I got out again today! I had been given a lift into the kirk yesterday, a great help, and this morning I wandered around Sainsburys before visiting the excellent Beaumont's butchers shop in Bank Street. I needed to fill the freezer with sausages and this shop actually puts meat as well as herbs and honey into them. In short they actually feed you! Expensive, but well worth it in the end. A friendly couple run it, most other shoppers were friendly also, and stocked up for a week or two with most things means I now have to check what money is left. oops, that's not good...
Sad to say I have spent far too much time on Twitter 'liking' and 'retweeting' posts regarding England's welcome humiliation in Berlin. The reaction of the English fans has encouraged an outpouring of joy in Scotland, Wales and the whole of Ireland, not counting Belfast obviously.
Great relief in knowing we will hot have another 60 years of 'We won this,' from the English media, always ignoring the 'The ball did not cross the line,' response. Cheating is OK it appears if you are English.
The Welsh in particular enjoyed the honorary president of the English Football Association, 'the 'Prince of Wales,' as he and his son suffered the defeat with due care and attention. You may grin here...
Having continued this morning to Tweet voraciously for an hour or so I then began to attend to other chores. First the shopping, then chatting to the landlords man, then back to checking the 'We always loved Spain,' tweets.
I noticed only one lass on duty in Sainsburys, and not the usual one. Staff appeared missing. They say many have not arrived home or attended work, though traffic is moving around. Indeed there were no obvious sirens to be heard last night, it appears even 'Weatherspoon's' folk did not destroy the town. I saw no evidence of that this morning.
Isn't it funny how a game can have an affect on us all?
In ancient Rome it was chariot races that got people going, in particular the sides of 'Blue' or 'Green.' These could lead to mass rioting in cities and much destruction. Was it in Milan that one governor locked rioters in a stadium and set the army to slaughter 5000 of them with the sword? I think Bishop Ambrose was irked by this if memory is correct.
We need a side to belong to, and this can build us up and support us. It can also divide, as Trump and Nigel prove to our cost. It is very easy to say 'They are your problem.' Many will believe. The tribal support can be good of course. A small or large town which ahs a team playing in a cup final will find almost the entire town is up for the cup! Grannies and disinterested will take note and support. The whole town then suffers despair or joy at the result. Each one sharing the emotional response of all others. This is good. On occasion it can be bad, riots occur in many nations at football results, and often domestic abuse results in the home. Of course what the media ignores is the fact that a third of such abuse comes from females on men, but that does not sell papers nor fit the story feminists wish to force upon us.
It is of course better wars are decided by playing football rather than bombing one another, but this is not always possible. Wars have indeed been begun by football but maybe this is a better way to deal with oppressors?
Anyway, now I have many friends on Twitter, many Welsh, Irish and Scots friends I never knew before. Football does indeed bring us together.
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