Are cherries fattening?
Maybe I should have asked the question before buying three kilos this Sunday, and maybe I should have posted this yesterday immediately after the football match between Germany and England.
Celine didn’t play in the game, in fact I don’t think she knew about it - but she did know that the FIFA Football World Cup was happening because she brought forward the end of term hip-hop show that she had organised, from the evening - where there had, once upon a distant time, been a potential French team participation - to the afternoon.
The show was advertised for 5pm.
Now, the English/German game was scheduled for a 4pm kick-off so I reasoned that if I went to the bar around the corner from the sale des fetes I could comfortably enjoy the first half and be in my seat in time for the first wiggles and shakes.
The question though was how long and how much I could rely on the French inability to start anything - except a revolution - on time.
Clearly it wouldn’t start at five - when the second-half of the footie would -I needed five minutes running to get from bar to hall, so could I risk another 15 minutes?
Twenty?
In the end, with the score in Germany-s favour2-1+(disallowed), I decided I should return to the hall at 5pm.
I got there, the door was shut!
The audience waiting outside.
The car was parked alongside so I sat inside and twiddled the radio; beautiful chalk cliffs block reception and all I could find was classical music.
The doors opened and we filed in. A few more filed in. A few more.
5.15.
A few more.
5.20.
We are still sitting there at 5.30 and I’m not sure if I’m just mad at myself for believing or if I’m just mad at the WHOLE of France.
At 5.35 two young rappers take to the stage, nothing to do with the dance school of course and judging by the sound they rammed into their microphones invited solely to annoy this man.
After five minutes of torture I slip outside, drive the car across the road, use long wave and find that the score is 4-1+.
Ok, never mind I had seen the first half and I have the evening match to look forward to – Argentina/Mexico.
A second group of droning rappers are now at it. The man’s wife has her fingers in her ears too; she is probably here to watch her granddaughter dance.
Around 6.05 -I could have watched the post match slow motion and debate -the dancers start.
At 6.35 Celine announces a 15-minute interval.
Thirty minutes later her brother takes the microphone and asks, “Is Celine in the room, Celine to the stage please” – Celine is the compeer, as well as organiser,
Eventually Celine wanders in - I should point out that the temperature in the room is about 30 degrees and rising - takes the microphone, looks around and introducers her brother who starts rapping with his mate.
An end of term dance show could be easy, it could even be slotted in between the end of one football game and the start of the next but Celine has other ideas.
Her brother and his mate do and endless stream of annoying rap, her brother’s mate’s mate comes on and joins them. Her daughter, who can’t sing, sings a syrupy love song to Celine and her husband – who is the technician and needs five minutes to struggle through the packed chairs and tables, and five minutes back – and then her son comes on and does the same solo dance that he did in the first half. Then Celine invites some friends she met somewhere to come up and dance.
It’s 8.15 and apart from an overwhelming feeling that I have spent too much of my life in this sale de fetes watching stuff like this I have 15 minutes to get the pizzas and get home.
And then my wife starts talking to a neighbour about maybe going to a restaurant.
My daughter comes on stage, hidden behind Celine’s brother, daughter and sister and now its 8.25.
I make a decision; I kiss everyone at the table and exit by the side door and run along the deserted streets to the bar, looking probably both harassed and demonic.
As I rush to the door, through which I can see Argentinean shirts flowing forward, a friendly voice calls out from an outside table.
“Chris!”
I pretended I hadn’t heard and kept going.
Posts
6 comments:
Chris -- sounds torturous. Of course, timing wouldn't have been a problem if you were here in Toronto. The games are on in the morning and afternoon and are over well before 5 p .m.
I was so sorry about England -- FIFA definitely needs to institute video replay and with so little scoring as it is, I absolutely hate that off-side stuff.
Am very happy about Argentina but I still think we haven't seen what Spain has got. Brazil of course is looking very strong.
PS -- I think eating cherries by the kilo might be fattening. Better to stick to strawberries and blueberries.
Mx
Mary, you don't need to feel sorry,least not for me. there is an old saying in English that to win the world cup you need to beat Germany. This seems to be almost borne out by statistics that show that Germany are either the winners or loose to the eventual winners.
Meanwhile, i'm afraid i'm one of those who don't want video replay in the game - controversy like this is what it's half about, certainly the excitement.
And did it make any difference really?
Plus, it is a debt we owed to the Germans since 1966
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__MJV11nRqU&feature=related&hd=1
Seems like a long time to wait. I think that the only difference it made is that the English team would have gone into half-time tied rather than behind by one. It likely had a demotivating psychological affect on those young players.
You're right though about Germany -- they are very tough.
I think that the video replay would help -- two reasons -- first, the field is huge so very difficult for referees to be in the right location to see the action and these controversies happen often enough that they incrementally change the course of the qualifying rounds (Ireland!, and ultimately who wins the Cup.
I realize that the human error element does make any game more exciting but I think it would be fairer all around. I tend to be a purist when it comes to baseball but we just had a situation recently where a young pitcher threw a perfect game -- no hits, no runs, no errors -- until the first base umpire blew a call on the third out. You may not know baseball but a perfect game is so rare that there have only been about 20 perfect games in all of baseball's 110 plus year history (modern era). The umpire's call was questioned and everyone watching knew that the runner was out for the 3rd and final out of the game but there was no video replay allowable in that case. This veteran umpire was reduced to tears when he saw the video replay later and realized he had missed the call. He apologized to the player but that call will stand and that player will never [at least it hasn't happened before] throw another perfect game.
If you're interested -- read this wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Galarraga%27s_near-perfect_game
M :-)
That was a very fine and very real goal indeed, everyone here agrees and is angry and embarassed. Oh, the refs are a disaster. Not good to demotivate Engerland like that at halftime! Still, Schland played well. They won't get past Argentina though, unless this really happens: http://janmanz.posterous.com/breaking-news-argentinien-von-wm-disqualifizi
Hi Anne -- I don't understand -- is that article in German? What does it say?
Mary
Anne, it's going to be a great game - final score 3-2 and at least 11 broken hearts.
Post a Comment