Last night was great

I arrived early enough for a few kms along the Prom: I love a flat run on a decent surface. I don’t mind a hilly run, and I don’t mind an off-road surface, but it’s nice to treat yourself once in a while.

And then I headed into the best game of football I’ve played in for quite a while. A full-on, tight, energy-sapping battle of attrition, with chances few and far between, and in which we had our backs to the wall for a lot of the time, with fewer subs (1) and some challenges with our… “quite advanced” age.

But those are the best games to play in, and they are the best games to win.

Which we did. 3-1.

I am – obviously – quite broken today, but as the team President pointed out, it was completely worth it.

He didn’t play, though, so he can still walk.

That was the last game of this season, and my legs will be happy to take a break next Wednesday, before we head back into battle for the next 10 weeks.

But this was a good one to go out on.

More like this, please.

Rugby is back

Rugby League is back. Not here in SA, where quite literally no-one thinks that it’s real, but in the UK and in Australia. I’d love to watch some from the UK, but we don’t get that here. But two or three NRL games a week is a very welcome addition to my sport-watching programme [Mrs 6000 groans].
And because of the time difference, it doesn’t get in the way of the footy!

The Harvey Norman replay returns!

See?

We’re 30 minutes into a game that I’m really not that bothered about, between two teams that I don’t even like, and I’m already questioning the ref’s poor decisions and I’m already fed up with James Tedesco’s whining. To be fair, he’s mainly whining about the ref’s poor decisions, but still…

And it’s only on in the background while I’m doing other stuff.

[goes and does other stuff in the kitchen at half time]

Still, it’s a nice escape from the other stuff that’s happening around the world.

Although if the ref keeps going with calls like he’s just started the second half on, there will be violence.
And quite reasonably, too.

A little premature?

That thing I did on the drama of the Doomsday clock.

Awful. But then, this also suggests that we could keep going at the frankly horrendous rates of killing each other and destroying the environment that we’ve been working so hard upon for the last 12 months for at least another 88 years, and we’ll still be ok. Just.
See, they’ve gone in all too dramatic, and now they have no wiggle room at all.

And the follow up post, a year later.

Once again, I am calling for a reset of the Doomsday Clock. Think of it like decimalisation hitting the UK in 1971, or the introduction of the Euro in 1999 (and 2002). Because at the moment, the Doomsday Clock is pointless. The constant attempts to drag the time down as low as possible for dramatic purposes means that it not longer has any value.

I stand by both of those posts, but I’m also very willing to admit that they might have a bit of a point if they were to chop and extra minute or so off any interim update in the very near future.

The US has launched “major combat operations” in Iran, designed to eliminate “imminent threats” from the country’s regime, Donald Trump announced on Saturday.
The operation is “massive and ongoing”, the US president said in a video on social media, pledging to use “overwhelming strength and devastating force” to destroy Iranian missiles and ensure it cannot develop a nuclear weapon.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks aimed to “remove the existential threat” posed by the Iranian regime, as he urged the people of Iran to topple the government.
A short time beforehand, Israel said it had launched “preventative” strikes on Iran.

‘No red lines’ in Iran’s response to attacks, says official
A senior Iranian official said there would be “no red lines” to the regime’s response to the Israeli and US strikes on Iran.
“We are telling Israel clearly to prepare for what is coming,” the official told Al Jazeera.
“Our response will be public, and there are no red lines… All American and Israeli assets and interests in the Middle East have become legitimate targets.”

And yes, we’re only a couple of hours in and already Iran, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE have been attacked by one side or the other.

Russia has condemned the US/Israeli attack, but wants to keep Trump onside. The UK is trying not to get involved. South Africa hasn’t woken up properly yet after a bit of a bender last night.
China is just sitting there laughing…

…at least, for the time being.

Me? Big concerns over the 15:25 at Kenilworth this afternoon, and also whether United can bounce back away at QPR after a somewhat disappointing result midweek.

Oh – and also the potential end of the world thing as well.

Yeah. Also that.

Oh. But don’t forget about the Epstein Files.

Bye!

Any football news from Up North today?

Only this:

Not the 20-0 rout that some foolish people were predicting. It was never going to be like that.

But the history books will record that Wednesday were relegated at Bramall Lane, and that’s what really matters. The three points are also very welcome, but Derby days are all about beating your rivals, and to send them on their way to League One…

…well, that was just the icing on the cake.

Incidentally… recent local derbies have been won by Us (obviously), Liverpool, ManU, Arsenal and Sunderland.

Red is clearly the colour of local dominance.