After the debacle of the football match on Tuesday, everybody in Argentina was on tenterhooks about the next game. I didn’t want to go all the way out to that park again, so I was on the hunt for a new place to watch.

One of the local restaurants I go to has a fairly small television and it’s always on, with the sound off and usually football. I asked if they were turning up the sound for the game and they said they were, so my plan was to go there for merienda on Saturday afternoon and watch the game.

But my plans were changed at our Thursday afternoon champagne get together, when my friend Beth invited me to watch it at her place on their giant screen television. I jumped at the chance. Her husband is Danish and he is a fan too.

It turned out that Denmark was playing just before Argentina on Saturday — and they lost to France. I wrote to Beth and asked her if Jens was OK. She wrote back, “Well he says the world has ended, but he seems to be OK with it!”

I went down there at the appointed time and took some Portuguese custard tarts, as I knew they had champagne. Another friend, Joanna, who used to live here but moved back to Canada and is now here on a short vacation, came along too.

It was fun watching in comfort with friends, the champagne didn’t hurt, and as we won this game against Mexico, it was all good! They’ve invited me to watch the next game there next Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll have to dash home after it and get ready for the milonga!

Their apartment is ten minutes from me, and their 9th floor balcony has this glorious view. That’s the Rio de la Plata in the background!