March 1st found me in the historic Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, scene of many a meeting of David Hume, Adam Ferguson and other stars of the great Scottish Enlightenment, a philosophical movement that preceded Marx in discovering Communism and some say formed the intellectual bedrock of the modern age. Sad to report I was more interested in doubles and trebles than debating concepts of ‘reason’ or ‘passion’ on the night.
I was there with Tommy Cox and his World of Darts team to help 120 insurance brokers ‘bond’, bevy and batter each other at arrows. As I cracked jokes about the punters — some in pinstripes as well as Mardle/Hawaii tops — Cliff Lazarenko and Peter Manley met, greeted and handed out tips. Peter’s lovely wife Chrissie even got into one of the teams as a ringer!
It was a lovely night capped by a late walk along Prince’s Street with a bag of chips and scraps, as needlepoint snow dappled the statue of Sir Walter Scott and made the castle look like a cardboard job at Disneyland.
HOOTS AND SHOOTS IN THE FAR NORTH
Next day I was driven to Aberdeen by the Manleys and the last twenty miles were through roads bordered by four feet of snow.
The crowd in the Boyd Orr hall of the conference centre for the Premier Darts League was as lively as ever and one of the placards was classic: It read ‘Oh Flower of Scholten’. Brill. It didn’t do Roland a right lot of good; he crashed to an ominous looking Barney 8-3.
Сид Уодделл (Sid Waddell)
22 Марта 2006 04:32