Over the last 10 years or so, the whole country's gone flag mad whenever a World Cup or European Championships have come around. It's a pleasure to see and even if you take the more cynical view that some people are just trying to outdo each other with the size or number of flags on show, you can't help but wonder at how much more patriotic we are these days.
But I'm pleased to say that of those people in England that aren't actually English, many are proudly showing which country they'll be supporting during this World Cup by displaying a flag of their nation. So far I've spotted a Brazilian flag on a car at the end of the street, a Ghanaian flag hanging from the window of a house nearby, Portuguese and Italian flags flapping away on passing cars, and even an Angolan flag in t-shirt form being worn by a child in my town.
I was hoping to be able to tick off the flags of all the World Cup countries during the five weeks of the competition, but it seems unlikely now as some teams like Togo are hardly like to have much of a high profile over here. Having said that, I did spot someone showing their support for Togo the other day:
Oh alright, so they weren't supporting Togo, but it was damn close...
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I have spotted several flags from other countries as well, but never on their own. They are always accompanied with the English flag as if wanting to say - 'I am from [include country of your choice here] but please do not smash into my car because I also support England'.
The flags that I have spotted were those of Portugal, Spain, Angola and others already mentioned by Chris.
H
House near me has the England flag alongside the Paraguay flag.
There are a lot of people from Paraguay near you Kedge... :)
Paraguay, eh? Very exotic!
I saw an Italian flag on a car today. Another one to tick off...
As a point on interest (possibly), there I was on holiday on a cruise arounf the Med. Saturday 10th June dawns with the ship moored up in Genoa harbour. The missus & I wander ashore to look around the old town, the day being planned out so that we return to the ship in plenty of time to watch England's opening game. All around the town were England flags. Flying from Civic building, from the Gateshouse of the old city walls etc.
What a gesture of friendship we thought. An English cruise ship in port and the locals get the welcome mat out and show the true spirit of European Unity, the fellowship of the world of international football, and because they are just jolly good sports.
Nah! Turns out St George is their patron saint as well.
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