The great escape

My trip back to the county of my birth was hugely successful – clothes were bought, hair was cut and colored, chocolate eggs were avoided. I even managed two runs of a reasonable length; I felt like death after the first, but was able to breathe properly again 5 minutes after finishing the second – a veritable triumph.

But the greatest triumph of all was Norwich's miraculous snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat at home to QPR on Monday. When we tuned in for the final 20 minutes, Norwich were 2-0 down and the fans had clearly had enough of their shocking performance. Taunts of "This is embarrassing" could be heard over the radio commentary, and Nigel Worthington looked as if he'd be lucky to get out of Carrow Road alive. But in the final 12 minutes, Norwich came to life and scored 3 goals, stunning QPR and Canary fans alike. I haven't listened to a match at home for a long time, and I experienced all the emotions known to the true fan: resignation at certain defeat; wry pleasure at the consolation goal; shock at the equalizer, followed by raging fear that we'd blow it in the final few minutes; ecstasy as the third goal went in, followed again by breathless anxiety until the ref blew his whistle a minute later. And through it all, amused disbelief from the commentators, a couple of proper Norwich boys with strong accents that delighted the ear of someone now more accustomed to the harsher Dutch tones. Truly, Delia's boys done magnificent – in the end.