England 2-1 Slovakia (AET)

Well, what can you say about this game that won't be covered extensively, and exhaustively, by the English media?  England were abject and turgid, yet somehow survived to play another game.  Watching the England performances in the Euros is an ordeal - taking me to an emotion somehow beyond anger and despair, an almost serene acceptance of how bad we are.  There is a heaviness in how we play, and watching us play, that reminds me of how I feel when my blood pressure or blood sugar level is spiking.  Pre-tournament favorites?  What a joke.        

Syon Park to Strawberry Hill

As is almost obligatory at this point, I did a walk from my book of London walks yesterday - what will probably be the first of several.  This is one I hadn't done before - essentially a riverside walk between some big mansions in west London, on the opposite bank of the Thames to the Richmond walk I've done several times before.  And these are some nice old mansions - most of them open for exploration.  I went into one that had free entry, but didn't stay long because I didn't like being constantly bothered by the number of volunteers - who outnumbered the number of visitors.  The book said it was a 4.5 mile walk that should take about 2.5 hours.  Even with some minor deviations from the prescribed route, this ended up being a lot longer - and it felt like it.  I came back exhausted, but it was worth it.

Election(s)

Blah blah blah elections blah blah blah.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the endless, repetitive, tedious coverage of the general election.  But I do my best to tune it out.  I don't really care about the results.  In much the same way that I don't give a monkeys about the Biden vs Trump debate.  Biden having a rough debate due to his age is about as predictable as a Reform UK candidate being racist.  A senile Biden is still preferable to a convicted felon Trump.  And this debate is so early that I have no doubt that it will quickly be forgotten by the constant Trump news cycle. 

Toilet

One day back, and I've already managed to break my mum's toilet.  Yikes. 

Travel

I'm back in Blighty!   But only after a somewhat tortuous journey.  It started and ended with the hot weather in both Seattle and London, making the slow crawl through rush hour Seattle traffic particularly arduous.  But then we come to the flight itself - no upgrade, but in theory a window seat in the front row of the premium economy section should be great.  It's a seat I've been in before, and it affords you some extra legroom.  But when I boarded the plane, I got to see the person next to me and I knew things would be difficult.  It was this same short, old, fat guy I had seen earlier blocking the gate.  Someone who appeared to be out of breath from the short walk from the gate to the plane.  Someone who spent the entire flight either wheezing while aggressively working on his laptop, or snoring incredibly loudly while catching some shut-eye.  Someone who invaded my personal space by taking over my side of the middle armrest - inexcusable in premium economy seating (I fought back by arbitrarily forcing him to move by getting out my tray table more times than necessary).  Besides the unfortunate neighbor, it also seemed that British Airways have instituted some austerity measures.  I think I've always got a little travel bag when I've flown this red eye flight before - think socks, eye mask, ear plugs, mini toothpaste/toothbrush etc.  No sign of that this time.  And the flight seemed understaffed - took a lot longer to get our food taken away after we were finally given it.  And they didn't exactly come down the aisles very often to offer us drinks.  All very disappointing.  But when I finally get some decent sleep, it will be good to be back.        

Holiday Road

 

Game 7

We had one of those epic sporting events today - a deciding Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals.  A winner takes all game for the championship - made more dramatic by the fact that the Edmonton Oilers had come back from a 0-3 deficit against the Florida Panthers to set up Game 7.  Only one other team in NHL history has come back from 0-3 down to win a series.  But in a close game, Florida managed to hold on to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.  It could only have been better if it had gone to overtime.  I had no horse in the race so was able to enjoy watching the game, unlike the NBA finals which was ruined by the hated Boston Celtics winning.    

Tea

I had a few spare teabags (Yorkshire Tea and Tetley), and since I don't drink tea I passed them on to a Chinese colleague.  Unfortunately, I should also have let him know how to make English tea.  He left the teabag in a cup of boiling water for about 20 minutes, and then complained to me about the bitter taste and that it was giving him a headache!  And of course the concept of adding milk and/or sugar to tea is absolutely alien to someone who has only had Chinese tea.  I offered to bring back some teabags from the UK, but unsurprisingly he wasn't interested. 

