Valiant in Defeat

So we lost 2-0 but it doesn't really matter. We were playing the World's Best after all. And at the end of the game the Brasilians were swapping shirts so that can only mean RESPECT.



I was speaking with my darling JD throughout the game, who was watching from the historic Domplatz in Magdeburg with his work colleagues. The huge crowd were loving how the Aussies were playing and the German commentary was completely impressed too - speaking only praise and admiration. The Germans are seriously having a lovefest with Australia during this World Cup and it seems like the feeling is mutual. All reports are saying that the Aussies cannot believe how generous and friendly and hospitable the Germans are and the Germans are adopting the Aussies into their hearts and because I know what the Germans are like 1st-hand - once you're in you're in, and the friendship bond will never ever falter. Which makes me feel very proud of the Germans because I do think they tend to get a bum steer by the rest of the world and are often completely misunderstood. And proud that we Aussies, who are a pretty endearing bunch when you scratch beneath the yobbo surface are being embraced in this way.



So I am feeling completely envious about not being able to share all of this atmosphere. If only my studies could allow it. JD had also just spent a glorious summer day on a motor-bike (a Suzuki 1200) travelling the secondary roads and passing fields covered in poppies and all sorts of flowers and summer crops. This is how we spent the summers together - packing picnics and jumping on the bike, throwing a blanket down in a field and hoping the farmer wouldn't come along, buying berries of all descriptions from the grower and stuffing our faces, driving through beautifully scented forests and crossing rivers on tiny punts. The summers 96-99 in Germany were amongst the best I've ever lived.
Which is reminding me how badly we need a scanner because that whole time was documented on slide film only - and it's been a few years now since we've had the projector out.