half time (nearly)
Therefore it’s definitely time for an update and a few moments away from the TV!
So far we have seen the hosts – generally accepted to be the crappest team in the tournament and the lowest ranking on the way in – knock five past Saudi Arabia then three past Egypt and barely break a sweat in the process, a woeful and bad-tempered German side deservedly punished in their first outing (¡Vamos México!) although at the time of typing they’ve just redeemed themselves, plus a thoroughly unconvincing Argentina held first to a 1-1 draw by Iceland (entire population somewhere just shy of 350,000) and then thumped 3-0 by Croatia. And everyone’s favourite buck-toothed little madman Luis Suarez not only put Uruguay on the scoresheet but has got through a full hundred and eighty minutes of football without trying to eat anybody.
The early finishes have puddled a few folk here but only those who don’t read the ads, so no tears to shed there. And plenty of domestic progress is being made in the down time – a good old-fashioned blitz clean and full-scale vacuuming has taken place with the help of the ever-eager Henry, pedicures and face masks have been had and even the fishes have had a good spruce up and some new plants. Far too much of everything has been eaten but it’s only once every four years after all, and since my stoic-but-ancient Miele fridge freezer is definitely on the blink I’m on something of a mission.
Favourite dive so far: Portugal’s Pepe gets an unprovoked and admittedly firm double shoulder tap from Moroccan centre back Benatia and goes down like he’s been shot. Hahahahaha.
Favourite fans: pretty much all of them, but I won’t be the only person whose hayfever mysteriously reappeared when everybody from Panama got to hear their national anthem played at the World Cup for the first time. Peru definitely win the shirts and I win the not-missed-a-single-game award, although I can’t pretend to have been entirely awake for all of them.
Meanwhile life continues elsewhere! FrightFest passes go on sale next Saturday at noon, meaning that the site will likely unfreeze and start allowing purchases at some point around the twenty past one mark if last year is anything to go by. We’ve been told we will be in the same screen as last year at the former Empire (and technically even in the thirteen hundred seater Empire One, my favourite cinema auditorium ever and sadly no longer with us) I’ll know now to be prudent when it comes to choosing the distance from the front; having not been in an IMAX before last year I made a classic rookie error and wound up in Row D, which turned out to be so close to the gigantic screen I had to move my head to read the subtitles. Further back this year I think, not only for the sake of my sight but also because I can only fit so many Nurofen in my handbag and still have enough space for Maltesers.
As the football calms down a bit (sort of – two matches being played simultaneously is challenging stuff so I’m planning to do the catch-up dance with iPlayer and ITV Hub if the commentators don’t spoil it) the planning of the next few months is well underway, with London dates for August thanks to an enviably good pre-FrightFest hotel deal down in (finally) Waterloo and a tentative trip to the V&A’s Frida Kahlo exhibition prior to the Disney all-nighter at the Prince Charles Cinema in September – yay! There will be another visit in November and then the usual pre-Christmas fun and games in (fingers crossed) Victoria again; last year was a very welcome chance to blow away some cobwebs before the langour and I’m looking forward to it already!
So back to it and at the time of writing, arguably the best day of football so far is drawing to an end! More of the same tomorrow for the last of the three-match days and in honour of the whole thing, Song of the Week is my favourite ever football song that has John Barnes rapping in it. Happy days…
More soon! And with apologies to those who aren’t the least bit interested – I promise it’ll all be over in three weeks.
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July 7th, 2018 at 2:45 pm
‘When you win, you don’t get carried away. But if you go step by step, with confidence, you can go far.’