Swimming pool

Before we opened WHQ in '93, we could often be found upstairs in the Trent, playing pool after hours, 'til the sun came up. These casual games would frequently turn into Ben Hur type epics. This resulted in a most peculiar sporting culture developing - that was mad. Basically we'd wager anything, other than money, on the drunken belief that we could whup the room. Classic examples of bizarre gambles won & lost range from :
Half a lager in the pocket (trouser) complete with pat down.
Half a lager in the face (loser pays).
The bucket of iced water over the head (only done once as it fused the lights).
The butt naked walk on hands (from pool table to upstairs bar).
You get the picture? We've learnt a great deal about life by simply playing pool & having a laugh. Of course, there were times when we would raise the stakes….

OK, Imagine…Your trainers are soaked in lager, your hair's icy wet, both your dirty hands are covered in cigarette butt-type stuff & you're a little chilly from your handstand dash. You are sick & tired of your (so-called) friends laughing at you. What you desperately need is revenge! You really wanna play again! You'll concentrate this time! Your run of bad form simply must end soon! Come on! You can do it! Don't let those fools laugh at you! Come on Champ! Break the balls! What else could possibly go wrong…?

(20 minutes later)

…OK, OK. You realise now, that all that 'come on/you can do it' stuff you could hear, was just your old friend 'the drink' talking! You set off into the cold, crisp autumn night to honour your wager, a group of your peers, dancing & celebrating all around you. As you begin the long, lonely walk to your destiny, the shrieks & taunts of the following throng are lost on you. The three hundred or so metres you have to walk, give you time to reflect. You are a complete loser & tonight, because of your drunken foolhardiness/over confident stupidity, you have gambled, lost (consistently) & shall submerge and swim naked in Leazes Park Boating Lake . Honour is at stake & all your pals are here to see if you welch - nightmare! In you go….

As you emerge, soaking from the Lake, freezing & shivering in the dawn light, it dawns on you also, that your clothes, like your pals & your dignity, have made off into the mist. You are now, right now, butt naked in the middle of a public park. This is your life. If only you could swap that pristine honour of yours for a pair of cotton panties…!

Classic Trent House pool phrase - 'Double or quits…?'