Growing up in the 70s with punk, new wave & ska I jostled with many skinheads in various pubs and clubs, many are now looking forward to retirement after lucrative careers in commercial banking and global marketing. The rest remain, and will always remain skinheads and will often be found in Wetherspoons, heads glistening, flexing withered tattoos, still looking hard and to be honest, succeeding.
The two I watched, from a very safe distance, were clearly psychopathic. The Bright Helm Wetherspoons in Brighton was the perfect setting for a pair of shaven headed thugs who oddly resembled the Kray twins without the suits and hair; instead they both sported Dr Martens, Harrington jackets and Sta-Prest trousers. It’s possible they were gay, but they were clearly having an argument over a portion of ‘fucking chips’ that was surplus to requirements. ‘I’m not gonna touch those fuckin’ chips, coz I didn’t order them, you did, so eat them, or else.’ This was menacing, throbbing vein in temple neck straining venomous stuff. They settled after a while then to demonstrate impeccable manners they grabbed at their cutlery and with hunched shoulders they attacked their all day breakfast, and extra portion of chips. I’ve seen Scum, and these thugs could have been extras in the prison canteen scene, for certain though they would have done time in Wormwood Scrubs. It was the Union Jack tattooed on one of the Kray twins, just below the ear, that scared me the most. This was slightly less alarming than the Maltese Cross tattooed on the nape of the neck of the other Kray.
I’m still trying to come to terms with an all day breakfast washed down with a couple of pints of Stella, but with all food safely disposed of, including the surplus bowl of chips, they started to play fight, this included the slapping of faces, grabbing at shoulders and naturally, passing wind. They should have been stockbrokers, emigrated to Surbiton and travelled to foreign countries, but, they remained skinheads, in Brighton, suspended in time.
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