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Missed opportunities/ regrets

RodneyCharltonTrottaRodneyCharltonTrotta
in Not Sports Related
When I lived in Saudi in early 90s Bobby Charlton (RIP) did the grand opening of the country's first KFC. Instead of going to meet the football legend, 11 year old football mad me opted to instead go to the school disco cos Aussie Cathy P from the year above had asked me out. She dumped me that night for being shorter than her and as listened to November Rain on loop that week I instantly regretted not meeting the combover king.


Mid or late 90s my brother was working Wembley stadium for an oasis gig (my favourite band then and still now) and said he could get me in. I was ill and declined and missed it assuming he'd just be a steward on the gates etc.

Turned out he was doing silver service bar work and was serving the Gallaghers, the band and all their other halves etc before and after the gig and I'd have essentially been hanging out with my heroes and talking charlton with Alan White had I gone. 

That one still smarts and never got to see them live.

Anyone else got any such missed opportunities/ regrets?

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    Lewis CoachesLewis Coaches
     I once had  the opportunity to be aboard a tug that was guiding The Royal Yacht Britannia up the Brisbane River. I missed out by 10 mins as I was unable to get to the tug on time.

    Not many people at the time knew that the Royal Yacht was in the area. It was carrying out security checks for a future event.

    Did manage to get photos of Royal Yacht , but knowing I could have been on the tug at that time did feel I missed out on a experience.
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    cafckevcafckev
    I was offered the opportunity to go on a tour with a stunt car show and train to be a stunt driver but bottled out of it as I was only just 18 and didn’t want to leave my family!
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    LordflashheartLordflashheart
    Wanted to join the British Army - in particular become a Para - my Dad, who served in the British Army in the REME, talked me out of it - his view being there are not many jobs post army for a bloke trained to fight battles - he said if you join up, join a branch of the army where you learn a trade e.g. REME, Signals, Engineers etc so you are employable post army - and yes he was right

    My stance was ‘sod that, I want to run about firing a gun / jumping out of aeroplanes, and be mega tough nut hard’ 

    If I had done a bit of research, then I would have found out (the teenage me, mid 1980’s) that you can join up with REME or Signals, and then join the Para’s - so best of both worlds 😡

    I ended up working for a bank, joined 1987, still working for same bank, been a bank manager since 2004 

    After all these years, I still wish I had joined the army - hey ho 
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    ChizzChizz
    Powell2ThePeople said:
    ElfsborgAddick said:
    Missed out on having  a chat in a club with a geezer who had shagged Maradona.
     ElfsborgAddick   We can still make it happen.   Let me know when and where you’d like the chat and I’ll be there.  
    Was it in Europe? Or while he was still in Argentina? 
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    sam3110sam3110
    Turned down a job offer when I was 19 in a bar as I didn't want to have to make cocktails all night every night, they won a tonne of awards and are still going strong now, I decided when I was 25 that actually slinging drinks was my calling, tried to get an interview at said bar but they rejected me for not having enough experience. 

    Almost all the original team moved on to be world class bartenders or run their own venues and I always wonder where I'd be now if I took the plunge at the time 
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    CatAddickCatAddick
    I used to travel very regularly (up to 8-10 times a year) on business to San Francisco but with a cheapskate company that would only spring for Premium Economy but nothing better. But, because of the amount of travelling I regularly upgraded to BA Club on the way home with miles and got to know the staff in SFO (with the points I had, I got lounge access regardless), so I frequently got a freebie upgrade.  One trip on a Friday return, I had done a miles upgrade and when I got to the lounge I was asked if I would switch to the later flight (about 4 hours later) and she would push me into First.  I was due to go to a birthday celebration on the Sat night and was worried about recovery so I said “no thanks, but I’ll take it next month 😉”.
     
    I was then made redundant and didn’t travel to San Francisco for 5 years…

    Still never managed to make it into First class 
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    StewartStewart
    Bromley GK has just got a red by punching someone in the box when Wealdstone had a corner. 
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    CatAddickCatAddick
    So the last one was the regret… as for the missed opportunity 

    Early/mid 90’s I was half looking for a new job and got an interview for a senior design role for an upcoming company in Cambridge called ARM.

    I wasn’t terribly keen to move and when the missus said her and a mate were going clubbing the night before the (9am) interview and could I pick them up at 2am I said sure

    Suffice to say, I screwed up the interview and missed out on a shed load of pre-IPO shares in one of the UK’s most successful tech companies of that time
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    StewartStewart
    DaveMehmet said:
    Stewart said:
    Bromley GK has just got a red by punching someone in the box when Wealdstone had a corner. 
    Well he didn’t miss that opportunity 
    That is a regret but was meant to post that on the Bromley boys thread 
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    RedRyanRedRyan
    Backed out of my true essay writing calling at university during my Masters - comparing 2001’s post-modern horror House of Leaves to 2001’s best horror video game Silent Hill 2. Instead compared HoL to The Shining and got slated for there being 25 years between them and no clear reason for the comparison. I still find myself thinking of the much clearer links between the book and the game all these years later.

