God save the... Quiz

That was another shocker. The english are loving Quiz-nights. It all started two weeks ago, a Tuesday night. Actually, it was not a regular Tuesday night. It was a Champions League Tuesday night. To be more precise, it was a Champions League Tuesday night with Manchester United playing. In Manchester.

Me and one of my mates went to "Oxford" to watch the game. We both expected the place to be crowded with teeth-missing, drunk, loud and angry Manchester United fans, or at least the plain ones. Instead, we found mixed-sex groups of five or six studying religiously copies of the same paper and listening carefully to the guy holding a microphone announcing questiongs. We shrugged and said "That's a weird place". Acting rather snobbish, we simply ordered our beers and watched the game isolated from any kind of human interaction.

I discovered the second piece of the puzzle last Sunday, when my Hall of Residence organized a quiz night. This time, we decided to be part of the community and took part. We actually reached rock bottom. I'm just glad that there was a question to name the Greek god of the sea and our answer sheet wasn't returned completely blank. Since my Hall of residence is an international one, the participation wasn't overwhelming, but still, I believe that all English residents (at least the ones I know) where there.

The last piece was found last Tuesday. We went out to have a nice cold beer, sit on a table and listen to some music. At least we got the beer right. All the tables we taken by groups of people concentrating and trying to solve the riddles announced by the host. Once again we were kind of alienated, but at least, we had a good time.

Apparently, in Manchester, Tuesday night means Quiz night and not even football can make the locals miss it.

Different cultures have different kinds of habbits. I am having difficulties even trying to imagine this event taking place back home. No. People would be way too "cool"-ish to participate.