Jen's Journal

The end

ylla — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 22:20:31 GMT

A dramatic end to a dramatic tournament.

I've always had a soft spot for the goal kickers (my three current pet players are Finn Russell, Tommaso Allan and Thomas Ramos, in that order, before any of the other Scots get a look in!), so I do like a win from a final kick.

So France lost to Scotland who lost to Italy who lost to Wales who lost to England who lost to Ireland - and yet won the whole thing. (On the other hand, they did beat Ireland right back at the start!)

Confusing

ylla — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 20:21:08 GMT

France playing in pale blue which looks exactly the same as England's white in the overhead shots. That's helpful. At least they have bright red socks!

Nice result for Wales - they've been building up to that. A very confusing ending, though, with Italy over but not over and over and not over and over...

ylla — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 16:04:42 GMT

Oh well. Always unlikely!

I think it was a bit closer than the final score makes it look, but Scotland just never quite hung on.

Do I really mind what happens now? Not much, I suppose, but a Welsh win would be nice - and I feel a bit more magnanimous towards France than towards Ireland, since we beat them!

ylla — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:56:37 GMT

I'm always a bit confused trying to add up rugby tables, with the bonus points, but if I'm right then nothing that England (or Italy!) do now can put them higher than fourth, and this game is just for fun (for me, anyway).

When I was in a pub after my walk last weekend they were joking about the whole of Scotland having to turn into England fans next weekend. Not quite so much of a joke now...

Ireland aren't quite as invincible as they used to be - on the other hand, Scotland are constitutionally incapable of playing well for two weeks in a row. Do I believe Scotland can beat Ireland? No. Did I believe Scotland could beat France - also no!

Weekend 4 continued

ylla — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 15:01:25 GMT

Wales are definitely getting back some self-respect, which is nice. A win would have been even nicer, for their own sake and to keep Scotland second!

I don't think I dare comment on Scotland so far.

Well!

ylla — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:59:56 GMT

This is not at all how it looked like it was going to go after the first few minutes. Come on Wales...

Another week...

ylla — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 17:30:06 GMT

That's looking a bit more like it - if they can keep it up!

Well.

ylla — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 16:50:37 GMT

Without denying for a second that Scotland were shite (I think the only decent lineout was when they had two hookers off the pitch and Matt Fagerson had to throw in), I do think a lot of people forget that Italy are pretty damn good these days.

Still, you would think Scotland were most used to playing in a lake...

Mist

ylla — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 14:15:29 GMT

"We're peering through the mist of the pyrotechnics" - well, if you were in Edinburgh you'd just be peering through the mist so think yourself lucky, Andrew.

Nice purple outfits for Scotland - on Thursday everyone ended up with bright green bottoms, so at least they'll go nicely!

Here we go again

ylla — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:14:03 GMT

I don't know what the Six Nations is doing on a Thursday - I've been worried all week that I would forget all about it. But it's here, although starting off with the two teams I'm most indifferent to, and the kind of match I don't particularly like!

I do mean to write about something that's not rugby some time, honest...

Sleepy facts

ylla — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 23:51:39 GMT

Fact 10: Rhamphorhynchus was a type of pterosaur, an extinct flying reptile.
Fact 11: The largest pterosaur had a wingspan of about 12 metres, making pterosaurs the largest flying creatures of all time.

It seems to be pterosaur season.

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Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook tonight, only with no Phil Cunningham. Lovely mixed up music :)

ylla — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:16:53 GMT

We're never going to get there if we don't have some facts.

Fact 6: Ankylosaurus was an armoured dinosaur that was around 7 metres long.
Fact 7: The name dimetodron means 'two sized teeth'
Fact 8: The name stegosaurus means 'roof lizard'

That would be a very strange kind of roof.

Fact 9: Some dinosaurs would have seen snow!

This is obviously a very exciting fact, but - surely snow predates dinosaurs!

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Last exam delivery tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel a bit saner after that.

Belated facts

ylla — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:15:57 GMT

Behind with facts already. I do have news, but I'm too sleepy for that.

Fact 3: While dinosaurs ruled on the land, some very different reptiles roamed the seas. These marine reptiles included plesiosaurs that lived 220-65 million years ago.

Hooray! Only three days to the first non-dinosaur fact.

Fact 4: The name Triceratops means 'three-horned face'.
Fact 5: The name Rhamphorhynchus means 'beak snout'. Rhamphorhynchus had a wingspan of around 2 metres long.

