And that was the Euros...

England won it the hard way, didn't they? And being honest, after losing their first game in the group stage, they looked very unlikely winners. In fact, my hunch was Spain would win. 

And yet, and yet, England somehow won all three knockout stage games while only holding a scoreline lead for one minute in six hours of football. Somehow they survived a penalty shoot out where three players in a row missed their spot kicks. Somehow they kept coming back and kept coming back and grubbing wins. Until they lifted the trophy.

My overall feeling is that there is something more heroic in not being the absolute technical best football nation and yet still dragging yourselves over the winning line time and time again. It makes for drama at least. 

And we did have drama. The two goals in three minutes against Sweden, Lucy Bronze strapping herself up like a warrior and then hammering home a penalty in the shoot out, the beyond late equaliser against Italy and the last gasp injury time penalty that won the game, Beth Mead's slip in the shoot out at the end of the final and the missed retake, and then another comeback to win the game and the tournament and the trophy. 

These are all memorable moments from a thoroughly enjoyable tournament. It took 30 games before we saw a 0-0 score-line and that game was settled by a goal in injury time. Compared to the turgid men's tournaments we have had recently, this was non-stop action. 

I may have been a bit dismissive of Cymru's Euros campaign in my previous post about the Euros. One thing that did occur to me was that the women's team have managed something the men's team never did and that is to qualify for a 16 team Euros finals. The men's team first qualified for the finals in 2016 - when there were 24 teams in the competition meaning eight more spaces up for grabs. (Soccer nerds will tell me that Cymru also qualified in 1976 because they were eliminated in the quarter finals, but only four teams appeared in the "finals" that year so quarter finals were effectively the last qualifying round for the finals.)

I asked Cathy what her most memorable moment of the Euros had been and she said Jess Fishlock's goal for Cymru against France. It was super fitting that Jess scored Cymru's first ever goal at a finals tournament, as she has been a superb leader for the Cymru women's team for many years. There was an interview with her dad on the BBC a couple of days later and seeing him trying to keep his emotions in check while on camera brought a lump to my throat. 

Hannah Cain's goal against England was a better goal than Jess's toe poke against France. But it came at the wrong end of a hefty defeat. Although, I still maintain the penalty that set England on their way to victory was a terrible decision. England got very lucky to be gifted the lead there and I think that changed the entire direction of the match. 

I'm not sure what my most memorable moment was. I didn't see Jess Fishlock's goal because I wasn't able to watch the game. I've mentioned some of the England moments already. Germany's Ann-Katrin Berger's incredible save to prevent an own goal against France was an immense display of goalkeeping - possibly one of the best saves I've ever seen in a live televised game. 

The real test of how good a tournament has been is how you feel at the end. I enjoyed England's win. But I also felt sad that the finals were over. It's been brilliant football, engrossing entertainment, nail=bitingly tense, and now... it's over. But always to be remembered as one of the great tournaments of all time. 

Yet more post-Jaffa Jaffa Cakes

We are falling a long way down the rabbit hole now. After "cola bottle" flavour last year (which were passable), the latest flavour to hit the shelves is "Hot Honey". 

This isn't some weird unknown company doing this. It's McVities (admittedly now part of some massive conglomerate) who keep pushing the flavour envelope with new random tasting jelly.

So what are hot honey Jaffa Cakes like? They have a sort of honeyish initial taste, but it's hard to tell. Could be fruit. Could be brown sugar. The heat is in a slight zingy chilli pepper aftertaste that lingered for a good 10 seconds or so. The overall effect was, mmm, damp squib, really.

I wouldn't recommend these if you're looking for a packet of Jaffa Cakes to crack open when company comes over. Unless you don't like the prospective company, in which case they would be ideal.

They have conveniently labelled the packet as well, to make sure you don't accidentally give them to someone you like.

Also, McVities are leaning into the biscuit v cake debate with a humorous bar code! (Well I found it funny!)

Going "Big P" political

Recently I was asked if I was political. I said I feel I have always been "political with a small p", because I'm interested in politics. I have been involved in some active political campaigns, going back to things like Jubilee 2000 campaigning for debt justice, through to marching in my first March for Independence earlier this year.

But now I feel that I have become "big P" Political. For the first time in my life I have joined a political party. I am now a member of Plaid Cymru and have the card to prove it.

So why Plaid? 

