I’m reading a book written by one of my favourite authors. John Hillaby was a naturalist, historian, international perambulator extraordinaire and above all a damned fine writer. The journeys he undertook and later wrote about are littered with fascinating insights into the history of the places through which he passed and observations on the present at once pithy, unusual and dryly comedic.
While fascinated with the past he never fell into the trap of viewing it through the prism of sentimental nostalgia. He was honest about mistakes of the present but could be equally caustic on the many examples of how badly things used be done. This is just one of the many lessons Arsenal fans could learn from Mr Hillaby’s work.
The book I’m reading at the moment is unusual in that it is all about London. Nothing odd in writing about that huge, muscular sprawling powerhouse of a capital – many pages have been devoted to it in both fact and fiction. I say unusual because this is a walker, a travel writer exploring a city usually traversed via subterranean tunnels or inside slow moving metal boxes through its traffic choked streets.
I am more used to following the author through the lanes and byways as he walks the length of of the country in his peerless masterpiece Journey Through Britain. In this book Hillaby often encountered incredulity from passing motorists when he politely declined the offer of a lift. He found it difficult to explain how taking the slower, often more painful even occasionally torturous route was preferable. Where was the sense of achievement without the discomfort, the danger, the difficulties which preceded the sudden vista from the top of a Scottish mountain, or the unexpected panorama of the sea?
We may feel that we are following the slow and twisting back lanes to the title in 2016. Getting lost on what appeared on the map to be a straightforward road, or becoming stuck on the moors, waist deep in sticky mud when we seemed to be making great strides. We have taken turns which have led us in entirely the wrong direction but still somehow we are trudging on, our journey three quarters done, the other walkers drawing away from us one week then stumbling themselves when we least expect it.
Will Leicester City stick their foot down a rabbit hole again between now and May? Looking at the map they’re following it all seems to be straightforward without a bump in the road to disturb their progress. If they should unexpectedly confuse their north from their south will we be close enough to take advantage? We could do ourselves a huge favour this lunchtime by grabbing hold of the straps on Mr Pochettino’s rucksack and swinging alongside him. If we can get back into our stride today and shake off the hesitant gait which has seen us lose sight of the track on the last two legs of our journey then even the fans who seem to have lost interest in the whole trip might perk up a little bit and stop complaining about their blisters.
Hillaby was a hugely experienced walker. When he wrote Journey Through Britain he was already in his fifties and would one imagine have known all there was to know about travelling à pied. However, he still managed to find himself slowed to a near stand still with cramps, sore heels, and swollen toes even quite early in the journey. At other times he described hitting a stride with an unconscious ease which , once achieved, could, he felt, propel him without effort for days on end. He experienced a near weightlessness, as if he were gliding across the landscape barely in contact with the sward beneath him.
It is, I suspect, the same for anybody whatever their discipline, whatever their speciality. Even top footballers used to working in harmony with one another can suddenly inexplicably find the simplest task just that little more difficult than it ought to be. Once a couple of cogs fail to mesh the entire machine looks a little ungainly and in a league as competitive as ours the couple of inches by which the end of a move is off means that instead of running out winners by four goals to two we hit the woodwork three times and lose by two to one.
Make no mistake we were not as awful as those who would rip up the map and catch the first bus home would have you believe. A team simply doesn’t create the chances we do nor come so close to scoring if they are playing that badly. Tottenham today will provide a stern test, a steep and difficult climb but the match is also an enormous opportunity. Peg them back today and we not only draw level with them on points but condemn them to back to back defeats and we know all too well how that can drain one’s moral and unchain the lunatic element lurking in the fanbase of every top team.
The odds may appear stacked against us. The stakes are high. Lose and that is three on the bounce and a very tough road ahead. Win and the momentum swings the other way, the pressure shifts, the stone is in their shoe and we begin to step more lightly across the ground, belief is rekindled.
Once John Hillaby crossed into Scotland he had already completed much of his journey and may have been forgiven for thinking the end was in sight and he could stroll to the finish, the hard walking all behind him. Of course he discovered that much rough and unpredictable terrain lay ahead of him. At one point he slipped and rolled down a sheer cliff face among a small avalanche of scree convinced he was falling to an untimely demise. He picked himself up, made a painful and tortuous return to a track he felt sure he’d lost entirely and eventually completed his journey.
Giving up was never an option. Cursing the map, the clouds which obscured his landmarks, the damaged compass or his disintegrating shoes was pointless, counter productive and more likely to guarantee failure. Belief, perseverance and a stubborn bloody minded refusal to allow the setbacks to get him down. Those were the qualities which saw him through, those were the days when he won the battle against despair – not on the beautiful sunny open meadows nor in the easy springing step across gentle turf. Anyone can do the simple stuff. It is when the going gets hard that we are all truly tested.
Positively Arsenal 
Morning Steww, many thanks for taking us on an enjoyable journey through your words and thoughts. John Hillaby sounds like a good bloke and his books an interesting read.
