The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, April 10

Hi, all!

Let’s start today with an image of Son Heung-min modeling.

Ramble of the Day

Waiting is no fun, but there are some places where waiting becomes particularly excruciating. I suppose waiting for a match to end, like yesterday’s, for example, could be described as “particularly excruciating,” though it wasn’t originally in my notes. Like I said, though, there are a few instances where waiting for a somewhat short amount of time is a particularly painful process.

Waiting at the doctor’s office is a classic example of this; you’re most likely not waiting for more than an hour, but the wait is still somewhat annoying. Bringing a book might be a good idea, but the waiting room is hardly a place to get properly comfortable. Perhaps the most famous example, though, of terrible places to wait in the United States is what we call the Department of Motor Vehicles. I would try to explain it, but the name is pretty self-explanatory, and the experience is best described by the Disney film Zootopia, which is labeled “funny,” but is actually frustrating in the right way:

There are probably a few more to put on a list like this; sitting in a classroom waiting for a test to be handed out or waiting for the teacher to hand the tests back; waiting for a plane to take off or for a train to start moving after stopping randomly in a tunnel (perhaps only a New York subway experience); waiting for the notice of someone else typing to finally be replaced by a message. As I sit here and ponder, though, I have to ask this: Is there a good place to wait?

As always, I will be honest with you; the first place I thought of was the waiting room of the doctor that I visited as a child. I suppose what that means is that I’m a child at heart, or that I had a decent experience waiting to see a doctor as a child. There were toys, but nothing special, and the room itself was expectedly colorful, but not brash. Then again, there’s a pretty decent formula here: give people something fun to do, and don’t make the places they begrudgingly spend time in seem so sterile.

The first one is probably much easier said than accomplished; no offense, but I don’t think the DMV owes me interesting things to keep myself occupied while I wait. I also think the idea of most people having smartphones on them at all times probably does that job. The idea of changing up the colors of the space is probably a good one. It reminds me of my seventh grade math teacher, who put yellow paper on the large cork boards on the classroom walls because she read a study that it increased students’ productivity by keeping spirits bright. It probably worked; her room always had a good vibe, even if it was dreary outside.

I didn’t expect it, but I suppose I’m now advocating for more creatively colored walls and rooms with more personality. I’m pretty pleased with this conclusion, because it feels like a pretty easy one to get behind and it couples my mild obsession with wall color combinations in a given space.

tl;dr: Accidental conclusions in waiting spaces.

Links of the Day

The 2020 Copa América will be co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia, and will introduce a new two-group format.

Chelsea’s Danny Drinkwater has been charged with drunk driving following a car crash on Monday.

Sport Ireland has suspended funding to the Football Association of Ireland amid rumors that chief executive John Delaney was using the organization’s money for personal reasons.

Inter Milan’s Antonio Candreva is paying for the lunch of a student in Italy after her school gave her tuna and crackers because her family could not afford to pay for school lunches.

David Squires goes around Europe as the we head towards the end of the season in his latest cartoon.

Today’s longer read: James Masters on Son Heung-min’s impact on the Korean community in the London suburb of New Malden for CNN