The Leyton Orient Five

brixtonA23 said:

I really don't worry too much about things and if you want to upset the literary intelligentsia who use words as a weapon, then just mention how much you detest their sesquipedalian tendencies.

I think in travels away I've met most fans including the mighty O's. It was to see what other people thought and see if our three perspectives were wrong.

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Seagull on the wing said:

Should've screamed for a policeman...

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brixtonA23 said:

I really wasn't going to write this post, but couldn't help myself as it really makes no sense of a train journey.

I absolutely love the away days and as I'm sure a lot of you do, have rituals of the same breakfast place and we always pretend to be rich by ordering wine at the Betjemen Bar at St Pancras.

It is usually only three who travel away so we always feel for the poor person whose genteel table alone becomes 12 cans and hell awaits them. But after years of travelling away, every time the stranger smiles and before we know it we chat and joke and a great time. And always on the way home you meet fans from different clubs and everybody has a common bond.

So Barnsley away. For the first time we didn't have to apologise or explain why we drink at such an early time. And why two out of three are wearing matching shirts. Because the guy on our table and the table next to us were Orient.

They didn't say a word to us and when they asked themselves who Brighton were playing, without irony, you leave the train at Sheffield just gobsmacked. Although a bad game the fans of Sheffield United, Rotherham and Doncaster meant we travelled home happy.

So as much as we don't like the people from Croydon, I have to make Leyton Orient a very close second.

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tinycowboy said:

For what it's worth, you've managed to produce one of the more interesting threads on NSC - started off in confusion - was this a sober stream of consciousness, that actually made sense, but only if some of the missing pieces were known to the readers , or just some drunken/stoned rant? Turns out it was the former. From this opaque beginning, we've covered a lot of human feelings - including the need for communication between tribes, rejection, personal customs, etc. I've found it quite absorbing, the way the story has developed, with other posters adding their interpretations. Italo Calvino would have enjoyed this thread.

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Brighton Lines said:

I was recently travelling to a match, eating my lentil bake and browsing through Hanoverian free holds in Latest 7 property moves, whilst supping on my mini bottle of Tenuta Sain Guido.

The Albion fans around my table then began debating the architectural merits of the Sallis Benney theatre, and completely blanked me.

I should have known their type once the Inspector asked them to pay for a first class supplement.


Still the journey back with a group of Fulham fans restored my faith in the football fanbase of this country.

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Barrel of Fun said:

Did you not try and engage them once they started talking about Brighton?

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brixtonA23 said:

By that point the die had been cast. Maybe to explain the day better I should have simply cut and pasted what I wrote on FB.


So here goes....

I usually write a sports update for the 2 million plus fans of Brighton and Hove Albion who couldn't fit on the train to Barnsley to watch a 0 0 draw. Hence my reticence. So this is about human nature with football just a part of it. Imagine your worst nightmare happens. You're visiting family up north and you have a seat with a table to yourself. And then suddenly the happy bubble is burst by three people and 12 cans of alcohol. But soon you realise they're actually OK and before you know it a lonely journey is now fun and conversation flows.

So what could be better last week that we didn't have to apologise initially, nor explain why we do it because the Seagulls three met the Leyton Orient five. Hurrah!! Hurroo. I was sartorially elegant as always, but my friends were wearing the colours and one a rather lovely haircut. I think after about an hour of no engagement the phrase between them of 'who have brighton got today' summed it up.

So we left the train at Sheffield for the first time on these trips deflated.

We didn't have much time before the connecting train and tried to work out where we could have a quick drink. There stood a Sheffield United fan and pointed out a dodgy pub for away fans or maybe a safer one further away. The fact Brighton play in a similar kit to Sheffield Wednesday really didn't help our cause. But we walked to the dodgy pub without our normal exuberance due to the train up.

And then a moment when you smile again. The same Sheffield fan walked passed the pub with his family and gave me a thumbs up, as in 'are you guys OK?' I mouthed thanks and he said 'good luck today'. And from that moment minus the football, we met fans from Rotherham, Doncaster and the best people from the White Rose.

So the point of this rather long report on 0 0, a little thought can change a day in a second for people you may never see again.

Whoever you were, we thank you.

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Leighgull said:

Sooo. Nice day out with the kids at Groombridge Place. Lovely lovely park full of deer and suchlike. At the end of our long but happy trek through the East Sussex/Kent borders we entered the formal Gardens and I sat down in the evening sunshine to watch the nippers playing hide and seek among the foliage.But wait! Who is this sitting on the bench one along? A family of four bedecked in Orient regalia all sitting looking glum and eating Aldi crisps. Not one of the ****ers mentioned the Albion or our towering one one draw against Blackpool.

It's clearly a blood feud now.

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Commander said:

Are you okay?

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Herr Tubthumper said:

I'm still waiting for the punch line.

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brixtonA23 said:

And he did it to the duck twice before his wife came home.

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brixtonA23 said:

I'm busy and I don't understand. Just words but you can walk through life just saying that. So like you point about people getting it in the end.

I mean why would people comment so vociferously on a pretty easy to read post ............ altogether know..I don't understand ...... and why I usually post and run is that there are so many of them out there it seems like a normal thought. But happy to admit if my writing is actually the problem.

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