Bubblegum ball the size of a small dog

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Seeing as my brother Todd was going home to NZ in a week and his 21st birthday was on the 24th of September it meant that Jaimee and I wouldn’t get to see him on his actual birthday. Therefore we arranged to throw him a party at his cricket club in Wigan that coincided with his last match.

On the Friday night Todd’s teammates turned up to the club and we all had a few drinks and a heap of pizza before Todd was presented some gifts from the club including a Wigan football shirt. Todd then gave a speech thanking the club and others including his flatmate Foster. Next was birthday cake and the night finished with the showing of a DVD featuring photos of Todd throughout his life that Jaimee had made. Everyone cracked up at the photos of Todd as a baby with his fat face. He looked more like a pumpkin than a human being in some of them. I have attached some for your amusement.

I thought I’d also write a funny story I just remembered about Todd, it cracks me up whenever I think about it. As a kid Todd was an absolute lolly fiend, he would have had a strict sweets diet if he was given the choice. I particularly remember his fondness for bubble gum. Jaimee, Todd and I would sometimes buy a dollar each of spinner top bubble gum, getting 20 pieces each. After about three chews there was no flavour left and it felt like you were gnawing on a chunk of rubber. That didn’t matter to Todd. He would put all 20 pieces in his mouth, and as if that wasn’t enough, would ask for ours, which we had already chewed. So he would end up with 60 pieces of recycled bubble gum in his mouth. It was between the size of a squash ball and a tennis ball. I remember it clearly because Todd would refuse to throw it out when mealtime came around and would put it on a saucer. Gross. And it gets worse … by the end of his meal the ball had leaked a pool of saliva and was all cold and congealed. Still this was not enough to deter Todd who would stick it back in his gob, sometimes they lasted for 2 or 3 days, probably until my Mum sneaked into his room at night and threw it away!

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