A Lost Post from Manchester

Found this in a rambling Word document.

5 April - Trains and Football

The trip from Glasgow to Manchester wasn’t what you’d call smooth. My first train was cancelled and replaced by a bus in which I was sat next to the largest man in the north of England and in front of a shrieking baby. Large man was really upset about something to do with football and his girlfriend and his ex and his kid and his job, and he when he wasn’t swearing at people over the phone about it, he was ordering people to move things out of the way of his giant feet. At Carlisle I transferred to a perfect train – nearly empty with friendly people and comfy seats – but we were only on it for about five minutes before we were in Preston and I had to change trains again. I’m sorry to report, Sister Who May Read This, I didn’t get a good look at the town of our surname even supposing the train went near there (Preston is close by, that’s the only reason I may have had a chance to see it), mainly because the last train I was on was so full that even though I had a supposedly reserved seat, I had to stand with a group of people, smashed between the luggage rack and toilet and couldn’t see a thing.

I still had the shakes from that bitch of a hangover I was nursing and I wasn’t about to go out even if it was Saturday night in the middle of the city, so I crawled into bed at about nine and mostly slept over the racket of the clubbers in the street below. The poor guy in the bunk below me was in bed at least an hour before me and if this morning was anythign to go by, had to sleep in until about eleven. He seemed really disturbed by the loud people outside. I may be a light sleeper, but I’m glad I’m still able to get up and do things even if fatigued or traveling wouldn’t be any fun at all.

I made a daytrip Sunday to York to walk through York Minster – a giant church that was built on top of an old Roman building. I went there a few years ago with my army buddy and his wife and newborn kid and thought it was the coolest. Of course, I was about two days out of the army and everything was just fabulous to me. One of my favorite memories of all time is floating down the Ouse (pronounced “ooze”. Isn’t that the coolest name for a river ever?) while drinking some foamy beer (Tetley’s I believe) and giggling every fifteen seconds, “I’m not in the army anymore!” This trip was also beautiful and sunny and while I enjoyed the church and walking through the cobblestone streets and along the old walls of the city, it kind of made me miss my friends a whole lot. It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen them and they’re not big on writing.

I made it back to Manchester theoretically in time to catch the Manchester United vs Aston Villa match, but I couldn’t find a bar that was showing it for the life of me. I returned to the hostel after a half hour of searching and got directions towards a couple different places halfway across town. I made it to one of them at half time to find the score at 1-1. There were a couple of young guys with Villa shirts on, but the bar seemed mostly United fans. When Villa scored to make it 2-1, there didn’t seem to be much of a reaction and I suddenly worried that maybe the people there just weren’t into the game and were only putting up with it on their afternoon out. But then Ronaldo evened the score with an unthreatening-looking ground ball that snuck into the corner of the net and there was a bit of cheering. The game then got really exciting with some back and forth play and some great cutting passes from United. The moment began to build for them and when five minutes of stoppage time was announced a cheer went around – that may be enough! Earlier in the half, Nani – definitely my least favorite player for United – was replaced by some 17-year-old I’d never heard of who had apparently never played for the first team. At about three minutes into stoppage time the ball was pinging around the edge of the box and then in to the 17-year-old who made this crazy stop and turn and curved an absolutely perfect shot into the top right corner. You couldn’t have choreographed a better shot, play or ending to a game. The entire bar erupted (well, except the Villa fans, of course), chairs fell over as people jumped up and down, hugging each other and shouting. The kid who scored the goal reacted just as you’d expect a teenager who’s just scored on his debut for the biggest club in the world in front of the home fans, running circles, shrieking while his teammates mobbed him. In the stands, the cameras picked up on a grown man, crying with relief. If United win the league title this year, and it looks unlikely they’ll lose it now, this game will go down as a key point in the season and I am very glad I got to be present for it.