COYG!
LikeLike
Morning Millsey, his work rewards the reader at every turn. Of particular interest is with the passing of time what was his present is now our history so we get to read two histories at once. He was walking before the age of motorways, using the old Aust ferry to cross into Wales for example, wandering valleys now flooded and turned into giant reservoirs.
He looks back to a past when walkers were treated as ‘vermin’ by gamekeepers and lived in a present when the local bobby moved him on out of a Cornish town fearing he might be a beatnik!
LikeLike
Really does sound good.Im going to do a bit of research on him.Thanks for introducing him to us. Im sure Ive come across the reservoir you mention before, isnt there some village at the bottom of it that in extreme hot weather tends to be get exposed?The name escapes me at the moment.
Do you know the website “Derelict London”? If not I think you might like it
LikeLike
I shall look it up. We have such a reservoir near us where the houses become exposed. It is in the Chew Valley and was created in the fifties.
LikeLike
I think it was in North Wales and meant as feeder to the Merseyside area. Ironically I stumbled on it (the res)after you mention the Gower some time ago on here,you know look on YT at Culver hole and the next minute looking at some vid on a lost village at the bottom of a reservoir. Will see what I can dig up on the res near you.
My favourite section on the DL site is the bit on rivers.
LikeLike
If you’re interested ion London rivers can I point you towards The Groundwater Diaries by Tim Bradford? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/986913.The_Groundwater_Diaries
LikeLiked by 1 person
Outstanding stuff Stew, informative and instructional in equal measure. Fascinating character and an example to us all, you have found there.
You should be writing proper books too, my friend; find your niche and your writing will make the world a better place. As it is, our pre-match build up is incalculably enhanced thanks to your superb contribution to the mental preparation of us all here at PA for the game ahead.
Expecting a big response today from our lads who, as you rightly say, are nowhere near as bad as being painted in some malevolent quarters.
Enjoy the game everyone, however you are currently finding the journey …
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheers Stew, I didnt know that book will hunt it down!
LikeLike
Wonderful catharsis Steww. I, for one, needed that. Copies of Hillerby’s London, many less than a fiver, including postage, available from this site
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?n=200000169&bi=0&ds=30&bx=off&sortby=17&kn=london&an=hillaby&recentlyadded=all
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fine entree to the day Stew. I must admit just a little quiver of excitement three hours out.
LikeLike
Even though l am a Spurs fan, l found this a really interesting read. Well done.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I may not be around for the match so you’ll need to swear about the ref without me. Kick off is an awkward time. I might be back for it but may have to catch up later. Still, it’s only Spurs away isn’t it?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am a man of small ambitions. One of them is to meet our Stew in person. If the chat is half as good as the writing, it would be a long and rewarding coming together, Well, for me at least.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You may not understand my accent George.
LikeLike
When is Shotta in London? We should arrange a PA meet up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was excellent and probably the best analogy of what a team goes through in any one season ive ever seen.
To take the tortuous route and get there in the end in indeed comendable, but its the getting there in tthe end that matters, are our present squad quite that resilient and can the fans be faulted for their non belief if the players dont believe in themselves.
I said at the start of the season if we were a few points off the top with ten games to I would fancy us for the title however now we have arrived at that scenario I can no longer see us picking ourselves up brushing ourselves down and pushing forward to finally getting our chest’s to burst through that tape first. That is based on performances not on results, as Steww said results can be determined by inches and this week I have seen the U21’s, the U15’s, the first team and the U19’s all hit the bar and of those only the U19’s went on to win. However on performance the first team was by far the worst.
Well as they say form goes out the window in derbys as we are reminded by the song “we won at spurs with six reserves” we might just need the modern day six reserves to come back again with the same attitude and “we’ll be back again” COYG
LikeLike
Shotts is here at the end of April/early May
LikeLike
Good morning Steww.
A fine piece of writing to get our compass bearings corrected today.
The destination is north by north east of Highbury towards the lands of shadows.
Let’s hope our team understand the magnitude of what is awaiting them up there today, we must still have faith in this team, they have been nearly getting it right for weeks.
Oddly, I don’t do feel half as trepidatious this morning about the match as I did after Swansea.
It must be the BBD on my yogurt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Superb Stew. Bloody superb.
This piece put me at peace.
My belief is still as strong as it was at the start of season and I refuse to give up hope until all hope is lost. COYG
PS: great review from A5 the previous post and collectively some of the best comments, considering the run of recent results.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am 100% certain that Arsenal will score a goal or two at the lane today.
Question is, will Spurs?
LikeLike
Wonderful allegory Steww.
Unfortunately, I am still learning about myself even after so many years. Or perhaps I’ll never learn? Only one outcome will make my day…..
LikeLiked by 3 people
That would be great if we could all find Shotta for a meet up. I understand there is a visiting contingent from Alabama around this time …
LikeLike
Kelly is due in London around the time of the Palace match mid April I understand
LikeLike
My apologies for being caught in the filter Spurs Paul – may football decide the day
LikeLike
a season so far of small margins that have gone against Arsenal.
