rod mclaughlinCloughie and me (13 mar 09)
Many of my younger fans may be unaware of the greatness of Brian Clough, the outspoken manager of Nottingham Forest in the seventies and eighties. This article in the Daily Telegraph explains his disdain for political correctness and regard for the truth, and how these characteristics always serve a leader well - except at Leeds United. www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4987220/We-need-leaders-with-Brian-Cloughs-character.html "His later years were marred by recurrent spats and worsening alcoholism. The madman seemed to be consuming the genius: in truth, the two were bound up inextricably all along." I'm just the opposite of Ole Big 'Ead.
I pedalled up Highway 41 from Fresno to Oakhurst. It's the most dangerous road I've ever rode on, except for the ones connecting the area around White Plains, New York, with Connecticut. Highway 41 is full of bike traps. The ashphalt shoulder is narrow and covered in sand. The sand causes bikes to slide off onto the soft sloping area at the side of the road, which leads to steep river valleys. Wiith a bit of foresight, the whole road could have been built with a two-foot wide shoulder. Sometimes, the sand is replaced by a steep slope up to a sidewalk. If the bike runs up this slope, it bounces back down to the road, into the path of the densely-packed, high-speed, Yosemite-bound traffiic. There are also huge holes with drains at the bottom, and drains where the metal grid is set along the road instead of across it - a homicidal anti-bike device. After Highway 41, Highway 49, which I used to regard as the nadir of California road planning, is a breeze. So I breezed up to Mariposa, and found that the Yosemite Bug, the lovely hostel/campsite on Highway 140 where I spend the 1999-2000 new year, is still open. What a refreshing change from the rip-off tourist trap that is the rest of the area west of Yosemite Park. Here I met Missie and Nargis. They wrote this:
It's 9:50pm and I played Scrabble with Missy and Nargis from the Bay Area - "dawomen". Unfortunately I ended up being third. Missy got b-in-g-o. Missy rocked at scrabble. Tomorrow we will include one "ebonic" word per player. Tomorrow will be my day of victory! I will whoo these girls..I will be the"fumerodoro", I will be the "voidone" Like Annie sings "tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, tomorrow will be scrabble victory day!!!"
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