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A
French Experience
I
arrived home from Paris last Sunday night having watched
England lose to the French at rugby the previous day.
I thought beforehand that I'd be pretty distraught if
we were to lose, especially now that the expectations
are so high for our national team. But lose we did and
for the fourth time in as many years we saw our hopes
of a grand slam disappear. Normally I would be pretty
upset and depressed but not this time. Why not you may
wonder? Why would somebody passionate about his country
and English sport generally not be upset by such a shattering
defeat?
Well,
high on the list was the fact that I was in the company
of three good friends and drinking companions. We could
always seek solace in the bottle, and we did. Add to
that the fact that we were drinking in a fine city with
several thousand likeminded Englishmen who just wanted
to party and enjoy themselves. Then, consider that,
on the day, our side were defeated by a better team
and perhaps my lack of depression becomes understandable.
What
did depress and exhilarate me in equal measure was watching
the game in the Stade de France. I found it exhilarating
because the stadium is such a great work of art and
engineering and a credit to the country. It was depressing
for the same reason. Why, because we seem totally incapable
of building a national stadium like it anywhere in this
country (I except the Millennium Stadium because that's
in Wales). We can't even decide where our new national
stadium is going to be for goodness sake! I've got an
idea, why don't we hire the engineers and builders who
worked on the Stade de France and build an exact replica
on the site of the Millennium Dome? I'm only half joking!
The
second thing to depress me was the contrast in transportation
in the two countries. Anybody who's been to France will
know what I'm talking about. The French motorways or
autoroutes are a driver's dream. Smooth, very little
traffic and not a traffic cone in sight. The drive from
the Channel Tunnel to Paris was a delight. Not one hold-up.
Meanwhile back in England on the Sunday afternoon -
a decent enough blast on the M20 but then the M25 crawl
followed by an hour long jam on the M1 - on a Sunday!
Then, look at the railway systems. The French rail network
is the envy of Europe, sleek trains, new stock, no delays,
no problems with wet leaves while ours? No, I don't
even want to think about it.
As
for French football………….!!
JE
March 2002
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