Liverpool-Friendly


Two nights ago I watched Liverpool v. Galatasarai at a pub. It was the first time I actually went to an English pub to watch football and it couldn't have been better. I avoided the previous night's mistake and went to a non quiz-friendly and smoking-allowed pub with about one large-screen wherever you directed your gaze at. And also a couple of projectors. People started showing up about 45 minutes before kick-off and I was quite amazed to see people at Manchester walking up and down Oxford road wearing a Liverpool shirt with the name "Gerrard" and number 8 typed on the back. Since I was working until 7, I went to the pub by myself. My mates would come later on. By the time the game had started the pub was foul of Englishmen having a laugh and a beer. The second surprising incident I encountered was when Galatasarai had their first good shot of the game. There were some people cheering for the turkish team. "Hmmm, Turks... " I thought and kept on watching the game.
As time passed by and Galatasarai had more and more chances, I realized that there weren't so many turks I thought, but rather some Manchester United fans that would cheer for any team but Liverpool. The amazing thing was that not once did a Liverpool fan swear or whatever to a Manchester United fan or vise versa. Especially during the last minutes that the whole game was hanging by a single thread and everyone was quite emotional. People were just enjoying the game the way it is supposed to be enjoyed.

I can definitely say it: It was one of the best football nights ever... Until the next one, I guess.


I returned home having the munchies and decided to have a tuna. The container usually says stuff like "Suitable for Vegeterians" and "Very hot".

This time it read "Dolphin Friendly".

What did this mean??? Why would someone appreciate a product that says "Dolphin-Friendly"??? And what was dolphin-friendly?

1. The container was dolphin friendly. So if you happen to throw it to the sea after you have eaten the tuna, the container was only made out of ingedients made of substances that are hurtful to the dolphins' enemies

2. The specific tuna in the container was quite friendly towards the dolphins and wanted everyone to know by writing it on his tombstone

3. Being a dolphin maybe something like being a "fruit" in sea-talk. So, the specific tuna (or even maybe the flock of tunas that was captured) was dolphin friendly as in gay-friendly.

I can think of a lot different interpretations of the "dolphin-friendly" thing, but I honestly can't think of a reasonable one.

So, I'm at the bus stop, waiting for bus No. 50 to take me home from the University struggling to keep my eyes open when I see a cute English girl approaching alongside with a dark-skinned guy. He was not black but rather Indian-looking. "I thought the English are only friendly with the foreigners when drunk..." I thought humorously, and went back to reading METRO about the sporting activities last night.
The bus was -quite surprisingly- a couple of minutes late according to my cell-phones clock and so I raised my eyes to waiting to see the double-lorry coming. Not only did I not see the bus, but what I saw, took me by surprise. Instead of seeing a furious bus running, trying to catch up with the timetable on the bus stops, I saw the English girl kissing that guy. I thought I was more open-minded than that, but I took a better look to make sure this Indian-looking guy was not white-colored. Whenever I think about my reaction, I go mad about myself. I actually had to walk closer to the couple in love to hear his accent and either put his in the "Locals" group (that is English) or the "Rest of the world" group. I didn't find out just because when I realized what I was doing I stepped back and -honestly- tried not to bang my head on the wall because of how short-minded I was.
When I was back home, I never considered myself a racist, but on the other hand, I never experienced a similar event. I guess that it is natural for someone to recognize what's different, and maybe even be afraid or intimidated by that. It is one's option either to do something, or close within one's self and build up on that.

Something more joyful.

I did my finances last night. Since I'm having a lot of guests visiting me on October, I, from now on, am on a strict 6.5 pounds per day budget. If you subtract the tickets to/from University, we are down on a 4 pounds per day. Given that I have also set a 20 pounds per week budget for groceries, it's 4 pounds for candies or beers. Even though I am a huge fan of sweets, I think I'll go with the beer. Which means that I am allowed to have 1 pint and a half per day on average. It's football nights tonight and tomorrow, so I think I'll start cutting beers from Thursday. What about Fridays and Saturdays? Hmmm... Well... I guess a 10 pounds shopping per week won't let me starving....