Lunch

Just too nice a day to stay stuck at the computer screen, so an emergency half day holiday was declared, and we decamped to a nice restaurant in Maidstone for lunch, and spent the rest of day enjoying the sunshine. Marvellous!

Anniversary

Today is the fifty-fourth anniversary of a special event, and I'm not referring to a World Cup win, but something of far greater personal significance. I don't have any of the photos of the event itself, although they have at least been discovered. To mark the occasion, here's a picture from another special day.

  

2nd

We are told that a second wave could be on the way in Europe. Sounds a bit like the politicians being extremely keen to be seen to be on the front foot to me, but no doubt they have a considerably fuller picture than my idle speculation. As for the decision to decide to insist on an immediate introduction of two weeks of self isolation for all returning travellers from Spain, the evidence behind that does look pretty shaky. Yes, there seems to be an uptick in cases in the north-east region, but to make it a blanket decision covering the whole country, including the holiday islands seems heavy-handed to say the least. What of all of the people already on holiday, who were expecting to be able to get back to work on return? What of the travel companies, trying to get back to a sense of normality? What of all of the people wondering about booking a summer holiday, whether to Spain or to anywhere else, now too nervous to go ahead because they can't trust the government not to change the rules whilst they're away?

Bertie

I took an executive decision and read Carry on, Jeeves, rather than My Man Jeeves, which was the one specified by the 100 book bucket list poster. My reasoning was that the intention was to read some Jeeves and Wooster stories, and the book on the poster had 8 stories, 4 J&W and 4 others, whilst Carry on, Jeeves had 10, including the 4 in the first book.

In any case, it seemed like a bit of light relief after Lord of the Flies.

Also, impossible for me to read J&W without visualising Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as the main characters.

Bertie is our narrator in all but the last story (when Jeeves takes over), and the stories follow a pretty regular pattern, with Bertie trying and failing to get either himself or his pals out of some sort of scrape, failing dismally, and Jeeves saving the day (often at the same time taking the opportunity to score a minor victory over Bertie regarding his sartorial selections - the choice of a suit, tie, shirts etc.). Bertie reveals himself to be a complete duffer, but is too much of a duffer to realise it, and it is all splendidly 'topping' stuff.

Three questions do slightly niggle:

1. Several of the stories in the book are published in 1916 and 1917, but the war doesn't get a single mention. Did it really not impinge upon the consciousness of the upper class man about town? (A quick bit of research reveals that Wodehouse was ineligible for military service due to poor eyesight and was in the US throughout the war.)
2. Bertie seems to have a large family, including lots of aunts. However, whilst family seems to be important, no mention is ever made of his parents. Where are they, what happened to them?
3. Bertie does not have a job, and clearly has no intention of ever getting one. He is clearly a very well off young man. Where does all the money come from? Presumably he has some form of inheritance, legacy, or is in some way the benefactor of some sort of family dynasty, but it is never mentioned. (Money is such vulgar stuff, dear chap.)

One other minor point. How on earth did a duffer like Bertie get into Oxford? Different times, different times. :)

Flat

Jake's been on a recce to Woking to look at some flats. There's a possibility of living with a friend (who is working there) for his final year at uni. However, he's discovered that estate agents take flattering photographs, and the reality didn't quite live up to expectations. So, maybe not.

League

What seems like a very long time ago now, back in August, Jake and I made our predictions for the 2019/20 Premier League. Today was the last day of the season, and so we've been able to see how we did.

We decided that the scoring system should be zero points for getting the league position exactly right, one point for being one out, two for two out, and so on, and that the lowest score would win.

I got 68.

Jake got 70.

Victory - just!

In other news, more painting has been taking place, this time of the garage door. Nicky's previous paint job had rather faded back to brown, and so a new coat of grey has been applied. See below for the before, during and after. (The during is the most convincing picture, and from the before and after photos look suspiciously similar - must be the light - they are definitely different!)

Flies

I'd read the first two chapters of Lord of the Flies before finishing P&P. I was supposed to read it about 30 years ago, when doing my GCSE English, and I think that may well be about as far as I managed that time around. It is one of life's great mysteries as to how I wangled an 'A' grade, despite this. I polished it off today - it's not actually all that long. It is, however, pretty brutal stuff, given that the boys start killing each other, and end up on the rampage, determined to hunt down and kill Ralph.

