Saturday Jan 14th- day 8

Went over to Fremont today to go to the "Geoge & Dragon" English pub. Fremont is not that far from Uni but needed a bus journey. I got off too early and walking under the huge bridge, I came across this massive Troll!



Then it was onto the pub, which I expected to be poky and empty- WRONG! Nice big pub, lots of English beers, and a crowd of mainly American people in footy scarves. There were a lot of Arsenal fans- "Gee, that Arn-ree dude is something else..." and a selection of others too. I watched Liverpool play Spurs at Anfield. It was quite a close match, with not many chances, but Liverpool scored the only goal, and it was the kind you dream about- a long cross from the right and Harry Kewell blasts the ball into the net on the volley. Here he is about to pull the trigger- BAMMM!



Kewell, the injury prone, highly paid enigma with a bun on his head. Doesn't matter if you score like that, Harry! I have scored several goals like that one, although usually I have been wearing my pyjamas and snoring at the time.

After that, the TV switches to the Seahawks' big game. It's raining at Qwest Field (downtown Seattle) and it's a hard fought game. American football is a funny game really. It's stop start advert stop start advert, and for the most part it is just big beefy guys wearing body armour crashing into one another. The star Seattle player gets a concussion, and wobbles off the pitch. Then something happens, and everyone in the bar stands up and does that horrible "Wooooooooh" noise. TOUCH DOWN!High fives all round. This isn't a sport, it's an endurance test. But still, I get drawn into the game, and the Hawks eventually prevail. Only 2 games away from the Superbowl now- that would be quite a day if Seattle made it to the final, as they haven't had a good team for a loooong time.



On my way to Fremont centre, I go past a big statue of Lenin- this is a kind of alternative, slightly beatnik area, and they go in for public art and subversive statements.

I find a shop called "Essenza" which is recommended in eatshopseattle. It is chock full of perfume and girly stuff (I suspect that both Rosy and Rosie might hyperventilate if they were to come here!), and I ask the assistant if there is anything for men. He is archly camp and disadainfully drags me round the shop, spraying stuff onto bits of paper.
"This one's made by Italian monks..."
"Right, err, nice..."
I end up with both hands full of fragrances, and have no idea which is which. In the end, I plump for a not very camp, in fact extremely macho and undoubtedly packed with testosterone "Geisha" roll-on fragrance which is, I am assured, "very metrosexual". Phew! They send me next door for a posh Mexican meal, and then I am rolling back to 6041 where I watch a Schwarzenegger movie ("Total Recall") where he has to save a bunch of mutants on Mars. As opposed to California- Arnold now has more pressing concerns, like making sure that 76 year old prisoners are not let off their execution sentences, and remembering to buy his motorcycle licence.