LFC (H), Ramsey goal wrongly ruled out for offside – 2pts
WBA (A), Cazorla slips and misses a penalty – 1pt
Norwich (A), first half injury time goal – 1pt
LFC (A), open goal missed, last minute goal let in – 2pts
southampton (H), ten shots on target no goal – 2pts
Swansea (H), foul on Ozil not given, offside goal allowed, – 2pts
thats ten points, that with a little more luck, right calls, better decisions, we’d have. and I have not even taken into account the whole mess by Dean in the CFC (A) game, down to ten when it should have been CFC down to ten.
LikeLike
I’ll only get to see the first half today, will have to settle for radio coverage of the second half.
LikeLike
Team news will be out soon
Ospina,
Bellerin, MerT, Kos, Nacho
Coq Flamini?
Ramsey Özil Alexis
Giroud?
Flamini likes playing against the Lilly White Cretins.
LikeLike
kos is injured DC so it will be Gabriel
LikeLike
Steww.
I’m grateful for this masterpiece, especially after having woken up after a ‘mare in which my niece announced her pregnancy. (To my knowledge she hasn’t had a boyfriend yet),
Her mother asked me to get 400 posh cigarettes for the guests who’d attend the “with child” party. (Neither family nor friends smoke). I can’t express the extent to which this kind of dream freaks me out.
The idea of long walkies over moors an’ stuff tempts me not one iota, yet I can almost fantasise about that prospect having read your piece. I agree with ? above who says you should write books. Do it.
I’m left actually looking forward to the match. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLike
Didn’t we have a good goal chalked off as offside against spurs – 2 points?
LikeLiked by 1 person
going to be meltdown among the whingers, Campbell is not in the team, and Ramsey and Elneny are, oh and Gibbs is in, it will be full sacle meltdown
LikeLike
Rantetta I’m sure if I took a deep look at the season there has been more pts dropped due to small margins and refs mistakes, but they ones I listed were from a quick memory search
LikeLike
Spurs: Lloris (c), Walker, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Rose; Dembele, Dier; Lamela, Eriksen, Alli; Kane
subs: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Carroll, Chadli, Mason, Son
LikeLike
I see my prediction of Elneny striding arm in arm with Le Coq across the WHL turf hit the board – bit of muscle in the middle – surprised about Gibbs though unless Nacho is not 100%
Never mind though – team to do the job – strong bench
LikeLike
Arsenal team v Spurs
Dwarf
only speed, Slow as fuck, Can’t even speak English, Rubbish
off form, out of his depth pharaoh
hollywood, soft fucking german, headless
man utd reject
so will this team be enough to beat title favorites spurs
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gibbs scored in the last league game against the Tinies, he’ll be up fer it and he might acquiesce to another season as Monreal’s understudy if he gets starts like this?
Thanks Steww. I’ve pulled a muscle cycling in relatively arctic conditions so a walk to shops seems like a big prospect atm so I found the stories of these such walks at fifty plus inspiring!
LikeLike
afcstuff @afcstuff 5m5 minutes ago
Monreal has a slight calf problem due to fatigue. Still fit enough to make the squad. [@JamesOlley] #afc
LikeLike
Its a massive show of faith by Wenger in Elneny, first league start and its a North London Derby. Its seems clear that Elneny is now ahead of Flamini, and isn’t that what the whingers wanted, someone to keep Flamini from our first 11
LikeLike
LikeLike
fins: you havent asked, but if you did I would say scoff loads of grub with vit A, and stick a cloth soaked in apple vinegar on it.It stinks like crépe but sorts it out! Also depending where it is,keep a hot water bottle or an equivalent on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see Benik Afobe said that when he was scoring at MK Dons a couple of seasons ago, Arsenal told him he would get a chance in pre-season to claim a spot in the first team, but that this was not good enough for him, as he wanted to be assured he would be in the first team, so he decided to leave and move to Wolves. Maybe now the whingers will stop with their bull that Wenger discarded him.
Compare Afobe’s attitude to that of Campbell.
LikeLike
COYG!!! Blast them Chickens away!
LikeLike
Arsenal looking like the away side at the moment. Game a little scrappy.
All as expected in other words.
LikeLike
Ooooooooooooooooooossssssssssssssssssssssssppppiiinnnnaaa!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ospina!
LikeLike
great save by Ospina
Arsenal giving away far too many free kicks near our area
Bellerin booked.
Arsenal so far unable to hold onto the ball, passing is off, and we have yet to have a shot
LikeLike
the referees a…?
LikeLike
Was going to put a fiver on Coquelin getting the first booking but then I remembered I don’t gamble. And the odds were dreadful.
LikeLike
You’re right Eduardo – Spurs tackling, interceptions and closing down have been exceptional.
LikeLike