I've come down with a nasty case of WORLD CUP FEVER! Come on Engerland! Go sports!
Actually I already cleared it, no need for me to go in to the office today. Which meant I could watch the whole of England's opening game against Croatia yesterday. Very good game, lively first half, two scored, two scored against. Harry Kane scored both one obvious penalty, saved, but then retaken and scored. One great header in from a corner. But a frustrating draw at half time. There must have been quite some team talk because they were amazing in the second half, there was one period that was an absolute batttery 1, the Croatian keeper had to save so many. So a lovely way to start, four two up.
BBC ranks England second best team in the tournament now, France doing better, Argentina close. In the house in various sweepstakes we Netherlands, Mexico, and Japan at twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, plus Portugal. Everyone thought they were the team most likely but a draw against DR Congo (not a real doctor) puts them at twenty-one for now.
That should be England's hardest group game out of the way. It's coming home.
Everyone tired today of course, that match didn't finish until two hours after my bedtime. T1 sleeping late, he doesn't have an exam until this afternoon. I offered T2 a lift and he said yes. He never says yes! But if we'd planned this yesterday, we could have had an hour's lie in. Yesterday he definitely would have said no though.
I slept well I think, had a very vivid and long running dream that is just out of reach now. I think it was about pubs, different pubs having different new landlords. Weird, as per.
Some work being irritatingly blocked by someone at work at the moment, hoping that they just don't understand it, will try and sort it out today. Looks to be a good piece of work to speed everything up to me. Pay day tomorrow and not had to commute in, so all is good.
Foggy out there now. Yesterday started a bit grey too, it's supposed to be very hot later.
Light rain and a gentle breeze, 15 - 22℃.
Hmm don't want this to link to my discussions of the electical power source, so spelling it like this...
Looking into holiday, we're away for only one Saturday, but I always try and do a parkrun. There are no parkruns near this place, none in the country. There's an unofficial one in the city, I could still do a 9am run. It would still count on Strava but not for parkrun. But nothing to lose by doing it really, except that it will be hot.
No parkrun the next two weeks here either for other events. Maybe this is the point I stop running?
Real nice out today, I went out for a walk after a busy day of work. Warm and sunny, a really warm breeze blowing over me as I walked to Sandgate and back. Was pretty hot out yesterday, which was more surprising. Getting nicer as the week goes on, as long as by "nice" you mean "hotter". It's going to be thirty degrees in London.
Is there football on today? Everyone else is revising or playing Mario Kart.
After picking up T1 from his charity shop volunteering job, our plan was to head into Ashford, shoe shopping. Specifially trainers, wife and T2 both need them. But it's a nice day. I hate heading into Ashford at the best of times (though the outlet is ok when you get there) and it always seems daft heading inland on a nice day. So we gave Folkestone a chance instead, got him a pair of trainers, got some ideas for wife, made a plan for her also to come to London with me, and we were done in an hour! We got some food for a barbecue today, and were back in plenty of time for a nice walk to Sandgate and a couple of pints.
Barbecue is to say goodbye to nephews who are heading back to the USA tomorrow. I've not seen them since the wedding as they've also been to Paris this week. I will only see them for a bit as I have a plan to go to The Clarendon later this afternoon for the first time since it reopened.
Trainer shopping in two weeks? But aren't I going to see The Dogs D'Amour? Yes but there's no Parkrun, so we'll head up early, shop in Ashford, I'll carry on to central London and she'll come home. Hmm maybe I will finally get that new jacket I had my eye on? Probably not, I'm still undecided.
Wife wants to go and see King Lear with Ian McKellen. I said, why don't you want to go with me? But no, turns out he is appearing in it 1 in London. We have joined as members of this theatre to get priority booking, but not the premium membership, so do not get priority priority booking... we can try and get tickets on Friday, and then they're on sale to the public on the Monday. They might well all go on the Thursday to the premium premium "residents" members. And no idea what times it might be or how much it might cost. Kids want to go too, so that doubles the price. Could be really good though. Luckily that is pay day.
OK actually still parkrun, just not running, only volunteering. I do a lot of work for charity but I don't like to talk about it mate.
Thank you for volunteering at Folkestone parkrun on 2026-06-13
Thank you very much for your support at Folkestone parkrun on 2026-06-13. You've now volunteered at this event on 19 separate occasions, and your total number of milestone credits is 20.
How do I cash in these milestone credits then??? I might do a few more of these, I think I get a t-shirt for 25.
Lovely evening at the Potting Shed last night. Sensibly stuck on the Hoppy Pale which is 3.6% but still I had more than enough. Did get a Chinese takeaway on the way home, one sensibly sized portion of vegan chicken rice noodles. Enough to scupper my sleep score, but I wasn't running today, so all fine.
Kula Shaker at Ready Alleycat thirty years ago today. I have been saying "here's to the revival" for a long time, hoping my signed single would one day become worth something. It seems they're back now, they're playing some festival near Maidstone this summer, but I still don't think there's that much interest in them. They were really good, but never that popular. I know I saw them one time before this at Guildford Uni but cannot find the details of that one online. It was an even smaller event, not even in the main student union bit where I saw other bands.
Mansun anniversay for Sunday too, and also I see they were at the Wedgewood Rooms on Friday but no evidence I was there and I don't remember it. Also Space who I liked at the time were at the Joiners, surely I would have gone to one of these? Especially as it is peak fanzine time when I went for free. I don't clearly remember many of these gigs from so long ago, that's why I wish I had more evidence.
Paulʼs weblog - I live some place you've not heard of in Kent. Married and dad to 2, I'm a full stack web engineer, + I do javascript / nodejs, some ruby, python, php ect ect. I like pubs, running, eating, home automation 🤖 and other diy stuff, history, genealogy, telly 📺, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.
