The new year begins as the old one ended, with rain coming down like stair-rods. The mutts refuse to go outside on their own and, in order to encourage/supervise, I stand in the rain with them. None of us wanting be out in the deluge. We all get soaked and eighteen wet feet leave prints on the floor when we eventually come inside.

But it is January first so, Happy New Year to you all!

2025 is here and that means July 9^th and the start of our Euro trip is only 190 days away. Or, 27 weeks and one day.  52.05% of this new year will have elapsed by the time Liam and I arrive at the departure gate in Manchester.

Our flights and accommodation are booked, match tickets bought and we have a good idea of what times we need to get to various train stations to travel between Zurich, Bern and Geneva. I’m really looking forward to experiencing the Swiss rail network. Who doesn’t enjoy a train journey? In anticipation of this method of transportation during our Euro adventure, I spent a good part of New Year’s Eve shopping online for maps of public transport in Switzerland. It was certainly more entertaining than watching what passes for “celebrities” theses days on television. I found one – a map, not a celebrity – that gets great reviews and I hit the “BUY” button. My map shows buses and train routes all over the country. It even details those funicular railways that go up steep inclines. Maybe, between games, Liam and I might get a chance to go on one?

Most of the initial planning for the trip is done thanks to Liam and Bethany. Now, I can only wait for July. Consequently, additions to this blog will likely be sporadic; I’ll add to it as when something affecting the trip happens, or our plans and itinerary become clearer.

You’ve been very patient to date and thank you for reading this far. In writing these early posts, I have tried to recount the “why” and “how” of our planned adventure as briefly as I could yet still include details which, I hope, has made it enjoyable and interesting. I trust it was not too dull!

Before I sign off for however long it is until something trip-worthy of writing about next occurs, let me add one final Lioness related tale that affected this story.

*Scooby-Doo style wobbly screen fade to Tuesday 3^rd December 2024*

Sarah and I were set to drive to Sheffield around lunchtime of Tuesday 3^rd December to see The Lionesses play their final game of 2024. Young Dan was driving up from Lincolnshire to meet us for the friendly at Bramall Lane against –  rather appropriately – Switzerland. We were hoping to take Katie, a friend of mine along with us, but Katie’s plans changed late on and she could not make it. Whilst disappointing, this turned out to be very fortunate for Sarah and I.

Over the preceding weekend, Sarah had received word from a Mini-Schnauzer rescue organisation. We have re-homed two beautiful little ladies with their help in the past few years and they reached out to us because of this. It seemed that an animal rescue centre urgently needed to re-home four male Schnauzers, ideally before Christmas.

The rescue organisation’s timing was perfect. We originally had four Minis but lost our eldest, Maggie, the year before. I had been increasingly itching to bring our pack back up to four and, as recently as the Friday night, had been looking at rescue sites to see if any little lady needed a home. 

The sense of serendipity was palpable. This only increased when we learnt the boy’s in question we being cared for in a shelter just a few miles from the Steel City and that we actually passed it on our drive to the match! So, as I said, Katie cancelling on us was very lucky. It meant we could set off in the morning instead and call in to the shelter ahead of the match. Which we did.

We were introduced to the four dogs in question. They were all adorable and, honestly, I would have loved to have taken them all. But even I can see that a total of seven mutts is a couple of mutts too many. One little fellow, a tiny dot of black fur with the most adorable eyes and the shiniest nose, stole our hearts and we decided he would be the one we adopt. Obviously we could not take him home immediately. Do they allow dogs into Bramall Lane? Is our new boy even a football fan? Would he become bored and cause chaos while the match was underway? Maybe he wasn’t a Lioness fan and would barked encouragingly for the Swiss girls instead?

Sarah and I both had lots of work on over the coming two weeks and would be out of the house for a lot of it. We wanted to spend as much time at home with our new pal as we could to help him settle in. Consequently, we agreed with the shelter that we would return for him on Monday 16^th.

I read a lot about Greek mythology and originally wanted to name our latest signing after one of the heroes from The Odyssey or The Iliad. Agememnon or Odysseus seemed quite a mouthful and Sarah wasn’t keen. I toyed with Patroclus and Hector for a while. I ruled out Menelaus as, quite frankly, he’s a bit of a dick in those epic poems. I especially liked Achilles. The prospect of walking the new hound along the street and commanding, “Achilles, heal”, was absolutely delicious.

We have kept a Greek theme to his name by deciding to call him Basil. He is named him after Saint Basil, the Greek version of the festive Saint Nicholas. The shelter believed him to be around one-year old and, as Saint Basil’s feast day is celebrated on January 1^st, we thought it a good fit. We have decided that our Basil’s “official birthday” would be on the same day as well.

All we had to do now, was wait excitedly for the big day to finally arrive; UEFA Women’s Euro25 Draw and Collect Basil Day.