(Arsenal hats come in very useful for bald chicks)If someone had told me even 2 days ago that I would spend Saturday afternoon in a box at Arsenal Emirates stadium watching them thrash Newcastle (3-0) and Luc have 'the best day of his life', I wouldn't have believed it. Uncertainty works both ways.
The weekend started well with a great Friday night - food, wine, thai curry (no trips to the microwave) and friends - who had to be forcibly removed at 2am... the sign of a good evening. Francois has had to work all weekend (again) so I did the ballet/piano run, fed the kids on the run ((Un)Happy Meal for Luc and Pret a Manger for Emily who won't touch junk food) came home and listened to my meditation cd for half an hour then headed off to pre-match HQ aka the Azzopardi household where I finally worked out what the beer fridge is all about.
Walking that last stretch of Gillespie Road, nostrils filled with the smell of cheap burgers, the street a blaze of red and white, Luc's eyes shining with excitement, and the air thick with anticipation, I wondered how I could have lived this close to it all for so long and never once been caught up in it.
Expecting seats in the stands, we found out at the last minute that due to the extreme kindness and organisation of our friends - you know who you are - thank you so so much - we'd got front row seats in a box behind the goal. The feeling of walking from a carpeted corridor out to a stadium filled with 67,000 people is pretty hard to describe. Suffice to say that all the sporting cliches suddenly made sense - it was pure magic - only equalled by the look on Luc's face for the next 90 minutes....He was so unbelievably cute - ears sticking out from his junior gunners hat, waving my newly purchased red and white scarf at every goal and screaming his little lungs out - all the songs and chants - as if he'd been a thousand times before. Beccy provided an incredibly useful commentary and taught Luc some essential skills such as crossing your fingers for a corner kick and sticking maltezers between your top lip and your teeth - thanks pal!
I can still see him waving at the Newcastle supporters, shouting 'Bye bye, it's a long way home, bye bye, it's a long way home' ...and getting on the phone within seconds of the finish to chant '3 nil, to the Ar..se...nal, 3 nil, to the Ar..se..nal' to anyone he could think of....are boys born with this wired into their hard drive?
And as if that wasn't enough - after the game I was allowed to drink beer and talk bollocks at the Bank of Friendship - the perfect end to a perfect 24 hours...
Just one question...when can I go again?
1 comment:
ary it was a delight to be with you and Luc on his first game sorry about teaching him all those bad habits! On the bright side I managed to watch the entire game with out swearing so he clearly had a positive impact on me! Of course now the world knows that I keep my fingers crossed on corner kicks whic is slightly embarassing! xxx
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