SUNDAY 11TH DECEMBER 2022
Baby, it’s cold outside! Gutted not to have been able to run this morning because the pavements were so treacherous. I did try but decided that all I want for Christmas is not to have a broken leg so I gave in, picked up some coffee and came home. Total blow out last night while eating pizza and then watching the England v France World Cup Quarter Final – a whole 4 cans of 0% beer! Normally I limit myself to 2 so 4 definitely feels like an over-indulgence which is hilarious when I think that 4 cans of the regular stuff would normally have been par for the course on such an evening.
MY WHY
Yep, watching football and drinking alcohol seem to go hand in hand but really, why? I used to go to a lot of live games with my brother and we always went for a pint before the game, if circumstances allowed. When I say a pint, I mean at least 2 and, on occasion, more. Of course you couldn’t continue drinking in the stadium so I remember sobering up during the match and being close to hungover by the end of it. That would be followed by either falling asleep in the car on the way home or heading to a pub after the game for a hair of the dog then off we’d go again. Did I actually enjoy the game? At the time I was sure I did but, looking back, surely I couldn’t have been fully aware of what was going on. Then there’s the games that were just watched in the pub or at home with a case of beer – how much of them did I really take in? I find I just don’t have time to follow football these days and, with so much else taking precedence, it’s not something I’m prepared to make time for very often but I still appreciate it – it is indeed The Beautiful Game. So, why not just watch it without the beer goggles on? Surely people don’t have to get inebriated to enjoy watching a game. Surely, there is enough joy in the beautiful game itself to make it an experience worth having sober. And yet, as I said, watching football and drinking alcohol go hand in hand and people do it, just because they can and just because it’s what they’ve always done. What sheep we are! People in Arab countries enjoy their football sober. It is possible! And another thing, since I’ve become an observer…..The last time I went to watch a game in a pub, I was acutely aware of the change in atmosphere as the game went on and people got drunker and I didn’t like it. So, going forward, I’ll be sticking to the 0% when I do have the time to sit down and watch a match…. Just maybe not 4 cans of the stuff!
Theme Tune: Simply The Best by Tina Turner