The Wroxton Hooligans

In England it’s Mum’s Day, so Happy Mum’s Day Mom, I miss you a lot, I hope you are enjoying my blog. This week was pretty drab, but we celebrated two birthdays. This past Tuesday was a girl name Jamie’s birthday. Jamie is like everyone’s mother because she acts like one: asking if we have a coat, making sure we don’t leave things lying around outside, etc. She invited everyone to celebrate downstairs in the Abbey basement. We all played drinking games, ping-pong, pool, darts, and chess. We also brought music down there and danced. It was a unique class bonding experience. The second birthday was Nicky’s, the bartender at the North Arms. My small click has become very good friends with the North Arms family and patrons. So we stayed there real late last night and celebrated her 26^th birthday. We made her a birthday card and bought her a cake; I gave her one of my farkel dice games (her and Gary loved the game when I showed them). She gave out free drinks and we all acted like nuts. At one point in the night I was dancing with Nicky and at another point I was stripping down to my boxers because some locals didn’t think I had the balls… ha—showed them. Both Birthdays were extremely fun.

Carry came down with pink eye this week. She’s getting better and I’m taking good care of her. I administer her eye-drops because she hates giving them to herself—one of the cuter things about her.

I went to Warwick Castle today. It was more toursity than Kenilworth, but just as exciting. I climb to the top of a tower for an amazing view. I went with a group of people into a haunted tour, which explained how Sir Fulke Greville was killed by his servant while actors scared the hell out of most of us. Then I went through a wax museum called Kingmaker. The exhibits were completely open to walk around in. I felt as though I was a time traveler walking through a frozen bit of the medieval time period. Madame Tassauds, the famous wax artist, was in charge of this project. Outside, there was a peacock garden, where I got so close to a peacock I could have kissed it. I was even thinking about sitting next to one on a park bench.

Yesterday was probably my best day here so far. The class went to the Birmingham City F.C. football match against the Tottenham Hotspurs. I bought body and face paint earlier this week for the game. Pat, Mike, and I, decided to paint the jerseys on our bodies. Two hours later, I would say, 65% of the class had face paint on. I did a bang-up job on Marks face—looked like brave-heart. Keep in mind Birmingham is like 4^th to last in the league and Tottenham is like upper middle (crucial to how awesome this story gets). When we got to the stadium the bus stupidly entered into the visitor’s parking lot. There were dozens of police officers patrolling the lot. Our makeup and support was so swish that the police officers thought they stepped foot onto a Blues Bus (Birmingham’s Hooligans). They couldn’t let us off the bus. So we drove the long way round and found our seating section. We were in the corner 2^nd-4^th row to the field and there is no sun. I was freezing my nipples off. Every BC fan was awestricken by our spirit. This was how they acted on first glance; wait till you hear how they treated us after the miracle occurred. Two minutes into the game BC scores off of a header during a corner kick. Everyone went wild. I put a jacket on because it was cold—no action for the rest of the first half. I took my jacket off for the second half… another goal. I kept the jacket off, another goal in five minutes. Then I put the jacket on because I have to pee. I was stopped three times on the way to the bathroom. People grabbed my arm and yelled in drunken tones, “You need to come back mate; you’re loads of good luck!!!” “Yeah, we never win a game.” If you know me at all, you know exactly what I was thinking. “I’m painted head to toe, running around like a nut, and these people think I am a lucky Idol…I am a god!”
I sat back down and the second I took my jacket off, another goal… It was like when ever the three of us had our “jerseys” showing at the same time, BC scored. We jeered at the Hotspurs fans, waved good-bye, and chanted, “It’s all over!” Birmingham wins 4:1 and the players themselves applauded us as they left the pitch. The fans didn’t praise the players for the win, they praised us. When we were leaving on the bus, people cheered and bowed down to us. We stopped at a light on the corner of the club house. A man tried to stop the bus and offered us all free rounds… I screamed, “Stop the bus!” my people want me… Most of us want to return for another game. The picture at the top of the post I actually took from the BC website. The caption for it was, “Great Fans.” None of this story has been an exaggeration by-the-by. I LOVE ENGLISH FOOTBALL.