Happy Friday!
The sun is out, the sky is blue, and we've got a cracking summer of sport ahead of us - what's not to like this glorious Friday
Happy Friday, how’s your week been?
With the longest day of the year looming, a rare sunny day in this underwhelming summer of mediocre weather so far is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.
Firstly, apologies for anyone who happened to share the same coffee shop as my cousin and myself in Kings Cross Yard on Thursday lunchtime.
The reason? We were busy plotting and organising our trip to Germany for the forthcoming European Championships.
We commandeered a table in a welcoming coffee place near the Regents Canal and duly spread out our essentials. For four long hours.
This included maps, notepads, charts, a laptop, even a Lonely Planet, and of course, When Saturday Comes’ exclusive Euro 2024 wallchart.
We must have looked like losing contestants from Race Around the World at times.
With the noise levels enlivened considerably with the loud exhortation I emimited when I took a call from a dear friend who told me they had managed to procure a face value ticket in the England end for me for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions vs Denmark.
How did that happen? I’m afraid I’d have to kill you if I told you, so we’ll have to leave that as a trade secret.
As a UEFA accredited journalist I’m also down to cover three games - more of which next week - suffice to say that we will be criss-crossing northern Germany on our eagerly-awaited road trip. We’ve even booked a ferry from Dover to Calais to start our adventure - the first time I’ve done that route for about 30 years.
I think by the time we’d finished organising the trip, the redoubtable staff in the coffee shop felt like they were coming with us - not to mention the people involved in the first interview for a marketing role that was taking place at the table next to us.
When I heard the question: “What are your strengths?’ I felt like answering for the poor candidate by saying: “I’m really strong on cross channel ferry timings.”
Home of Cricket
After a quick pint - well it was rude not to after we’d finished our gruelling assignment - it was time for me to head to the Home of Cricket, to cover my beloved Middlesex CCC.
The Seaxes were hosting Glamorgan in the T20. You can read my report elsewhere, but anyone who loves Middlesex knows their travails in the short format for what seems like forever. 2008 has been the only time they have won the domestic T20 tournament. And they haven’t been close since.
And so it was in front of a decent sized crowd in St John’s Wood on Thursday evening. Despite reaching 108-0 off 8.4 overs, Middlesex still contrived to lose by three wickets.
Food at Lord’s
One of the rites of passages for a new journalist is to tweet a picture of the free food they get in the press room.
I’ve long since stopped doing that because the novelty has long worn off - not to mention the fact someone the dark and distant past furiously tweeted me to tell me I was just another ‘journo pig in a trough’. Even if the benefit of that troll was to make me realise early on that not everyone on social media is happy for you.
The upshot of which, is that sometimes I privately ‘What’s App’ pals with a picture of a particularly decadent plate of food - or the complete opposite I should add. (I won’t mention the name of the football league team team at the end of a tortuous four hour drive that I’ve reported from on five separate occasions and never even been offered a cup of tea, let alone a bottle of water, but that’s a different story.)
The flip side of that is that the food at Lord’s is the best on the circuit. By far.
Anyway, as you may know I’m trying to avoid sugar in my food, in a bid to shift a spot of post-pandemic added timber, so I thought I’d be good and opt for the vegetarian option.
So, very smugly, I sent a snap of my succulent plant-based plate of food to my wonderful girlfriend, thinking she would be proud of my restraint.
Only for my amour to shoot back: ‘It’s full of fat.’
I can’t win.
…………
Daily List
Day ahead: Mow the lawn before it rains. Take the dog for a walk. Go to the gym. Avoid sugar. Research the Icelandic national team. Pore over England’s 26 man squad for the Euros announced last night.
Day ahead II: Head over to Wembley Stadium to cover England vs Iceland from the press box
………..
PS:
If you’re vaguely entertained* (*not entertained in the slightest but it helps pass five minutes) why not sign up to my free daily Substack newsletter. And while we’re at it please do keep an eye out for coverage from our forthcoming road trip around Germany.