I was thinking last night about some of the folks I have met down through the years, and whether I had an inspirational effect or a negative effect on them the first time I met them.

Well, there is one guy who comes to mind that I definitely had a disastrous effect on the first time we met. I know this because I heard him say as much. In the mid 80’s I worked on a log splitter with my Dad. I would go out to Derbyhaven to the log splitting shed and split logs using a log splitting machine during the mornings. In the afternoons I would often take a gander down to the George hotel and have a few pints. One day I finished splitting logs and took myself off to the George. I got talking to a Dutchman who had just arrived on the island. He told me he was booked in at the Golf links hotel. Anyway one thing led to another and me and my new Dutch friend downed several pints. I guess we got a little carried away and I stayed longer than I would have normally done. By teatime my Dutch friend was rather the worse for wear. So, I ordered him a taxi and sent him on his way to the golf links hotel. The following day, after I had finished log splitting, I made my way down to the George as usual. I sat myself down on a stool at the bar, and with hardly anyone in the bar it was easy for me to hear the voice coming from the other side of the wall where the public telephone was. The Dutchman was obviously telling someone somewhere that he had arrived on the Isle of Man and how he was getting on. At one point in his conversation he paused for breath before belting out. “Yes, but you don’t understand, I went in to pub and met blind man, and then disaster happened!” When the door finally opened and the Dutchman returned to the bar from his telephone chat, he gasped and let burst with, “Oh no, not again, not the blind man!” Well I guess we all need our excuses in life. On this occasion I only had a couple and left the Dutchman chatting up the bar maid. I guess he was still there several hours later, and I would not mind a small bet on the side, that a similar telephone conversation may well have taken place the following day which blamed the blind man. In fact I wonder just how many binges I was responsible for during our Dutch friends stay.

Well people, until tomorrow then, this Tom Glassey on the banks of the Silverburn River.