"A lion on a bridge and Sunday Night Baseball"

Thanks for watching and welcome to Part 9 from my self-published book in August 2023, "The Spirit of Cricket".

Please see the link below for the paperback version of this, my fourth self-published book, and three ways in which you could support me and poke the traditional publishers in the eye who refused to even read my manuscript!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF4FRKSH

https://www.patreon.com/TheBlackfordBookClub
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Here follows a snippet from the chapter being read here, and chapter number 16 of a total of 41 from a book I'm immensely proud of:

"With heavy thunderstorms predicted to pockmark a sweltering, some might say muggy Sunday in the industrial beating heart of central England, I chanced my arm at a late morning stroll into my spiritual hometown of Ironbridge as the rowing regatta was in full weekend swing and I’ll never tire of the walk beside the River Severn as she gently flows with the river of life from Coalbrookdale, and the site of the regatta, to nearby Ironbridge. The rowing club, local park and all available viewing sites at the start of the regatta were teeming with the very essence of excitable life and as busy as I’ve ever seen it, even matching the yearly festival to celebrate Ironbridge’s status as a World Heritage accredited site.

Being too busy and merely the starting line for a parade of races heading away from Ironbridge in the direction of Shrewsbury, it became of little interest to a mere interloper seeking “action shots” of the boats on the river and besides, the storm clouds were gathering fast and I decided to go and say hello to a lion on a bridge instead.

Ironbridge was its busy Sunday self as always and remains a joy to see alive with the pitter patter of human life. Before I exchanged pleasantries with some poor soul encased within a ginormous and very colourful lion outfit, I marvelled at two dogs scurrying for tennis balls in the river, scattering nearby ducks as they had the time of their canine lives before retreating to a fishing peg on the banks of the river with the most charming view you could wish to imagine. It’s maybe a couple of hundred feet from the bridge itself but with the river still it affords the most magnificent of reflections of the bridge and surrounding river banks. Visitors rarely if ever take the opportunity of relishing this view and so for ten minutes I smoked a cigarette and watched the world go by on the other side of the river. Then I received a cheery wave from a poor wretch inside a blisteringly hot looking lion costume collecting for a local charity and their “Silver Across the Bridge” campaign, resisted the temptation of fish ‘n’ chips from the local chip shop (leftover curry awaited me later) and returned home before the heavens opened and the thunder roared.

The afternoon was spent writing a film review for a film I’ve secretly seen twice and bragging into The Matrix that I’d shaken hands with a lion on a bridge before I settled into the highlights of day four of The Ashes Test Match between an England on the brink of defeat and a visiting Australia demonstrating why they, in league with the country’s men’s team, are the Champions of the World".

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