27^th July 2025

I was planning to continue chronologically with the blog.

This post, the fiftieth of them – Heck! 50! Who’s read even one of them? Hands up! – was going to recap the Euros following our return from the DadLadTour trip to Switzerland. I’d planned to touch on the Wales match – a 6-1 win for the girls, lest you forget – then leapfrog to England’s quarter and semi-final games. That penalty shoot-out! Oh, my!

That was the plan anyway.

Until today...

If you are reading this post then you already know what happened today. If you don’t know, then how have you come to be reading this blog?

The Lionesses only went and did it! Back-to-back titles!

Beating Spain, too! GET IN!!!!

Doncha love these girls? I know that I do; I have done for a wee while now. I wouldn’t have gone out to Switzerland if I didn’t. I wouldn’t already be thinking about the 2029 Euros if these girls didn’t fill me with pride. They fill me with enthusiasm and excitement for a sport I thought had been lost to me.

But, before I type a few lines about the insanity of today’s game and result, let me tell you about a chap I know. Let’s call him Silly Boy.

Last Wednesday Silly Boy received an email from the FA (Football Association) with a code to access the UEFA site and, by virtue of that code, have a slim chance of obtaining tickets for the Euro 2025 Final. These last few tickets would be the proverbial “hen’s teeth”.

Silly Boy logged in and found the site was swamped with fans desperate to attend the final. He waited patiently in a queue before, after 30 or 40 minutes, gaining access to ticket sales. The site initially showed that no tickets were available; that waiting in the queue must have seen them all get snapped up. But, undeterred, Silly Boy kept refreshing.

Refresh…NO TICKETS AVAILABLE…

Refresh…NO TICKETS AVAILABLE…

And so it went for a while.

Until, miraculously, the site allowed Silly Boy to select four – yes, FOUR – tickets. Silly Boy did just that. Four lovely, lovely tickets.

Then….oh, no!….Captcha codes. Are you a human? Of course Silly Boy was a human…a silly human, admittedly, but a human nonetheless.

Click on the bicycles. Select all the fire hydrants. Choose the buses……You know the drill.

Then, with frustration rising and time ticking on…..the four tickets were suddenly in Silly Boy’s basket. Only 30 CHF each, too. 120 CHF total…what an absolute bargain!

Now Silly Boy had 15 minutes to complete his purchase of four shiny, golden tickets to the Women’s Euro 2025 Final in Basel.

Tick…Tock…

Now to tell the wife. Silly Boy’s wife hasn’t taken his last name…she is not called Mrs Silly Boy. She is a sensible woman. Let’s call her Mrs Level Headed.

Mrs Level Headed outlined the difficulties and cost implications of a last-minute trip to Switzerland.

All the flights will be expensive! Where will you stay? The hotels will be astronomical! I’ll never be able to retire at this rate!

Tick…Tock…

That’s roughly how the discussion – a frank airing of opinions, shall we say – went.

Silly Boy took a screenshot of the tickets in his basket.

Tick…Tock…

I know, thought Silly Boy. I’ll send this picture to my daughter and her husband. They will see it and immediately be able to persuade Mrs Level Headed to let me go.

What an excellent idea from Mr Silly Boy.

Tick……………..

Tock…………….

At no point did it occur to Silly Boy to simply buy those four tickets.

To just get them while he can! Never mind what the wife says!

Tick……………..Tock…………….

Just buy them! You can sort out the travel stuff later, Silly Boy. If it proves impossible to arrange affordable travel then those tickets can be resold at face value without any trouble at all. People will be clamouring for them. Just pop them back onto the UEFA resale site and you’ll get your 120 CHF back no problem. It’s a no-brainer, Silly Boy!

Tick…………….

No call came from his child or her husband. 

Time up.

Silly Boy had left it too late. The fifteen minute timer had expired.

The tickets were gone. Sad Silly Boy.

The next day, Silly Boy was at his daughter’s and told her about the tickets. She never received the screenshot he sent. It seemed the picture had gone, it was still being sent. Some text issue…

She was stunned that Silly Boy hadn’t bought the tickets. Outraged at his fallibility. Her husband was shocked too. I’d have bought them straight off you, Silly Boy! he exclaimed.

Oh, Silly Boy! What a sad, silly boy you are.

When Silly Boy got home, Mrs Level Headed saw he was sad. He told her that his daughter and her husband were mad at him for being such a silly chap. They were confident they could find a way to Switzerland that wouldn’t cost the earth. If not, they told him, the tickets would sell so very easily.

Mrs Level Headed, reviewing the situation, told Silly Boy to try again at the next release of tickets.

Great, thought Silly Boy. But surely this is the last time I’ll wait to stand in line for tickets.

Silly Boy tried all day Thursday and all day Friday. No tickets…..how many tickets?…Captcha codes…..the whole shebang. But his chance – and those four fabulous Final tickets – had gone.

And….as you’ve no doubt realised already….seems I’m just a Silly Boy.