Soccer Coverage

Oh dear.  Fox's coverage of the Euros is not getting any better.  And that's me being polite.  It's lamentable.  I don't think I've watched a single game all the way through yet apart from the England games.  And even then, I muted the TV at halftime because watching England games is punishing enough without having to hear the insufferable Alexi Lalas at halftime. Even Fox's YouTube highlights of each game is really poor - just some badly edited clips of the various goal attempts, with little to no context and build-up.  Alexi and Landon "Monotone" Donovan in commentary seem to come in for the biggest criticism over here.  But it goes far beyond that.  There are so many other things wrong that would be so easy to fix - get rid of the "rules experts" (Mark Clattenburg and "Dr" Joe Machnik) who provide absolutely zero insight; broadcast a daily Match of the Day type show with the highlights of each game played that day; use the universally recognized red card symbol (i.e. a red square) in the graphic to indicate when a team has had a player sent off, instead of the hugely intrusive "10 players" text; do not sublicense any games to a 3rd party streaming service (this one is particularly inexcusable).  I might have to use a VPN service for the 2026 World Cup. 

Summer

The first few official days of summer, and it's absolutely scorching here.  I don't have my AC unit set up in my bedroom yet, so it will be another uncomfortable night's sleep tonight.  One Seattle neighbo(u)rhood I will definitely be avoiding this weekend is Fremont.  That's where the annual Fremont solstice parade takes place - better known as the naked bike parade.  I've never been to it, and it's a hard pass again.  An event that seems to solely cater to hippies and pervs, yet inexplicably people take their families (and young kids) to go see the parade with all the boobs and dicks hanging out.  Which doesn't seem right.  Am I just too conservative?

Trail Cam - 2 weeks in June

Decided to check my trail cam, and had a ridiculous number of photos to scroll through - nearly 1250 - over just 2 weeks.  There seemed to be 3 distinct sources for most of these photos - a pair of squirrels going back and forth, some weeds that grew in front of the lens and every time they moved in the wind they caused a photo to be taken, and - something I'd seen for myself through the back door - over the last few days there has been a doe and her 2 fawns in the yard, and they have been running around crazily.  Here are the best of the selection (including a surprising amount of birdlife).

A New Friend

I was greeted by this little guy near my front door when I got home this afternoon.  I hadn't seen him before.  I hope he sticks around, and doesn't become a victim to one of the many predators around.

 

Middle Seat

One of the supposed advantages of being a British Airways Bronze Member is that I can choose my seat 7 days before my flight, rather than when I check in (of course, if I was the next tier up then I could pick my seat when I made the reservation).  Anyway, my flight is in a week's time so I went online this evening to pick my seat.  What an absolute waste of time.  Every single other seat in my section (premium economy) was taken, so I am stuck with the middle seat that I've been assigned.  Just great.  Do I keep on checking, in the unlikely event that a better seat becomes available?  Or do I take my chances that I can get a better seat, or even better an upgrade, when I check in or get to the airport?  Probably the latter.    

Apples

Washington is the leading apple-growing state, producing over half of the domestically grown apples.  So when I buy them from the supermarket, why do they suck?  They don't taste great, and they don't seem to last long.  I'm probably buying them from the wrong place - I should try to find the nearest fruit stand.  Even the Cosmic Crisp variety of apple - developed after 20 years of study and research by Washington State University to supposedly come up with the perfect balance of flavo(u)r and texture - is nothing special.  

Euro 2024 Initial Thoughts

I'm writing this paragraph before the England game.  I have barely watched any of the Euros so far because, much as feared, the Fox coverage is absolutely terrible.  It's making the tournament unwatchable.  It starts with the studio, which has a really poor anchor and way too many former players who provide zero character, zero insight and, in some cases, can barely speak English.  And the commentary is not much better - Fox are using their own commentators and they suck.  The problem is that the American networks do not share their commentary teams - so the far superior and established partnerships that they use on NBC for their Premier League coverage (featuring former players such as Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux) are sorely missed, and we're stuck with much inferior commentary teams (featuring former players such as Robert Green, Warren Barton, Owen Hargreaves and Landon Donovan).  Other aspects of the Fox coverage I dislike: too many adverts, minimal game highlights (they're not even airing a show featuring highlights of all the games that have been played that day - instead just airing select full game replays in the evening), they're not airing all the games on broadcast TV and as soon as the Copa America starts in a few days time (which happens to feature the US and which Fox ALSO have the rights to), then I think that is going to take priority over the Euros.  Fox have advertised the Euros by saying that they are airing every single match, but what they didn't say is that some of the games would only air on Fubo - which is a subscription only streaming service that I'm not going to shell out more for (and, hilariously, apparently the Hungary vs Switzerland that was exclusively on Fubo didn't include graphics for a score or time anywhere on the screen throughout the game!).  Depressingly, Fox also have the rights to the next World Cup and the next Euros.

I'm writing this paragraph after the England game.  A typically unconvincing, nervy, uncomfortable performance by England.  I don't mind that in the first game of the tournament, but only if England's performances improve as the tournament goes on (and I think we are capable of raising our game against better opponents).  But the defense looks worryingly shaky, and it feels like the individual creativity of a number of our best players is stymied by the manager and his conservative methods.  The second half in particular made for some pretty dreadful viewing.  But a win is a win, and that is the most important thing of all.         

