Football Crazy

It won’t really surprise many people that football doesn’t really interest me, really, at all (honest Guv!). I mean, come on …. a bunch of grown men, running around a grass field, wearing socks up to their knees and really short trousers, fighting with each other to chase a spherical ball and trying to put it through a rectangular frame at either end of the field, without touching the said ball with their hands … enough to keep you entertained for about 4.5 seconds before you realise that they get paid vast amounts of silly money to do this.

Well, I was in Frankfurt on Tuesday this week (13th June) and decided to meet up with Jeanne for dinner. We found a lovely little restaurant by the Main (the river that runs through Frankfurt) and enjoyed an extremely yummy salad with an even yummier dinner on a beautiful summer-like evening, accompanied by the setting sun. After dinner, we decided that ice cream was probably a good idea, so we walked towards the opera house where, I was assured, was the best ice cream in the city, made by the Dutch and sold by the Australians!

The further we walked, it became more and more obvious that there was something going on in the city. I mean, how could you really miss it – the football world cup was being held in Germany and the whole of the pedestrian zone in the middle of Frankfurt had turned into something that resembled what I can only imagine to be like a pilgrimage to Mecca – people from Brazil and Croatia walking up the hill toward the holy land that was the big television screen in the middle of the pedestrian zone. All the little restaurants and shops down the street had smaller television screen, of varying sizes, and these had just one thing in common – they were all tuned into the same channel – the footie match between Brazil and Croatia.

The atmosphere was pretty nice – lots of people wearing t-shirts from the teams that they were supporting, so needless to say there were many yellow shirts and red shirts (for Brazil and Croatia respectively). I noticed that there were far more red shirts than there were yellow ones, and this I realised was because, earlier on in the afternoon, the players from Togo & South Korea had been running around a patch of grass in their knee length socks, similar to the one that the Brazilians and Croatians were running around at the time and the South Koreans and managed to get the round ball through the correct rectangular frame more times than the players from Togo.

It took us a while to battle through the crowds towards the Australian ice cream shop, but given that we had already fought hard to get as far as we had, we were determined to complete the journey and claim the ice cream prize.

The ice cream was wonderful – mango and raspberry in a cone dipped in chocolate ……mmmmm. !

It was really difficult not to get caught up in the football atmosphere that had gripped this city. It so happened that Germany (the host country) was playing Poland the very next evening so I figured that going to watch the football (even though I really didn’t have much of an understanding of the game or the off side rule or even how many players from each team are meant to play (which I’ve been reliably informed is 11).

After having finished work around 8pm the following day (Wednesday), I put on my Johnny Wilkinson England Shirt (the only English sports t-shirt I have) and met up with a couple of friends in a pub close to the river, about 150meters from my old apartment in Frankfurt to watch the game.

I thought that the first half was pretty standard – not a lot happened. The Germans kicked the ball around for a little while and so did the Poles. Germany came close to scoring a few times but they never really managed to get the ball into the rectangular goal, in spite of having at least two or three opportunities - the Polish goal keeper did well to hold back the Germans. The first part of the second half was similar – more kicking of the ball, more chances squandered. I thought to myself that this game wasn’t really interesting – there had been no fights; no one had been sent off; no one had scored and we still hadn’t seen a streaker ! My longstanding view of football was justified !

Soon after, it all started to happen. One of the Polish players was sent off in the 83rd minute, to chants of “you’re going back to Poland” by the German fans. Then, in the first minute of stoppage time, Germany managed to score, which put them 1-0 ahead. Needless to say, everyone in the pub was on their feet and hugging and kissing each other as well….and then the party began.

We walked down the street and it was swarming with people. In the 5 months that I lived in the neighbourhood, I’ve never seen that many people there by a long shot ! There were flags being waved, car horns being tooted and fans chanting, “we’re going to Berlin!” The atmosphere was pretty euphoric – similar to that at the Roy-Tho (for those of you that don’t know what the Roy-Tho is, it’s an Annual interschool cricket match played in Colombo, SriLanka between my secondary school St.Thomas’ Collage and our arch rival Royal College! The atmosphere there is pretty amazing too !)

We continued our walk towards the riverfront through the celebrating Germans where we encountered a sea of yellow, black and red. There were fans from all over the place – Ireland, England, Croatia, Brazil, Italy Holland, Japan, SouthKorea in addition to the German and the Polish fans. The people were all shoulder to shoulder revelling in the atmosphere and drinking lots of beer from the beer gardens that were by the water. It’s pretty hard to describe what it was like, but I did take some pictures which really don’t do justice to the sense of excitement and camaraderie that was there.


Here are some of the pics that I took shortly after the Germany Poland game.




Some of the German fans with the German Flag




Crazy fan with crazy hat - also known as Football Head !




A disappointed Polish Supporter :-(




Some of the crowds by the river




More crowds by the Main




So, has my position about football changed? Probably. I still don’t understand the whole things about wearing socks upto your knees and shouting at the ref, but I think it’s fair to say that my curiosity has been aroused. I will most likely follow Germany’s and England’s progress through this world cup, and reserve judgement until then.