I'm sure I could have lots of fun writing GCSE essays about it now (oh the irony - Ralph, determined to keep a fire going so that there is a smoke signal and they can all be saved, despairs because the savages can't be bothered, and just want to hunt and have fun. Then he has his life saved because the savages set the entire island on fire to smoke him out and kill him, and it is the smoke from this fire that attracts attention from a passing boat.)

And which of the children do I identify with most - Simon and Piggy. And what happens to Simon and Piggy - they both get killed. Oh dear.

Neither of them natural leaders or charismatic characters - that tussle is being fought out between Ralph and choir head boy (ha ha) Jack (who turns up at the start with his choristers in procession and starts off referring to them as the trebles and the altos, although that is pretty soon forgotten) - both Simon and Piggy have some endearing qualities:

Simon - loyal (pretty much the only one who sticks around and helps to make the shelters) and brave (is the one who actually goes up the mountain and finds out what the 'beast' actually is). Needs to go off by himself from time to time, either because he is a bit of a loner, or perhaps because he is aware of his illness and doesn't want the other boys to perceive a weakness in him - he clearly has some form of fit delusion (is he epileptic?) - hence the experience of talking to the pig's head - the 'Lord of the Flies'.

Piggy - initially trusting and immediately betrayed (foolishly telling Ralph the nickname he dislikes, and is then saddled with it forever - so much so that I can't even remember if we find out his real name). However, the most intelligent of the boys by far, realising that some form of organisation is needed if they are going to get through their ordeal. His very first suggestion is that they should have a roll call, and know how many they are and who is who. He is assigned the task, but given no opportunity to do it properly. Similarly, he is the one who points out the need for proper shelters. He has the one thing that the community needs, the ability to make fire (the lens in his glasses) and it is taken roughly from him. A terribly poignant moment occurs within the last couple of paragraphs of the book. The navy officer has found Ralph on the beach, and has asked how many boys there are on the island, and Ralph has admitted that they don't know. The officer says, "I should have thought that a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that".

And finally:

"The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. ... Ralph wept for the end of innocence, for the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."

 

Pride5

I've finished Pride & Prejudice! What's more, I'm pleased to be able to say that I've read it, and a good book it was too! Whether I would put it right up there in terms of pure enjoyment factor I'm not sure, but no doubt that is to significantly fail to appreciate its importance, given when it was written, who it was written by etc etc

(Mind you, when these 'best book' lists are compiled, who gets asked, and what are the criteria? Do they ask professors of literature which books should be read for their cultural and literary significance, or do they ask people who enjoy a good read what they have actually enjoyed?)

Anyway, to wrap up the story, just as things appear to be progressing at Pemberley, Elizabeth is called away by a family emergency. News reaches her that her errant sister Lydia has disappeared from Brighton with Wickham, Mrs Bennet has taken to her bed, and the household is in turmoil. Mr Bennet has gone to London in search, but without much hope of tracking them down. Elizabeth rushes back with her aunt and uncle, and Mr Gardiner is dispatched to London to assist Mr Bennet.

Mr Bennet, being fairly hopeless, comes back home, and leaves Mr Gardiner in charge of the search. Eventually news reaches them that Lydia and Wickham have been tracked down, and an arrangement has been made for them to be married in London. It seems as though Gardiner has done his family a massive favour by settling Wickham's debts, and clearing the way for them to be married.

Lydia, shameless one that she is, appears at Longbourn soon afterwards with her new husband, and makes as though nothing terrible has happened. They are passing through on their way to Newcastle, where Wickham is to be stationed, having joined the regular army. Lydia lets it slip to Elizabeth that Darcy was in London and at the wedding. Elizabeth is puzzled, and gets the secret out of her aunt that Darcy had come to London, and he was the one, not Gardiner, that had tracked down Wickham, and he was the one who'd cleared his debts. Elizabeth can't help but wonder why Darcy would do such a great favour, and without any credit, for her family.

Bingham returns to Netherfield (with Darcy), and Bingham and Jane sort out their star-crossed lover challenges and get engaged.

Then, oh happy day, we finally get to chapter 58.

Darcy and Elizabeth find themselves out for a walk together. All doubt is put behind us, and Elizabeth and Darcy finally share their true feelings.

From that point on, we are simply wrapping things up. In fact the last chapter (61) is very much an epilogue, letting us know what happened to the rest of the family, and some of the other characters. When it comes to the rest of the family:

• Mrs Bennet carried on being batty
• Mr Bennet missed his favourite daughter Elizabeth and liked to visit her at Pemberley
• Jane and Bingley moved to an estate not far from Pemberley
• Kitty improved, out from Lydia's bad influence
• Mary stayed stuck at home with her mother
• Lydia and Wickham struggled, trying and failing to sponge off Elizabeth.

