The House Husbands Guide to Becoming a Londoner

Before I begin let me apologize for the not writing anything in a while, but I have a good excuse. So, I was trying to make some sweet and sour pork for dinner and I had my laptop on the counter for both music and the recipe when a cooking tragedy occurred. Reaching up to get something from the cupboard I knocked over a bottle of soy sauce onto my laptop. Now, it was sealed and closed so there is no liquid expelled to damage it that way, however, it did impact directly with the hard drive and since my windows disks are in Canada, my computer will be down until at least the wedding. Further proof, I should not be allowed in a kitchen. But onwards and outwards. 

To become a Londoner, I have learnt that there are man things that you need to do. I thought that for my latest story I would write about two of the steps that I took to becoming a Londoner in the past month or so, and no for the people like Peaches that have been hoping, it was not to develop an English accent. I'll work on it but I make no promises on that one. 

The first step was on valentines day where me and Rebecca decided that seeing a west end musical was a key thing that needed to be done. Seeing that it was my first west end musical, and Rebecca had seen countless musicals,  Rebecca let me choose the one that I wanted to see. Such a poor decision. There were so many choices, I mean should I pick a classic musical like Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserable? Maybe I should choose one of the newer ones out there like The Lion King or We Will Rock You, you know something that Rebecca hasn't seen yet. No, it was clear to me what we should go see. I mean it was valentines day and it really should be a musical that is upbeat and with some kind of love story, right? The choice was clear as I said, we needed to go see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Nothing says Valentines day like Australian drag queens and since I figured that I loved the movie, I would like the show. You know the more I think about it I may have an unnatural fascination with drag queens, but I think that I will leave that for a different day. As for the show, it was ridiculous, over the top, and borderline obscene. It was perfect. I mean it couldn't have been better, it even included the giant an operatic song sung from queen lounging in a giant shoe. 

We weren't allowed to take photo's but Google had this one by Tristram Kenton

I would have to say that the first musical that I went to see was a great success. At this point we haven't decided what to go see next, but I'm sure that Rebecca will get to pick, even if she was laughing and having a good time at Priscilla too. 

The second agenda item was that I was suppose to go see a football match here in London, and from what I have learnt from the various people that I have talked to, you can become a fan of one of the big clubs, like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, or Liverpool like I am, but that isn't as much fun as following one of the smaller teams.  Also, I have found out that most of the family that I am marrying into are supporters of the local team in Watford. So I was invited to go see a Watford game. We ended up going from the near furthest southeast of London, where Rebecca and I live, all the way to the most northwest to see the match. At this point we have no idea who Watford is playing, but we figure it should be a good time. Once there we get told that the team they are facing is a dirty evil team that are a bunch of no good hooligans from Millwall. Wait a second, why do I know the name Millwall, trusty google phone don't let me down.... That's why I know Millwall, they would be the home team where I live in the south east of London. Shit... So, do I go with the family, who at this point I've realized are quite passionate about this, or my home team... Well, in Arizona I didn't cheer for a single Arizona team, so I guess it's really not new for me to be living in a place where I am not a supporter of the local team. Watford it is! 

Ticket for the Watford - Millwall game

Lets go back one second. Remember how I was saying that I was told that it is more fun to support a small club. Well, Watford is a small club, now I don't mean a small club in the premier league, The Watford Hornets play in the football league championship division, which is the league below the premier league. But don't let that fool you, the people at the game when things weren't going well resorted to throwing beer bottles at the players. They take this stuff seriously here. One particularly fun thing that I spent most of the time doing was watching some 12 year oldish kid continually freaking out about the game. I mean, the ball would go out for a throw in and if it was awarded to the opposing team he would act as if that was a crime against humanity. I one point I was just hoping for his team to mess up to watch him freak. I mean that was more entertaining then the match. I know how ridiculous that sounds coming from me, as I can be one of the more passionate fans out there, but I assure you, this was out there. In the end, Watford won and good times were had by all. 

Watford was in Yellow and Millwall was in blue. Also you can see there is a group of police between the millwall fans and the watford fans.

I don't think that I can say that I'm quite there yet, as I most definitely don't have the passion yet, but I got my first few lessons on what I need to know about to be a true Londoner. Now I guess that means that I need to go to an away game and use the special barricaded visitors entrance or go do the next things that I need to learn to do while living here in London. This should be an adventure.