Football returns... Sort of!

I am going to start with a nice photograph which I took this morning at the start of what was to be an historic day.  The Premier League resumed today after the Lockdown hiatus and the first match was to be Aston Villa v Sheffield United.  After such a long break the game, played behind closed doors, was expected to draw in a TV audience of millions if not billions.  John was full of anticipation as SUFC in their first season back in the top flight are, unbelievably, hovering close to securing a place in Europe.

My hydrangea with a super large bloom the size of a pomelo was very nearly consigned to the scrap heap last year when it failed to thrive for some reason.  I had cut it back as normal at the end of the flowering season and waited for the new growth to return in the spring and it did next to nothing - I think I got a couple of leaves and that was about it.  This year however it is beginning to put on a fabulous show.  When these plants are good they are spectacular.

We had a fairly quiet day as John's focus was on the match this evening.  We went up to the cemetery and we were pleased to see that the humongous pile of stone has been moved to one side making it easier to get up into the village.  Everything was ok at the cemetery.  We also decided to take our heating form up to Marianna which she duly signed and returned the receipt to us - this was great because the money had made such a difference to us - this was great for a short while only as we later learned that this money was no longer available to any UK residents as the UK had left the EU - which meant that although there was a transition period until the end of the year where our benefits were supposed to be protected that was not going to happen - we had also thought out MEU3 permanent resident status might also protect us but it seems not - this is a bit of a bummer to say the least.



John got the house ready and settled down to watch the match build-up waiting for the Bobster to come and join him.  Let's just say that the evening did not go as planned because it took just 41 minutes for the restarted Premier League to create another big controversy over technology.  This time it wasn't a VAR decision that was the talking point.  Instead, the typically reliable Hawk-Eye goal-line technology was at fault and as a result the Mighty Blades were denied a goal which would have given them a win rather than a draw and to make matters worse everyone has agreed it was a goal and an apology has been issued - this doesn't change the result - John was fuming to say the least!