Irrational Hatred

When it comes to golf, I have always had an irrational hatred towards Tiger Woods.  He comes across as a thoroughly unpleasant person to have a round of golf with, and his Ryder Cup showings prove that he is no team player.  But now his time has passed, and my irrational hatred has switched to another golfer.  Rory McIlroy.  Can't stand the guy - especially for his hypocrisy.  Criticizing the LIV golf series when he jollies it up with Donald Trump.  And what you hear about his personal relationships does not paint a flattering profile of the kind of person he is e.g. breaking up with Caroline Wozniacki via a brief phone call and no subsequent contact.  I'm no fan of the fact that despite being British he chose to represent Ireland in the Olympics.  I enjoy seeing his sour puss when he is having a bad round, and I hope he never wins another major.      

Friday in the Office

Another depressing day in the office.  I'm already very anxious about my job security - it has dawned on me that I don't have the next project I'm working on lined up yet, which is quite worrying.  And things in the office didn't help my mood today.  I like to go in on Friday because it's normally very quiet and I can get on with things undisturbed.  But not today.  The entire office was empty, apart from the person in the very next cubicle to me.  Very, very annoying - just hearing her typing away was getting on my nerves, and I couldn't get any work done.  And then I went out for lunch, and came back to find my blinds pulled.  Very pissed off, didn't say anything but immediately raised my blinds back up.  She left not long after.  It feels kind of like fighting over an airplane window shade when the window is between rows.  I'm not hiding the fact now that I'm really annoyed by her presence in that particular cubicle - and I really wish she'd move, but I suspect she won't.

TV Theme Tunes #91

A classic from what many (i.e. me) consider the golden age of kid's cartoons.

Outsourcing

Another alarming development in the future of my job today.  I found out that they are escalating the amount of work being outsourced.  And it's not just the amount of work, it's the kind of work that's being outsourced.  It is the kind of work that I've been doing for the last 25 years and which I've built my career on.  It's the kind of hands-on work that I'm good at, and indeed is probably my biggest strength.  And now it seems likely to be outsourced, leaving only more of an oversight role.  Which I think I can do perfectly well, but we sure as hell don't need to employ as many people as we do now to perform the oversight role.  So I am a lot more worried about getting laid off at some point in the future now.  I just don't understand the reasoning for all these changes - things were working well, and if it ain't broke don't fix it.  It's people in upper management who don't understand what we do in our jobs making decisions that they don't really understand the impact of.  All my experiences of outsourcing have not been positive - and I think this is a serious step in the wrong direction.  It's not just me, but I think there is a lot of grumblings going on throughout the group.  Let's hope there are some changes in upper management and some changes in the direction we're going in before things get too out of hand.      

Trail Cam: Different Angles

I've tried a couple of different locations for my trail cam, with mixed results.  The first location, under the deck, was a bust.  The only thing it captured - per the first photo below - was the American robin that is definitely nesting somewhere nearby as I've seen it around plenty.  As you can tell, the American robin is not closely related to the European robin, only sharing the red breast.  But the second location, on the opposite side of my patio to where I normally have the trail cam, was better - though the field of vision is not big.  But makes you realize just how close to the house the wildlife is getting, as they are right up onto my patio.

Summer TV

The slate of summer programming on TV seems very uninspiring.  If there is a time to cut the cord - something I've been saying I should do for an awfully long time now - this should be it.  I'm not even particularly enthused by the upcoming second season of House of Dragon - probably the highest profile show coming up.  Network TV is just a write off over summer - just one crappy gameshow after another.  And there are only a few cable TV shows worth watching.  Which just leaves streaming.  So why am I still bothering paying for cable TV?  I'm honestly not sure - perhaps for sports, perhaps because I still have stuff on my DVR to watch.  But based on the lack of shows worth adding to my DVR, I think I'm going to get through what's left on it quite quickly.  Perhaps I can get back to rewatching the Bond films, something that I have inexplicably procrastinated on for quite some time now.  Either way, I've got to do better than watching old episodes of Law & Order: SVU.         

Burn

Yesterday - sunny, hot, shorts and t-shirt weather, lunchtime walk, less than 2 hours.  Today - arms and neck red and sunburnt.  What the heck is going on - I was barely outside yesterday.  Curse the Seattle weather for 9 months of the year that doesn't prepare you for the 3 months when it's actually nice. 

