Rome, Rugby, Scots And Kilts

SkyPup · April 7, 2012

Fun Rome layover last month. The city was crazy, with an international rugby tournament going on, and on Saturday night the streets were packed with rugby players, coaches and fans. I was with my friend Mike, a former Navy F-18 pilot. Navy fighter guys are always trouble and as I was to find out, Mike was no exception. We were looking for a place to have a brew and came across a pub called Botticelli's. This place always evokes the Cantina scene in the first Star Wars movie, where Ob-Wan-Kenobi warns Luke Skywalker that the cantina is a "wretched hive of scum and villainy". Botticelli's is indeed awash in scum and villainy, often in the form of airline crews, sadly including me. The place was packed that night with the Scottish rugby contingent, wearing rugby jerseys and Scottish kilts. Mike was amused by the kilts and just had to make some loud remarks about the "cute little skirts..." Well this had International Incident written all over it and I braced myself to be on the wrong end of an ass-kicking. But the Scots had a terrific sense of humor and simply threw a few insults back at us, mostly involving our beloved President Obama. We spent the next hour with these guys, sharing beers and tall tales. They were a fantastic bunch, really funny and entertaining. About every ten minutes one of them would shove a beer at me and say "You look thirsty, mate. Drink up.....". Well if you insist.

I consider myself fortunate to fly for a living and while the flying itself is enjoyable, encounters like this are what makes the job special. It was a great night and one I'll long remember.

Jabo · April 7, 2012

You'll find that with rugby fans Pup, while rival soccer fans have to be segregated to prevent violence, rugby fans can be all mixed in together along with copious quantities of alcohol (something else that's different about soccer) plus much trading of insults and everyone gets along famously . Except the French obviously.

Le Jabo