Jake had two of his friends over last night, so that they were all here for the early D of E drop off this morning, and we all dipped in and out of the 8 o'clock kick off yesterday, which, whilst it was a repeat of the World Cup final from last time, was something of a different match. Spain took the lead, but once Van Persie had scored with a pretty amazing header just before half time, the Dutch took control in the second half, and pretty much took the holders apart, ending up 5-1 winners, who could have scored seven or eight. It will be interesting to see how Spain react. They still have every chance of qualifying (the other teams in their group being Chile and Australia - and I see that Chile beat Australia 3-1 in the late match last night), but they need to bounce back from what was one hell of a beating, and bounce back quickly.
We are very much in countdown mode now, as it's not long until England face up to Italy in the middle of the jungle, on what looks like a pretty scrappy pitch.
Looking at today's Times Magazine, there are some great pictures from a match we played against Italy in Rome in 1997, when we all celebrated with gusto thanks to a 0-0 draw which completed our qualification for France 98. Let's hope we will be celebrating a result against the Italians again later today (or actually early tomorrow morning) but that this time we manage to score some goals as well!
The other interesting thing about that game was that it marked both a beginning and an end. Paul Gascoigne played in that match, and as we all remember, had high hopes of making his second World Cup squad, after the tears of Italia 90 (remember that "There will always be an England" t-shirt? Probably just as well that I don't have a scanned in photo of that to post here to my own embarrassment!), and then our failure to qualify for USA 94. Sadly, and if I remember rightly, much to everyone's disappointment, he was left out of the squad for France, and never played for his country again. However, the significance of that match from a beginning perspective was that it marked a first cap for a young David Beckham, and we all remember what he went on to do in the game against Argentina in France.
Good trivia question that - in how many matches did David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne play together for their country? I would have initially guessed that the answer would be zero.
Anyway, back to today, and Nicky and I have been in to Maidstone this morning to do a spot of shopping, and Nicky made the fatal mistake of leaving me unattended in bookshops for a little while, and so I have come home with six, plus one more on order!
Mr Mercedes - Stephen King
Think Like a Freak - Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner
Work! Consume! Die! - Frankie Boyle
Britty Britty Bang Bang - Hugh Dennis
The Art of Thinking Clearly - Rolf Dobelli
Watching War Films with my Dad - Al Murray
As always with these things, I am proud of my savvy book-shopping skills, and take pleasure in comparing cover prices with prices actually paid. Today, thanks to a combination of a buy one get one half price deal (Thinking clearly + Watching War Films), a Watertsones clearance sale (Boyle + Dennis), and discounts plus a £5 off voucher in Smiths (Mercedes + Freak) the analysis is as follows for the six books:
Total of cover prices = £82.96
Total price paid = £31.95
Returning to today's Times Magazine, Caitlin Moran does a great job of explaining what great books can do for their readers, and I think that she has summed things up pretty well:
"Your mind is the projection screen every writer steals; it is the firing of your neurones that makes every book come alive. You are the electricity that turns it on. A book cannot live until the touch of your hand on the first page brings it alive. A writer is essentially typing blank pages - shouting out spells in the dark - until the words are read by you and, and the magic explodes into your head, and no one else's."