Football

Wherethejourneytakesme - You must have been within yards of our house and absolute respect for you driving in those conditions. It was really scary and the ring road is a deeply unpleasant drive. I have my own opinions on the football. 

Eileen - bear has to apply to sixth forms and colleges, and will know if he gets in only after he gets his results. As for the power cuts, the chatter that I've heard is that they will initially be for 3 hours at a time. I've made the decision that we can manage with a biscuit or packet of crisps if hunger strikes for that. Notice should be given, according to what I've seen, which gives a chance to prepare. I have that wide mouthed flask, though I'm looking for another one, I have a kettle that allegedly runs in a car (must remember to test) and we have pot noodles and pasta. If all else fails, we have some huel in, which is a meal replacement drink and is relatively healthy. Also, lots and lots of candles. I have so many candles I could probably roast an ox on them!

Bless - I'm watching the USA's progress with interest. The men's game there has come on so much, and they are a powerhouse waiting to happen. 

Sharon - I'm hardly watching anything of the World Cup, although normally I would be absolutely glued to the matches. I struggle to get past the way that Qatar has done things.

When Qatar was selected as a host for the World Cup, England was also in the running. They rolled out Prince William and David Beckham and got a lot of overt support. Unfortunately it is a secret ballot that decides who gets to host a tournament, and Qatar won despite all the promises. Since then there have been a lot of accusations of bribery and foul play. 

I grew up with football all around me. I was around six months old when I went to my first football match. Father was a director of an extremely non-league club and later coached the works team. He played for the Army - not his regiment, but the Army as a whole, including against Juventus in the 1950s, and he played semi pro for places like Worcester. He played his last competitive football match at the age of 50. I don't follow football closely. Bear and DH aren't that interested, and are somewhat bemused by me, but I keep an eye on how Liverpool are doing and the general drift of things.  Normally a World Cup is an opportunity to sit and enjoy the matches when I don't normally take the time. I just can't relax into it, though. It's wrong. So I'm picking up the headlines from the BBC, dithering about watching England (who won with a reasonable game), and feeling very hypocritcal.

I know that when FIFA pick countries to host world cups, they are looking to grow the game. That's why the World Cup ended up in places like Japan/South Korea and the USA when there wasn't necessarily a huge following there. The interest in the game grew from hosting the tournament and you can see the results now as those countries expand and flourish in football. England had all the supporters, and all the stadiums already. And despite the issues at the recent Euros, we have the set up to host these sorts of events. It would be breaking new ground in Qatar and could encourage the game there. I don't think that FIFA and those that supported Qatar realised how dreadful the publicity would be that went alongside the World Cup. And the climate really isn't suited for a game that is about running fast for 90 minutes. 

The weather wasn't too bad today. I did a 'shop' in Tesco. I had two separate coupons for £5 off a £40 spend on homewares. my clubcard, plus my 10% shop. I took the opportunity to replace a couple of baking trays as mine are scratched and battered and the Salter trays were £11, but £5.50 with a Clubcard and then they added to the £40 I needed to spend to get £5 off. I also picked up an extremely non stick bathmat, and three plain white cereal bowls. They are very dull. I was tempted by these.

However they look like I should only eat dramatic and exotic food from them and not something beige with baked beans. I can't imagine a casserole on them, or egg and chips, and certainly not ketchup. 

As it was, I spent a fortune, although the boot was absolutely full at the end and I saved plenty. I got some of DH's favourite flavoured water and a wide selection of chocolate biscuits as requested by the men who had almost run out. I also stocked up on Pringles as the men like those a lot, and at £1.65 per pack, I really prefer to pick them up when I'm doing the 10% off shop. I spent nearly £200, but it was stuff like a bin and batteries and such like as well as basic food cupboard stuff to keep us going until the next 10% shop at the end of December. It also included a hoodie for bear, who has lost his, which was wonderfully and refreshingly cheap at Tesco with the discounts. 

I was glad to get home with it all! I'm starting to build up stocks of the boring stuff as there are mutterings about a cold winter. I always prefer to build stuff up at this time of year. It means that we aren't struggling if we have a day or two of bad weather. Then I can run the stocks down during summer.

I've got a huge list of stuff to do over the next two days, so please send good vibes that I'll get them done. 

Hugs and good health to all.