   

Beetle

Rachel Joyce's new book, Mrs Benson's Beetle is out today. Last time she had a new book published, I was able to go to a signing event (Waterstones Tottenham Court Road), listen to an extract, and get a signed and dedicated copy. I even took along a copy of Queenie, and we had a little chat about the ending, me admitting to how upsetting I found it.

Book launches have moved online for the time being, and so I joined a Zoom event today to listen to Rachel talking with her husband, from home, about the new book. My signed copy should be coming in the post some time soon.

Swan

An evening at the Swan, another proper meal out, this time with friends. What a novelty. Food excellent, and good set menu too (£22 for three courses). Hopefully C will have some better news on the job front soon.

Pride4

Picking up where we left off, and Elizabeth bumped into Fitzwilliam out walking, and he let it slip that in conversation Darcy had explained to him how he'd recently done a friend a favour by saving him from a disaster of a marriage. Whilst no names were mentioned, Elizabeth assumed that her dear sister Jane was being referred to, and this made her blood boil. With rather bad timing, almost immediately after this had happened Darcy himself was back round to the parsonage, and it was at this point he chose to finally unburden himself and explain that he was madly in love with Elizabeth and that he wanted to marry her. Unfortunately, he went on to explain that it was all against his better judgement, and that he was in love with her despite all of the hopeless faults of her family. Given that she already wasn't feeling too good about Darcy in light of the news from Fitzwilliam, plus the fact that he was a swine to Wickham, hearing that he was in love with her despite her having a rotten family wasn't the clincher Darcy was hoping it was going to be.

Elizabeth told him to shove right off, and to quote: 'I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.'

Darcy left, and was due to leave to go back to London the next day. Just before going he gave Elizabeth a letter. In it he sought to explain the two main charges against him - that he wronged Wickham, and that he put Bingley off Jane. Initially Elizabeth was pretty convinced as to his argument about Wickham, as it turns out that Wickham was a waster and the one with the gift of the gab who has been sponging off Darcy. On further reflection, she realised that it has most likely been an honest mistake with Jane as well, with a misreading of Jane's reticent character by Darcy.

Shortly afterwards Elizabeth went home, collecting Jane on her way, and for a short time all of the family were reunited a Longbourn, but the youngest sister was soon off to Brighon, chasing after the soldiers who had decamped in that direction. Elizabeth was soon travelling again as well, with her aunt and uncle (the Gardiners). Their plan had originally been to have an extended summer holiday in the Lake District, but because of a delay caused by the Gardiners, they ended up travelling to Derbyshire, where by happy chance, Darcy's home, Pemberley, was to be found. As the Gardiners had some connection, they called in for a visit, although to Elizabeth's great relief, Darcy himself was away on the day of the visit. By this time, and after much reflection, Elizabeth's feelings for him had changed considerably, and she regretted the way in which she'd spoken to him previously.

To Elizabeth's great surprise, Darcy appeared at Permberley during their visit, and to her even greater surprise, was nice to her, and the visit was extended with invitations of further meetings for her and her relatives. The rest of Darcy's party arrived the next day, including Bingley's sister (clearly something of a love rival), but clearly seeing more of Darcy in his natural habitat, the more appealing he'd become. 

Test

England win a Test Match! Always worth recording. Two test matches in a row go to the final day, Windies win the first one and we win the second, and so all to play for in this three match series ...

BTTF

Earlier in the year we did pretty well at going to the cinema. Within the space of the first couple of months we went to see Jojo Rabbit, 1917 and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. Then everything shut, including the cinemas. Well today, we were able to go out to enjoy a film. Not a new one, and not to a cinema, but we still had a pretty good time, seeing one of my all time faves!

As an aside, I really ought to do a post one day about all the little links in BTTF - they really appeal to the inner nerd!

Fence

A fence working party was established, and look what we have achieved!

Pride3

Turns out I was right. Another marriage proposal followed hot on the heels of the first.

Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte, heard about the first proposal (from her friend), and whilst doing the friendly thing and keeping Collins out of the way ending up snagging him for herself. Elizabeth was mightily confused as to why Charlotte would accept a proposal from a berk like Collins, but Charlotte had made a pragmatic decision about her future. She would be, with Collins, under the patronage of Lady Catherine for the time being, plus he stood to inherit the Bennet estate in due course. Collins and Charlotte were duly married and off to live at the parsonage (in Kent).

