Post 439. HOORAY! THEY DID IT!

 ENGLAND 2 - GERMANY 1

AS IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW.
And, if you are English, how could you not? Last Sunday at Wembley the England women's football team beat the Germany women's team 2 - 1 in extra time to win the Euro 2022 Trophy. It was a landmark for the English against a country that had won the Trophy eight times and, if you were looking for a touch of gentle irony, the England manager, Sarina Wiegman, is Dutch.
So much for Brexit, eh?
A wonderful sporting achievement, though, and the utmost praise to all concerned. I just hope the resultant surge in interest won't lead women's football too close to that of the men. We can do without histrionics in the penalty area, attempted coercion of referees, off-field Facebook fights, or top teams so full of foreigners (see Chelsea 1999) that you can't pick a national side from the Premiership because there are barely enough English players there to form one. That apart, good luck to the girls in their quest for a better deal on the football front. They have had one helluva long wait.
HERE AT HOME.
If you are owned (or have ever been owned) by a cat you will know that, no matter how much you may kid yourself to the contrary, you never really know your feline owner: the most accurate one word description is unpredictable.
My Leader and I are currently owned by two cats: Spike and Angel. Spike, the little female, paying due homage to Mo, runs the show to suit herself; and that includes sleeping most nights by Mo's feet at the bottom of our bed.
Angel has adopted me on an increasingly permanent basis. I hold the door keys, as well as being keeper of the Felix goody bag packet, and nothing in the Angel world could be more influential than an elderly retainer who sidelines as doorman and caterer.
So on Sunday night he disappeared. He is a wanderer and has done it before, but not for too long since he moved here. We may not have worried, but by late Tuesday when calling and searching had brought no joy, we were increasingly concerned that he may have become trapped somewhere or have strayed into busy main road holiday traffic. Mo put a message on her social media outlets and got some nice responses from other cat people. But nobody had seen him.
At a quarter to eleven on Tuesday night I was standing at the loo having a last minute leak when he poked his head round the bathroom door to ask: "Got any cat treats?"
He never has fathomed privacy. Look at it: butter wouldn't melt.

And we still don't know where he was.