Giles Brown
HERE we go again.
The World Cup is here and for many the white-knuckle ride of supporting England is in full swing. A time of male bonding in the bar, proudly pulling on your footie top and popping out to see the match, returning several hours later, decidedly worse for wear and with your face painted red and white.
Russia 2018 is currently underway and it’s impossible to avoid. It doesn’t matter if you have satellite or Spanish TV, the channels will devote hours of coverage to each teams’ chances, the games themselves and a host of expert opinion.
You can forget nipping out for the evening to get away from the World Cup.
One of the major plus points of living in Marbella is the cosmopolitan nature of the town.
This is, however, a double-edged sword. The quality of your dining experience will suffer for example. During the World Cup expect to find service in your favourite tapas bar a little slow when Spain take to the pitch and don’t even think of ordering escargots if France get beaten.
You won’t run out of places to watch the matches either, so why not take in the games in a variety of locations? Sitting with a cool beer in a beach bar watching one of the afternoon matches is a unique pleasure, especially if you normally watch football on a wet Wednesday in Wigan.
Who knows, as a neutral supporter you may even be adopted by a set of fans as an unofficial mascot – which is why there is a photo of me somewhere in San Pedro wearing a massive orange hat and clutching a Heineken. I have somewhat hazy memories that Holland may have been playing.
When Spain wins a match you can forget all thoughts of sleep. I was driving through Marbella in 1986 when they scored an injury time goal and I swear that the town shot five feet in the air…
