Summer speeds by - July 2024

July is called Gorffennaf in Cymraeg. Literally "finish (gorffen) summer (haf)". But as we ended July in a mini heatwave it feels like summer has actually kicked in, at last.

Something that did finish rather spectacularly was the Tory government - unceremoniously subjected to an epic battering in the General Election at the start of the month. I've already blogged about it, but I forgot to include the customary polling day selfie!

We had some visitors all the way from Scotland, with my sister and her three kids in Cardiff for the day. After living in Cardiff for almost 30 years I have now finally been to Techniquest!

I enjoyed a visit to the annual model railway exhibition in Penarth. As is often the case, the most interesting lay-outs are the small ones, like this one that was built in a pizza box and themed on the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. 

The same modeller had built a lay out in a suitcase as well.

The level of detail on some of the exhibits was truly outstanding. 

I went to my second gig of the year - Frank Turner live in concert at The Tramshed. It was our first gig there since before the pandemic. 

Cathy and I have both enjoyed listening to Frank a lot over the past year or so and we were both excited to see him live. I intended to write a post about the gig, but didn't get to it, so here is a mini-review. 

I have had some poor experiences at gigs - usually because of the behaviour of other gig-goers - and I often feel apprehensive in the run-up to going. But I'm pleased to say we didn't fall foul of any idiots this time. Frank tells the audience the first rule of being at his concert is 'Don't be a dick' and considering the defiant nature of many of his songs, people went along with the rule. 

(The Tramshed was still the same old sweatpit but they had enough staff on the bar for once and the floor wasn't already sticky when we walked in for a change.)

Frank was just great. He played most of the songs off his new album. We got an explanation for the new song 'Letters' and how it was about a penpal he had in Llanelli when he was a teenager. He had lost touch with her over the years, until she heard the song on the radio and contacted him to ask 'Was that about me?' 

He also played the songs we all wanted to hear. Everyone in the crowd - and I mean everyone - seemed to sing along as loudly as possible with the songs that need to be sung along to. I suspect a correlation between everyone being there because they appreciate the music and a lack of annoying people ruining it.

It's worth mentioning punk duo The Meffs, who were a decent support band, as well. They did their job of warming up the audience far more capably than most other support acts I've seen.

And finally, football is back. I watched the European Championships final and felt a bit gutted that England came so close to winning, only to lose late on. They did set an unfortunate record, becoming the first nation to lose back-to-back European Championship finals. 

But the new football season had already begun before England's defeat. I went to one pre-season friendly game this year - Barry Town away at Oxford City. Sadly Barry got hammered 9-0. But I did get to see our friend Ella and she even came to the game. 

The lower league teams in Cymru started their campaigns at the end of the month so I made it to another three games before August rolled around.

I'm not going to do a monthly round up of all the games this season, instead here is my current season stats on Futbology at the end of July. I'm pleased with the percentage of new grounds visited. 

And some selfies!

With Ella and an ox in Oxford.

With Tom and Paul at the Dracs.

With Scott when we went up to Ynyshir Albions to watch them play the Dracs.

And with Steve at Chepstow Town v Caldicot on a very warm Tuesday evening. Dig the hat!

I succumbed to the lure of reduced football stickers

I said I wasn't going to buy any Euro 2024 football stickers. But then Lidl knocked 30% off a multipack and the temptation was too great!

The pack included a tin, which was a major contributory temptational factor. I can justify it as a place to put my swaps.

There were 9 packets in the tin. All of them had a 'shiny' as the first sticker. The first packet had a shiny of Arda Güler, who was a stand out young starlet for Turkey. 

The second sticker in the first pack was of two Cymru players! I was off to a good start.

Three of the nine shiny stickers were 'parallels' meaning they are rarer - I'm a bit annoyed by it because it leaves me with a conundrum of whether to stick them in the album or not. I probably won't. 

However I did get an ordinary shiny and the parallel version, which neatly shows what I mean.

Because of licensing issues, some players just have headshots where their kits aren't visible. They look a bit odd. Plus it makes the choice of headshot really important. 

Poor old Oliver Kahn deserved better!

European Championship Final preview

Shrewsbury Town flag!

I haven't posted much about the Euros, but suddenly England are now in the final. This seems to be against many people's expectations (including mine!) as the team hasn't exactly lit up the tournament with scintillating football. (Spain, the other finalists, look scarily good.)

Whatever happens on Sunday, England will make history - either winning the Euros for the first time or being the first country to lose two finals in a row. The second option isn't the sort of history anyone would want. But it's still remarkable.

I missed England's quarter-final win over Switzerland last Saturday because I was driving back from Oxford, where I had seen Barry Town get hammered 9-0 in a pre-season friendly. 

I listened to the game on the radio on the way home and arrived back at my house just after the penalty shoot-out concluded. Driving while trying to listen to commentary on a penalty shoot-out was a novel experience and not one I want to repeat.

