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white hart lane
i love my wife.she’s barely 14 weeks pregnant, just spent seven days gallivanting around scotland with my family, and wraps it all up by going with me (split seats mind you) to see tottenham hotspur at white hart lane.
i’ve been following tottenham since i’ve been following the premier league — and the thought of seeing them in their 110 year old stadium has been clattering around my head ever since we bought the ridiculously overpriced tickets six weeks ago.
it’s crescendo-ed to the point that this morning i was certifiably out of my mind — giddy enough that i managed to lose my wallet touring st. paul’s cathedral, but barely even noticing the rather large problem as my tickets to the lane were locked away elsewhere.
we had planned on taking the tube to Seven Sisters, and making a twenty minute hike up hill to the stadium — but there was some variation on london’s perennial track work, so we detoured to another line and cabbed over.
(speaking of, when the lady sparkler and i were buying tube tickets, our cashier was an aresnal fan — tottenham’s arch nemesis — and she was utterly unable to say either “tottenham” or “white hart lane” outloud without cringing.)
(seriously, she kept starting to say something … catching herself … stopping … and saying “your destination” instead.)
when we got to the lane, we walked a couple of laps — soaking it all in. by the time we actually entered the stadium it was already time for player introductions.
i walked through the tunnel to the orchestral magesty of John Williams “Dual of the Fates.” it was glorious.
it’s been a day, and i honestly don’t remember much about the match itself.
i remember being in the front row, with a bunch of 20-something men. i remember screaming my head off. i remember being told to sit down by the extraordinarily polite stewards, a dozen times or more.
and, i remember tottenham winning off of a curling 25-yard effort from Jermain Jenas.
but, most of all i remember the chants, and the whole stadium — 35,000 strong — singing “oh when the spurs go marching in” in unision. i can still hear the glory glory ringing around in my ears.
glorious.
See a Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
tottenham vs. west brom, white hart lane, london -
tottenham v. west brom
my thoughts on the match are on another thread, but here are some professional photos from the match (so i don’t lose them) and the complete match report from eurosport (so i remember what the heck happened).tottenham won off of a curling 25-yard effort from midfielder Jermain Jenas, with just 2 minutes remaining in the first half.
TOTTENHAM: Gomes; Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Palacios, Jenas, Modric; Pavlyuchenko (Dafoe 64), Keane; Unused Subs: Hutton, Bentley, Bale, Zokora, Cudicini, Huddlestone.
WEST BROM: Carson; Zuiverloon, Martis, Olsson, Robinson (Simpson 58); Koren, Valero (Teixeira 77), Greening, Brunt; Mulumbu, Fortune; Unused Subs: Donk, Kiely, Bednar, Menseguez, Kim.
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buckingham palace
i have to give props to my now three month pregnant wife — we walked down to buckingham palace late tonight, and it’s the first thing in the entire trip that she’s opted out of for want of sleep. she’s a trooper.See All the Photos on Flickr:
Buckingham Palace, London, England -
Westminster
we’re nearing the end of the trip — just one full day left tomorrow, and then my parents fly out the following afternoon. i can already hear my parents talking over the next hundred family gatherings about how perfect the trip was (and it really did go off without a hitch) and i’m really glad to have ticked something off my things-to-do-before-i-die list and picked up some great family memories to boot.See All the Photos on Flickr:
Westminster, London, England -
Hogwarts — er, Glenfinnan
Glenfinnan is a significant blah blah blah because it’s where Bonnie Prince Charlie blah blah blah during the Jacobite uprising of blah blah blah. More importantly, it’s also the landscape on which Hogwarts Castle (and the Hogwarts Express) is digitally superimposed for the Harry Potter movies.You can take the American out of America, but you can’t …
See Slideshows of the Photos on Flickr:
Glenfinnan, Scotland
![[Mary II (as in College of William & Mary), Kensington Palace, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511233449_3940fbb4c0.jpg)
![[Tottenham Hotspur vs. West Bromwich Albion, White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511216547_4f81659773.jpg)
![[Tottenham Hotspur vs. West Bromwich Albion, White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511217027_9e872a37cb.jpg)
![[White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511215043_879bfb15ae.jpg)












![[Buckingham Palace, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512034106_c3c1134845.jpg)
![[Westminster, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512010480_9ba5552eb6.jpg)
![[Family, Westminster, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511200113_c124ac1b20.jpg)
![[The London Eye, London, Engand, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511196997_877d24b667.jpg)
![[Tower of London, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512004434_2e6331c021.jpg)
![[Tower of London, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511193623_4c921bc333.jpg)
![[Tower of London, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512005512_55d3be39e8.jpg)
![[Tower of London, London, England, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511192925_3a92dcc0e1.jpg)
![[Train from Edinburgh's Waverly Station to London's Kings Cross Station, Scotland, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3503115537_fbffc738ef.jpg)
![[Family, Inverlochy Castle, Fort William, Scotland, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/3502612782_7c56093303.jpg)
![[Harry Potter locale (Hogwarts), Glenfinnan, Scotland, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/3502608804_6ffdc854ab.jpg)
![[Harry Potter locale (Hogwarts Express), Glenfinnan, Scotland, UK.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/3501793957_f3e0d1ef77.jpg)
I’m suddenly feeling much more supportive of my alma mater.