One of my favourite gifs.
I'm surprised you lasted as long (ambivalence) as you did, Roy.
Ambivalence is the perfect word for me. I've spent a lot of my adult life in England, I've been mostly made to feel welcome, and during Euro 96 I sort of looked a bit like Alan Shearer according to some people to the extent that I'd walk into London shops and people would shout "Sheara-ah". I liked that, and I liked watching the Euro 2000 play off double header with English friends. Glorious failure for us as always - that's our lot in life - painting the failure as glorious gets more tiring the older you get.
My missus was born in Birmingham, but considers herself Scottish while her brother thinks of himself as English. Their Dad's a lovely Brummy. Their mum's fiercely Welsh. We - my side of the family - are all Scottish as the day is long, but hey ho - we're all Norwegians of some kind when you get down to the bare bones of it.
It's a massive pantomime. It's nice getting older cos that's clearer than ever. The media are a pain in the arse, of course, but t'was ever thus - even when it was quarter finals for England. Matterface took me to just about my limit during extra time the other day, but that's how things work innit?
I like Scotland to win things, but mostly we don't. We are one of the three small chunks of a four part 'rivalry' jigsaw. Of course we're gonna resent it when the other side do well, even if it all happens in a vacuum.