Mrs Bennet was not pleased at this turn of events.

Meanwhile the Bingley household had suddenly decamped to London, leaving Netherfield empty. Also leaving Jane in a quandary as to Bingley's feelings for her - was it just a passing interest, soon forgotten, or were the feelings deeper. Elizabeth tries to keep her spirits up, but it's a struggle - as always not helped by Mrs Bennet. Mrs Bennet's sister comes to stay (who seems a much more sensible person than Mrs Bennet herself), and Jane goes to stay with her in London for the good of her health. Jane has been keeping up a correspondence with Caroline (Bingley's sister). Having initially become good friends, Caroline is at pains to emphasise Darcy's sister's suitability for Bingley, and then becomes distant, not wanting to see Jane when she is in London. Methinks subterfuge of some sort.

Elizabeth goes on an extended visit to see her friend, the new Mrs Collins, installed in the parsonage in Kent. Relations were a little strained by correspondence, but seem to improve between them once they are back together and Elizabeth appears to have come to terms with Charlotte's choice. Lady Catherine (surprise, surprise) turns out to be a bully and a bore, and essentially keeps Collins as her willing plaything, to amuse when she's nothing better to do.

To spice things up, Lady Catherine's nephew, Darcy, arrives for a visit whilst Elizabeth is there, along with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam seems like a nice chap, and he and Elizabeth get on well (oh dear - another distraction). However, it what may turn out to be a critical moment, Darcy comes over to the parsonage, and finds only Elizabeth there. They have another awkward conversation, full of pauses. Elizabeth recounts this to Charlotte later, and Charlotte even makes the following suggestion: 'My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never have called us in this familiar way.' However, once they talk further they concluded that it must just be because Darcy was bored at Rosings (Lady Catherine's place), and needed something to do. Oh the frustration!

Finally a quote from Elizabeth from a few chapters back that appealed:

'There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think really well. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.'

Indeed!

Sleep

I've successfully managed to record from the Clavinova onto a USB stick, to transfer onto the computer, and to convert the file type into one compatible with Flickr (essentially an audio only video file). Then the plan was to upload it to Flickr and post it here to listen to, but I have fallen at the final hurdle - when uploading to Flickr, I get the message that the 'video is being processed' but nothing further happens.

This is extremely frustrating.

My music will have to wait for another day!

Peak

We have booked a holiday.

OK - a bit of an exaggeration.

We have booked a 'mini-break'.

Still - exciting news, as somewhere new for us - we are going for a few nights next month to the Peacock at Rowley.

Pride2

Things have moved along. There's been another ball (at Nertherfield), and a proposal of marriage. I can't help but get the feeling there will be more of both of these things before the book is finished.

Anyway, before getting too far ahead of myself, the key developments since last time really revolve around the introduction of new characters - Collins and Wickham.

Firstly Collins - it turns out that as a result of a rather arcane arrangement in Mr Bennet's will, his estate must be passed to a male heir, and so cannot go to any of his five daughters. Mr Collins, his nephew, now a clergyman under the patronage of a Lady Catherine de Bourgh (who we later discover by coincidence is Darcy's aunt) lives some distance away, and is not well thought of by Mrs Bennet due to what she considers to be his unfair claim on her husband's estate. Collins comes to visit, and turns out to be a bit of a wally. However, he has what he considers to be a cunning plan, namely to marry one of the daughters and thereby keep the estate more closely 'in the family'. Mrs Bennet thinks this a splendid idea and is won round. (On the whole we tend not to hear much about what Mr Bennet thinks.) Collins makes a fool of himself at the Netherfield dance, and then makes even more of a fool of himself when asking for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, thinking that she is being charming and coy, when she is flatly refusing his proposal.

And secondly Wickham - the younger Bennet sisters, Kitty and Lydia, are keen on a man in uniform, and like to go to town and chat up the soldiers who are based there. On one occasion they take Elizabeth along and she meets Wickham, recently arrived to join up. They spend the evening deep in conversation at her aunt and uncle's house, where it transpires that Wickham and Darcy have a long and complicated past. Apparently Wickham's Dad worked for Darcy's Dad, and Wickham and Darcy grew up together, almost like brothers. There was an understanding that Wickham was to be looked after by Darcy's father's will, but something went wrong, and now there is significant ill-feeling between the two, and we are left with the clear impression that it is all Darcy's fault. Anyone who is anyone is at the Netherfield ball, but Wickham is conspicuous by his absence, conveniently having business to attend to elsewhere. Darcy and Elizabeth dance together, but it is frosty. 

