statues

heya

it is with some slight surprise that i find myself (or moi) honouring my commitment to bring at least one observation of football related statues here at least once a year quite so early on. but what is one to do when they see such, look you see. there would be little sense in causing a delay to presenting these images until later in the year. 

for a slight, somewhat minimal change, these statutes this time, for there are more than one, were not found near a football stadium. also, it is far beyond the remit of that particular sport which gets celebration here. enough, momentarily, of my words, here's one picture. with a warning that the quality of images are not too great, but we shall get to that. 

with respect to the football element, you might (possibly) be able to work out that one of the statues is of Sir Bobby Moore and another is of Sir Alf Ramsey. this is, of course, in celebration of a certain tournament win in 1966. yet also celebrated (to the right) are paralympic legend Beverly Gull and boss rugby player Jason Leonard. more details are a mere click (here) away. 

not just football heroes (or icons) celebrated, then, but rather a wider tribute to key sporting legends who hail from the Barking & Dagenham region of London (innit). yes, i have been, of late, spending quite some time down there, which means several observations from the place shall follow in posts after this one. 

the somewhat poor(er than usual) quality of these image is a result of me taking them whilst in a moving vehicle. perfectly legally, i shall have you know, for i was in the passenger seat, leaving the driver, or if you will pilot. quite handy that these statues were visible from one of the six or seven roads on which one in London can actually still drive on, what with the bonkers mayor there blocking off as many as he can purely for cyclists. i will trust the people of London shall do the right thing when they are asked if they would care to vote for him again. 

as to where these statues are, well, i guess they are in Barking and Dagenham. that must surely have been so, i just failed to observe any signs. in respect of proximity to any form of stadium, i seem to recall, or at least think, that they were not all that far away from the celebrated "London Stadium", which existed for the 2012 Olympics and has since become home to West Ham United, which is indeed a football concern. one that Sir Bobby was, of course, associated with. 

your next question may very well be of what i thought about Barking and Dagenham, but i suspect this was answered above, if only in a tacit way. sadly i had no opportunity to stop off and soak in the culture and atmosphere of the place, for i urgently needed to go and look at a place where at least one of the Kray twins shot at least one person who broke the unwritten rules. or possibly a written one, or just happened to look at them funny. i know, i know, only killed their own sort, etc. 

oddly, though, Dagenham is probably quite famous around the world for a number of reasons. for a start, improbably, two (quite) different songs called Dagenham Dave have been recorded and released, one off of The Stranglers and one off of Morrissey. also, back in the 90s, a company called Dagenham Motors sponsored West Ham, so everyone saw them on their shirts. that was before so-called premier league clubs got sponsored by [TEXT REMOVED ON LEGAL ADVICE] and gambling firms. 

right, well, until the next time.........

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!