Seven Times Tables - मेरे लिए बहुत शुभकामना

Yes its that time again as the duster of history 'man cleans' the the stains of todays endeavors from the kitchen table of life I must face up to the fact that I will soon be 49. Editors note - man cleaning as defined by Mrs Reivers mother is when you spill something on the table and use your finger, shirt, tie whatever to make it appear clean - but she knows it isn't properly clean!. Such a mathematically round age forces one to reflect on how you reached this stage - after all the next round age will be when I'm 64!

a) 0x7 = 1959 - I enter the world on the banks of the Tyne, in what is now the Lion of Corbridge, with a questioning approach - both No 1 singles of the month (Adam Faith and Emile Ford and the Checkmates) being titled 'What do you want?' - those that have benefitted from my mentoring over time may recognise this motif.

b) 1x7 = 1966 - Basking in Fenham suffused in the afterglow of the World Cup Win (my only memory is a policeman not throwing the ball back to the disgust of Kenneth Wolstenholme) - I seem to remember being similarly disgusted when our sledge got nicked form the porch - If only there were justice of the form crooned about by Tom Jones in the Green Green Grass of Home - Mrs Reiver Senior - she of the leonine birth - loved that song.

c) 2x7 = 1973 - Best glazed over virtually no-one looked good in flares, long hair and platforms (especially rugby boy at grammar school) - Gary Glitter gave it a go (No 1 with I love You Love) but was merely an in retrospect unsavory appetiser to the most reliable of Christmas treats (excluding of course the Great Escape) - that being Wolverhamptons finest with Merry Christmas Everybody.

d) 3x7 = 1980 - 'What University student in the early 1980s did not have some experience of drugs' - qouth a government minister recently - well this one - us red brick types probably lacked the creative imagination - although one of my team mates could drink beer through his nose. Of course I didn't mix with those arty types who go on to government - stuck with the engineering/rugby fellows who go on to real jobs. John Lennon gets shot, goes to the top of the charts then gets displaced by St Winifreds School Choir within the week - I love the British!

e) 4x7 = 1987 - Starting out on corporate life, poorly paid, with two small children, mortgage etc - yes they gave mortgages to young people then! We had a Mini Metro with dodgy suspension - BMW came much to late - much to be said for the Ordnung Muss Sein approach of the germans. T'pau lived long and prospered at the top of the charts with 'China in Your Hand.'

f) 5x7 = 1994 - Suddenly life has accelerated, through Germany and 3rd and 4th junior Reivers to leave me contemplating a tropical Christmas in Singapore - I still remember the 10 m high inflatable snow-men on Orchard Road sagging in the languid humid atmosphere. Turkey on the balcony was certainly different to toasting bacon on the open fire in Park House just three steps back in the table. East 17 (who seemed to get into more trouble about their views on drugs than cabinet ministers) topped the charts with 'Stay Another Day' - we would have stayed for much longer but for my sympathetic boss CK!

g) 6x7 = 2001 - How did I end up as a Sales Manager with 30 people working for me??! Age 42 provided more questions than answers to everything. Fittingly S Club 7 topped the charts with 'Have You Ever' (had a job for which you were so badly suited), to be followed by Daniel Beddingfields 'Gotta Get Thru This' ( and find something useful to do with my life), and then ending the month with Robbie and Nicole with 'Somethin Stupid' (like taking an inappropriate job in Holland six months later) - maybe flares and platforms have some merit?

h) 7x7 = 2008 - I am living with a Zombie with positive mental attitude, a couple of bats and a lizard in a house designed using spiritual design principles and have been forsaken this afternoon in favour of 2000 armed soldiers and the England Cricket Team. Last week Take That were No 1 with 'Greatest Day' - mmm not so sure about how fitting that is- maybe just a bit late after all in 2007 the then Ms Lancashire Mill Family did turn up, say yes and become a Reiver by Grace of God.

What will 8x7 bring - that is any ones' guess - as Gary Barlow et al might have said - Extrapolate That and Party! I will just have to trust in my Karma Chameleon.