One of my closest friends from school has taught in a town called Terrasa in Spain for 25 years. It’s about a 40 minute train journey from Barcelona. Periodically over the last quarter of a century a group of us, all school friends, have paid visits enjoying the delights of Catalonia, the Costa Dorada and of course our 40 year old friendships.
Back in 2010, we were all approaching our 50th birthday and decided that we should meet up in Barcelona for a long weekend and mark our encroaching ‘middle age’. A great time was had by all. We did the usual… Segrada Familia, sat in the beach bars and ate tapas in the Gothic Quarter. It was a fantastic weekend and an appropriate way to celebrate our friendship. The flight back to Leeds Bradford came all too soon, however we were stood in the very impressive and seemingly desolate airport when we became aware of an intensity of activity coming towards us, which was accompanied by TV cameras. Soon I spotted Barcelona logos on tracksuits. I looked hard but didn’t really recognise anyone and then suddenly there was Mascherano and then Iniesta and Xavi and then the man himself …Lionel Messi. They were on their way to a Champions League game in the Ukraine. All the players were brilliant with anyone that wanted a photograph or an autograph, especially Xavi and Iniesta. The British people waiting for the flight home couldn’t believe what was in front of them and the Spanish reacted with total dignity, allowing the players their privacy. Messi is a small unassuming man, I see him now on TV and the wonders he can produce with a football and it doesn’t seem possible.
That group of friends I was with are all football mad, we started our football watching back in 1974 with season tickets for Sheffield United…What a fantastic way to finish off our trip, a trip that was about celebrating friendships, friendships that started with playing and watching football.
Memory added on March 18, 2013
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