No. Just....no.

What can I say about today? Very very good bits combined with very very bad. Despite missing the first twenty minutes of the match due to heavy traffic, we managed to see most of the game in a sports bar on the boardwalk of Rehoboth beach. It was a little different from sitting in the pub (no queue at the bar for one thing, and having to drink Bud for another), but there were a few other English people. Nothing like ex-pat solidarity to make you feel better about Becks getting substituted. I refuse, however, to talk about THAT incident. No. Just....no. Wrong. Bad and wrong. Bad.

Anyway, managed to get over it, just, eventually. To be honest I'm amazed we managed to hang on for another hour with only ten men, and without Rooney, Beckham and Joe Cole. I had the feeling though, after the first half, that it was going to go to penalties. Didn't think we were going to lose though. I could say that the novelty of sitting up to the bar proper American style, with a barmaid who kept wanting me to say things because my accent is apparently cool (someone else is finally realising that the MK accent is well good innit) and a nice random English lady who wanted to by me shots because she was too tense once it got to penalties but didn't want to drink alone, makes me feel better. But it would be a lie.

After that though was very much better. I'll tell you a secret: the Atlantic, right, is cool. Very cool. It's big, blue and goes up and down and it's possible the most entertaining body of water that I have had the fortune of meeting in a long time. Despite the fact that I have been discovering crevices I never knew I had, only noticing their presence by the large volume of sand wedged therein, it was extremely good fun. Had a sleep on the beach afterwards also; sleeping in the middle of the day is always good, especially when you got up at 8am on a Saturday. Also went outlet shopping afterwards, which was nice. Saw many nice shiny shoes and t-shirts (even though they were Calvin Klein and probably made by small children in a jungle in south-east Asia) but was good and didn't buy anything. Then saw the most lovely suede jacket that fitted fantastically and was $40 reduced from $125. So I bought that.

Normally I wouldn't think of leaving for a trip down the pub at about 11pm, but this is the land of opportunity after all. After we'd got back and had dinner and I'd been thrashed at foozball yet again, by Matt this time, we went to the Iron Hill Brewery, yes I did say brewery. Featuring the finest, locally brewed, cask ales that Newark can offer (and they were actually quite fine, although some were finer than others) at only $2 a glass (not quite a pint, but almost. The only time I've seen small portions so far) it was very nice and very good value. I do also enjoy the warm, smug feeling of knowing that I've had not just beers but ales that Toby has yet to sample :-p