Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 20 June 2005

20 June 2005

Strictly speaking, it is the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific vision until Christ's triumphant ascension into Heaven (the 'limbus patrum'); or to the permanent place or state of those unbaptised children and others who, dying without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of original sin alone (the 'limbus infantium' or 'puerorum'). Rather less strictly speaking, it could also be described as telling Grimsby you'll sign for them, then welching on it to sign for Darlington instead, but then failing to agree terms. If you had to choose which of these definitions of limbo better applies to the situation of Sam Aiston, you'd probably go for the latter, since his move to the Safecracker Stadium very much seems to have broken down, and the player is now believed to be in negotiations with the manager of FC Hades over the terms of a permanent, not to say eternal, contract.

With Lennie Lawrence in charge of the Mariners' tactics, the year 2001 was very much a space odyssey as far as Town's defence was concerned. Perhaps no player had a greater role in this unsatisfactory state of affairs than Knut Anders Fostervold, sold to GTFC fans as "the fourth best left-back in Norway" and no more effective than Tony Gallimore at preventing the cream of the second division inflicting tremendous destruction upon his side from that side of the pitch. Yes. Anyway, thanks to the redoubtable Norwegian Mariners website Jailhouse Rock, we now know that Knut has retired with an injury and swapped his football shorts for the tighter variety worn by cyclists. "In a stamina test a month ago he got better results than Tour de France rider Thor Hushovd!" reports the site. Fozzie explains: "I was rated invalid for sports when I retired," although it might not be unfair to suggest that many Town fans had already rated him invalid for sports some time beforehand.

Food news from Europe's food town now, and Christopher Parrott has emailed the Diary to clear up the mystery surrounding "early evening lunch", that mysterious meal promised by GTFC as part of their forthcoming golf day thing. "This is of course a repast enjoyed by students in the days when the Government actually paid you to study instead of the other way round," explains CP. "Now that bright young things have to pay, they take the whole getting up in the mornings to attend lectures, seminars etc far too seriously. The death of the maintenance grant has meant a much less flexible approach to mealtimes. Maybe this is something Honest John Fenty can learn from - save on the wage bill and increase commitment by charging people to play." I'm sure you can count on the support of Glen Downey for that one, Chris.

"No recollection of Mr Botham at BP," writes Nick Meaney, a Mariner exiled in the zombified hell that is Docklands, and I have to admit I wondered what he was going on about for five minutes, until I remembered Guest Diary mentioning the self-obsessed right-wing former England cricket all-rounder last week. "However... perhaps you've mentioned this elsewhere, but back around 1970-ish, one windswept midweek match between the Mariners and Watford was graced by the presence of Elton John in the directors' box (oo-er missus). I remember that me and my other little mates from Clee Grammar (Carl and Rich) had lots of fun pointing, shouting, and running. As you do. This was a couple of years before Saint Elton penned his ode 'Grimsby' - a little-known track on his little-known Caribou album. And he didn't write it anyway: it was that Bernie Whatsit from near Louth who did all his lyrics. Love the website." Thanks very much Nick; it's nice to hear from you. If you're new around these parts then give this page and this page a go...