United

Daughter L returned from London late last night, and I stayed up chatting to her until after 02:00, so I wasn't up early. Indeed, she was already out with Django when I went down to breakfast. I tidied up the programming that I'd almost finished last night, and then went out to get some groceries. Being the day of Penicuik's parade, the town was buzzing as people started gathering to witness the spectacle. 

I watched the parade with A as it passed our house. The two pipe bands and the horses - led by this year's Penicuik Hunter and Lass - are impressive, but the rest was as lame as usual. Afterwards, I went to the park with A, where we toured the stalls, paying out for raffle tickets offered by good causes, and buying pastries from the Storehouse stall. 

We were back in time for the Cup Finals. I had no real hope of United beating City, so watched the Celtic vs Rangers game, with the FA Cup Final commentary. When United went 2-0 up, I focused fully on the game, still expecting City to come back and win it. However, despite their late goal, it never really happened. All the United team played well and hard, prompting some pundits to ask why they’ve not done this all season. To an extent it’s a fair comment, but today was also a rare occasion when they had their best centre-back partnership of Martinez and Varane. GGMU!

It was good to see the right result at Hampden, too.