    Also missed applying to the first UK season of my favourite ever foreign game show by a day, not that I’d have likely gotten on the show but I’ll never know. Either the UK version will be crap and there’ll be no more series, or it’ll be amazing and the competition for places on series 2 will be insane.

    Third is the girl I really fancied at high school told my mates that she really fancied me but no one thought to tell me until we were all leaving for uni. She invited me over to hers on a level results night but I’d already been out and didn’t want to wake my dad up trying to sneak out of the house for the first time in my life.
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    usetobunkinusetobunkin
    Had the chance to join BOAC, /BEA, as an Engineer, but was had just finished an apprenticeship in motor vehicles and it would have meant starting again moving to Heathrow area. 
    Turned it down, regret it to this day.
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    Rob7LeeRob7Lee
    edited March 20
    The oportunity to buy a block of 8 flats in Beckenham in the early 90's for £220k (seemed a lot of money back then) - about £4m today. Ditto a block in Grove Park of 10 maisonettes for sub £200k!

    Being invited back to the savoy with the 'Grease' cast after their opening night, apparently was an amazing party and both Danni & Kylie turned up.

    Not asking Alan Rickman more questions when over dinner with him (wasn't just the two of us!), I was simply chin to the floor most of the time.

    Not knocking out the animal who was ^%^$£%^% (maybe best not to say his name, but a famous TV Actor from the 90's, had an affair with someoneelses wife whom may just be very close to Simon Cowell these days) when I had to chaperone him in central London, guy was an utter pig when it came to women...... allegedly. 

    Those are just some of the regrets I'd care to admit to!
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    charente addickcharente addick
    edited March 20
    Was offered a scholarship to Dulwich College after 11+ but it was more my mum’s decision to turn it down than mine. All I cared about was playing football, but my mum was, rightly, concerned notwithstanding fees etc paid, that the ‘lifestyle’ would involve expense we just couldn’t afford being quite poor. 

    Not so much a regret, more a contemplation of a road not taken.
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    PragueAddickPragueAddick
    People who know me might find this odd, but what comes to my mind are stories involving me failing to speak up when I had the chance. The first was when we were at Selhurst in 1990, during the Valley Party campaign and playing the  “home game “against Palace. it was a miserable affair, where we performed miserably. I was in the Arthur Waite shit hole and  sitting just near the exit. Suddenly, in the middle of the second half Noades emerged, all on his own, and stood watching for awhile  in the gangway in front of us, I had the overwhelming urge to just go and lump him, but again anyone who knows me knows that that would not have ended well for me🤣. I could’ve just gone, and said something to him… But what exactly?. Which is rather like the second story,

    I can’t remember exactly which year, but it was the day after the Good Friday Agreement had been signed in Downing Street. I was sitting on the Heathrow Express at Paddington, reading about it in my newspaper, Just as the doors shut.there was a commotion as six people piled in at the last minute. I looked up from the photos of Adams and McGuiness, to  see standing in front of me… Adams and McGuinness! Accompanied by two more blokes, one of them on the large side, and two women. They all behaved impeccably. I had the overwhelming urge to say something; but again, what? My first thought was that it was wonderful to get this done just before Christmas, and to wish them a happy one; my second thought was “you fuckers my sister was five minutes away from the Harrods bomb“. Of course, I could not reconcile those two thoughts, and just quietly stewed all the way to Heathrow.
     
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    Covered EndCovered End
    edited March 20
    Athletico Charlton said:
    When I was starting off my career I was invited by a small firm of fairly elderly lawyers to watch England v South Africa for a day of a test at Lords in 2003. It was one of my first ever live cricket experiences.  I accepted.  The day after accepting I found out my company had a box, and I was asked to host it.  I said I couldn't as it would be rude to back track on the invite I had already accepted.

    I spent a day in the cheap seats with some 60yr old lawyers watching SA bat all day with barely a wicket, it was fun enough and free so I left happy.

    The next day I found out that Bobby Robson had spent the day in my employers box. Each hour he would disappear and return with a sporting legend of the time (Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson are the ones I remember but the list was extensive).  At the end of the day he took everyone in the box into the long room and gave them a guided tour!
    I think I was there at Lord's that day. 
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