I Was One Of Those Girls

I tend to shy away from sports nowadays, simply because I am very uncomfortable with nationalism. However, the news about the football final last night did reach my ears and I can see that it means a lot to the women who have won that trophy.

I was one of those girls who used to play football every lunchtime with the boys all the way through primary school. The boys were more than happy to have me play because we went to a small school, so I made up the numbers. I was not particularl skilled, but I had lots of energy, and I would run up and down the pitch and was brave enough to try to tackle any of the boys.

When I reached high-school, the boys sort of laid down the rule “no girls”. I was sad at the time, but then I found hockey, which was similar to football except for the big wooden stick and the very hard and fast ball we played with. Hockey was a great sport for me as I could do exactly what I did in football – run up and down the pitch and be brave enough to tackle anyone else.

Photo by Mica Asato on Pexels.com

But I always have had that soft spot for football. I wanted to play, but there did not seem to be any where for me to play in my teens. Of course every time I was with friends in the park I was able to show my enthusiasm and men were always very impressed by what I could do on the pitch (which was still mainly run up and down tirelessly and perform daring tackles).

I am not going to make a big fuss about the big win because I do not want to say anything that sounds nationalistic, but when it comes to girls, women, wo want to play a game they love – I totally understand that. So bravo ladies!

Does Anyone Know Who Won And What The Score Was Last Night?

Aaaaah!  I am a mix of sleepiness and smiles right now.  I have just arrived back in London at my little abode after travelling by train to visit my Goldfinch over the last couple of days.

I baked these babies on Saturday night after work.  These are maple and pecan cheesecake slices.  They were delicious, but I have to admit, i think they are more of a winter pudding, not summery at all.  You use gingernuts for the base and add cinnamon and nutmeg.  Definitely more wintery flavours.  But good grief they are indulgent! Goldfinch seemed happy with me.

He was entirely wonderful – through and through.  I am feeling so blessed to have Goldfinch in my life right now.

Neither Goldfinch nor I were the slightest bit concerned about the football.  However, we were slightly curious who won the match England played last night.  I am not sure who they were matched against.  If anybody would be kind enough to pop the score in the comments, I would be grateful to you.

Meanwhile I will give you an inkling what Goldfinch and I got up to this weekend.  Well…

Sunday was beautiful.  Goldfinch and I went for a short walk down to Morrisons Supermarket to check out bargains (is it just us that love snapping up the reduced items and filling the freezer with them?)  I found something to become excited about.

I do buy instant coffee (cappuccino and mocha coffee) to take with me when I am travelling.  I am not very good with dairy, so rather than having black coffee or black tea I sometimes prefer to have a couple of cappuccino sachets in my handbag.  I have never seen this flavour before though.  So I snapped them up and am looking forward to trying one.  I am too sleepy right now to drink coffee.

Then we went for a long walk…and saw lots of interesting things to chat about.  I like the complete mix of subjects…we can talk about the trivial to the deep and flit between subjects so easily.  Goldfinch lets me talk about the situation at work.  That helps.  He understands management so he gives me good advice.

We saw a huge dragon fly!  It was enormous and had gloriously glittering golden wings.  It looked as if it had flown at speed into a concrete post so it was lying next to the post, clearly not likely to be going anywhere in a hurry I must admit.  But it was fascinating to see such a fantastic creature up closely.

Our walk ended in a park.  Eventually we found a nice shady spot and lay down on the grass and carried on chatting.  We may have been there for an hour or so when we decided it was time to walk back.  On the way back we passed a roundabout.  We have lots of roundabouts in England, so I take for granted that you will know what they are. But it’s a kind of road junction where several roads might converge.  The rule normally is you have to give way to the right.  If there are no cars already on the roundabout coming from your right, then you can enter the roundabout.  Up and down the country we have these circles in the middle of road junctions. some of them quite large.  There is a town in the north with a roundabout named “Half-Mile Island”.  Sometimes the local council will arrange for a monument or display to be erected.  Or other councils may have flower beds to make it pretty.  The roundabout we passed had tall wildflowers amongst long grass.  It looked like a beautiful meadow.  I asked Goldfinch to pick me up and carry me into the middle of the roundabout and make love to me like in a movie scene.  He laughed of course at the idea of doing that in the middle of a major road heading into the city centre.  I explained to him that I don’t like watching any “hanky-panky” on the screen. (It embarrasses me to watch actors portraying what should be a very special and beautiful thing between a couple who truly love each other, but they make it look cheap and sweaty and devoid of real meaning.)  But I love it when, in a period drama, the gentleman picks up the lady and staggers into a wheat field and you just see the two of them disappear amongst the wheat stalks.

I told Goldfinch that it has to be one of the romantic ideas for many women…that this wonderful respectable, responsible husband that is deeply in love with you, picks you up, making it look as if you are as light as as feather, and takes you into the meadow and…

Anyway…Goldfinch did not.  Wise man!  He pointed out that we would stand a high chance of being arrested, which would be extremely undesirable.

