeks. I went to Tokyo to meet up with Bop to watch the IAAF World Athletic Championships and Oz spent a few more days in Hawaii and then headed to NZ. The plan was to meet up later in Newcastle, NSW.  I've mentioned a few times that my first ever trip abroad was to Rome in 1987. This was the first stop in a month long European inter-rail trip with Oz and Bop. We spent about 4 days at the Roma 87 World Championships and at the end the big screen said "Sayonara. See you in Tokyo 1991". Bop and I looked at each other and said "OK then". Obviously, going through Oz's head was the thought "Tokyo, that's an expensive place, I'm not going there". 


A short diary entry as it was a short day.

19th August 1991 Day 30

Diary
Returned the car but not before we'd driven in the rain to some famous waterfalls. Must have been famous for not being very good. The flight back to Honolulu was shorter than the bus journey from the airport to Waikiki by about half. Back to the hostel, throw the washing in and chat to the other lads in the room, 2 from London and 2 from Bristol. We travel half-way around the world and all we ever meet is English people. The 2 Londoners would have been more at home in Benidorm or Tenerife or on the Holgate. Every sentence delightfully punctuated by a cacophony of four letter words, none of which were "dude". 

Yesterday - stupid tourists

We ate in another "as much as you can eat" place. This time a spaghetti house. Great marketing - how much spaghetti can you eat ? Almost lost Oz in a bookshop as it closed down for the night and later marvelled at Waikiki beach in the moonlight. Shame we were with each other rather than a couple of foxy chicks. Maybe next time.


2011
I don't think we managed to find the decent waterfalls - the websites look much more impressive.

18th August 1991 Day 29

Diary
We flew to Hilo (Hee-low) on The Big Island and then Oz conveniently discovered he'd left his driving licence behind. This meant that I had to drive the left-hand drive, automatic Buick Century, we'd hired, around on the wrong side of the road. The soft git. Once I realised that my left foot was to do nothing and that there was no gear stick on the left of me then it was relatively plain sailing (or should that be, plain driving ?)

We raced off to our first volcano, looked at the old lava flows, the caldera, the craters and the rising steam. It could well have been another planet. We drove down to where the latest lave flow had wiped out the road and then walked across the solid lava up to the sea and a very dangerous point where molten lave was flowing out. Mixing with the sea water it gave off dangerous clouds and the solid ground was in grave danger of falling into the water. Danger doesn't seem to deter a tourist and his camera much though.  

We drove back towards Hilo stopping to do a Carry On Up the Jungle sketch and to walk through a cave caused by the lava flow. Booked into our hotel for the night, turned on the TV and found the Gorbachev had been ousted. It's easy to lose track of current events, especially in the States where they only seem to cover baseball and wrestling. (Whatever happened to Mick McManus, Jackie Pallo, Catweazle, Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks ?).

We walked into downtown Hilo hoping for some cheap food. This was a night like Geneva in 1987. Sunday night, a long walk to town and each time saved by McDonalds.


2011
Neither of us had driven an automatic before (actually Oz probably had as he'd worked in the US previously) and Oz obviously deliberately left his licence back on Oahu so that I'd have to drive. I didn't have a clue, I'd never even been in an Auto nor driven on  the wrong side of the road. Fortunately it was a quiet place to learn.


Technically, when the lava has stopped flowing it's just igneous rock not solid lava. The area near the sea is very dangerous and tourists just ignored the signs when we were there. I think the authorities clamped down on this a few years later when several tourists were killed when the area fell into the sea. In 1991 the only barrier was a rope with a sign that said "danger".


Geneva 1987 - Sunday night on the campsite, hungry, umpteen mile yomp into town, everything shut, found a Maccers, quick meal, umpteen mile hike back. Glamorous.


The only known literary paragraph to contain Carry On, Gorbachev and Giant Haystacks references. Unless Sting squeezed it in the lyrics of a song.


Gorbachev - 6th General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 11 March 1985 to 24 August 1991. So how did we know he'd been ousted ? It looks like he was placed under house arrest on 19th August 1991 which must still have been the 18th August where we were. Phew, thought I'd been reading  the future.

17th August 1991 Day 28

Diary
Booked a flight to Hawaii (the Big Island) and then headed off to Pearl Harbor. Oz was a little subdued during the morning claiming that he'd had too much sun the day before. Typically British , never satisfied with the weather. The 4-5 mile trip on the bus somehow took over an hour and we had to stand all the way. Reminiscent of my first experience of foreign buses - the overcrowded orange things in Rome.

On the way there I was chatted up by a short, big-norked, gum-chewing Hawaiian girl who wanted to know what sports I did. She got off at the next stop. Probably couldn't cope with the English accent. At Pearl Harbor we looked around the museum and the shop but I couldn't be bothered to wait 2 1/2 hours to go to the USS Arizona, so I left Oz there and headed back to town. I went to the park hoping to get a kick-around with some of the people at the Hawaiian Pineapple cup but managed to get there just as the days play was ending.I started talking to one of the referees who was wearing a Newcastle Utd top in the mistaken belief it was a Nottingham shirt. I put him right and explained the colours of Forest, Notts Co and Newcastle. mind you, if I was wearing a Newcastle shirt I'd claim it was something else.


Just at that time a few lads walked past carrying a rugby ball. I asked if I could join in thinking they were just going to throw the ball around. Shortly I was playing on the wing for the Hawaiian Harlequins under 30s v their over 30s. Very wary of my back I scored 2 tries and had one disallowed for a (definitely not) forward pass. We won 3 tries to 2, had a team group photo taken and then hit the ice-coolers of Bud and a keg of Bud in a dustbin full of ice. And I thought drinking in public was illegal in the states.

The team was a real mixture of Hawaiians, Tongans, Kiwis and even the odd Englishman. The Kiwi I talked to at the start turned out to be called Gary and was a Boro fan !!! His best mate in NZ was from Middlesbrough and he knew all about the team and English football. I also talked to the sister of one of the English lads and she turned out to be going back to England for a final interview with Arthur Andersen to be a management consultant. I gave her the gen on that. As for the evening - see yesterday. The moral of today's story is "it's a small world".


2011
Note that this was pre-English Premier League and coverage of UK football in the US was non-existent. Nothing in the newspapers and no internet to speak of. So to meet someone who knew all about Bernie, Pally , Coops, Brucie, and big Al was amazing.


This was one of the hardest tackling games I've ever played in - big pacific island hits everywhere. Luckily I caught them out with my pace and made sure that no-one managed a big hit on me. My back wouldn't have taken it, 10 months after having a disc removed.