PHILINFRANCE

MERDE!

Much as I want England to win this evening (Honestly ?), should France prevail then Wednesday (and Thursday!) in France will be madness.

I think it is important to distinguish between Argentina, the country; magnificent, including Patagonia, to which you alluded in your post, the Argentinian people; the ones I have met have been extremely warm and friendly and Argentinian football. Whilst Maradona was a fantastic footballer, and Messi still is, I watched the 1966 World Cup and well remember England’s match against Argentina. I was only a young boy at the time, but I have never forgotten the disgusting behaviour and cheating antics of Antonio Rattin and his teammates. It is perhaps unfortunate that, when I think of Argentinian football, it is the 1966 team that I remember most, rather than the numerous magnificent players they have produced since.

Walking down Stapleton Road, one day Singing, singing ‘City are the Champions’ …. I said to him, what’s up my friend? He said The East End’s here again….

Because you have lived in France too long, sale chien.

One other thing to remember, perhaps forgotten in these more competitive times, is just how entertaining it was to watch Jack Russell bat, and, some time before him, Alan Knott. One talks about idiosyncrasies, but their batting (stance) was a thing of beauty.

£1.2bn! Is that all? I can only imagine he skimped on the 14 bathrooms, replacing the 24ct gold taps with gold plated. The last time I was in Casa, they were finishing off King Hassan’s palace, and still tarting up the Corniche. Obviously a long time ago ?.

Bruxelles, Anvers and Rotterdam won’t be far behind. I should imagine that parts of Paris, Lyon and Marseille will be ‘chaud’, as well.

There are a lot of Moroccans living and working in Qatar. Additionally, I am sure I read that their King, Mohammed VI, laid on two planes for their supporters and subsidised their tickets. Nevertheless, wonderful support, both male and female.

Perhaps that’s why the match is so enjoyable. Another reason, of course, is that it is always nice to see an upset and, the more this match goes on - just under half an hour of normal time left as I type - the more I suspect this might be the first and only upset in this round of 16.

Quite an enjoyable game so far. Morocco’s goalkeeper’s distribution is interesting and, perhaps I am wrong, but does anybody else get the impression the referee is favouring Morocco, slightly? Quite a lot, actually.

On the contrary ?. Exclusively waving the Tricolore, accompanied by bombastic comments suggesting, should the worst happen, I will be sneaking in via the back door and hibernating for a while ?.

So, he has finally gone, but who is going to replace him? I am not sure Gatland would have been interested, even had Jones gone last week, but there don’t seem to be that many possibilities where one would say it was a fantastic choice.

Probably not ranked in any list of Bristol’s best restaurants, but has anybody on here tried either the Mezze restaurant in Downend (formerly The Green Dragon) or The Grapevine in Mangotsfield? If so, any comments, favourable or otherwise? Thanks

Most firmly for England. I have sent messages to many French friends and business acquaintances bigging up next Saturday’s match, and received the expected responses. I am currently over here in England, not returning to France until Monday, and am not sure whether I should return home singing loudly or sneaking in via the back door. Fingers Crossed. Où est le papier?

If you look carefully, you should be able to note that, as is usually the case, the ball actually starts swinging before it even touches the pitch. That is the point of swing bowling. Sometimes the ball moves when it touches the pitch, due to the revolutions the bowler puts in to the ball. This is commonly known as spin bowling.

Judging by the light, it was more like a win in the last five minutes, the last five minutes of an absolutely enthralling five day Test Match. I must admit, when Pakistan were batting with 500 runs on the board, I envisaged a rather mundane finale, but I forgot to take in to account Ben Stokes’ new style of captaincy. Long may it continue.

Better still, all round and for all parties concerned, had FIFA said ‘No Way’ when Qatar said they would like to make a bid. But then, of course, a lot of people would have lost out on a lot of money.

Not a bad start. 50 up in the 8th over, no wickets down - yet. Make that 103/0 off 14 overs, CRR 7.35. Drinks being taken with Crawley 58 and Duckett 42, both N.O., obviously.

Indeed.

I was going to suggest that would have to be in a different competition, as Senegal play England on Sunday evening. Luckily, I refrained prior to pushing 'Submit Reply' ?.

Rightly or wrongly, I tend to start both WORDLE and QUORDLE using the same two words, each containg two vowels and three common consonants. I acknowledge that I should perhaps change this approach when my first attempt contains one or more correct letters, particularly with WORDLE, but I suppose it is just force of habit.

I have just completed it, with only the single correct letter in my first attempt. Wordle 529 5/6 ? ? ??? ??? ????? I often find myself taking two or more attempts to get the final missing letter. And, far too often, I find myself saving my unbeaten record with QUORDLE on my last attempt. Daily Quordle 310 quordle.com ? ? ??? ??? ? ?? ? ??? ? ????? ? ??? ????? ?? ?? ? ???? ? ????? ? ?????

Actually, I was with my wife ?. Only joking Darling ?. Seriously, though. I agree. I remember when I was working in Spain many years ago, it was always a pleasure to have an aperitovo or dos, nibbling at a few tapas, standing at the bar and chatting. I suppose it is a bit like a quick pint or two before football; it was always more enjoyable standing up at or near the bar, laughing, joking and having a little sing song.

I digress slightly, perhaps, but here is a little anecdote. Many years ago, I had to inspect an establishment in Saudi Arabia; a chicken farm, to be precise. Now, this was no battery hen farm, but a truly free range chicken farm, where the chickens were free to roam all day long in fields of quite lush grass - leopards and hyenas aside, and perhaps hawks during their breeding season, there are few natural predators in Saudi Arabia - only returning at night to roost should they wish, no doubt tempted by the sumptuous feast of grain and other poultry delicacies laid on for them, 'roosting' in beds of hay before venturing forth again the following morning. A life of chicken luxury, one might say, especially as the chickens' diet was later supplemented by copious amounts of corn. Unfortunately (for the chickens), their luxurious, relatively short lives would soon be brought to a premature close, as I would witness during the penultimate stage of my inspection - the in-house abattoir. Saudi Arabia is, of course, a strict, Muslim Kingdom, and it goes without saying that any meat produced and eaten within the Kingdom is Halal, and I was shown how this is undertaken. Firstly, the chickens were rounded up from their fields, placed in plastic crates before being brought to the abattoir, where they were rammed forcibly by their legs on to a metal frame - a sort of W shape - and transported by conveyor belt, head down to allow the blood to go to their heads, passing through an electrified water shower to stun them, before having their throats cut with a sort of scalpel by men muttering 'Bismillah' as they slaughter each chicken. People will have to form their own judgement as to whether or not such a means of slaughter is humane - for what it is worth, having witnessed it at first hand, I don't think it is - but, I must say that the chicken I was offered for lunch was probably the most succulent and tasty I have ever experienced. As an interesting aside, my Saudi host, when describing to me over lunch the strict Muslim rules about Halal meat, explained how it was imperative the animal was alive before it was killed! He, of course, meant conscious, but stressed it was very important nevertheless to ensure the electrical charge in the water shower was kept low, because were the chicken to be electrocuted and killed before it was slaughtered, it would not be considered Halal and, thus, could not be eaten! Conversely, if the chicken were electrocuted, but only stunned (Norwegian Blue Chicken?) before being slaughtered, it would be safe to eat. Needless to say, I refrained from asking how, in the short trip on the conveyor belt to the scalpel, one might be able to establish whether or not the chicken was dead, or simply stunned and pining for its lush green fields and corn based diet.