greenpetunia
06-15-2008, 03:37 PM
I hope this is the right place to post this topic.
I must admit that I'm a soccer crazy bordering on the insane. I can remember every single world cup final since I was eight years old. I remember Pelé raising the Jules Rimet cup over his head in Mexico 1970 when satellite TV was still in its infancy, and pretty much black and white.
Then, I remember the so called "mechanical orange" in subsequent world cup finals, which take me to the topic in question. I am currently following the European Cup, and decided to drop by a bar close to where I work to see the Netherlands vs France match. In my city, neighbourhood bars are fairly friendly places that could mostly be described as cafés with no food and a wide arrangement of draft beers.
So, the other afternoon, I went to a local bar, asked for a draft and headed for an empty table to enjoy the match. The audience consisted mostly of Dutch men, a few odd French men, and an assortment of locals from different backgrounds. Very few women, I must say. It turned out that by the end of the first half, I looked around to get a second glass of beer and noticed that there was an empty space of about 3 to 4 feet around me, even though the place was completely packed from wall to wall. Some people, men actually, were standing, and even though there were 3 empty chairs at my table, nobody asked if they could sit.
I was a little puzzled by this, and today I went again to the same bar to watch the Portugal vs Switzerland game. I actually asked a friend to come with me to alleviate the soccer lonliness of not being able to comment on the game. The atmosphere was completely different, mostly Portuguese people, men, women and children all wrapped in their Portuguese flag, and talking lively to whoever would listen.
Personally, I don't think I need to large of a bubble and people getting close to me doesn't bother me a great deal. On the contrary, I felt a little "left out" with the large bublle during the first game. I wonder how you people feel about having people getting too close, or keeping too much of a distance.
I must admit that I'm a soccer crazy bordering on the insane. I can remember every single world cup final since I was eight years old. I remember Pelé raising the Jules Rimet cup over his head in Mexico 1970 when satellite TV was still in its infancy, and pretty much black and white.
Then, I remember the so called "mechanical orange" in subsequent world cup finals, which take me to the topic in question. I am currently following the European Cup, and decided to drop by a bar close to where I work to see the Netherlands vs France match. In my city, neighbourhood bars are fairly friendly places that could mostly be described as cafés with no food and a wide arrangement of draft beers.
So, the other afternoon, I went to a local bar, asked for a draft and headed for an empty table to enjoy the match. The audience consisted mostly of Dutch men, a few odd French men, and an assortment of locals from different backgrounds. Very few women, I must say. It turned out that by the end of the first half, I looked around to get a second glass of beer and noticed that there was an empty space of about 3 to 4 feet around me, even though the place was completely packed from wall to wall. Some people, men actually, were standing, and even though there were 3 empty chairs at my table, nobody asked if they could sit.
I was a little puzzled by this, and today I went again to the same bar to watch the Portugal vs Switzerland game. I actually asked a friend to come with me to alleviate the soccer lonliness of not being able to comment on the game. The atmosphere was completely different, mostly Portuguese people, men, women and children all wrapped in their Portuguese flag, and talking lively to whoever would listen.
Personally, I don't think I need to large of a bubble and people getting close to me doesn't bother me a great deal. On the contrary, I felt a little "left out" with the large bublle during the first game. I wonder how you people feel about having people getting too close, or keeping too much of a distance.