Twickenham

What a day we had yesterday!

Got tickets to watch England play Australia in the Autumn Internationals (rugby union in case anyone reading isn't a sports fan!) - this is the view from our seats about 5 or 10 minutes before kick-off. There were still some empty seats at that stage by by 2.30 pm the place was full - 80,000 people there to watch the game.

Our seats were West stand Upper - bit of a trek up the stairs to the top, iron lung needed half way up. There's really nothing like the atmosphere, and this time before the match starts, when the crowd are taking their seats and the teams are being announced, really builds up the anticipation.

I'm not going to give you a point by point review of the game, but the final score was England 35 - 18 Australia so we were very happy. Even better than the win was the fact that at long last the England team played with some passion, flair and conviction - they gave us the confidence they could win - and they did!

We've seen so many England matches over the last few years where the team didn't seem to turn up - playing as though they hadn't been introduced to each other and generally underperforming. Any sports fan knows that this doesn't stop you supporting your team, but sometimes they do make it hard!

But yesterday, we had a fantastic day, celebrating the win by sinking a number of beers and listening to some very bad kareoke in the Barmy Arms by the river in Twickenham. The place was heaving, Aussies and England fans all piling in together - which is one of the many great things about rugby - no hassle or aggro even though everyone has been drinking gallons of beer throughout the whole day!