Tuesday, May 16, 2006

2 Days Of Celebration...

On our return to Gorgie Road on Saturday we gathered with thousands of others to see the team bus return home. I was still in a bit of shock at that point and in dire need of a drink!

Earlier in the day we had been to a hotel in Glasgow with 500 other Hearts fans for a 3 course lunch and a free bar. The meal was made up of a salmon starter and a steak main course with cheesecake for afters. As I don't eat red meat and hate salmon I spent my time tucking into the free bar while everyone else ate their lunch. My lunch ended up being 2 vodka red bulls, the best part of 2 bottle's of white wine and cheesecake...I was slightly merry when we left the hotel it must be said...of course it didn't help that I had had no breakfast!

By the time we got home again to Gorgie though I was remarkably sober but after giving my kids over to the care of my Sis for the rest of the night I got a double vodka down me back at Bainfield and normal service was resumed. It finally sunk in at about 9pm that we had won the cup. I gone for a ciggy outside and was yapping away with Ross who looked a tad bewildered but smiled never the less as I got a wee bit hyper.

I left the club at about 11.30...tired and emotional which is obviously my way of saying slightly pissed after another 5 vodka's! Better Half and I headed in search of a bag of chips and having found them wandered in search of a taxi. It would have been easier to find a happy Hibs fan in Gorgie than a taxi but eventually we got home and after deciding it was a good idea to hang a big Hearts flag out the window to annoy the neighbours around us who are Hibby's we headed for bed at 4am!

8am saw the start of another day. Excitement got the better of me and I dragged Better Half up with the promise of a cup of coffee and friend egg rolls. By 11am we were at my Sister's collecting the kids and after grabing Mum on the way we were off again into Gorgie for the Parading of the Cup. We had tickets for the Gorgie Suite (a function room within the Hearts ground) and made our way through the crowds to get there. No surprises that we headed straight for the bar and while the open topped bus carrying the team and the cup made it's way through Edinburgh to Tynecastle in front of about 100, 000 Jambo's, we made full use of the facilities in the Gorgie Suite. I kicked off feeling very sensible and stuck to a Blue WKD instead of Vodka but ended up having a pint of Magners cider to wash it down!

We headed out into the ground at about 2pm and took our seats to see the team coming in with the cup. After much singing, clapping and cheering and after making good use of my camera capturing the moment, the team headed off again and we made our way back to the Gorgie Suite to top our alcohol levels! 3 more vodka's and a red Wkd managed to do the trick!

A few players popped into say hello and brought the cup with them and yet more photo's were taken...then in the most bizarre thing to ever happen to me I found myself out on the turf at Tynie with about 30 others watching the club's majority shareholder Valdimir Romanov take penalites. Truly bizarre. Someone had opened the security doors to the pitch and there he was getting his photo done for the press playing with a football. 5 year old spotted the open door and made ab id for freedom out in Tynie along with another wee boy and as I got up to retrieve him we spotted Vlad and his son Roman - the club's chief executive. The 30 or so of us who came out to have a look were gobsmacked as he waved us over. So we climbed over the barrier and out onto the turf. Vlad was in good form as laughed with fans, signed autographs and posed for pictures, then he decided to hit a few penalties into goal. Better Half was like a bairn in a sweetie shop as he posed for photo's in the goals, on the bench at the home dug out and in the tunnel entrance..he was even more excited when Roman signed his Hearts top for him...obviously I am not allowed to wash it now!

The day was drawing to a close and as the bar shutters came down we headed off back along Gorgie Road yet again for the 4th time in less than 24 hours. Fans were still wandering round, songs were still being sung and the road cleaners were out in force picking up the debris the thousands of Jambo's had left behind them. A taxi proved easier to come by and we headed back home having had another great day.

So that was the weekend then. It was the best I've had in a long time and one I will remember for even longer!

Jenny xx

3 comments:

Wreckless Euroafrican said...

So I take it your team won?

Salagatle!

jenny said...

Yip.

By the way what does salagatle mean?

Divemaster GranDad said...

It's sotho for "goodbye"...