Earlier this month, while the weather was lovely and warm and very springlike, I took my time-machine out for a test drive. A pleasant occasion it was too,…..

*Startled readers gasp* “MADNESS TAKES ITS TOLL. HAS GRUMPPA HAD A MIND FLIP? ”

Okay. Two caveats should be added to that opening line.

Caveat Number One: It was not my personal time-machine. I do not own it. In fact, the one I used, and many like it, are feely available. So, I can’t lend it to you. You’ll just have to find your own.

Caveat Numero Zwei: It wasn’t actually a time-machine. Leastways, not like you’ve come to expect from H. G. Wells; all steam and pistons and bits of copper piping that his fictional hero found lying around Victorian London. Nor was it box-shaped, blue in colour and rarely, if ever, used to call the rozzers like the one Doctor Who dashes around in.

What I actually took out for a spin was a www site. So, like I said, freely available for you all to use.

But I stand by my (albeit, spurious) assertion that it was a time-machine. I entered two dates and the web nipped off and immediately came back with how much time – days – would elapse between the dates in question. There you have it. It really was a time-machine. (It can also convert any measurement or weight, or such like, into whatever unit you wish.)

My “time-travel” escapade was intended to reveal the number of days between knowing we are actually going to Euro25 and being there, in Switzerland, to watch The Lionesses play.

You want to know the answer, don’t you? I shall tell you. 

Between December 16^th 2024 – when we secured tickets and booked flights – to July 9^th 2025, when we’ll actually be in Zürich watching England take on The Netherlands is, it transpire, 206 days.

My mind flipped. Two-hundred-and-six. That’s quite a large number. The tournament doesn’t kick-off until July and we’re still only in March. Our trip seems so far away and that kind of wait really drives you insane.

I took the old (young? Middle-aged? How do you date time-machines?) device out for another few spins to discover the mid-point of our vigil. I was keen to know when that was going to be. So, yep, I did the time warp again.

And, guess what? It came back as being March 28^th 2025.

Day 103 is today. We are now half-way to Switzerland!

It seems, after all, that time is fleeting.