Loud t-storm; air so warm, we have windows open. When Samuel’s school bus arrived, he paced the aisle, unwilling to disembark in what was then a light rain. I had to climb aboard to coax him out. Earlier, I’d gone with Karin, Abel, and Daniel to meet the boys’ new physician. (The previous one, a Seventh-day Adventist, has moved to Guam for a three-year religious tour of duty.) Upon our return to Toad Hall, the alarm was blaring. It took us a good while to turn it off. Daniel ran down the block, did a round of hopscotch, and ran back. Our door was locked when we arrived, so there probably hadn’t been any burglar; in any case, no one would have stayed long. The noise was deafening and there’s nothing here to burgle but toys and used books.
I’m tempted to try reading Virginia Woolf’s Orlando but the schedule is just too packed.
“He – for there could be no doubt about his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it – was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.”
(The opening lines.)
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
I’m reading Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, set just before Britain’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. Adrian is a die-hard, blind Blair supporter. He believes there will be no war because that’s what Blair tells Britain. Adrian’s seventeen-year-old son Glenn has joined up and trains in Aldershot with other soldiers, running in full battle-dress on builder’s sand. Adrian has just used a Barclaycard blank check (29% interest) to obtain down payment funds (I forget how many thousands of pounds) for his trendy canalside loft, which he is furnishing with store credit (almost £10,000 at 20% interest). His parents have sold their property to a developer and bought a pig-sty to convert, “DIY,” into their new dwelling (“the Piggeries”). Meantime they live in a tent.
It’s a cheap trick, relaying what’s in other people’s books, but this stuff is too good to keep quiet about.
Again, I wish FIFA would choose a host that did care.
Iran’s withdrawal is likely. Maybe we’ll know more after the U.S. completes the expected four-to-five weeks of bombardment. Because then the war’ll be done-and-dusted, won’t it? Because, as Trump himself believes, Iran already “is a very badly defeated country.”
If Iran does play in the World Cup, this eye-popping scenario will be possible:
Iran is currently scheduled to play New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, Belgium in Los Angeles on June 21 and Egypt in Seattle on June 26. If both the U.S. and Iran finish second in their respective groups, the two countries could face off in a July 3 elimination match in Dallas.
The two countries played what were, in effect, elimination matches (in the group stage) in 1998 and 2022. Iran won the first meeting; the U.S. won the second one.
Some dozens of recent killings in Mexico have stirred up anxiety about that country’s ability to safely co-host the World Cup.
The U.S. has safety worries, too. E.g., who will pay for the extra stadium guards and police in little Foxborough, Mass.? Not the 18,000 townspeople, who are threatening to deny FIFA the use of their locality.
“We may get a little more [than usual] in meals tax and hotel tax,” a local official explains:
But this is not a moneymaker for this town. In fact, it’s probably more of a headache than it’s worth.
This is nothing more than seven events up there. If [the] World Cup wasn’t coming, we’d probably have seven concerts in that time. We’re not gaining much of anything by hosting this event.
So it goes when a country that doesn’t really care about soccer – or about, you know, the world – is awarded World Cup hosting rights. You run up against locals who refuse to sacrifice. Which is what hosting these games is. FIFA always has made money for the rich and compensated the masses with an experiential high. But these particular masses don’t care about soccer or foreign visitors, so they aren’t going to get that high.
FIFA should give more games – or all of the games – to Canada. I’m curious what the people of, e.g., Edmonton or Regina would say. Those cities have pretty stadiums; I’ve looked at them on Wikipedia.
