I’m definitely not being a whiner when I say that today hasn’t been the greatest day for me. So it might not seem to be the best time to kick start a blog of my own, which I must admit has been on my mind for God knows how long. Well, the procrastination was not because I was lazy; it was because I didn’t know what I wanted to write about (I’m still not entirely clear).
The string of events today though, prompted me to write this post because I think most of you reading will have definitely encountered at least one similar experience, maybe in slightly different contexts, but similar nevertheless. So where do I begin? Let me just go with the day as it happened.
I woke up this morning knowing it was time to say goodbye to a dear friend. It’s not like I’m never going to be in touch with this person again, but of course Facebook, Skype, phone calls and texts are never the same as having someone you both like and respect in your midst. This is not the first time I’ve had to say goodbye to someone but then it isn’t the greatest feeling when you have no idea when or where you will see them next. I sometimes wonder (unrealistically of course) why we cannot have the people we care about around us as often as we like. At the same time, I’ve been fortunate enough to have met so many wonderful people be it at school, university or the workplace and so I’d rather just consider myself lucky than complain about what I do not have.
The next thing I know is I’m on my way home looking forward to a weekly ‘spectacle’ that those of you who know me well would have already figured out. I therefore needed to get home quickly. On reaching the bus station my flat mate and I spotted the bus we needed to board but alas, it was just leaving the platform. We didn’t give up that easy and so there we were sprinting wildly – you could have mistaken us for Keanu Reeves in the movie Speed. We chased the bus down hoping we could catch it before it got to the next stop, gambling that we had time because it had two traffic signals to cross. We did get there before the bus, but to our utter dismay, the driver shooed us away like cattle and didn’t bother to stop. Luckily enough the next bus wasn’t too far behind and soon I was heading home looking forward to – you guessed it right – Arsenal FC’s Premier League fixture, this week against newly promoted Newcastle United.
Being an Arsenal fan over the last five years has been far from easy for more than the one obvious reason which is that it has been a trophy less period and that for a team that has an abundance of talent, a style of play that is amongst the most attractive if not the most attractive and a man at the helm with a proven track record that is the envy of many. Secondly it has also been quite irritating to have friends who support Man U and Chelsea, pop up to remind me of this fact ever so often. Initially I fought back saying “This is the year Arsenal will win”, but now that reply has become quite stale. My team’s performance is definitely not helping my cause. They have flattered only to deceive too many times and this evening’s loss to Newcastle (second time this season to a newly promoted club after the West Bromwich debacle) was just another performance that I and a lot of Arsenal fans are getting used to. I do know for a fact that there was a time when a few of my friends wouldn’t dare speak to me for a few hours when Arsenal had a bad result fearing that I would explode but the fire in me seems to have died down and now here I am writing a blog after a game that most people thought would be an easy one for the North London club.
Nevertheless I would like to reiterate that I am still a true Arsenal fan and will be till the day I kick the bucket. And before I forget I do want to add that I firmly believe as I always have that, “This is the year Arsenal will win”.
When I started writing this post was when my flat mate walked in to the room grinning. He told me that Liverpool had just beaten Chelsea. Obviously I should’ve been happy about that. But then it was yesterday that I was on a betting site pondering whether I should back Liverpool to beat Chelsea and telling my flat-mate, “This is probably the toughest time for a team to play Liverpool because they seem to be in the middle of an inspiring resurgence.” Gambling is not my favorite pastime and I actually wasn’t really going to place a bet, but then the result as I had predicted correctly made me wonder, “What if?”
Overall at the end of the day, I cannot be happier because, I at least have a group of wonderful friends wherever I go – and Facebook and Skype to catch up with them if they move away –, I got home in time to catch the game, Arsenal are still one of the best teams in the world and because at least I didn’t lose anything by not placing a bet.
Did I say it hasn’t been a great day? Well I’ve now changed my mind.
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