The Arsenal

Through a stroke of luck, Marco and I got to spent Easter Sunday in a slightly different way than usual. One of Marco's colleagues had tickets to the soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester City and, through a stroke of bad luck on his side, could not make it himself. So he passed them on to my husband. And even though the boys in the hubbinator's office made it clear that it would be such a waste to take his wife (yes, sexism IS alive and kicking), the wife he did take. 

I  used to follow the local soccer club when I lived in Cologne and went to matches quite a lot. I have been keeping up with Arsenal through Marco, as he's a fan, but tickets are so hard to come by that we never went to a game before. I really was reminded of what I'm missing.

I love the atmosphere at a soccer game, the acoustics in the stadium and the passion of the fans. I wish I had studied some of the Arsenal supporters' songs, so that I could have joined the chanting. Arsenal won 1-0 after a really exciting two halfs, so everybody left in a celebratory mood. Well, except maybe for the Manchester City fans...

The old Arsenal home ground Highbury is just around the corner from the new, modern Emirates stadium. It was closed down in 2006 and converted into high end apartments. I was wondering if it was all soccer fans who snapped these up.

Arsenal memorabilia all around.

There were really great food stalls all around the stadium. A lot of them were run out of people's front yards.

We fell for this Korean barbecue teriyaki beef sandwich. It was yummy. I am seriously thinking about just coming back for the food on match days!

Fans streaming into the Emirates Stadium.

More food inside the stadium. Hot dogs, nachos and Bovril... Strangely all ketchup and mayo was by German company Kühne.

Arsenal logos through the ages.

This ladies's room was the most deserted I have ever encountered any ladies' room anywhere!

We had really awesome seats.

The team warming up. The match was too exciting to take pictures during it, so this is all I have to offer of the players, I'm afraid.

As with every sports event I go to, the professional photographers gave me massive lens envy.

The stadium was pretty much packed to the last seat!

This clock was taken from the old Highbury Stadium.

Now I really don't know who gives better hugs. Gunnersaurus or Marco. Hmmmm...

How about you? Are you passionate about any sports teams? Do you have one you support? 

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Book Review - Stanley Park

This month's topic for the Forever Free online bookclub I joined recently was Your Favourite City. No doubt I was going to read a novel set in Vancouver! I did a bit of research and picked Stanley Park  by Timothy Taylor. It seemed perfect for me, as part of it takes place in the city's restaurant scene and part in the vast forest of Stanley Park, just off downtown Vancouver, which I love and find fascinating.

Stanley Park follows the character of chef Jeremy Papier while he tries to establish his name in the Vancouver food scene. You get a good view about what it is like to run  a small restaurant and how much of your life you have to give up for this dream. Jeremy is soon faced with a decision that could mean a turning point for his venture and seeks advice from his estranged father, a "participatory" anthropologist who has taken residence amongst the homeless people who populate Stanley Park in order to study their way of living first hand. 

Even though Jeremy does not understand the motivations behind his father's choice, he soon sees parallels between his passion about local food and his father's theory about people being connected to the space they live in. Jeremy ends up spending a lot of time in the park, making friends with its intriguing inhabitants, while his life in the city seems to spiral out of control exponentially, to the point of needing to sell out his beliefs and restaurant to a big corporation.

Overall, I liked Stanley Park. It was well-written and entertaining, and its characters were interesting, even though I would have liked for Taylor to develop them a little more. He seemed to scrape at many of their special quirks only on the surface. The author obviously researched well, and the picture he paints of Stanley Park and the Vancouver restaurant scene is vibrant and engaging. The book touches such issues as what it means to grow roots, to live life sustained by what your locality has to offer and how city people can be very out of tune with their surroundings and struggle to see their place in the world. There were a few strands of the story that I felt got lost in the course of the plot, but the novel was an enjoyable read.

 © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated). 

Fine Tuning: Alabama Shakes - Hold On

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  © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Drawn Together

One of the things that my parents were sadly not able to take with them when they moved into their new house was the wall full of art by my brother Aiko and me. My parents wallpapered a bit of the basement staircase with stuff that we painted and drew when we were kids. I am sure that this will be something that the new owners will definitely not keep, and I was happy that I had the chance to take some pictures of these pictures before the house was handed over.
How come that we all are so artistic as children and then most of us never ever sit down to doodle or paint as adults anymore? It's a bit sad, really. Looking at all this creativity made me want to sit down at my desk, empty a big pack of coloured pencils and start on a new masterpiece.

 The Art Wall.

A selection of possible carnival costumes I designed one year. 

Apparently I thought that punks looked like hippies.

 Space shuttle by my brother.

 Wine cork collage.

 A Mother's Day bouquet I drew when I was 10. Aiko drew this rat and called it Reinhild.

 A bit of 80s fashion.

 What I imagined my Mama looked like at 6 years old.

 Mixed media.

 Aiko's interpretation of Pippi Longstocking. Quite good for a 5-year-old!

 As far as I remember, my Mama was always 'Mama'. I have no clue what this 'Mutti' business is about...

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

30 Days Of Lists - Week 4

Another March project that came to an end last week: 30 Days Of Lists. 
Here is my final batch:

* click here for the dance party

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Each Day In March...

Miraculously, I have again managed to stick with Fat Mum Slim's photo challenge all through the month of March. Here's my output. Never mind the slightly incongruent numbering, I cannot count for the life of me...

 

1: Up

2: Fruit

3: Your Neighbourhood

4: Bedside

4a (aka 5): A Smile

5 (aka 6): 5 PM

6 (aka 7): What You Wore

7 (aka 8): Window

8 (aka 9): Red

9 (aka 10): Loud

10 (aka 11): Someone You Talked To Today

11 (aka 12): Fork

12 (aka 13): A Sign

13 (aka 14): Clouds

14 (aka 15): Car

15 (aka 16): Sunglasses

16 (aka 17): Green

17 (aka 18): A Corner Of Your Home

18 (aka 19): Funny

19 (aka 20): Before/After

20 (aka 21): Delicious

21 (aka 22): Kitchen Sink

22 (aka 23): Moon

23 (aka 24): An Animal

25: Breakfast

26: Key

27: Your Name

28: Trash

29: Feet

30: Toy

31: Where You Relax

And what do you know?! I'm going to photo-challenge myself again in April. But to keep things fresh and to stay interested, I am doing a different challenge by a different blogger this time, namely the April Foodie Photos by The Purple Carrot.

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).