Cruelty times two...

Playlist
Various - Jukebox Shuffleplay
Various - Jazz Jukebox Shuffleplay

Up early...

Meg the Black Cat decided to take over the computer, hijacking the comfy seat and leaving me on the uncomfy Ikea plastic stool...



A pretty lazy day...

Around lunchtime we had a visit from young chum Kris and his friend George who organised the work on my mum's bathroom earlier this year...

We are looking to have the bathroom floor at Crispycat Towers tiled...

A quick trip to Tesco followed, purchasing provisions both for lunch and for dinner...

In the afternoon, I snoozed on the settee with Meg the Black Cat on my lap while Anne listened to the build up to the Scotland Italy match...

We don't have Sky and didn't fancy the prospect of watching in a crammed pub and so ended up listening to the radio. More exciting somehow as you have no clear idea of exactly what's going on...

Of course Scotland lost a goal in the second minute but battled valiantly to keep their hopes alive. A second Italian goal was deemed off side but wasn't. A reasonable shout for a penalty for Scotland was turned down. Then, just over an hour in, Scotland equalised. The goal was offside but we took it anyway...

And so we were heading for a draw which would just keep us in it, with France having definitely to beat the Ukraine on Wednesday...

In fact, we had the better chances after equalising and might possibly even have won...

Then, right at the death, an unbelievable decision by the referee. He awarded a foul against Scotland when one of the Italiand clearly barged Alan Hutton off the ball...

And, of course, from the subsequent free-kick, the Italians scored the goal which put them and France through and Scotland out...

Cruel indeed...

Now, as anyone in Scotland will tell you, we don't hate the England football team, just the jingoistic coverage which takes it as a foregone conclusion that they will qualify for all tournament final stages...

This time, Israel had to beat Russia to keep England's hopes alive. And that's exactly what happened. Just as in the Italy game, a second-minute-of-injury-time goal won the match...

Now England need only draw with Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday night to go through. The Croatians have already qualified...

Come on England, I now you can do it - even though you have been mediocre in a much easier group than Scotland's...

"Robin Hood" was flowed by a wonderful meal prepared by Anne - sirloin steak, pepper sauce, fried onions, Portobella mushrooms, giant tomatos and thin crispy french fries...

Mmm, mmm....

And a cheeky bottle of red...

Kind of took the pain away....

Then "Strictly" on tape for Anne while I surfed...

Late on we watched the highlights of the Scotland game - looked even better than it had sounded - heads held high indeed and, apparently, up to 13th in the FIFA rankings last month, gaining 52 points on England who are now 11th...

Our lowest position since 1993 was 88th in March 2005 while England's was 27th in February 1996...



Scotland has only been above England once in all that time. In June 1995 the Scots were 21st while England were 22nd...

During this latest campaign the Scots have clawed their way back from around 60th to 13th with some terrific performances, notably beating France twice...

England on the other hand have had a pretty dreadful campaign but will probably still qualify by the skin of their teeth yet have fallen only from 9th to 11th in the rankings...

And rankings are everything when it comes to seeding in the qualifiers and indeed the final rounds - hence England's "easy" group and Scotland (placed 60th at the time) finding themselves in a group with both World Cup Finalists and a World Cup Quarter Finalist...

So I think we've done pretty well...

And I suppose I grudgingly hope England qualify - if only to see them fail and prove their truly awful sports media wrong yet again...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's cooking...