Boxing Day.

I suppose I should start today's entry with the fact that late on Christmas I remembered to look up the time of the Leicester City Foxes football game we were to attend. Our tickets said 1500, but after running into our neighbor on Christmas Eve, and him telling us that the game was on TV, we thought we should check because sometimes they change the time for television. They did. Instead of 1500, it was to start at 1800. I'm so glad we checked, because getting there three hours early would have really sucked.

Our day started out with another sleep in. I got up and showered while Nid started the bacon and sausages and mushrooms. I made the scrambled eggs, gravy, and buttermilk biscuits. It was a wonderful meal, and a great start to Boxing Day.

After breakfast, which was about 11am I think, we cleaned up and then watched our daily movie. We heated up the apple pie and served it with caramel cinnamon waffle ice cream. It was amazing, and I am so glad waited and had it when we were not full from Christmas Dinner. After the movie, the children started their baths and got ready.

Our taxi arrived at 5pm. We only took it part of the way. For two reasons. The first is that it was more in the spirit to walk with everyone else walking to the stadium. The second was because it was Boxing Day, so the buses were not running and the taxis were charging fare and a half (because they could). We got to the stadium the same time as the police escorted away fans that had been bused in. I bought a program for the game, at a very reasonable £3 fee. We found our seats, and I was quite pleased with them. We were half way between the half way line and the goal, second row up. The hard core fans were almost directly behind us, and the away fans were in the corner closest to us, so we really were immersed in the spirit of the game.

This was my first live football game (with the exception of an under 21 US v Chili World Cup game at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville in... 1993?). It was very exciting. I didn't always know what was going on, but it's okay when it's live. Though instant replay would've been great! I caught a penalty in action on my camera, and then I also captured the goal scored as a result of the penalty. Leicester scored twice in the first half, and Sheffield United scored once in the second. We had a lot of attempts on goal, and it was very exciting for me. There were some colo(u)rful chants coming from the hard core fans behind us, my favo(u)rite one being when the Sheffield keeper made a goal kick, our fans sang "oooooOOOOOO YOU'RE SH*T AAAAhhhhhh!" I caught that on tape as well.

 

At the end of the game we walked a good ways from the stadium. It was much more crowded leaving and we all held on to each other pretty tightly to keep from getting separated. We stopped and called a taxi to take us the rest of the way, which I was glad of as the sidewalks were much slipperier than they had been on the way in. As we were stopped at a traffic light, we were entertained by some weirdly clad women walking by. I was trying to get pictures of the shoes/outfits when they turned to cross the road and I realized that the woman in 5+ inch high heeled shoes that could barely make it down the slight slope to the road from the sidewalk was pregnant! Unfortunately between shooting through the windows of the taxi and the street and headlights, I did not get a good shot. But it was one of those moments where you just go "WHY?" Why would you? I don't know.

We got home right before the children's bedtime. Nid and I watched a movie and then went to bed. It had been a long few days.

Click HERE for more photos.

Here are the highlights of the game. I took video myself, but this is easier.