And so it begins.

Got up this morning relieved to discover I didn’t dream that absurd football match last night, and it still makes me grin every time I think about it. That’s the thing about football: every match you watch could be a turgid 0-0, but there’s a slight chance it could be something like that… #FRAENG

This is the best match in the history of football.

I am really laughing now. #FRAENG

I have been at three matches with a 5-3 scoreline, including the best game I’ve ever been to. #FRAENG

If tomorrow’s match is 0-0 after extra time, do you think they could swap and say this was the Final? #FRAENG

Anthony Barry is one of the breakout stars of this World Cup. #FRAENG

This feels like the game England would have played if I hadn’t bothered watching. #FRAENG

Me: not sure whether I’ll bother with this third-placed match but I’ll watch the first few minutes and see what happens. Me: 😳🥳 #FRAENG

I love the Proms! Wrote something last year about the history of the festival and what it means to me, which you may find interesting.

I walked the Soar Navigation today from Loughborough to Leicester (which I tried to do in Feb but floods made much of the route impassable), so I’ve now walked the Grand Union Leicester Line from the Trent to Norton Junction. Not a good picture day but I found something for @lakesstiles.bsky.social…

Glorious bit of trivia from Eddie Johns on Threads: Since Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, every single President has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover. It would still have applied even if Kamala Harris had won. She was born the exact same day Hoover died, October 20, 1964.

There are five seasons: spring, summer, Proms, autumn and winter - so happy first day of Proms! Here is a thing I wrote about it last year. 🎶

Woman on train: we got a four grand vet’s bill this week - my dog ate a pillowcase… @mirandakeeling.com

#AdoorableThursday Sutton Bassett

Oh well.

It’s time for this post again. #ENGARG

👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

Djed Spence 😍

YES!!!!!!! #ENGARG

Ouch. If football was normally like that first half I’d give it up and find something entertaining instead. #ENGARG

Anderson > Messi #ENGARG

I’d be slightly surprised if this game ends with 22 players on the pitch. 🔴 #ENGARG

Here we go, then. The third England men’s football World Cup semi-final of my lifetime. I’m expecting chaos, and beyond that, we’ll see. Come on lads… 🤞 #ENGARG 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

‘…these are two well matched teams; or rather, not really teams, but excitingly wonky collections of parts dragged to this point by star players and wild-eyed comebacks, emotion as opposed to process.’ @barneyronay.bsky.social

ok I'm beginning to focus on the long game, I think France needs to spend whatever time they have left injuring as many Spanish players as possible so England can have a chance if they do reach the final, tonight the Entente Cordiale must live on

Spain are im-press-ive. #FRAESP

While France are trying to play Football, Spain are playing Frustration. #FRAESP

Listening to BBCR5L while watching ITV on mute, thereby avoiding Matterface/Dixon. Can recommend. #FRAESP

Lucas Digne appeared to think he was playing Sunday league there.

Man on the train on the phone: ‘…is he with you?…I’ve phoned him and left a message…it’s just that he’s got my ticket…I don’t know where he is…the train’s going in three to five minutes…’ @mirandakeeling.com

To avoid the heat of the day yesterday I went for a walk in the ‘golden hour’.

Golden hour stile, last night. @lakesstiles.bsky.social

Baz-Fall. #TheCricket

I visited a church in Strasbourg and discovered that the Three Lions song is all wrong. A special World Cup post which contains nothing about football. open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...

😅

I look at the clock every ten minutes and another 30 seconds have gone.

Would be funny if an England player won the golden boot and it wasn’t Kane…

‘The roof goes off the entire country’ 🙄

Should have called dead ball. @tmsproducer.bsky.social

Referee making the VAR announcement sounds like a disappointed PE teacher. #NORENG

I’m old enough to remember when Bellingham or Rogers was a debate.

ITV keeps going on about how the Norway full-backs are struggling, so you just know at least one of them is going to score now.

@nutedawn.bsky.social fwiw I don’t think the song is ironic - though ‘it’s coming home’ is sometimes said ironically. I wrote some reflections on the song here, which may be of interest.

Here’s the original poem. I wrote about writing poems here: jembenson.substack.com/p/poetic-sto...

Gosh, that’s beautiful

When my daughter went to university nearly five years ago I was in my @imcmillan.bsky.social inspired sonnet-writing phase, and I wrote a poem for her. And my son asked whether I’d write one for him too, and he’s just about to graduate, so I did.

A year ago I was in Amsterdam, wandering round the @rijksmuseum.bsky.social, and I wrote about some of the pictures I saw (there and in the Hague). 🇳🇱