In Which I Chat About Icelandic Football (though not much on THAT result), A Book Is Read And Updates On Football Cards and Polish Food

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I know this is chatting about this well and truly after the horse has bolted but I'd wanted to do the post about buying Polish food on Tuesday first because of the racist tensions the Brexit result has unleashed. I'm sure I'll be chatting about it again soon but for now football...and Iceland.

As mentioned before I was at work during the England/Iceland game so have only bothered to see the highlights but what really shocked me was not that Iceland won but how inept England were. Before the match I'd told someone at work that whilst I expected England to win it wouldn't have surprised me if they lost either. After all in pre qualifying Iceland came second in a group that included Turkey and the Netherlands and although England had the greatest humiliation they had also humiliated pre tournament dark horses Austria and embarrassed Portugal and Hungary in Euro 2016.

The point is the fact that Iceland played well should not have been a surprise because they have been playing like that for a long time now.

On Friday I'd watched a couple of club matches on the internet to take my mind off the Brexit gloom for a while. The one from the Irish Republic was a dull 0-0 affair (even though it was Shamrock Rovers/Cork City). The Icelandic game though also scoreless was a much livelier affair. I made a mental note to watch another game from this league when the opportunity presented itself. Remember it was before that.game and the chance came a day after that  game where I watched Fylkir FC play against those city slickers Viking Reykjavik

Let me say that I like Icelandic league football. It reminds me of the Welsh Leagues. Part time players, small grounds (no stands behind either goal here) but plenty of enthusiasm. No gloss more heart.

As the first half finished 0-0 the teams seemed about equal in ability to me so it was a shock to discover through google that in a 12 team league the home team were currently bottom with their opponents eighth. Given that they were bottom I was impressed with Fylkir so decided that they, the ones who played in a strip that could only be described as radioactive orange, were going to be the Icelandic team I would support.

So obviously when they win the league no one will describe me as a glory seeker.

In the second half contrary to everything you have been taught or read it was the Vikings who were being stormed  in their area time and time again until eventually Fylkir got the goal they truly deserved. That's how the game finished. My team won. The fightback starts here. You've read it here first... in English anyway.....I think.

I've finished the Marian Keyes novel The Other Side Of The Story. I won't bore you by repeating the superlatives I've been using to describe this. All I will say is that although it wasn't the best book I've read this year it came close.

Of course this means a new book from the Great Unread which is

Ali Smith - The Accidental

This was given out free with The Times Newspaper. Before you wonder whether I've further contributed to Rupert Murdoch's plan for world domination. It was bought in a charity shop for 50p.

The football stickers are progressing slowly. I've got now to a stage where I've more doubles in a packet than new stickers. Haven't yet had the opportunity to try and sort this out but will try to do soon. In the meantime here's the current standings. Remember there is a max of thirty three stickers per team.

Turkey: 18

Switzerland:16
France: 15
Russia: 15
Albania: 13
Spain: 13
Sweden: 13

Wales: 13

Czech Republic: 12
Northern Ireland : 12
Poland: 12
Republic of Ireland : 12
Ukraine: 12
Austria: 10
Hungary: 10
Iceland: 10
Slovakia: 10
Belgium: 9
England: 9
Germany: 9
Romania: 9
Italy: 8
Portugal: 8
Croatia: 6

Finally my wife looked a bit embarrassed when I walked in the house from work yesterday. It transpired that she tried the Jezyki biscuits I bought on Tuesday. She loves them. Seems like the Polish deli is going to be somewhere we'll regularly visit when in Bridgend Town from now on. I'm going to try them tomorrow afternoon (Friday) when I intend to spend an hour on the Get started in Polish book.

Until the next time.