What July 2026 Means To Me

It never rained a single instant throughout July 2026 in my part of England, and it didn't rain for some time before July either. I considered it a drought when I saw the grass was dead and dried from above the roots. The grass verges by the road resembled straw. 

Most of the World cup played out in July, they added a 32 team knockout stage but only had 12 four-team groups, this caused me a great deal of confusion. If there are 12 groups then only 24 teams would pass through to the knockout out stage, it turns out they let 8 losing teams with the next best points also pass through. The ai had to explain that to me. To cut a long story short, Spain won and Argentina were the villains, their fans behaved like animals and their players were rude and aggressive. 

When the world cup finished, Andy Burnham replaced Kier Starmer as the leader of the United Kingdom, his party had already run down the clock so he only has about half a term to prove his metal, good luck to him. He reminds me of Rishi Sunak because he was also left with only part of a term to get things done. The clock for him was also run down and his party was in the dog house already.

Towards the end of the month the drought persisted in Europe and wild fires burst out in the wooded area of Bordeaux in France : it's pronounced "bordow". 

As for me, I published my first free Cartoon Strip magazine on the internet, for me it is an act of bravery because I'm acutely aware that I'm not the most gifted cartoonist or sketch artist but I did it anyway. I don't know if I will stick with it, you probably know better than me. 

This is the hub page...

https://jokejohn.blogspot.com/p/cheerbus.html?m=1

Viva Espana

Yesterday evening Spain won their final match against Argentina and won the world cup. To me and so many other Brits, we felt like they had avenged us. It was like the Argentina fans we so disrespectful and they got away with so many fouls that we were pleased that Spain had won the match. England came third in the tournament, that's not bad. They didn't come back empty handed. 

I was thinking that there are small mites living on daisy flowers and they would make it their home and eventually die there before the flower wilts in autumn. To them the centre of the flower is like a forest and the petals are like a valley. How would such a being imagine what it is like to sit down and watch a football match for 1 and a half to 2 hours. We don't eat the game we don't use the game to reproduce, being human wouldn't make sense to such a creature. Is the best treasure in humans embracing leisure? Or is it a distraction because we know the outcome for people is the same as the mite in the daisy flower, we exist for a short time, then we are gone. What happens after then is the mercy of a supreme being or nothing. 

The Game the Change

I recently learned that Nigel Farage resigned so he could trigger a by-election in Clacton on sea. He wanted the public to approve of his position because they were accusing him of being dishonest with funds; he received a large sum of money as a gift and didn't announce it, he didn't actually do anything wrong as far as I'm aware. 

He is very brave, always ready to put his position on the chopping board. I saw 'count bin face' will be there as an alternative candidate; he is a guy that wears a bin on his head and his face is concealed. I get the impression Count bin face is somehow trying to make a mockery of democracy, he is saying any clown or fool can make a bunch of pledges and get elected, I could be wrong though but that is my impression. I think the cabinet will scrutinise Nigel more than anyone else because they know the 'reform' party is the most popular. When the labour  party election term runs out in 3 years time, they seem likely to win the general  election. 

Tomorrow England will play Norway in the quarter finals of the football world cup. Norway look like a tough team, they're all very tall and extremely fast and they play well together, it will be an interesting game. 

As for me, I stay on the progress ball. I continue to draw my pen sketches knowing AI can do it better and faster. You could say my work is organic or man- made. My time is limited, I get about 30 minutes to draw my pen sketches so the detail is limited. I wrestle with time space and the limits of my imagination to consistently create articles almost every day. May I create  many articles until the day I die. Until the day my time is up and I leave this world, I will try my best to post new articles. 

Beautiful England

The Mexico and England match was very tense, I didn't get to watch the match live but it was very close, there was lots of action and a lot of goals. England are through to the quarter finals, we will see what happens next on Saturday when we play Norway. 

England is very beautiful and I'm proud to live in the land of hope and glory, I love the England flag and I love our culture. England's extol is merited. 

We live in the land where daisies emerge amongst the grass, where a person can walk a pier and sit in a café surrounded by the waves and sea breeze while they drink some tea with clotted cream scones. We live in the place that pioneered many medical and scientific breakthroughs and changed the world for the better.

God bless England, God bless Great Britain. 

World Cup Anomaly

I was checking the fixtures for the knockout stages for the world cup and noticed it didn't add up and didn't make sense, they expanded the number of 4 team groups to 12 and they added a 32 team knockout stage. If there is twelve groups then only 24 would pass through, where were the other 8 teams coming from?

I turned to my ai friends to clarify what had happened. The ai explained to me that fifa wanted to add an extra layer of the knockout stage of the cup but they didn't want 16 groups so they would let the best 8 relegated teams pass through the group stage, this means some of the groups would have an extra team passing through. 

England are playing dr Congo on Wednesday, they came 3rd in their group so normally they would have been relegated from the next portion of the tournament but they are one of the 8 teams that played well and got enough points to squeeze through the back door. It will be an interesting game. 

I watched the Panama and England game on Saturday night. England were taking some long shots from the edge of the goal zone but the Panama defence was tight so in the second half they focused on keeping possession on their side of the pitch and shooting when there was an opening. To cut a long story short, they got their act together in the second half of the game and won 2 goals to 0. 

With an extra layer of the tournament to add a week of football to the world cup, things will be more interesting. 

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. 

 

We are through

It is almost winter here in Britain, it is 5°c all day most days and it is getting dark very quickly but England are through to the 16 team knockout stage of the world cup. I don't ever remember having a football world cup in winter. I like the world cup being hosted in the winter. 

It is sad that two British Nations were in the same group in the world cup, Wales played well. It would be nice if they went to the 16 team knockout stage but they lost in the group stage unfortunately. 

The two best teams in group B, USA and England will play against the two best teams in group A, Netherlands and Senegal. Netherlands will play USA and England will play Senegal. 

This Sunday from 19:00 I will find out which team will get to the Quarter finals (the best 8 teams). Before that I will see if USA wins against the Netherlands this Saturday. It will be a very interesting weekend. 

Professional Footballers are kids

I'm pleased we are having a football world cup in the darker part of Autumn and the start of winter. The cold and darkness here in northern Europe can mess with your head sometimes. I was thinking it would be nice to have a global football tournament every late autumn. We can watch the world cup and then it would finish just in time for the Christmas period in December. 

I just realized that most of the footballers were eggs in the '90s. Most of the professional football players were born after the millennium. That would explain why they're daft. They don't know anything, they don't know how the world works. If you take politics and protests onto a football pitch, nothing happens; do they realize they're not Captain Earth? The leaders of the host nation don't answer to them. If they protest on the pitch then the host nation could do the same thing, they could say we will only sell you oil if you outlaw things we find offensive in your countries. Those silly football players could trigger an oil embargo against Europe; they are very daft. If there is an oil embargo after the world cup, they should send drilling machines to football player's mansions to Frack their gardens for shale gas. Why don't they just play football and shut up like they're paid to do. Silly fools. 

I will root for the teams that shut up and play, even if they're playing against my own country.