A Little Month

Charlton 0 Chelsea 2

Many years ago, when I did A level English literature, we had to do two plays by Shakespeare, by which I mean that these plays had to be read and hefty chunks of them committed to memory, to be used to illustrate one’s answers to such questions as:

'The central theme of Hamlet is Hamlet's inability to come to terms with reality.' Discuss.

or

'Enthralling though many speeches and scenes are in themselves, the play does not form a coherent whole.' Examine this view of Hamlet.

or even

'Frailty thy name is woman.' How far do you agree with Hamlet's view of Gertrude and Ophelia?

Looking at essay titles like this now, I cannot understand how my seventeen-year old self managed to grapple with it all, but I must have done, and not just Hamlet, to which play the three above-quoted titles refer. We read and analysed A Winter’s Tale, as well.

Now, forty years later, not much of these plays stays in my memory, as has been proved to me by the three words which I have selected (for reasons which will become apparent) as the title of today’s piece.

Of the two, I and my sixth-form colleagues preferred A Winter’s Tale; it wasn’t so grim and it had a happy ending. I don’t recall my generation of schoolboys as being terribly bloodthirsty, or maybe the needlessly cruel 11-plus selection process had weeded out those who would revel in ghoulishness and gore, leaving those of us at the grammar school to be quite pleased that Hermione and Leontes were reunited after all those years, and to admire the good character of Paulina, and so forth. Ophelia just struck us as plain barmy, and not worth bothering about, and although Prince Hamlet was supposed to be our own age, I don’t think he would have fitted in terribly well with our cheery but somewhat iconoclastic crowd.

Anyway, if you are reading this at about the time it was written, then you will see from the strap line (as I believe it to be called) at the top of the page that I am once more in Britain, and this time in Scotland, although as I actually type this I am spending an interim couple of days at my brother’s house close to Lancaster, and it was from here, on the first day of the season, that I wrote the joyous tidings of Charlton’s fine opening victory at Sunderland.

This afternoon followed much the same kind of routine as it did on that day, in that I spent the afternoon pottering abround the market and shops of Lancaster and then returned to my brother’s house to check up on what had been happening in the world outside.

Can it be, I wondered, only a month since that day? (In fact it is five weeks, but no matter) And it was then that the line “a little month” came back into my mind for the first time in… well maybe not 40 years, but quite a while. It occurred to me that it would make a good title for the blog piece, and I did a search to verify my belief that it comes near the beginning of the play. On this last point, I was right, though otherwise hugely wrong, for I have apparently believed for, let’s say, 39 years, that the line “a little month” comes from A Winter’s Tale, being spoken by Leontes, whereas the lines are spoken by none other than Hamlet himself.

Anyway, if it isn’t “a little month” since Charlton won at Sunderland, one could argue that the little month in question might refer to the length of time for which Charlton were regarded as something of a phenomenon as they sat close to the top of the Premiership with their 100% record.

But all good things come to an end. Chelsea, in spite of the good wishes of many friends of mine who support other clubs, were too powerful for Charlton yesterday afternoon.

The general view among the Charlton bloggers beforehand was that defeat was inevitable, and some said that the Under-19s should be given a run-out, as it wouldn’t make any difference to the result; injuries to the first team would then be avoided and most importantly of all, Chelsea wouldn’t turn up on the doorstep waving their cheque book and make off with all Charlton’s decent players, a week or two later, as happened in the Spotty Parker affair just after Charlton beat Chelsea 4-2 in the 03-04 season.

The Inspector thought Charlton did reasonably well, considering, and there is no need to be downhearted, yet. The next obstacle to be surmounted is lower-league opposition at home in the League Cup, i.e. Hartlepool at home on Tuesday evening.

Another Good Start

On a happier note, the quiz restarted last Monday, though the change to Thursday is expected next month, and our team, complete but for Mush, reported to be travelling in the Far East, had a rewarding opening victory, with a fine score of 144, 6 more than Edu’s team and a lot more than our old friends and rivals, whose score was so low they wouldn’t let quizmaster Jimmy reveal what it was. They were, however, without Gitte, recovering from a fall, and clearly the lynchpin of their former successes. Get well soon, Gitte; your team needs you.

I return to Madrid next Friday, though I might be able, courtesy of Ayr Public Library, to post again before then. John and Tony, with Luis on-loan from our main rivals, will make up the team tomorrow night, but all the other members of both teams will be in Britain. Perhaps this would be the moment for Madrid Nights's first guest post. John, Tony, if you read this, email me with your account and I'll post it with all due credits...