Thank God the Euro is over!

When I was on the bus going home on Friday night, a couple about my age got on at the train station, and ended up having to stand as it was pretty crowded. Eventually they both found seats though not together. When we were almost at the P & R the man's phone rang really loudly, and he seemed to be being "Facetimed" by a couple of youngish-sounding kids speaking in English. The man was obviously French-speaking but his English was excellent and I get the impression they might have been his kids (divorcé?). He told the kids he was on the bus and scanned the camera round for them to see, and then one of them asked if he would like them to sing happy birthday to him! To which he replied yes, of course! So the kids sang happy birthday at the top of their voices with the whole bus listening in - and you know what, it was really sweet. He obviously thoroughly enjoyed it - all the more so when everyone on the bus started clapping when the kids finished singing! What a lovely way to end the week!

And on another planet, Euro 2016 is finally over (thank God - I really can't be faffed with football). And at the risk of being shot, I was almost glad France lost - but only from a purely selfish point of view, I promise! With France playing Portugal in the final last night, it was a fair bet that the noise from the partygoers was gonna be loud and ongoing in the event of a French win.

I had been out most of the day up near Chamonix and after pottering around and getting stuff ready for work the next day, I sat down to read for a while before going to bed. I briefly had the final on TV but only as a bit of "background noise" really. In fact, I so much "don't care for football" that I actually went to bed but left the TV on for about 10 minutes of extra time just so I would know who had won - but then gave up as I realized I really, really didn't care even to wait for the final score! Trouble was, it had been scorching hot all day and I really wanted to have my bedroom window wide open to create a through-breeze, but with the partying going on I eventually decided to close it and hope for the best.

I woke up sometime around 1 a.m. and that's when I realized France must have lost because there was absolutely no partying going on outside - none at all. So giving a totally selfish sigh of thanks, I opened my bedroom windows again and got some air for the remainder of the night - though whose bright idea it was to have the final on a Sunday night I have no idea - bright spark, er not!

This morning coming in to work on the bus I spotted a French flag lying in the middle of the road - you know, one of those supporters' flags you attach to the car window. While I'm sure it had just accidentally fallen off, it did look rather forlorn, I have to say.

Yeah, yeah I know that's not the French flag - I just couldn't find a photo!

Which reminds me, several years ago, during a rugby world cup, I had a couple of these flags on my car in support of England. It was a Saturday and England had just played (and beaten) France, so on my way back from grocery shopping I drove all the way up to my village tooting my horn like mad. The problem was, the actual flag must have flown off and I was left tooting my horn with just a plastic stick hanging off my car window. They must have thought I was a complete nutter - and I suppose they wouldn't have been far wrong would they!