Losing my Virginity

What’s being a Virgin like? Can anyone remember? The step that I recently took into the world of blogging made me realise that I was still a virgin – a Blogging Virgin. And here I am a few blogs later and the question arises – am I still a Blogging Virgin? If not, what am I? What is the opposite of Virgin? Anti-Virgin perhaps (I don’t think that’s a good word – it sounds as of its against Virgins!) Is there an opposite to being a Virgin? At what point do I stop becoming a blogging Virgin and turn into an Anti-Virgin (for want of a better phrase)? What are the criteria? Is that a test that one must pass? Some sort of initiation perhaps? So many questions, so few answers .....

The whole blogging experience has been quite an interesting one. It gives me the opportunity to share my thoughts, ideas, ramblings etc with anyone and everyone that may or may not be interested. As one of my friends pointed out to me, “Using a blog to let people know what you’re doing is great, but it is not very personal”. It was also pointed out to me that I need to be careful what I put on my blog, just in case there are any weirdoes out there who find out a whole bunch of stuff about me and then go round the world doing impersonating me and doing bad impressionist sketches. This is very true (and we know that there are probably plenty of those out there on and beyond this crazy planet that we live in!). Having thought about it, I’m probably going to move this blog to an “undisclosed location” so, in the next few weeks (may be more) if anyone finds that my blog has disappeared, please don’t call the blogging police – just send me a comment/email and I’ll let you know where it’s moved to. Doing this (i.e. moving to a more secluded location) also means that I could post more personal stuff on my blog to share with you !

Those of you that already blog regularly will probably be able to identify with me when I say that, in some ways, blogging gives one a sense of relief and release. It can be a way of getting something off your chest, a medium to share stories and pictures with others and more importantly, to let people know what I think. I’ve discovered a nice little link at the top of this blog titled
next blog, (towards the top right hand corner of the blog). This is a cool button. It takes you to a random persons blog and I have to say that some of the things that some people have to share is very interesting.

On a different note, my mum’s been here almost ten days. I have to admit that being on my best behaviour for such a long time hasn’t been as difficult as I thought, but then I have cheated – I snuck off to Frankfurt for a couple of days last week (which I’m doing again on Wednesday for a couple of days). It’s been fun having my mum around J and there’s been a transformation in my apartment – it looks and feels a lot more homely (although my furniture hasn’t still arrived).

Here a quick summary of the last 10 days with Mum.

Friday 2nd June – I returned from Frankfurt; Mum arrived from London.
Saturday 3rd June – Met up with my mum’s cousin; went out for lunch to Pratar; walked round the shops in Karntnerstrasse s – mum’s favourite pastime).
Sunday 4th June – Walked round the city and saw some of the sights – Townhall; Hofsberg palace; St Stevens Cathedral; The Parliment; Rathhaus. Mum was tired afer all the walking so she crashed about 4pm – I was tired too, but I went out for my On2 Salsa class and then for Sushi with Katrin.
Monday 5th June – public holiday in Germany; went to Leaopoldsberg and the Sisi Church (in the 22nd district); went for crap Mozart and Strauss concert at Schonbrunn palace.
Tuesday 6th June – Frankfurt
Wednesday 7th June – Frankfurt
Thursday 8th June - Work! Then to IKEA with Mum.
Friday 9th June – More work; Mum went to Belverdere; more shopping in the evening (food!)
Saturday 10th June – Cooling and chilling; Pool party in the afternoon – Fabian’s 21st birthday – got chucked in the pool by Nathalie (my little cousin!). BBQ afterwards – got home about 2am.
Sunday 11th June – Beautiful Weather; more cooking and shopping in the morning; Strawbery Fest in Gunstrumdorf in the afternoon; Hung out in the city towards the evening; Went to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra at the Konzerthaus – had an amazing time there. The Orchestra, soloists and the Konzerthaus itself were all fantastic.

The next couple of days are going to me interesting too. Here’s the plan as it stands.

Tuesday 13th June - Lana and Tommy arrive. They were supposed to be here today but there was a change of plan. Will probably spend most of today working and also doing more apartment-type stuff.
Wednesday 14th June – Frankfurt
Thursday 15th June – Frankfurt
Friday 16th June – Frankfurt; back in Vienna in the evening. Tommy and Lana back in Vienna too. Christian will be here as well (brother of the bloke who is my cousin’s son’s godfather (I’m not even going to think about explaining that one !) Will be going out for dinner on Friday night cos it will be Mum’s last night in Vienna L
Saturday 17th June – Hang out with Lana and Tommy.
Sunday 18th June – Lana and Tommy leave.
Monday 19th June – Back to work!

It’s going to be a fun few days but I reckon I’ll be knackered by the end of it!

I’m off to Frankfurt again from Wednesday to Friday (probably going to get my bottom wire brushed by Condor if we don’t get their engine out to them by Thursday).