I've been voting for Plaid Cymru for a while, having felt disaffected with Labour. I like their broadly socially progressive policies. Unlike Labour, they aren't pandering to right wing populists regarding immigration. They've also spoken out about Gaza - one of the few UK political parties to criticise what is happening there. And, of course, I support the idea of Wales being an independent state, which is Plaid's ultimate aim.

So I have been thinking of joining for a while and then recently a few things gave me a push.

At the end of June, I was invited up to an evening with Rhun ap Iorweth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, in Pontypridd. My friend Sara, who is on the candidate list for Pontypridd, Cynon and Merthyr in next year's Senedd election, asked me along. 

I like Rhun's pragmatic approach to things. Despite the audience being almost all Plaid Cymru members, he had some tough questions chucked at him and he handled them well. There were no ridiculous promises. Generally the tone was positive and optimistic. And it appealed to me. 

The other prompt that finally got me to sign up was learning there is a council by-election in our ward on 14 August. One of the current Labour councillors has resigned due to misogynistic attitudes among the Labour group on Cardiff Council. It's a shame because I've asked her for help regarding green space issues in Grangetown and she was very helpful. 

But there's a lot of decisions coming through from the council that I don't agree with, including encroaching on some of the aforementioned green space on the edge of The Marl, one of Grangetown's rare parks. 

I met Neil, the Plaid candidate for the council election, after the Keep Grangetown Tidy litterpick. (He had been litter picking too; it wasn't a random thing.) We had a good chat. I think he would be a good councillor. And so I thought, now is the time. 

An election is a good time to join a party. I have been helping with the campaign, delivering leaflets and knocking doors. It's been a great way to start out being Political with a big P.

One game left of the Euros

Euro 2025 been a very enjoyable tournament and, now, the wall-chart waits for one final update.

Cymru had a difficult group and were always going to find it hard to get any points. They scored their first ever goals at a Euros final, including a beaut against England, but there wasn't much to cheer. 

After Spain's first match, I thought they looked likely tournament winners. However, Germany pushed them all the way to extra time in the semi-final. Germany were the highest ranked team Spain had faced, so maybe Spain aren't so fearsome after all.

I didn't think England would make the final, especially after they lost their first game in the group stages. They actually went into their final group game with a microscopic chance of going out, but made no mistakes with a comprehensive victory over Cymru.

England's quarter-final against Sweden saw them claw back a two goal deficit and win a truly awful penalty shoot-out. Then in the semi-final it took a 95th minute equaliser and a 119th minute penalty to edge past Italy. Two games where they came from behind to win the hard way. 

Will their fortune hold out on Sunday in the final? It's a rematch of the World Cup final two years ago. I'm hoping for a good game!

Book of the Month: The long way to a small angry planet

I really enjoyed reading this book, the debut science fiction novel by Becky Chambers published a decade ago after the author used a crowdfunder to help her finish it. I picked a good time to read it. I'd just slogged my way through another science fiction book that was tedious and disappointing (and will not be appearing in one of these book of the month posts) so this was the perfect pick-me-up to restore my faith in science-fiction. As ever some mild spoilers may follow!

It's quite a simple story. A spaceship crew that constructs hyperspace lanes receives a government contract to travel deep into new territory and build one end of a new wormhole. Most of the book is about this journey to the small angry planet that is the new construction site. There are various stops and surprises along the way but eventually they get to their destination ready to carry out the work. And then things don't go according to plan.

I really like the idea of a motley crew trogging through space on a beat up old spaceship. It worked in the Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it worked in The Expanse series, it worked on Firefly, Farscape and my favourite ship in Star Wars was always the Millennium Falcon. It's a trope that I enjoy. 

And Chambers' crew was a little bit different. It's an inter-species, majority-human crew. The alien races are decently drawn and have their own alien view of the universe. If anything it's the humans that are a bit stereotypical - from the ditzy, messy, super-smart, slightly ADHD mechanic, through to the newbie in the crew who acts as a foil for introducing all the other members. However, the humans are distant from Earth, which has succumbed to ecological failure. They are part of the 'Exodus' and that makes them a little bit different and alien too. 

One departure from other books like this is it's not a wild west novel set in Space. There are some violent and dangerous situations, but none of the crew carries or is particularly comfortable with guns. One encounter puts the crew in jeopardy but they negotiate their way out of it using their knowledge of how their alien aggressors think. I really liked that about the book. It doesn't just resort to shooting. "There are alternatives to fighting," to borrow a phrase from another franchise. 

