Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Today I was one of 30,024 people to attend the Leeds v. Watford soccer match – an experience which left me partially deaf for fifteen minutes or so.

Plans to have a hamburger beforehand were scuppered when we were told at the MacDonalds place near the ground that they'd run out of beef. So I satisfied myself with a 'Large chips' from a nearby food stall. These turned out not to be not a large portion of normally sized chips but a small portion of oversized chips. Or French fries to American readers.

On entering the ground, I was intrigued to see the notice “Smoking is only allowed in designated zones after kick off". These turned out to be outside the stands, near the entrances/exits, and the the question arose – Is smoking therefore permitted everywhere before kick off or nowhere except in these zones and only after kick off?

Anyway, during a less-than-exciting first half, my main interest was in the the activities of the numerous police and stewards around us as they strove, I supposed, to minimise the atavistic tendencies of the supporters of both teams.

I was particularly taken by the sight of two policemen with expensive Nikon cameras taking fotos of members of the crowd meeting some criteria or other. After pondering what these might be for quite a while, I ultimately decided the police weren't in search of thugs but of that most reprehensible of creatures in the UK today – the smoker.

To change the subject rather drastically . . . In need of a new laptop, I have to decide between a Macbook or an Ipad2. So, hampered by inexperience with both of these, I'd really appreciate the views of readers familiar with their respective pros and cons. My thanks in advance.

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