Are spans long?

These facts are very keen on names.

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First exam of the season today, collected in whatever this storm is called. Fortunately none of it blew away.

Dinosaur fact #2

ylla — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:10:02 GMT

Fact 2: The name ankylosaurus means 'fused lizard'

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I am too sleepy to have any news

Dinosaur facts reprise

ylla — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:09:28 GMT

I have dinosaur facts again - maybe I'll actually manage to post some this time.

Fact 1: The largest dinosaurs were called sauropods. They included the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth.

Today was the annual outing of the organ variations on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - along with some more sensible music. On my birthday there are going to be Baroque Splendours, which also sound quite good...

Poor alien Aberdeen

ylla — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 17:07:43 GMT

House of Games contestant, asked where the longest bridge in the world is:

"I went over a really long one when I went to Aberdeen recently - but I don't think that's in the world."

A very brief summary

ylla — Tue, 13 May 2025 18:41:32 GMT

I went to Wales, but I have come back again. Mostly was very hot.

Oh subtitles

ylla — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 20:26:25 GMT

'That dots the eyes and crosses the Tees.'

Bother

ylla — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 16:30:42 GMT

A bit too close, that - Ireland with the bonus point, but not with the difference in score that might have kept them ahead given a tight England win.

I think Scotland will finish fourth overall regardless of anything that happens in any match today, so I don't suppose it matters what happens tonight - but I'd rather not sit through another defeat just the same!

ylla — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 15:19:12 GMT

A very confusing day rugby-wise. I'm glad Italy are playing well, but a bonus point win for Ireland would make the rest of the day slightly less nerve-wracking!

Oh dear

ylla — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 19:20:08 GMT

I *thought* I was feeling quite detached, in a grown up kind of way, but I was not, and burst into tears when the last try was scored. (I didn't think Finn could score that conversion today, and he didn't.)

Overexcitement rather than entitlement, I promise!

Rugby catch up part 1

ylla — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:50:26 GMT

Well, that was a better start to the day than I thought it might be, although a shame about the try that wasn't quite.

I didn't see as much rugby as usual the first weekend due to rushing off to tigger_boing's birthday party in the middle of the Saturday matches - it was just on half time and 19-9 to Scotland when I left the house, and then I looked back when it felt like half time was barely over, and suddenly it was 19-19. Fortunately it was 31-19 by the time I got to L's and stayed that way!

Not that I didn't have quite a bit of respect for Italy's efforts - taking 12 points from penalties when you're well behind takes good nerve - but I'm not magnanimous enough to be pleased for them a second time!

I saw the end of the second match in a pub, which was quite good fun - exciting ending without it ever looking like the match would be stolen from Ireland after them leading for a while.

The small dragon and I did watch the opening match, but we didn't think much of it!

Weekend three

ylla — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:32:03 GMT

I meant to comment on the first two weekends of rugby before this one started, but I'm not feeling all that excited about either of today's matches - the first is too likely to be a slaughter, and England are being very... English about the second, so that we seem to have the choice of losing because we're losers, or winning solely because we're fired up illicitly with anti-English malice. I might be saving my enthusiasm for hoping Italy beat France, since I haven't seen anyone being petty about that.

We've finally managed to produce a relatively calm and sunny morning - I was going to just go down to the woods, but decided at the last minute to go off to the Botanics instead. Two and a half days of slightly warm does seem to have helped the crocuses, at least.

I am also cross-stitching some crocuses, having bought a kit with a flower for every month. I only finished January's snowdrops last weekend, but I only started them on about the 30th, and then procrastinated on doing outlining!

Still not spring

ylla — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:04:30 GMT

It's been fairly wet and wild today, but that at least makes a change from sitting under a kind of cold grey lid, as we have been for neverending weeks. (Two weekends when I climbed hills small enough to be under the lid and last weekend when I misjudged and ended up inside it, so that's three anyway.)

It does seem to have done for the crocuses - there are hardly any, and those there are are either trodden on or nibbled. But we might still be somewhere around peak snowdrop, which is something.

I have meant to post about all sorts of things, such as dinosaur facts, rugby, Celtic Connections concerts, what I did in the Christmas holidays, and what I did all last year. But I have not.

At it again

ylla — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 16:02:25 GMT

Ball down, rest of Duhan van der Merwe in the air and over the touchline - where have we seen that before. But oh dear, otherwise!