boxing day

"What is Boxing Day?" my Turkish-born American engineer friend asked. "Does it really have anything to do with boxing?" he asked our Canadian-born duel-citizen musician friend, putting his hands up in the pugilist position. In truth, Boxing Day is the closest equivalent in Britain to the day after Thanksgiving -- in other words the biggest shopping day of the year -- as well as a national "bank" holiday.

Chelsea 4 - 4 Aston Villa. A neutral observer would consider the game a good value for money: It is unusual to say the least to see eight goals in one match at that level of soccer competition! The game had a little of everything, except defense: 3 red cards, 2 penalties, etc. My seats were exactly as advertised: "Restricted view." I was in the very last row of the lower tier, in the corner, where even the field itself was half-hidden if I stood up straight. Still, I managed to snap a few good photos of the action on our end, including one just a moment before a goal was scored, showing the ball passed to the Chelsea player, Andriy Shevckenko, just as he is about to strike the ball sweetly into the upper corner of the net from 25 yards out. I could not see the giant video screen from my seat, so it was difficult to see the penalty that lead to the last, game-tying goal for Aston Villa. I can only assume it was a hand-ball or some other drastic, last-ditch effort on the part of Chelsea to keep the ball out of the net, judging by the flow of play in those last few dying moments. Overall, it was a great game to see, as a spectator, but a very disappointing result for the home side. We cannot afford to drop points like that.

After the game, I walked aimlessly around London for several hours. This is how I have spent most of my hours in London, just walking around. I finally settled down for dinner at a trendy but reasonably-priced Itialian restaurant near the Victoria Station bus and train terminal. Then something extraordinary happened. The waitress there seemed to take a liking to me. I cannot explain why or how, but she was very attentive. Having learned that in Europe, you are not shown your bill until you ask for it, and most people stay at their tables some time after dinner, I settled down to my book, enjoying her attention. I mean, she was attractive. Not strikingly beautiful, but definitely cute and definitely attractive. Toward the end, she told me, "We're doing coffee's on the house," and asked if I'd like one. Of course I accepted, also looking around to see if other customers seemed to be getting free coffees. They were not. By then, it was getting close to closing time. My heart raced. I should ask her to go for drinks. And then she was standing right there for a whole minute, right beside my table, waiting, and I had my chance. But I froze up! I kept my eyes fixed on my book, and after a moment of apparent exasperation, to my surprise, she left the restaurant promptly at nine, before collecting my bill, while the other employees were still busy with the last customers. I swore at myself all night afterwards and resolved not to waste such opportunities in the future.

I have more details and photos to add later, but that's the basic story of my Boxing Day. Today I take a bus all the way to Prague, arriving tomorrow morning. The buses to Amsterdam were full.