Coming back to Virgins then, has anyone worked out what the opposite of a Virgin is? Perhaps the Virgin King Sir Richard Branson will know … or perhaps Hugh Hefner. If one of you would be so kind as to contact Sir Dickie or Mr. Hefie and asck them, I’d be very interested to know what their thoughts are on this subject and what their answers are. Would any one care to speculate? Also, please send me your comments/suggestions as to what the opposite of Virgin is? I’ll be very interested to know – I will post all entries on a later blog.

Another airport, another flight

I've just looked at the time again - I'm in Vienna and it's 8.46am ... and I'm supposed to be in Frankfurt. My flight was at 7am and guess what - I missed it ! I guess it's my own fault really !

I was out last night seeing the Schoenbrunn Palace Orchestra (http://www.imagevienna.com/english/) playing a few pieces by Mozart and Strauss. They played a couple of numbers from Don Giovanni, the Marraige of Figaro and ofcourse, they played "An der schönen blauen Donau" (the "Beautiful Blue Danube" to us non-German speakers!). To be perfectly honest - I was a little bit disappointed. To begin with, the bloke that sold me the tickets was mistaken (or lied!) - I programme that I was shown wasn't the one that was performed (by the way, can someone please tell me how "programme" should be spelt in this context - is it "programme" or should it be "program" - what's the difference?). They was supposed to play "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and the "cat duet" (meaow meaow !) but this wasn't to be.

Also, the Suprano wasn't all that good - not that she couldn't sing, but I wasn't too impressed by her – at least it didn’t sound like she was strangling a cat! The orchestra itself lacked a bit of spark as well - personally, I felt that they could have played with a lot more expression - Rohan Joseph DeSarem (former conductor of the SriLanka Philharmonic Orchestra) would have had a cow and would have thrown his baton at us if we played the way this orchestra did. I'm not saying that they were bad (although the Cellist did lose the plot at one point!), but the performance was lacking in fire and passion!

I digress. This doesn't tell you much more about how I've found myself at the airport. The performance finished just after 10pm. We (my mum and I) really fancied some apple strudel (she’s been wanting to have some since she got here). Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be – the restaurant at Schoenbrunn palace was closed. So on the way home, we stopped by at an Italian restaurant (which didn’t take credit cards) for some grub – which wasn’t that nice either (and I didn’t have any cash on me – neither did mum !)

It was about 1am by the dime I got to bed, and I had planned on leaving home about 5.30am to catch my flight at 7. As expected, I left home shortly after 5.30am and got to the Austrian Airlines office by about 5:50m, where I left my car and took the shuttle bus to the airport (about a 5min ride). The buss arrived about 6.10 (which is the published time) and I got to the airport about 6.15am.

Previous experience suggests that the checkin desk for European flights closes 30mins before the flight – and I had 45mins. I went over to the self checkin machine and put in my miles and more card, but it didn’t seem to like it. I tried again, but still no luck. So I asked the girl in the Austrian Airlines uniform (which apart from a light blue scarf, is red from head to toe – dress, hat, tights, socks, shoes and most likely underwear as well, but I haven’t had the pleasure of being able to prove this yet) who also tried without much luck. She suggested that I go to the desk and check in there- so off I trotted off. When I got to the front of the desk, I was informed that the flight had already closed. I looked at the time, and it wasn’t quite 30mins before the flight. When I asked her at what time checkin closed, she politely told me that it was 45mins before the flight. Thankfully, the ticket I have is a flexible one, so I went over to the ticket desk to try and get on the 7.55am flight. Unfortunately, this flight was fully booked. I tried to switch on the old Ratnayaka charm and try and get her to squeeze me on to the flight, but unfortunately, the flight really was full (the charm didn’t get me on the flight, but it did get me the phone number of a pretty 27 year old Austrian girl J)

So now, I’m sat in the lounge trying to catch up on some work and get myself ready for the work that I’ve got to do in Frankfurt. To put this all in context, my return flight to Vienna is tomorrow evening and the plan was to get two full days work in the Frankfurt office (hence the planned departure at silly o’clock in the morning). So the two full days I was hoping to have has turned out to be 1.5days. This is not necessarily a bad thing – has given me a morning without email which I can actually use to do some proper work.

5 Things I’ve learned in the last 24hours.
(a) The checkin desk for European flights closes 45mins before the flight – not 30mins.
(b) It always helps if you are nice to people, especially girls at the checkin desk – they might not be able to get you onto the flight, but it’s still good to be nice to them
(c) The acoustics at Schoenbrunn Palace are not very good and the orchestra could do with a bit more fire (perhaps some fire crackers up their backsides!)
(d) Mozard was born in 1756 and died in 1791. Johann Strauss II lived from 1825 – 1899 and was one of 5 children. He was known as the Waltz king and his father had forbidden him from becoming a musician!
(e) Missing your flight isn’t necessarily a bad thing

Ok, I’ve spent just over an hour writing this – I should now get some work done and try not to miss my flight !