For Sale

I guess they've finished renovating the house that is NE of mine - I drove past it this evening, and it's up for sale again.  It got sold for about $0.5 million last year, and now it's on the market for $1.15 million.  That's quite the increase!  Mind you, they bought it when it was just a wooden shell - so presumably that is some quite serious upgrades and renovations they've done.

In context of the above photo (which I grabbed from a real estate website), my house is kind of in the direction that this photo is taken from, behind the trees and looking down on this property.   I am mostly hidden from them by the trees, though I can actually see the gazebo in the photo from my kitchen window (something that I'm not particularly thrilled about).  When talking to my landlord about this property a while ago, he said there were some serious issues with the plumbing and sewage in this location - which is why he never bought it.  I wonder if and how they fixed it, or whether the new buyer is in for a bit of a shock.  Either way, I am glad the construction noise is hopefully done with from that direction, but now I am concerned for what kind of noise I might expect from whoever moves in.

Euro 2024

Is it only a week until Euro 2024 starts?  Good grief.  Already?!  I believe Fox Sports have the broadcast rights over here, and I imagine they are going to air all the games.  I fear they might use US commentators, which would be a disaster, but we shall see.  Though how many games I will watch I don't know.  Because I must confess a serious amount of indifference to this tournament.  I think England's chances are overrated - as somewhat confirmed by today's friendly - and I'm not prepared to get invested in our chances and inevitably get let down.  It would be funny if England are already knocked out by the time I'm back in the UK - I fly back on the day of their last group stage game.  

A TV Recommendation

I've literally just finished watching the first season of this show - and when I say literally, I mean literally about 10 minutes ago.  And it's terrific.  I recommend watching The Bear.  A critically-acclaimed "comedy-drama", that streams on Hulu over here so I have no idea how you watch it in the UK (Disney+?).  Either way, do recommend you try to go out of your way to watch it.  Basically, it's about a classically trained chef coming home to run his deceased brother's sandwich shop.  It's very watchable - each episode is only about half an hour - but boy, it can be intense.  What other adjectives can I use?  Gritty, chaotic, real.  Either way, you end up totally invested in the characters.  Good acting, good story-telling, good stuff.           

Reese's Pieces

A sad sign that I've spent too much time in the US - I've developed a fondness for Reese's Pieces.  They look like M&M's, but are peanut butter flavo(u)red.  I didn't think I would ever care for any peanut butter related candy, but there we go. 

TV Theme Tunes #90

There are lots of versions of this theme tune out there - since this show has aired for many years with many different presenters.  Including Larry Grayson, Jim Davidson and, of course, Bruce Forsyth.  And of course it's Brucie's theme that we're going with, because this is the one I remember the most (at least the 90's version, not the 70's version).  Good game, good game, alright my loves.  It's nice to see you, to see you.... 

Winter Storm

It's June.  June.  And we are currently experiencing the kind of winter storm we might expect in November.  Yesterday there was loads of rain.  Especially in the mountains, hence we are under a flood watch until Wednesday.  And overnight and today, it's been really windy.  Indeed we are under a wind advisory until tomorrow morning.  Thousands of people have lost power - and judging by the number of traffic lights that were out on my way into work today, lots in nearby neighborhoods.  And all the roads are covered with bits of tree debris.  As is my driveway and yard (and roof).  I'm sure plenty of trees have come down across the region.  It's all very unseasonal and unpleasant.  But at least warmer temperatures are forecast for the end of the week.  Unfortunately only after another round of heavy rain.        

Mint

I recently received a brochure through the post from the "National Collector's Mint".  OK, that seems like a respectable name and I'm not averse to buying some coins I find of interest.  But then I scanned the brochure.  Some of the highlights include: a Donald Trump "Never Surrender" Mugshot $2 bill, a "Mount Trumpmore" $2 bill ("like Mt Rushmore, only better"), a Donald Trump "Still My President" $2 bill, a Trump Boxer Bobblehead, a Donald J Trump Perfect 2024 Silver Eagle Dollar, Trump "Campaign Buttons" Colorized Half Dollars, a Trump "Save America" $2 bill, a Donald J Trump 45th President Dollar and a Trump "Never Surrender" Trading Card.  Oh dear.  Apparently I'm on some kind of mailing list now for this kind of crap.

Cricket

So, apparently the cricket T20 World Cup started today and is being co-hosted by the US.  Of course, I had absolutely no idea.  Such is how low a profile cricket has over here.  It doesn't help that the only way to watch any of the games is via an extremely niche channel that even I don't subscribe to.  So no, cricket will not take off in the US - and I don't understand why the heck they're even bothering to host games here.  I suspect the only people going to watch the games are South Asian immigrants.  The average American probably doesn't even know of the existence of cricket, let alone the rules and how to play it.