Toulouse did lose

So after all the stress and vacillation I finally made it to the match only to see them lose. A strange experience in this vast 50 thousand seater stadium filled with only about 10 thousand fans, with their voices echoing round the empty concrete. TFC, whom I had thought I would be supporting in the future, were 2-0 up with 20mins to go and seemingly likely to score more, when they completely lost concentration and gave away 2 soft goals in 2 minutes and then a third at last knockings. Not, I think, an experience I will repeat !

Despite the game it was a day full of experiences; firstly an excellent late lunch in an italian restaurant, where-in I nearly treated myself to a bottle of Barolo, but as the price at 39.90 was only 10 cents less than my ticket I thought it a bit too extravagant and settled for Chianti instead !

The real drama came in the hotels underground car-park and was caused by the receptionist; in common with most french people who speak pretty good english they insist on speaking it when they recognise a "roast beef" murdering their beautiful language, as did she. But there are certain nuances that they can miss. For example she asked me if I had a BIG car, which I haven't, but I do have a TALL or HIGH car, which with the roof bars (fitted as standard) on, got jammed under the low roof !

A dilema easily solved as long as one can exit the said jammed vehicle, unfortuneatly the entry ramps as well as being very low were also very narrow. So like an utter prick I had to sit there till two fucking americans arrived but as we're helping them out in Irag they helpfully opened the hatch back so I could climb out over the seats. This was no mean feat for an old fart of my age, excessive bulk and minimal level of agility.

I let the tyres down (as it turned out) to about half pressure and after re-entering in similar fashion was able to get the car to a space, luckily it turned out that there was a service station in the next street, which next morning after (I was going to say hair-raising but it was more an embarrassing) 50 metre drive the wrong way down a one way street I was able to restore correct pressures without any damage to the tyres.

I don't think I shall be going back to that particular hotel ever again in case they recognise me