Aside from the almost fortnightly bouts of head lice and the removal of the use of the belt another unfortunate thing about being a teacher is the rigidity of the holidays (can we not have our 11+ weeks off as and when required??), so you can imagine my delight when the away leg against Sporting Lisbon fell in the Easter holidays. Pogfather and I booked up immediately and with much excitement set off from Edinburgh to Lisbon (via Birmingham) on the Wednesday, arriving at our hostel around 9ish.
A quick change (I needed to justify the 4 pairs of jeans and 5 pairs of shoes I'd brought) then it was off to the main square. Although I'd not doubted it for a second the atmosphere was superb. We joined the bears outside Café Nicola and within a few minutes had met up with MFDM and other cheery souls: the Superbok and singsong were both in full flow. From there it was a short stagger up the road to the Hard Rock Café where again there were bears out in force and the atmosphere was immense.
The day of the match arrived; although the brief glimmer of sunshine which prompted us into shorts was short lived (see dad, there was a need for 4 pairs of jeans) the day was spent outside in the street enjoying singsong, Superbok (hic) and a local who'd learned in the space of a couple of hours to play the sash on his accordion. En route to the stadium disaster struck. Having been lost on the subway and rescued by a pair of bears we discovered Pogfather's wallet had been dipped, match tickets, all bank cards and all cash gone. With no hope of finding it and no chance of getting to the game we headed along to the tourist police and on the way there met a bear who on hearing our plight gave us a loan of euros and prompted his pal to do the same (WATP eh?). After a mad dash to the ground to buy more tickets we managed what had earlier seemed impossible and made it in to see The Rangers. The view from the front row of the top tier of the stadium reminded me of the part of the Carlsberg advert where the prospective tenant is taken out to the balcony of the flat only to see it over look the cup final venue. It was truly out of this world and the atmosphere as we triumphed over Sporting is something I'll never forget.
So now I am left with a problem. The next round takes place during school time (I did ask and was told to "write to West Dunbartonshire Council requesting time off" - good luck with that one) but watching a Euro away game from anywhere other than the stadium, and spending the hours before anywhere other than drinking in some foreign, bear infested street, just won't do. I have well and truly got the bug and just thinking of Wednesday - Friday of that week brings a massive grin to my face, even the 8 hour wait at Birmingham Airport on the way back. Just one more thing before I head off to start unpacking and washing my 4 pairs of jeans; Dad, I hope the amazing time and excellent laugh we had in Lisbon goes some way to making up for the fact that the (other) love of my life is a tim??
Obrigado for the memories bears.
Princessofgovan