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Quantum of Schillaci

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    Quantum of Schillaci

    I was very fond of 'Toto' Schillaci at Italia 90.
    That sense of a relatively ordinary footballer rising to such prominence in a brief flash of glory.

    Around those years Ms Felicity and I were very Italophile- a fair few holidays; language classes and frequent visits to Newcastle's then most authentic Italian restaurant which was run by a family from Puglia. And was pretty cheap to boot. ('Boot'-geddit?)

    They had a regular crew of cousins and hangers-on as waiters, one of whom had the look of Schillaci, so thus was he named, to us at any rate.
    He once knocked a bottle of Barolo into my lap, all over my chinos, so we always got a wry comment from him on subsequent visits.

    Anyway this place shut down as a restaurant years ago-that part of the city is full of trendy bars, and they make more money from alcohol, so it went the way of the small record shops and the greasy spoon cafes: extinction.

    And hey, if you want Italian-there's Pizza Hut! Zizzi! Pizza Express!

    Posh Jesmond, of course, has a couple of good Italian restaurants still, and a deli, just as it retained its cinema and its swimming pool through posh parent power long after equivalents in the East and West ends were shut down.

    Anyway, I was in Sainsbury's this morning and there he was, Schillaci, loading veg into the racks. Sure, he stopped to chuck the cheek of a passing bambino, and he still has a twinkle in his eye.

    But I couldn't help thinking, in grumpy old man/modern life is rubbish mode that it was symbolic, or at least representative of some wider distasteful decline.

    NB not that there's anything wrong with shelf-stacking at Sainsbury's. Or trendy bars per se.

    #2
    Quantum of Schillaci

    The real Toto was on the Italian version of "I'm a Celebrity" a few years ago.

    Not a dissimilar fate, in my book.

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      #3
      Quantum of Schillaci

      Apparently Eike Immel was on the German one. Eike Immel.

      I don't know what my point is.

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        #4
        Quantum of Schillaci

        There is something wrong with shelf-stacking: it's a shit, thankless job, usually overseen by power tripping saddos relishing their taste of authority and wanking every last salty drop from it.

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          #5
          Quantum of Schillaci

          Indeed.

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            #6
            Quantum of Schillaci

            Ah AG, I have a PM that I will be popping over to you shortly. Heads up innit.

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              #7
              Quantum of Schillaci

              Right-o.

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                #8
                Quantum of Schillaci

                Slotted in your inbox like a well stacked tin of beans.

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                  #9
                  Quantum of Schillaci

                  Replied. Let me know what you think.

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                    #10
                    Quantum of Schillaci

                    Apparently Eike Immel was on the German one. Eike Immel.

                    I don't know what my point is


                    I'm very glad you made whatever point it is that you made. Because it gives me the chance to inform anybody who's interested that former HSV stalwart William "Jimmy" Hartwig was on the German one, too.

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                      #11
                      Quantum of Schillaci

                      Hartwig hasn't had a lot of luck since he won the European Cup.

                      On top of financial problems (which tend to correlate well with appearances on this show), he had (and beat) prostate cancer several years ago, only to be diagnosed with a brain tumour last year.

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                        #12
                        Quantum of Schillaci

                        I'm thinking on AG. I'll get back to you.

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                          #13
                          Quantum of Schillaci

                          No rush.

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