Today, we started the day at the Natural History Museum. We got our first taste of the "rainy London" on our way there.
We learned lots about creepy crawlees, birds, dinosaurs, mammals, "Earth Today and Tomorrow," and more. Too much to describe, really, but one thing deserves noting. Dinosaurs are amazing. Apparently, lots of people agree with me because this exhibit was by far the most crowded. (Thought experiment: is it good to make a museum free even though it likely leads to overcrowding? The simple fact that I appreciate how nice it is that poor kids can enjoy this type of experience lures me from my default free-market position. But I do wonder if there isn't a better intermediate solution.)
After the museum and a little rest, it was time to make our way to Brighton for the football game. Our adventure didn't really get started until we got to the train station. We couldn't figure out how to buy tickets from the machine so we had to talk to someone at the desk. After harshly telling us that we were at the wrong station (the right one was a 2 minute walk away), he told me how stupid it is that I haven't signed the back of my credit card--he went on to explain that "see ID" doesn't mean anything in England since they don't have IDs and we're not in America anymore. Thanks, jerk. I wanted to cite Tyler Cowan's thoughts on the matter but we were a bit lost and in a hurry and I just wanted to get out of there.
After a bit over an hour on the train, we were in beautiful Brighton.
And then we made our way to Withdean Stadium.
The seats are separated into sections for the home fans and the away fans. We sat in the away section since I have to support our yanks abroad (there are 3 US players on Fulham--two of which started the game.) There was a buzz in the stands before the game began. When each Fulham player was announced, all the Fulham supporters yelled "hey!" Then yelled "ugh!" and "who are you?" for the Brighton players. As soon as the game began, the songs began across the stadium. Only 3 minutes in, Brighton scored. Didn't stop the Fulham supportors from singing their songs, though. A bit later one of the Brighton players "took a knock" and had to be helped off the pitch. The Fulham supporters responded with a nice rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Then they took aim at city of Brighton with "you'rrrre city is full of gaaay boys!" followed by "We can see you holding hands" to the tune of "London Bridge." They were ruthless. They even sang "fat bastard" at an overweight man as he walked across Fulham's section towards Brighton's section. And they were constantly taking aim at the stewardess. Every time she would tell people to sit down, they'd sing "Stand up if you haaate Chelsea!" And fulham fans HATE Chelsea so lots of people stood up and sang along. She can't kick out the whole section, right? Clever. They didn't have to be provoked to sing about hating Chelsea, though. It's a part of one of their most popular chants.
Oh yeah, there was a game going on as well. US international, Clint Dempsey, scored the equalizer late in the first half. Fulham scored again in the second half to win 2-1. Woo hoo!
We learned lots about creepy crawlees, birds, dinosaurs, mammals, "Earth Today and Tomorrow," and more. Too much to describe, really, but one thing deserves noting. Dinosaurs are amazing. Apparently, lots of people agree with me because this exhibit was by far the most crowded. (Thought experiment: is it good to make a museum free even though it likely leads to overcrowding? The simple fact that I appreciate how nice it is that poor kids can enjoy this type of experience lures me from my default free-market position. But I do wonder if there isn't a better intermediate solution.)
After the museum and a little rest, it was time to make our way to Brighton for the football game. Our adventure didn't really get started until we got to the train station. We couldn't figure out how to buy tickets from the machine so we had to talk to someone at the desk. After harshly telling us that we were at the wrong station (the right one was a 2 minute walk away), he told me how stupid it is that I haven't signed the back of my credit card--he went on to explain that "see ID" doesn't mean anything in England since they don't have IDs and we're not in America anymore. Thanks, jerk. I wanted to cite Tyler Cowan's thoughts on the matter but we were a bit lost and in a hurry and I just wanted to get out of there.
After a bit over an hour on the train, we were in beautiful Brighton.
And then we made our way to Withdean Stadium.
The seats are separated into sections for the home fans and the away fans. We sat in the away section since I have to support our yanks abroad (there are 3 US players on Fulham--two of which started the game.) There was a buzz in the stands before the game began. When each Fulham player was announced, all the Fulham supporters yelled "hey!" Then yelled "ugh!" and "who are you?" for the Brighton players. As soon as the game began, the songs began across the stadium. Only 3 minutes in, Brighton scored. Didn't stop the Fulham supportors from singing their songs, though. A bit later one of the Brighton players "took a knock" and had to be helped off the pitch. The Fulham supporters responded with a nice rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Then they took aim at city of Brighton with "you'rrrre city is full of gaaay boys!" followed by "We can see you holding hands" to the tune of "London Bridge." They were ruthless. They even sang "fat bastard" at an overweight man as he walked across Fulham's section towards Brighton's section. And they were constantly taking aim at the stewardess. Every time she would tell people to sit down, they'd sing "Stand up if you haaate Chelsea!" And fulham fans HATE Chelsea so lots of people stood up and sang along. She can't kick out the whole section, right? Clever. They didn't have to be provoked to sing about hating Chelsea, though. It's a part of one of their most popular chants.
Oh yeah, there was a game going on as well. US international, Clint Dempsey, scored the equalizer late in the first half. Fulham scored again in the second half to win 2-1. Woo hoo!
3 comments:
sounds like a pretty entertaining
game with the favorite team winning,
and for all parties sake good thing
you chose to sit in the area of the crowd in which you were cheering for.
And we all know how ruthless the halo parties are yet sounds like these
fans were even more chaotic than the
halo battles. I wonder was there
cold bear at the game I would imagine
so.
I'm sure the beer was cold at the game. Not intentionally, though. It was FREEZING out there.
Hey I went to homeboy's blog on the credit card thing and found this HIlarious link
http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/
I'm glad you two are having a fun time
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