Algerians Celebrating Their Win

You could call me a boring old spinster lady.

I was sitting at home, tucked under a quilt, hand stitching my latest quilt, watching Boy Meets World, when I heard an explosion outside my window.

Okay, so old and spinster?  Yes.  Boring?  No way.

I looked out my window, and saw a huge group of Algerians amassing down at the Vieux Port.  (How did I know they were Algerians?  1 out 2 of them were sporting the Algerian flag in one way or another.  As a cape.  As a dress.  As a banner.  As a tie.  As something to let cars drive through.  As a veil for cars.  As...well, you get the drift.)  I took a little Instagram video with the caption, "I suppose the Algerians won something?"

Oh my.

They won the qualifying game for the World Cup.  And my street exploded.  EXPLODED.  They stormed the Vieux Port with many flames, until the cops made them put the flames out.  More Algerians came.  The new ones that came lit new flames.  Then the riot police came and blocked them from the Vieux Port.

So they came onto my street with their flames.

In front of my building with their flames.

I'm all about celebrating a win (remember the time coughthispastweekendcough when I woke my neighbors by cheering over an Auburn touchdown?)...with happy honking for hours...and flags...and drums...and grown men dancing in the street and on top of cars...and waving flags.  I mean, I come from a town that does this to celebrate when we win a game:

http://media.al.com/live/photo/9021176-large.jpg

(...and hopefully we will be doing plenty of that this coming Saturday night after the Iron Bowl!  War Eagle!)

But the fires?  I don't get it.  I was a bit concerned they would set my building on fire until my boss reminded me that my 150-year-old building is made of stone and thus, isn't going anywhere.

You can see the police lined up in the middle of this photo to block the crowd from coming back onto the Vieux Port.  I think, at one point, they must've made them move away from the Tunisian restaurant, because they moved from there and gathered in front of the big white church just next door.  I wasn't about to go down and join the festivities, nor ask why they're such pyromaniacs.

Mom and Dad...you may not want to watch the video.  Haha.  

All in all, it was a fun night.  It was so cold I couldn't keep the window open for long periods of time to watch, and at one point, the smoke was too intense to keep watching.  But I do love happy honking and seeing the people I came here to love on dancing on top of cars.  As much as I enjoyed it, it doesn't mean I want to be here during the World Cup...

I think as long as I keep living where I do, life will never be boring.