And lots of things happen. All the characters have a range of personal challenges but they all get resolved quickly and it's on to the next weird encounter or problem that needs solving. Nothing gets dwelt on for too long and yet, still. the resolutions to issues are thoughtful and thought-provoking. There are insights into how organic intelligences interact with machine intelligences, comparative morality, reflections on whether warlike races deserve to survive, and how capitalism courts chaos often to the detriment of the many. (The whole wormhole entrance construction project has more cons than pros.)

I like books that make me think without making my head hurt. 

I noticed on the cover of this book that it has won an award for best series - and I liked it so much I asked for the series set as a birthday present. I'm very grateful to Connor for buying them for me! 

No doubt there will be more Book of the Month reviews set in this universe to follow!

Lost footballs redux

Back in 2021 I blogged about "Lost footballs". It appears footballs are still getting lost. Here are a few more. These are mainly from the streets round and about Grangetown.

Up a tree in Grange Gardens

We also spotted a lost football in Buckinghamshire when we were on holiday there.

And on the beach at Dinas Dinlle (another holiday pic!)

Keep Grangetown Tidy also collected a couple that had been abandoned in the streets in a recent litter-pick.

I rescued this last one from the trash pile because it still has some bounce in it and I can give it to my nephews to lose over their backyard fence!

Penarth Model Railway Show

It's a heatwave, so what better way to stay out of the sun than looking at some model trains? Bryan joined me at the Barry and Penarth Model Railway Club's annual show.

There were a mix of lay-outs ranging from early twentieth century through to modern image. 

Narrow-guage railways were also represented.

There were a few micro-layouts, including one built inside a brie cheese box!

But there were two that really stood out. The first was a monochrome layout paying tribute to the classic film Brief Encounter. It was a very clever lay-out made to look like a black and white movie.

The creator, Rachel Quest, has her own YouTube channel. She also clearly has a sense of humour!

And Bryan and I both really liked Karolina Falls, an American frontier town with a waterfall featuring real water (!) and lots of funny little features including a curious moose!

So, lots of inspiration for if I ever get round to reviving my model railway. 

The Big Pink Nightmares steal a draw (Blood Bowl match report)

A first Blood Bowl game for my Black Orc team now they've been painted as the Big Pink Nightmares. I'd painted most of the team while on holiday in Buckinghamshire earlier this year but since then have played games with my wood elf team and my Norse team.

With the addition of some extra goblins, which I painted on our North Wales Holiday last month, I had an over-full roster with one goblin too many. But I didn't care and they all got to sit in the subs box. 

Bryan played dwarfs again and soon had a dwarf bearing down to score.

Varag Ghoulchewer, my so-called star player got injured trying to make an an extra yard to stop the dwarf break. He was in the serious injury box from turn 3 in the first half. 

He rarely finishes a game, does Varag!

Anyway, the dwarfs duly scored. 

One of my orcs got sent off after trying to foul an opponent. My arguing with the ref didn't help him. Now I was two bigger players down and the goblins, while annoying, kept getting pummelled. Good thing I had all those reserves.

Then in the last few turns of the second half, one goblin got hold of the ball near his team's end-zone, ran the length of the pitch fending off challenges and dodging tackles and crossed to score on my very last turn! 

Final score: 1-1. Yet another draw but an exciting game, nonetheless.

Visiting the National Football Museum

On a brief trip to Manchester, Cathy and I took the opportunity to visit the National Football Museum.

Our visit started with a photo op with some trophies. The Women's Euro trophy was built out of Lego. 

It was nice to be greeted by a staff member who was learning Cymraeg and was keen to practice! She also took the photos.

As the Euros are on, there was an interactive wall-chart where people could predict the results of the competition. Cathy decided Wales and England would compete the final. (Although at the moment it seems unlikely either team will feature.)

The exhibits feature a good mix of artifacts arranged by theme. 

I spotted a few mascots as well!

There are also plenty of cultural exhibits - showing how football has been represented in popular media. This brought back memories! It's a long time since I watched Escape to Victory but I want to now!

I found a couple of Shrewsbury Town references. 

The interactive football grounds need updating. The CCFC Stadium was missing it's top tier and West Ham were still at Upton Park, not the London Stadium. 

The bonus highlight of the day was having lunch with Connor afterwards in the Dug Out Cafe. We really loved meeting up with him on his home ground.

The museum entry is a "season ticket" that lasts for a year so hopefully I can spend a bit more time there if I'm in Manchester again in the next 12 months.