Ironworks Gaming Forum - In praise of British

When I first moved to Denton in 1986, 16 years ago this month, to start my graduate work at UNT, the first friends I met up there were not Texans, but British exchange students from the University of Swansea. Tony Wescott was my neighbor across the hallway, studying history and political science. His best friend Dave Collins, also from Swansea, lived in another dorm and was studying poly sci as well. I befriended them right off the bat; mainly because I was one of the only people on the floor who could understand them (and I acted as translator for everyone else, LOL!) Tony had a very pronounced cockney accent, having grown up in inner city London, and Dave, from Liverpool, sounded like a cross between John Lennon and Ringo Starr. Fortunately, I had watched a lot of BBC shows on our public TV network, so their accents were fairly familiar to me.

We went everywhere together, those two mates and I. I took them to their first American football game, where they passed around a flask of gin (in a place where alcohol wasn't allowed, thank the gods we weren't caught!) and then proceeded to get up on a bench and sing "God Save the Queen" at the top of their lungs in the middle of the game. Ack!! I was laughing my head off and cringing at the same time, ever on the lookout for a campus cop. They taught me how to pitch darts and drink Guiness Stout. I tried to keep up with them while drinking, to my ultimate regret one night, and after that I decided that there was just no hope for it and let them drink straight out of the pitchers if they wanted to; I kept to the bottles and mugs.

It was hilarious to hear them argue politics. Tony was a royalist, having grown up literally in the shadow of Buckingham Palace (apparently his boyhood home was only a few blocks away from it) and Dave, from the industrial North, was an ardent Labour follower and anti-monarchy. They would get into it and after I realized that they really weren't going to come to blows, it was wild fun to listen to their rants.

During that time, I had one of those "pork pie" hats, made of black leather, and Dave was enamored of it; he'd snatch it off my head every time we were out and wear it for the evening. When the year was finally over and they had to return to Swansea, I insisted that Dave take the hat to remember me by. He was blubbering...it was a hard parting.

Those were great mates...some of the best friends I ever had, even if it was just for a year. They instilled in me a love for the British people and their spirit. I wish I could find them to get in touch with them again, but I wouldn't even know where to start. All I know are their names and that they were exchange students from Swansea University in Wales during the 1986-87 school year that came to UNT (then North Texas State University).

My wife got a taste of that same spirit and love for other people when she was in London in 1997, and made the only true friends she had made on her entire European trip there. England and Scotland are two of the only three places she ever wishes to return to in Europe (the third being Denmark).

The British people truly are divine. Our British friends here at Ironworks prove that without a doubt as well. I think of my British friends here, far too numerous to name (and I wouldn't try lest I overlook one), and realize their sterling characters, even for all their antics. They have some of the best music and finest literature of the world. British authors, by God, know how to tell a REAL STORY, not like these racio-political or sensationalist crap stories that American authors are so fond of churning out. With exceptions, of course.

I just wanted to inject a bit of positivism for our British friends. I for one salute you, and I love you guys! And if any of you, through some bizarre twist of fate, ever come across a Tony Wescott or Dave Collins who were exchange students in Texas during 86-87...let them know I haven't forgotten them, and never will.

Peace, and blessings,
-Sazerac