I would also like to announce that thanks to my friends, who infected me with the World Cup bug, I did my part on Sunday afternoon to improve international relations.Blame the summer storm, the kind that often brew up here in the late afternoons, pinging the chimney with fat droplets and making Edmund suspect that the sky, really and truly, is falling. I'd settled in with my knitting and had intended to wait until the second half to go to the gym to watch France-Italy, but partway through the first half, the storm grew so fierce that our satellite reception went kaput.

It would be a grave error if I did not mention this:

A good pair of male legs certainly isn't hurt by encasing them in a kilt. Better ventilation too, I'd dare say.

It is a bit of a pity we can't resurrect that particular bit of clothing. I think it would be a boon to the species. (Not to mention that they've got to be easier to fit than men's dress pants.)