Rain all day

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It’s been a pretty miserable day here. Gloomy, grey skies and plenty of rain. We’ve managed almost 75mm over the past few days: a good start to the winter season as far as the dams are concerned. It’ll be interesting to see how we’re doing on water levels after this weekend.

The fire has been burning since early, and I’m tucked up in front of it watching the other FA Cup semi final, and wondering about what might have been.

It wasn’t the end of the world yesterday, and we gave a good account of ourselves against literally world-class opposition, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t get at least a goal.

Still, onward and upward, if only to put another log into the fireplace.

United’s Big Day Out

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So. Today.
An FA Cup semi-final down at Wembley Stadium in The Big Smoke.

Weirdly, while it’s obviously a big deal to be in the semi-final, it’s not that unusual for us to be there.
In fact, given that we’re not one of the Big 6 (or even the Big 20 right now) and have spent a lot of time down in the third tier of English football of late, you might be surprised to learn that this is our 5th FA Cup semi-final appearance in the last 30 years. And you can add another 3 quarter finals to that, and a couple of League Cup semis in that time, as well.

Probably the best things about this semi-final are the absolutely complete lack of expectation, and the knowledge that whatever happens, and whatever it’s taken to get this far in the competition, this is unlikely to be our biggest achievement of the season. Hopefully, that comes later in the week.

And so, while the management and the players quite rightly won’t describe it as such, I think that most of the supporters see this as a bit of a “free hit”. We’ve got injuries (of course), key players that are ineligible to play, an expectant Dad. We’re 17-1 outsiders (go on, Ant – gooi twenty bucks on us!). No pressure, no expectation. Just an opportunity to go and play arguably(?) the best club side in the world at the moment – literally a billion pounds worth of talent – in front of a sell-out crowd, including 35,000 vocal United fans.

Of course, I’ll be ecstatic if we can win. But I’m completely at peace with any result already. I won’t be disappointed if we lose. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened, and all that. All I want is us to give a decent – and fair – account of ourselves. Because the players and the fans deserve that. Apart from that one wish: just go out and have a good time amid a party atmosphere.

And hope that it’s just the warm up for an amazing week.

Thanks, NICD

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Yesterday, this from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, an organisation for whom I have a lot of time:

But while that’s good advice, the headline isn’t right. And I said so:

I thought that it had fallen upon deaf ears. But then, today, this:

Was it me? Was it not? Either way:

Thanks, NICD.

Oh, and (South African) reader: go and get your flu jab.

Why has everything taken so long?

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A frustrating morning which on review makes it look like I’ve been really lazy.

Not so: every single little job has taken longer than it should. Gutter work that needed a lot more effort than seems reasonable (but was worth getting right*, looking at the weekend forecast). Pool work that was more complicated than it should have been (and required some arm-deep work underwater – brrrr). The static bike “computer” having to be dismantled and repaired. A hole in the ceiling to patch up. The washing machine playing silly buggers. Tomorrow’s blog post to write. Images to edit for the school.

Just simple stuff that took ages and filled the morning.

Oh, and all of that against the backdrop of 12 hours of power cuts including ALL THREE of these:

…and more besides.

The afternoon will be spent watching horseriding over on the far side of the mountain.
The evening will apparently be spent in darkness.

* although i’m not completely convinced that i have done

Warm in Australia

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Cold and wet today in Cape Town, but exceptionally warm just around the Southern Hemisphere corner in Australia:

265°C might seem rather hot to most of us, but this is Australia, where if the wildlife isn’t doing its best to kill you, then the climate apparently is.

The difference between that high and the low of 17 probably means you should wear layers for a more comfortable experience.

Thanks Del