Jonola14

CHIRPY VOMIT

Having lived in Watford and Harrow for over three years, you would be forgiven for thinking that I had grown accustomed to North London, its diverse culture and its varied demographics. Not so, for a last minute free ticket to the Tottenham v Everton match on Saturday provided me with the opportunity to sample the delights of true inner city, urban living once more.

It was Shaun that had phoned up the previous night, all excited because he’d got free tickets to the game and did I want to go. Hell yes. Not since 1985 had Spurs lost at home to Everton, so the chances of three points were extremely high. We met at King’s Cross, negotiated a closed Victoria Line and eventually wound up at Seven Sisters where we exited the station and began our 20 minute walk to White Hart Lane.

Match day is always fun, with lots of rival supporters mixing and mingling together in what are usually friendly exchanges of banter. There are all the hot food stands, the programme sellers, the merchandisers and the touts all trying to sell you something, there are the police looking menacing on horseback and there’s always an Arsenal fan giving some lip to the Spurs fans that walk past.

We were taking this in, enjoying the atmosphere of match day, as neither of us had been to a game for about three years. As we walked past one of the hundreds of shops on that endless parade towards the stadium, a woman staggered towards us, her mouth open, her lips curving round and her tongue beginning to protrude through it all. She turned to one side, just as we got level with her and threw up all over the pavement. Lovely. Thank goodness I’m moving south of the river in a couple of weeks.

At four minutes to three, we took our free seats and barely had time to sit down before the teams came out and the singing began. The match itself took a while to get going and the Spurs performance is best summed up with this single word: dire. That aside, at half time, the Spurs mascot ‘Chirpy’ wandered around the stadium, climbing over seats and people to meet fans. For some unknown reason, he hopped over several chair-backs to come and introduce himself to us! It was little consolation though, given the disappointing performance on the field.

Upon walking back to Seven Sisters, we did notice that there was a footprint in that pile of vomit. I can’t wait to move.