Unfortunately, a fixture clash meant I missed last night's semi-final as well. Instead I was at a meal in honour of a former colleague who is leaving a hospital diabetes service after 20 years. There was a chance to follow the action as the game was on in the bar of the pub we were in. 

I got into my car after the meal. There were 5 minutes to go in the game. The score was 1-1 and I thought if it went to extra time and penalties I might get home in time to see the shoot out. But it didn't even go to extra time...

Instead Ollie Watkins, who had come on as a sub, scored an incredible goal on 89 minutes and 59 seconds that effectively won the game for England. Fun fact: a few months back I saw Ollie Watkins at a football match when I went to see Truro City play Torquay United in Gloucester. And now he's England's hero...

As I have listened to both England's recent wins on my car radio, I am wondering how much England-supporting friends would pay me to sit in my car on Sunday night and listen to the final on the radio because it seems to bring good luck. I asked the question on Facebook and so far the highest offer is 57p.

Maybe I can watch from the couch. Fred, my Mum's dog has been pressed into service as a lucky mascot for a few of the games. He might bring more luck than I will.

I've seen a lot of posts on social media (mainly by my brother) saying "It's coming home!" That's a reference to a well-known song that was massive when England hosted the Euros in 1996, 28 years ago. (Maybe it is time for an England win.)

Also, if it does "come home" then that's the end of that mantra. Next time round it'll have to be "it's staying home!"

Home runs and holidays - June 2024

June was another very busy month. I've blogged about some of the major highlights already but here's my traditional end of the month review.  

The big sporting event this month was a day watching baseball in London, courtesy of my friend Gawain. This is the first month since July last year that I haven't been to any football matches. But I have been watching the European Championships. 

The Euros have been pretty good, overall, so far. Wales fell at the final hurdle back in the spring and didn't qualify but Scotland made it. They had a torrid time, though, and were on the plane back home after three games. England qualified unconvincingly from their group and needed some very late goals on the last evening in June to extend their Euros into July. 

I've also been to two stamp fairs, starting a new collecting theme - pangolins. My stamp collecting mojo comes and goes and I hadn't bought any for ages, but I enjoyed getting back on the hunt for things. I'm trying to collect stamps from countries where pangolins live and so far have a good mix. 

Recent additions

The stamp fairs and baseball were good distractions from a difficult ongoing work situation. I won't go into details but the 'change programme' stepped up a gear in the first week of June. We are now facing a few months of disruption. 

It felt like a good time to take a short break from work. So I was glad we had booked a week's holiday in North Wales with my mum and a friend. I've already blogged about it - with lots of photos. Castles, beaches, steam trains - all the staples of a holiday in Cymru, with the added unexpected bonus of sunshine and zero rain!

At the end of the holiday we had a weekend in Shrewsbury, which was great timing as my eldest niece, Joy, was celebrating a milestone birthday - she's now a bona fide teenager and had the balloons to prove it.

Hard to believe it's 13 years since Joy's appearance turned me into an uncle. (I blogged about it back in 2011!) 

We also got to see other members of the family, who were all delighted to see us!

And that marks the halfway point in 2024!

More freebie football stickers

My friend Gawain, who normally sources me baseball cards, sent me some freebie packets of Topps official Euro 24 stickers that he had picked up at a trading card show. These are different to the free ones I got in M&S last month.

There were three stickers in each pack - with no shiny badges or rarer variations included. Fair enough, they were free after all.

The stickers themselves are interesting. Players for England and France have only their faces shown whereas players for other teams are shown in full kit. I suspect this is due to licensing as Panini are doing an England sticker collection, for example, so they might have exclusive rights to showing the kit.

The Germany players might also be "heads only" - but Bastian there was the only Germany player I got in the packets, and he is a "Legend", not a current player. There are three marked spaces for legend stickers on the Germany pages and Germany seems to be the only team to have them.

There are other stickers too, including illustrations of the stadium and the official ball designed just for this European championship. Every country has a double-sticker of landmarks and architecture representing it. I got both halves of the Slovakia picture.

The double stickers give a choice of lining up the design or the edges. I've made sure the red border lines up here which shows just how off centre the stickers are compared to each other. It's only about a millimetre, but it's very noticeable.

I am resisting the urge to start buying these stickers, especially as I really enjoyed opening these free packs. 

Shiny football sticker disappointment

I'm resisting the temptation to collect the stickers for the upcoming European Championships. Mainly because of the cost, but also because Topps - the company that now has the rights to produce the stickers - has introduced deliberately rarer stickers and 'variations' (different version of stickers) to collect as well. And that annoys me.

However, I'm not averse to free stickers. On a day trip to England yesterday I ended up with some freebies from M&S when I bought some food.

(In Cymru M&S are giving away stickers of Cymru players. I haven't got any of those. Yet.)

As anyone who has collected stickers like this will know, you get a special joyful feeling when the pack contains a "shiny" sticker.

My thrill was short-lived in this case. The shiny sticker was... advertising M&S food!

Ah, well. Less than 3 weeks to go to the Euros.