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.
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