Guest Post by Toddyhammer
This is my first post to this illustrious site so please be kind, or not, I can take abuse. There are so many stories I have to tell about growing up in East Ham and beyond but I will need to compile them all for my book, probably titled something like Diaries of an irrelevant man or something like that. I will try to stay on topic here and talk about the recent WHTID meetup up, both pre and post.
I hadn’t planned on attending the Burnley game or the meetup/sleepover which I had seen mentioned so many months ago, but due to unforeseen circumstances I wasn’t able to come over for my scheduled Christmas present match from me mum. That left me with an I-owe-you so to speak and when my mate Curtis (a newly-groomed US hammers fan living in Prague) told me he had to move back to the USA in May and desperately wanted to see one last game at the Boleyn, I said right, let’s try to do Burnley. Unfortunately, tickets were not available but due to the incredible generosity of one Ray_The_Hammer who went out of his way to acquire 2 tickets for us, we were set.
It was then that I realized that we were actually going to be at the same game as the WHTID crew which I thought would be very interesting to say the least. What are these people really like? Are there actually only 2 of them? Are they 13 year spotty computer geeks? Neverthemind, I will go yonder and meet my fellow hammers fans as we are all WHTID. I am fortunate in that my mother lives just a lama’s spit from the Boleyn so accommodation wasn’t needed and thus infringing on Banjo’s and Hamburg’s shenanigans ?.
Now this is where I will try to avoid digressing as it seems necessary for me to explain who the hell I am. I was born in New Jersey, moved to Florida (till 6), moved to Didcot (there 1 year), moved to Eastbourne (there 1 year), moved to Hornsey (there 1 year), moved to Tooting Broadway (there 1 year), moved to East Ham – take a breath – I actually stayed there for 6 years (will come back to this), moved to Denton Texas (high school then University for 3 years), moved to El Paso Texas (3 years army driving tanks), moved to Seattle, Wa. (2 years), moved to Prague, Czech Republic (18 years).
You with me now Russ and Barney :)
It’s funny, as some people used to ask me, “was your father in the military?”, “no, my mum’s a poet” was my response. That usually stopped the conversation.
Now it was my time in sunny ol’ East Ham which is the most relevant. That’s where I fell in love with the Hammers. My mum still lives in the same house we did then which is literally in sight and sound of the Boleyn. As a kid – time to date myself – 10-16 (1981 – 1987) I saw many a game both home and away and was as passionate about the hammers as a kid can be at that age about most anything. Many a story from that period of time in my life which I will save for future posts but let’s just say it was interesting and a bit tough being the only yank for miles.
Back to the Burnley match and meetup.
My mate and I took the early flight from Prague to Heathrow: flight time, one hour and twenty five minutes. Tube time from Heathrow to Mums: one hour and forty five minutes, unbelievable. We grabbed some homemade devilled eggs with bacon (a must I might add). The tickets which Ray had mailed to my mother were sitting on the table, “you might be needing these” said Mum. Err, yes mum cheers. Thank you again Ray.
The first scheduled meetup was at my old local The Central. Now, I had posted a picture of myself days before the flight of me posing with my daughter singing bubbles with crossed arms which my wife had taken after the Sunderland win. I figured that way people could tell who I was. As Liddy put it, “he’ll be the bald bloke with mouth wide open and crossed arms”. I don’t normally walk around like that but I figured I would try. She apparently would have the blond hair and the green parka, as she did. We got there and said our hellos and of course ordered some bevvies. It was nice to actually speak briefly and put faces to names. We then headed off to the match.
I will skip the match report as those who saw it know what happened, those of you that didn’t have heard enough about it to have an idea. Point is we won.
Next off we went to Miller’s Well. A place I could never sneak into as a lad and where my mum and step dad would go for a drink. When we got there I was surprised to see how many WHTID people there were. Hamburgler was there (sorry I think it’s a great new nickname for you), Liddy, Russ, Heedsy, VOR, Safehands, Nigel, Sean, Barney, Tony, Mr. Lids etc there were probably 20 odd people there which was fantastic. It was nice to speak if only briefly to most. Unfortunately, me and my mate Curtis had to run early as my mum had cooked her famous roast leg of lamb which is the tradition when I am back home for a game.
In summary, I would just like to say that the meet up was truly a great experience. Everyone was genuine, generous and all had a tale to tell and none were 13 year old spotty trolls I might add. I feel honored to be a part of the community and very much look forward to a couple meet ups next season. As I said on the day I propose first home game of the season but let’s see where we are after the summer.
p.s. I couldn’t resist posting this image of the lamb, as you can see, good reason to dash off early
p.s.s If we do get into Europe via the backdoor and happen to play a qualifier in Czech Republic then I will organize a pre/post match meet up here where beer is cheaper than water – Back Door Sam’s Claret and Blue Army ?