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Panto season comes early

A momentary truce to a thousand year old enmity was declared last night.  English fans fell in behind the French and willed on their new best mates to trounce their World Cup conquerors, Portugal.  And to make Rooney vanquisher, Ronaldo, cry, of course.

The Vibe Bar in Brick Lane, furnished with benches, trestle tables, stands, three big screens, two bars, and hundreds of Gallic types.  (NB: the beret capped, stripe shirted, thin mustached sort was conspicuously absent “non!  ze football?  It eez for imbeciles!”).  The lone Portuguese supporter I noted was quickly engulfed by Gauls descending en masse shortly before kick off.  (Next time, perhaps somewhere in Kennington or Stockwell instead).  The cavernous warehouse space, swallowing and regurgitating the commentary with hollow booms could not drown out the continual cries of allez! allez! and the more than occasional merde!

World Cup tidbits – Part 2

More footy.  Apologies to those who thought this would be a football free zone.  I don't unfurl my soccer partiality except once every four years.  Blame it on a father who 'encouraged' us ie. manhandled us kids out of bed in the dead of night to blearily watch brightly coloured men with funny haircuts prance around a field after a round ball in far flung corners of the globe (from Australia, everywhere is far flung) and getting into a tiddle when things (or the ball) didn't go their way.

More news of interest:

• Anterior cruciate ligament injury puts paid to Michael Owen's World Cup.  As someone who has suffered the same calamity – although obviously, my nation's hopes haven't taken a corresponding blow – i can only grimace in sympathy and offer him my best wishes.  Perhaps we can be ACL post op support buddies, Michael?
• Jürgen Klinsmann, renowned diver, writher, grinner and now German coach and possible tinderstick for his country's rediscovery of national pride, is *gasp* one of the good guys.  There are rumors also that he actually donates his entire coaching fee to the children's charity he set up.  Hard to see Sven doing the same.