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Rooms By The Hour

Andrew Detheridge

Thursday, July 25th, 2013

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Most hotels booking out rooms by the hour
probably have peeling wallpaper and more stains on the bedsheets
than a CSI crimescene.
But our course was in a fancy one: all air-conditioned
conference rooms, Sky News ticker-taping endlessly
on the flatscreens in reception, and a free lunch
that almost made the boredom worth it.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 After lunch, reclining on the sun-soaked patio,
we couldn’t help but notice the sudden influx
of Range Rovers, Beemers, the odd Porsche;
all vying for the few remaining spaces.
Out stepped Nicolas Anelka… Gareth McAuley…
Liam Ridgewell… Shane Long.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 We grabbed our under-used note pads,
ripped off the top sheet of idle doodles
and queued for autographs. First day of pre-season training:
all tans and flip-flops with socks… really? Socks?!

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 I couldn’t resist asking why they were there.
‘For a nap’ replied Long, ‘before another training session
in the afternoon’.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 How very continental, I thought,
a siesta between sessions.
The closest we ever got to Spain,
was oranges at half time.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/rooms-by-the-hour/