As we continued walking back we heard noises from the houses we passed which reminded us that there was a football match on last night with the English football team playing.  I had been telling Goldfinch that although the pubs might have a lot of people watching football, other restaurants might be quite empty.  So we headed into town and because I had mentioned how I wanted to try the new vegan Katsu curry on the Wagamamas menu – that is where Goldfinch took me.

Now…it was delicious.  I am glad I had it.  However, the main event is the vegan meat alternative which has the unfortunate name “seitan”.  This is the discription of my dish right from the menu:

“…our vegan katsu curry, seitan coated in crispy panko breadcrumbs, covered in an aromatic curry sauce with sticky white rice and a seasoned side salad.”

So, I asked the waitress, “what is this “see-tan”?”  She replied, “It’s “say-tan”.  I said, “Yes, I was worried it would be”.  Do Wagamamas not see that it is odd to have a waitress telling you that they put these crispy breadcrumbs all over Satan, calve it up for you and smother it with curry sauce?  I guess I am going to have to overlook the unfortunate name given to this meat alternative and just enjoy a new vegan dish.

The restaurant was very empty, which was great.  But because the service was so quick we ended up leaving the restaurant quite early.  It was still light….Goldfinch danced with me in the middle of the city centre.  I love that he will dance with me in public places.  It is utterly lovely.  He pointed out that the moon had appeared just for us.  In fact there was a huge crane that was pointing upwards towards the moon.  Goldfinch told me that “they” had just hoisted it up with the crane because they knew we were out.  I like being with Goldfinch so much.  He is intoxicating I confess.  He just makes me feel glad from head to toe every moment I am with him.  That is alright isn’t it?

Then as it was so early, we went to the cinema to watch a film.  The film was alright.  I was just enjoying the company.  We sat in a huge theatre and yet there were probably around ten people in the audience – mostly girls.  (Which I think was due to the football match England were playing.)  He kindly endured a chick flick for me because the other options were a bit violent which I don’t like.  Goldfinch ordered salty popcorn though!  We will overlook that since he was perfect in every other way the entire weekend.

Aaaaah Goldfinch.  I love him.  He makes me feel warm, safe and happy…oh so happy.  If he liked sweet popcorn he would be perfect.  But no human is perfect, so I guess he has to have a fault, and if it’s going to be salted popcorn…I can live with that.

Switching On The TV… And Seeing One Of Your School Friends Staring At You

I guess this post is rather self-explanatory if you have looked at the title.  I think I need to shorten my titles.  They seem to be growing longer and longer.

I did not have a television for over ten years after I left home.  So I am rather out of touch with current actors and presenters.  I have one here in my current accommodation. Everyone is a new face to me….except the face you see above.

It was a nice surprise… but definitely a surprise to see Leon on the screen this morning on the BBC Breakfast Show as I was eating my Weetabix and drying my hair.  I went to high school with Leon.  We were in different forms but we were in the same classes for a lot of subjects.  Definitely English, probably Maths and Science too.  It is an awful long time ago!

I am pretty certain that when we went to High School Leon was already playing for the junior or youth team for one of the major football teams in the region.  (Everton I believe.)  I think he also played for the junior England team as a teenager.  I seem to remember a school trip to watch him represent England.

After that….well, after school I was busy.  I did not really follow football, but my Dad has definitely mentioned over the years that Leon was playing professionally.  I asked Google earlier and I found an outline of Leon’s football career.  He has been busy.

Now it seems he is involved with presenting shows in connection with football.  He was talking about the teams playing in the World Cup when I saw him today.

Seeing him brought back into my head a million memories of school.  I have not kept in touch with many school friends simply because life as a volunteer meant travelling so much.  I met thousands of people and made life-long friendships with some of those I worked with.  Well a handful of school friends I have kept in touch with and I went to their weddings and wrote to them for years.  But when I moved down south, regrettably, we have not kept in touch as often.  Sigh!

The years have flown by.  So much life… so many stories to share with you of people I have met… which has just reminded me.  I have to tell you about Lucy.  I will tell you soon.

But for now… this post is all about how strange it is to switch on the TV and see a school friend who you hung around with everyday for several years… staring back at you while you munch your Weetabix.  I could tell you lots of stories, but I won’t.  Leon might not like that.  That is the thing about publishing on-line.  You have to be so careful that anyone else you write about could not be remotely upset.

Apparently the English football team won their first match. Sorry if I have ruined that for you.  No idea who they beat.  I have no idea what the score was.  Or the names of any of the men who played.  Oh dear.  Nope!  Definitely not remotely interested who wins the World Cup.  Fortunately for me, neither is Goldfinch.  (I am going to visit him this weekend.)

I love playing football… but I not intersted in watching professional footballers I am afraid.  Sorry football fans.  Still, it would be nice to see more of Leon on the TV… brings back so many memories.