The World Cup Effect

As much as I'm loving the world cup (see above) it is causing me a great deal of distress - financially. Each England and Australia game has involved copious amounts of alcohol and therefore quite a deal of money being spent. I wouldn't normally mind but I'm due to make a long and expensive trip back to Australia via San Francisco for my old friend Jason's wedding. It's not a disaster but I may just have slightly less spending money than first thought! Speaking of the world cup, did you all catch the Socceroos match on Sunday? I went to watch it with Nicole, Bree, Nicole's Chloe, Nicole's old work boss Ajaye and a couple of her gaelic friends - as well as Mike, Aaron and Damien. We watched it in a very packed Walkabout pub where we drank snakebites, crownies and tooheys and listened to some barnsey, farnsey and ol' Slim Dusty (very exciting when over here trust me! I even wore my novelty crocodile dundee hat!) I thought we put up a fantastic performance and really deserved a draw. I also think that most people respect our side a great deal more now - every non-Australian person I've spoken to said they were amazed how well we played. The Times newspaper here even voted Australia the biggest surprise of the tournament so far (that's the one and only time I'll ever say a positive about the The Times - conservative right wing paper that it is...).

The day before I also went to a street party in Clapham that was set up by a bar I go to. So to save a bit of dosh I had my first BBQ of the summer on the roof terrace at home with Mike and Aaron before heading out for it. The street party was really good without being fantastic but Kazbar and Two Brewers (bars I frequent) were heaving for a change so twas a really good day/night indeed. I've attached a picture of us at the beginning of the evening (I don't think we looked as fresh at 2am)



So now I'm off to yet another match - England v Sweden. Luckily for my finances drinks are only £1.50 so can have a decent night for under a fiver. Let's hope England win because if they lose they face the Germans in the 2nd round. I'm not sure I can handle a saturation of WWII references for the next few days! I must admit I am supporting England behind the socceroos so I do hope they put in a good performance.