When will I, will I be thirty....?

Grant Stewart Cairns was born on May 18th 1968 in Consett, County Durham midway through the FA Cup Final (West Bromwich Albion 1, Everton 0 - Scorer Jeff Astle of 'Jeff Astle Sings' fame). Consequently his dad missed the magical moment on account of there being footy on the box (fair enough) - a crime from which he has been completely exhonerated of all blame as his son grew to love football with a passion. Many would say this was not the case as Grant grew up to be a fan of Sunderland AFC - what's the line in Three Lions....'Thirty Years of Hurt' - yep that sounds about right!

Thirty years later a very different Grant Stewart Cairns sat at a cottage table in Bamburgh, Northumberland with some of his toppermost mates, reading cards, opening presents, stuffing his face with home-made chocolate-chip pancakes and maple syrup (SuperChef Steph and her unfeasibly large pancakes - Top Job!) nursing a pretty bad hangover and some pretty brutal sunburn. I say 'very different'......well he was certainly much taller than on that original birthday and also considerably more weighty (agh!) but unfortunately for him he still had a comparable amount of hair.

Things couldn't get any better right? RIGHT ! True to form, one week later he sat amongst Charlton fans and watched his beloved SAFC lose possibly the best ever final played at Wembley, 7-6 on penalties......after leading 3-2 in normal time with 5 minutes remaining!! Well he'd have been disappointed if Sunderland had suddenly changed the script....Thirty years of hurt never stopped me dreaming? Of course not........