Pride

Included in my '100 book bucket list' poster is Pride and Prejudice. In fact, it seems to turn up pretty near the top of most of the '100 best book' lists, wherever you look. I doubt whether this is entirely Colin Firth's fault (although you can't help but wonder with some of the books on these types of lists whether they get a pretty spectacular boost from a solid film or TV tie in), and so I thought it was about time to give it a go.

To be clear, I've only just started, and am only a few chapters in. Fairly short chapters they are too - I thought that brief chapters was a Patterson-esque new invention for the modern page turner, but Austen packs 61 into P&P. Anyway, in the first five we've discovered that Bingley has moved in to Netherfield, and that this has excited the interests of the Bennet family who live nearby - first and foremost the interest of Mrs Bennet who has five daughters in need of a husband (Jane, Lizzy, Mary, Kitty & Lydia - I think - hard to keep track at this early stage). Sounds like Bingley is a decent enough chap, and has caught the eye of the eldest, Jane, who he danced with twice (golly!) at their first meeting. At the same event, we also meet Darcy for the first time, and he doesn't come across well at all. Whilst he is said to be a 'fine, tall person' with 'handsome features', he rather rapidly gets a comeuppance, and he is only 'looked at with great admiration for half the evening' until 'he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased, and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding , disagreeable countenance'.

The other striking thing, whether of the time, or of critical importance to young ladies seeking a partner, or whether for Austen herself, is that one of the first things we are told about both Bingley and Darcy is how much money they have got. In chapter 1, on finding out someone is moving to Netherfield, Mrs Bennet says it is a 'young man of large fortune', and no sooner have we found out that his name is Bingley and he is single, we are told 'four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!'. Similarly in chapter 3, three lines after seeing Darcy's name for the very first time, we discover that he has 'ten thousand a year'. Quite how this gets into circulation so quickly is a bit of a mystery, but maybe it was common at the time. Just for the record, and because it's hard to reckon with, I went to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, and £10,000 per year in 1812 (when P&P is set) is the same as just over £700,000 now. So, Darcy was a wealthy man indeed. I wonder where all that money came from? (Inheritance, empire, industrial revolution ...).

Anyway, more to follow ...

4yrs

WDW is gradually opening back up again. We've been keeping an eye on the news with interest from various social media streams that we follow, and it seems like reopening has been going smoothly, albeit to mixed reviews. Capacity is clearly significantly down, with low wait times for rides (although whether that is because people are choosing to stay away, time will tell), but the folks at Disney must feel that the timing is really unfortunate. Having set out their reopening plan some time back, no doubt they were determined to stick with it, but to have MK reopening on a day when new cases in the US were at a record high (over 60,000) with around a quarter of them in Florida, really didn't make for good PR.

Looking back, it is interesting to see, based on this post, that exactly four years ago, we had just arrived in Florida for the holiday to celebrate the end of Jake's GCSEs.  

Mirror

One of the big challenges about where we live is getting out the end of the drive. Whilst the speed limit has just reduced to 30 mph to the right, cars frequently come round the bend considerably faster, and you rather have to hope for the best when pulling away.

Nicky found a convex mirror online, and today we (with a neighbour's help) attached it to a lamppost on the other side of the road. Now we can see round corners, making for safer driving in the future.

Out

Amazing news - we've been out for a meal. I think that the last time we had a meal out of any significance was when we went to Hawksmoor in London (with Bec, Mark, Jake and Izzy) before going to see the Only Fools and Horses stage show. A quick check shows that was Saturday 7th March, so 125 days ago. That's quite a long gap!

This time it was just the two of us, and we went to Cafe Nucleus in Rochester, and had a lovely relaxing meal. They took our temperature on the way in, the staff were all wearing masks, and they'd spaced out the tables in their upstairs 'boardroom'. Other than that, it was all pretty normal, and the food was extremely nice. More importantly, it was great just to be out together for the evening!

Result

I refer back to this post from last month. After what in reality wasn't all that long a wait, but to those involved intimately probably felt like an eternity, the results are in, and let's just say that all is well, and I continue to be a very proud parent.

