Still grey

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Apparently, there’s a chance of some sunshine tomorrow, but for the moment, the rain keeps falling. Almost 350mm in the last 10 days now. It’s pretty miserable. This photo isn’t from today, because I’m here, not there, but I’d guess that it’s a fairly accurate representation of much of the Western Cape at the moment. Especially the bit with that lighthouse on it.

Even the much vaunted Hungarian goose down duvet has failed, and we have required additional coverage for the past couple of nights. Sure, 10 degrees or so won’t seem like a big deal to many readers, but we’re just not set up for that here. And with good reason: it really doesn’t make sense for 90% of the year. So no central heating, double glazing, warm carpets etc etc. And when it gets cold at night outside, it gets cold at night inside too.

Trump shot a bit this morning. Footy final a bit later today.

That line just for context when I read back about how much more important the crappy weather is to me than politics or sport, when I find this post in 5 years time.

Not funny

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This is a true story. Sadly.

An acquaintance has Covid at the moment, and is feeling pretty rubbish (as you would).

The acquaintance still went along to see Peter Kaye’s show at the Arena in Sheffield last night.
Joining 12,499 other people in a big metal box.

Why?
Well, selfishness, obviously.

The acquaintance has excused themselves on the socials by using the phrase “laughter is the best medicine”.

I despair.

Apparently, the show was very good, though. So there’s that.

OK, let’s look at the other stuff then

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Everyone is still talking about the penalty. And that’s rather sad, as there was so much more to the game than just that one moment. And I know that I was guilty of this yesterday, so I’m going to add a bit more context.

Also, this is a subjective decision because referees are human.

Sure, everyone still talks about Maradona’s handball in 1986 or Frank Lampard’s “goal” in Bloemfontein in 2010 or Thierry Henry’s handball in 2009 as match-defining moments, but those were objectively incorrect calls (because referees are human).
There’s no dispute on those ones.
This one could have gone either way. It went England’s.

And I still think that was right.

But then, if you look beyond that one moment, was this really an unfair result?
No.

England had:
Greater xG
More big chances
More shots
More shots on target
58% possession
More touches in the opposition box
92% accurate pass rate (!)
11 of the top 15 players on the pitch by OPTA ratings

The Dutch got three corners.

And it’s a pity that this clearly dominant performance has been overlooked in the post-match analysis, when it’s a game that they obviously deserved to win. Sure, “the only stat that matters is goals scored”, but they did that as well, and it’s not hard to see that England were the better team on the night.

So let’s stop talking about the penalty decision now, please.

Onward and upward to Sunday evening.

Didn’t watch

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So England are through to another Euros final. I don’t think they’ll be favourites to win it, but then a lot of people didn’t think that they would even get out of the group, so we can all be wrong, can’t we?

I didn’t watch. Not my thing watching the national team. Not my thing to enjoy games where I’m only slightly invested in the outcome. So I watched an amazing documentary about the Sami people of Lapland. Some incredible scenery and cinematography. And this place. Breathtaking.

I woke up this morning to the result, sadly completely overshadowed by the controversy of one single decision on the penalty.

One (English) footy group saying no. Another (local) one saying yes. A few individual opinions. It even caused a rift in the referees forum that I occasionally visit. They – all qualified FA refs – came down 80-20 in favour of the decision. And the more replays I see of it (and the more I read the laws of the game), the more I’m convinced it was right.

It was not a “good defensive block” that was penalised.

If you don’t want to be penalised for a good defensive block, then:

1) Don’t do it studs up.
2) Do make contact with the ball.
3) Don’t make contact with the opponents leg.
4) If you can’t manage any of the above, do it outside the box, so it’s only a free kick, not a penalty.

And if it had have been outside the box, there would have been a free kick given and there would have been absolutely none of the fuss about any of this.

I know not everyone agrees with me. It’s one of those where if it gets given against you, you’re furious, and if it’s not given for you, you’re also pretty pissed off.

A no win situation.

Not like the match.

Will I watch the final on Sunday?
Depends what’s on the other channel.

Here we go again… again.

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It’s rough out there at the moment, and it’s about to get rougher…

Tomorrow is so nasty, they are closing all the schools and they’ve only been open since yesterday.

And this on top of 243mm (and still counting) that we’ve had over the last week. There’s quite literally nowhere for all the water to go, and I’m saying that even though we’re right next to a big ocean. In fact, that’s actually where the bloody rain is coming from in the first place.

I’m not attributing this series of cold fronts to climate change (I’ve covered this here and here “recently”), but there’s no doubt that we are likely to experience more extreme weather events over the coming year. I read an interesting paper on the effect that this might have on our tourism industry:

And so we brace for tomorrow and the following week, in which we’re looking at another 150mm.

Need an ark built?
I Noah bloke.