Lisbon, Portugal, July 1998…
I’m on holiday with my family at Expo ‘98 on the shores of the River Tagus in Lisbon. It is one of the biggest such events staged anywhere and there are hundreds of thousands of people enthralled by the pavilions of what seems like every nation in the world, except my own, Scotland. The Football World Cup had just ended in France, where the style of the Croatians made an impact, and you could see the effect here with long queues snaking around the Croatian pavilion – people from every part of the globe desperate to learn something of Croatia and its culture. Scotland, and especially the Scotland fans, had also been hugely popular in France, with their humour, colour, music and grace in glorious failure once again! I know of the positive impact they made in Bordeaux through my friends the Johnstons and because the regional newspaper Sud Ouest interviewed me and still take articles from me on the Auld Alliance when the two nations meet at rugby or football.
Walter Scott was fond of port!