P is for Penalties... and D is for Disappointment...

Well, that's it folks!

England are out of Euro 2012...

You know what? I wouldn't have actually minded this fact - after all this is very much a rebuilt England squad that haven't really had chance to gel - and I was certainly not expecting them to go on to win the competition even if my heart secretly hoped for it, most of us didn't even expect them to get past the group stages anyway.

But WHY did they have to lose on penalties...

AGAIN

I actually found myself wishing that Italy would just get it over with and put the damn ball in the back of the net. Perhaps it's an even more bitter pill to swallow that England were playing against a, let's be honest, very lacklustre Italian performance.

All I can say is if England played like that against a poor Italy, then Germany, waiting in the next round, would have destroyed them.

So, disappointed? Yes.

Surprised? No

Annoyed that it was penalties that defeated England again? Most definitely.

Some players in the team really showed just how brilliant they are (I'm looking at you John Terry - even though you're a w*nker!) and some showed us that they simply can't play well for England even if they are thought to be the second coming, I mention no names (Rooney).

HOWEVER, regardless of last nights performance, they are still England and they still deserve our support. I have great faith that eventually we will win something, we just need to keep cheering on our lads.

And perhaps we'll even win a penalty shoot-out one day... I can dream right?

Oh, and don't pelt me with tomatoes but I want Germany to win now!

Bring on Brazil 2014!

Xx

Wednesday on Writing... Distraction, Distraction, Distraction

There are days when writing is easy. I'll start the day sitting on my sofa with a cup of coffee as usual and I will be raring to go, bouncing with the want to get up to my desk and open up that word document and hammer out some words, cramped fingers be damned.

Then there are days when writing is like pulling teeth. Every word feels like it's tortured out of me and whatever I do get down just ends up as a load of old rubbish destined to meet the editing scissors.

And then there are days when I do want to write, but everything else around me just seems so much more interesting!

It's called distraction! We all suffer from it, and I am suffering from it in a bad way at the moment...

It's called Football Fever... Thanks to the current Euro 2012 tournament I can't seem to keep my focus on my WIP for more than an hour or so at a time.

I sit at my desk in the morning, have a prat around on twitter, check my email, then write blogs, or do anything else I need to do. By the time I'm usually getting into my stride with writing, at around 11am, I'm distracted by checking the football news on the internet, or watching the highlights on the telly, or prating around on twitter again... anything but writing!

In fact I have been so swept up by this disease that I haven't even read a book in five days... That's almost unheard of for me.

So, I put this question out to the world...

What are your distractions, and how do you try to stop them interfering with writing?

Answers much appreciated, and if you find my missing attention span then please send it to me!

Xx

Come on England!

It seem's to have been overshadowed this year, what with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the upcoming Olympics, but now Euro 2012 is well and truly on it's way.

I relish International football tournament time - it's the only time I get to truly control the TV remote! I am a huge football fan, have been all my life, so this next 30 days is going to keep me entertained.

So far there have been some good, boring, and just OK games. The highlights have been Russia beating Czech Republic 4-1, a surprise victory! And Ireland getting beaten 3-1 by far-superior Croatia last night.

Less exciting games have been a 1-all draw between Italy and Span - the two greatest teams in the world, I expected a lot more. And, a lacklustre Germany only just beating Portugal.

But tonight... It's the big one, our first game.

England v France

I'm as nervous as I am excited, but I truly believe in the team and wish Roy and the boys all the best.

Usually when a football tournament is upon us the build up goes on for months, so much so that by the time the England are about to kick their first ball there is not only the usual pressure of winning a match but also got the whole country, including the wolves of the press, leaning heavily on them, expectation high, and waiting to either cheer or throw them to the lions.

Perhaps with the focus on other events recently, that will go in England's favour... Or perhaps the injection of a new manager and a new mindset will be the key to cracking the code that is England's international team.

Who knows, but one thing is for sure that that tonight, at 5pm kick off, the country will wait with bated breath for that magic thing that is the beautiful game to begin...

Sing it with me...

I'm England til I die,

I'm England til I die, 

I know I am, 

I'm sure I am,

I'm England til I die.