ONE NIIIIIIIL TO THE INGERLUND!

Time for me to start being a football hooligan once more - today was England's first match in the World Cup. The only problem with watching it in my own country is finding somewhere with the same atmosphere and camaraderie as a British pub or Embassy bar overseas. As much as I often loathed the Pickwick Pub in Berne (scene of many a horribly drunken evening), it was a great place to watch the World Cup or European championships - friendly crowd, jugs of beer, lots of singing, laughter and inevitable tears! We convinced all the Swiss England fans (and, believe me, there are a surprising number of them) that the songs we invented were part of normal England repertoire - the sight of about 50 Swiss people holding their right shoe in the air and earnestly singing "Right shoooooe for the Ingerlund, right shooooe!" was something to behold! Not quite the same watching it at college, where about 10% of the crowd actually want England to win, nor was it the same watching it on the big screens in Parkers Piece (maingly because we couldn't see anything). The quest to find a non-chav pub with a big screen will start when I return from Norfolk mid-week.

Altogether now: Right shooooe, for the Ingerlund, right shooooooe!