Round Two ... Fight!

22 June - Well, it might have only been a draw but what a drawer. Wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get the time off in what is often the busiest part of the day but I gave adequate warning so it didn’t seem to be too big a deal. Finding a pub that was actually going to play the game was a slightly more difficult proposition - all the places i'd been to were going to play the game but because it was on at the same time as the Brazil-Japan game it was unlikely that the oz game would be a single screen in a corner - we're only going to have the sound for the 'main game' I was told. Main game? Brazil is definitely in the next round - Australia and Croatia are battling for survival. Decided to try the Cambie even though i'd been told that they'd probably be playingthe brazil game - I finally got all my trips off and made it half an hour after the start, just in time to see Australia equalise. Excellent game to watch - bit of a nailbiter, as my brother often likes to remind me, I don't know anything about sport but I knows whats I likes and I likes that game. Was joined by Marcus and Taen, one of the really seriously alcoholic couriers who happens to be very knowledgeable about football and quite a few other things despite his perpetual inebriation - most enjoyable afternoon. Next stop, italy, aye. As soon as it was over clocked back in and was pretty hectic for the rest of the afternoon - had the awful experience of losinga trip just after getting back from the game - it wasn’t the booze (i only had one beer ... and one shooter of the awful sickly sweet Yukon Jack to celebrate the end) but it certainly contributed because after backtracking to the four places i'd been since pickingit up when I went to confess the loss of the trip some guy from toffice found it in the toilet (not in the bowl, per se, but in the men's 'washroom'). Reminder - always put package in bag before going to the toilet. Not the best return financially, but considering I had a 1.5hr break in the middle of the day it was pretty damn good. Came home, finally finished my book 'The information' that has en a realy struggle for the past month - somethingabout it just makes me want to fall asleep after a couple of pages, which is rather coincidental because there is a novel within the book itself that is apparently so unreadable that every publisher who tries ends up havinga migraine before Pg11 and so it remains unread. Life imitatingart I guess.
These longdays ar reallystartingto screw with me - it doesn’t get dark until half nine or 10 and it means at a time when i'm reallyneeding to get a full night's sleep i'm not crashinguntil after midnight. At least solstice has passed and the days will be getting shorter,but not appreciable for my remaining time in this country.