Matilda

I've read Matilda, inspired by the fact that it is on my '100 books bucket list' poster. Slightly surprisingly, I hadn't read it before. In fact, now that I come to think of it, I can only really bring to mind Charlie and Danny as racing certainties of Dahl children's books that I have read before. As I will happily go on at length about, Danny is one of my all time favourites, and I have read it several times. Sitting here typing this, I can very easily call to mind Danny, his father, their little caravan, and their adventure in the woods. Now there was a wonderful story.

So, how did I feel about Matilda? Well, it was ok. Maybe there's a certain risk to coming to children's books for the first time as an adult (although aren't the best ones supposed to work for all ages). For me, Matilda wasn't the star of the show, and nor was the villain of the piece Mrs Trunchbull. No, the hero by some distance was the lovely Miss Honey. Again, maybe this says more about the reader than the book. Perhaps it evoked memories of being every so slightly besotted with one's infant / junior school teachers as a little boy!

(This post is a bit of a cheat, as I had parked it for updating later, as it was Wednesdays' post, awaiting update later, and I didn't actually finish Matilda until Friday.)

Solitaire

Solution

Treat

I couldn't resist, and decided that the new Hobbit and LOTR edition was too good to miss out on, especially when Amazon had it for more that one third off list price, and so I treated myself. We'll gloss over just how many copies I now own, but I thought this one was rather special.

 

Pins

Jake has been having a bit of a sort out of his collection, and a mighty fine one it is too. To support the sort, I've taken some pictures of the pages from his albums, and created a virtual album on Flickr in the hope of minimising duplication risk on future holidays. They really do make rather splendid memory makers, for all sorts of reasons. Collected over many holidays, and with many different themes (resorts, parks, favourite characters ...) I'm sure it will continue to be added to in future years.

30

Thirty years ago today, on 4 July 1990, England played West Germany in the semi final of the Italia '90 World Cup in Turin. Waiting in the final were Argentina, who had beaten the hosts on penalties the previous day.

The match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, and there were no goals in extra time, and so it went to a penalty shoot out, with England shooting first. Both teams scored their first three penalties (with Lineker, Beardsley and Platt finding the net for England). Then, horror of horrors, Psycho Pearce's penalty was saved and Germany scored their 4th, meaning England had to score their final penalty. Up stepped Chris Waddle and blazed it over the bar, and they were out.

Tragedy. Devastation. To have come so close, a generation after the '66 heroes.

And over the years, the story was added to the many, and became part of England football folklore, even immortalised in song:

And I still see that tackle by Moore

And when Lineker scored

The second of those lines refers to Lineker's equalizer in that match.

However, that's not what I remember the match for now, not what breaks my heart. It's the rash challenge by Gazza in the first period of extra time. The immediate realisation that the referee was going to book him, and what it meant. Having a picked up a booking in the second round match against Belgium, this would be his second, and hence he would miss the next game. The eyes started to fill with tears. Lineker tried to console him, and turned to the bench saying, "have a word". Maybe this was the turning point. Who knows.

I remember spending my 1990 summer holiday (and a pretty special one that was too) proudly wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Gazza in tears and the caption 'There'll always be an England'.

And here we are, thirty years of hurt later, but still dreaming.

Bad

The next book from the '100 book bucket list' poster selected for reading was 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre. Feeling a little bit dated now, as first published in 2008. At the time it may well have been necessary and urgent to point out some of Gillian McKeith's many failings, but in a way this seems a little redundant now as she's made a pretty good job of it herself since then. However, the principles still apply, and certainly if ever there was a time when we needed the media to step up be responsible for reporting science stories carefully and with balance, it is now.

Fail

A cunning plan this evening, involving tagging along with a trip to the supermarket, as said supermarket had very recently opened a new 'home' annex which was believed to include a book section. So, off we went, arriving at about 8.15. Sure enough the supermarket was quiet and easy to get the few things we needed. However the shutters were down on the home annex, having closed at 8:00. I miss browsing in bookshops.

Half

Well what a first half that was. 

I look back at the blog and see that I managed to post for January this year (typical New Year resolution stuff no doubt, but faded away pretty quickly in Feb! Shame really because it would have been good to have some holiday blogging from Miami and Key West, but I suppose we were just too chilled!), and it's interesting to see how delightfully normal life was with work, trips out for meals and to the cinema, travel for work, and so on. I guess in some ways that's the benefit of this blogging malarkey - you get to record the everyday stuff, and it is only in the looking back that it becomes special or important. Perhaps in a few years I might look back at entries from around now and it will bring back memories of the rather bizarre time we are all living through just now.