What December 2022 means to me

December 2022 was a mild winter for my part of the world, the temperature would often go from about 3°C at night to about 9°c in the day time. Half of the month was spent watching the knockout stages of the world cup in Qatar; I was amazed by the arrogance of my society. Instead of showing the opening ceremony of the world cup, the BBC was criticizing Qatar. They were making claims of human rights abuses and things like that. It would be like Britain hosting the world cup and other countries sending their journalists to the British museum to point out that we stole hundreds of objects from other nations and didn't give it back instead of talking about the football. I was very disappointed with British journalism. I was also disappointed with people wearing things that promote gay rights to the game because it is illegal to be openly gay in their country, they were showing disrespect for the host nation's laws and customs. I think my nation is very arrogant. 

December was about inflation and war, a theme that dominated the whole year. At one point in the year, fuel was priced at £2 per liter, £60 to fill up my tank. Plus natural gas was 10p per kilowatt-hour, very expensive. We had a very challenging year. 

The other big topic of the month was the takeover of twitter and the inside revelation of the company. Elon revealed that Twitter was abusing its censorship controls. It was censoring people because they didn't like them and covering up scandal about politicians that they supported. They were taking public money that was earmarked for teachers and police staff and using it to pay twitter to silence bad news about democrat leaders; a taste of corruption that was swept under the carpet by the press. 

It is now 2023, I pray and hope for a peaceful world with co-operative kindness to all. A happy 2023? Let's see. 

Argentina Wins The World Cup

Argentina have won the Qatar 2022 world cup about 7 hours ago. I watched the match. It was very close and very hair raising. The match went all the way to the penalty shootout stage. 

I watched them score 2 goals in the first half, then France equalised in the second half. Then in extra time Argentina scored, then France equalised again. The winning team was finally settled in a penalty shootout. A very exciting football match. 

French food is very popular here in Britain, we love to eat French cheese, they have a cheese for everything. Croissants are also very popular here for lunch or breakfast. Plus they make Champagne, it is like sparkling wine but it is aged slightly to give it extra flavour. I think they hand pick the grapes to ensure excellent taste. 

Final Match Settled

It is very cold here in England, where I live it's -7 °c outside. There are many changes happening and many things to debate about. Right now we know the two teams that will play in the final to win the world cup. It will be Argentina or France. 

Before 6pm on Sunday we will know if Argentina or France are the winners of the world cup. The match will start at 3pm. I think I will root for France because they're close to us and I eat a lot of french food; crème Brulé, baguette sandwiches, croissants, things like that. Plus I have been to France several times before. I wonder if there will be a stalemate and they go all the way to the penalty stage. Sunday will be very interesting. 

Quarter Final Teams Settled

The 8 teams that will play in the Quarter Finals over the weekend have been settled in the 16 team stage last week. Netherlands, Argentina, Croatia, Brazil, England, France, Morocco and Portugal. 

The first match will be Croatia VS Brazil on Friday at 3pm British Time. 

The Second Match with be Netherlands VS  Argentina on Friday at 7pm British time. 

The third Match will be Morocco Vs Portugal on Saturday at 3pm British Time. 

The final match of the weekend will be England Vs France on Saturday at 7pm British time. 

By Saturday night we will know the four teams that will play in the Semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday. It would be very nice if it is England playing Morocco or Portugal on Wednesday night but we will see. 

One weekend, four matches. 

We are through again

Last Sunday I managed to watch half of the England match with Senegal, both teams played very well. I saw England score two goals then I had to go to work. There was a third goal during the second half. 

England is through to the quarter finals and will play France on Saturday at 7pm British time. I think I will be able to watch the whole game on that day. Hopefully. 

The last two 16 team stage matches are today. Later today we will know what 8 teams have made it to the Quarter finals. 

It is winter now and very cold and dark here in Britain. It will be interesting to see who has won. 

What November 22 means to me

At the start of November, me and my family celebrated Guy Fawkes day known as Bonfire Night. I was reading the history of the day, I didn't realise that king James was a descendant of Henry the 7th (Henry the 8th's father). He descended from Henry the 7th's 3rd Child, we was like a cousin of the Tudors. King James Stuart curated the king James Bible, the first Christian Bible that was translated from Latin to English. Guy Fawkes is the celebration of the failure to blow up King James. We light fireworks and burn wood and feast outside. It is the English equivalent to the American thanks giving, a feast in the later part of Autumn. 

The theme of the second half of November was the Qatar world cup and Twitter handover. Elon walked into the twitter headquarters with a sink and said "let that sink in", that is the kind of joke I would say. For about 10 years, Twitter has been wrestling with Freedom of Speech and Censorship, both paradigms are very important. You should have the freedom to express your views but also adhere to the laws, deformation through lying, conspiring to cause a public nuisance and do violence, there is a law for all those things. Twitter was censoring many people to keep their sponsors happy but sometimes they were restricting the freedom of speech. 

During the last third of November, the Qatar world cup started, it is very unusual to have a world cup in autumn and winter, the summer time is off limits to them because it is too hot. The players could get heat stroke or something like that. It is nice to have a world cup in winter when it is cold and dark in my part of the world. The darkness can really mess with your head sometimes.