Cav's Place

When I decided to switch to HonestGamers for my reviews, I was thinking that I’ll copy all of them, with the probable exception of the one for Forsaken World, over there over the course of three months or so. However, I only finally managed to do so after one year and one month, though at least the last one added was that one for Forsaken World, after asking the site’s founder about it and being told that it is acceptable to submit such a review that is basically there for historical reference, describing how a game was at certain a point in time. And the two new reviews written during this period, those for King of Dragon Pass and Hero of the Kingdom II, are just posted here and there, not also on MobyGames. And this also means not only that the problem that I mentioned when I activated the new version of the Games Played list no longer exists, but that a problem will appear if I’ll finally add those games there without making the switch from MobyGames to HonestGamers there as well, so I really should do that… But I haven’t made any changes there ever since activating that new version, and updating the ratings would be the important part, but that’s a truly daunting prospect and I have no idea when or even if I’ll get around to it.
On the other hand, speaking of things that I don’t know when I’ll get around to doing, after failing to copy all of my old reviews there even within one year after switching to that site, I was hoping to also write the review for Diggles during this additional month, since I finished it back in March, and that was why I delayed adding that Forsaken World review there, meaning to push myself to write that one first and then still copy that other one by the time 13 months passed since switching to using that site. But that didn’t work, so I eventually just put that one there as well, making some changes at the beginning, and it remains to be seen when I’ll finally write that one for Diggles. And I’d say that at the moment I’m probably pretty close to finishing the first Vampires Dawn game, so I’ll have one more review to add at some point. But don’t expect the fact that my rule was to write reviews for the games that I finish if they don’t have enough on MobyGames to mean that I’ll go back and write proper reviews for previously finished games that don’t have enough on HonestGamers.

On the other hand, I managed to improve the computer’s uptime record by another day, to 111 days. Or, all right, a little under one more full day, since the current record is 111 days, four hours and what should be a little over 34.5 minutes, or close to 35 minutes, if that sounds better, since I timed how long it took between taking the screenshot and the computer actually rebooting and that time was 1:39, give or take a second, depending on my reaction time. Either way, the reason for rebooting was once again Emsisoft Anti-Malware (EAM), which had started giving that update error that forced me to reboot when the previous uptime record was set earlier but hadn’t asked for a reboot right away, nor after the problem worsened and I had to keep trying several dozen times until it finally did update, but eventually the update wasn’t applied for one file, even if there didn’t seem to be any reason for that to happen, so it did ask for a reboot at a moment when the uptime was 107 days, so this seems to happen a pretty fixed amount of time, or perhaps a pretty fixed number of updates, after reboot. But, when I was so close to a new record, I obviously wasn’t going to reboot unless I absolutely had to, so even if EAM started causing more problems after that, some notifications not being displayed and even on-demand scanning seeming to no longer work, I waited and only rebooted in the early moments of Friday, to set that new record. And, other than that error stating that EAM hadn’t shut down properly, which also happened that previous time, I was quite surprised that there didn’t seem to be any issues. That still leaves me needing to shut down the computer one of these days, since I have some things to do, and also want to clean it while I’m at it, but I won’t get into that now.

After Romania won the arbitration case, allowing RMGC’s exploitation license for Rosia Montana to expire and not extending it seemed quite certain, nothing more than a mere formality, and that was what happened on Thursday, the announcement being made with little fanfare. So, even though the company keeps lashing out, announcing that it will “vigorously pursue all legal avenues” against the decision, while also maintaining its intent to challenge the decision in the arbitration case, the matter would seem to pretty much be put to rest, at long last.
Well, that may not be the case, because yesterday, so only a day later, our Government approved what they claim to be the implementation of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, with the public statements taking care to underline an amendment that was pushed forward by Romanian MEPs that refers to exploiting the materials left in tailings dumps and decantation ponds. And that implementation does stress the requirement to adhere to environmental standards and also obtain the approval of the local community, which is an improvement, though obviously far from sufficient, since the existing environmental standards are little more than a joke compared to what they should be and people can easily be persuaded to agree to harmful things. However, the decision also includes an article that states that mines or other exploitation activities of non-energy mineral resources may be reopened if they were previously closed or if the license expired. When the Minister of Economy was directly asked whether that changes anything about Rosia Montana, he said that it didn’t, but one pretty obvious interpretation of that article is that the mine could be reopened simply because a license for it used to exist.
Of course, while it’s clearly the best known one, the one that generates the strongest reactions and emotions, that’s just one specific case and many other places could, and at least some of them very likely will, be affected by such regulations, and that’s on top of the major problems that the Critical Raw Materials Act has, in itself, which is why its current form was, and still is, fought against at every level. So the truth is that what the future will hold still remains to be seen… And, considering the changes brought by the recent European Parliament elections, and the fact that environmental regulations kept being pushed back even before, there’s every reason to remain alert.

Since I really had to find a way to force myself to write about this year’s half marathon and the attempt to put it all in one post resulted in one that left out the actual run, I’m now making use of the fact that all of the posts that include runs are in order, so I first posted the part about the following run, to have something here by midnight and make it absolutely mandatory to somehow make myself edit this post in order to add the part about the half marathon, as in the actual run, before it. And I finally managed to make that edit Sunday evening, so a week later.

Even though my position, at least in relation to the pacemakers, was better on previous occasions, this time around I had a great start time, 47 seconds, the only better one having been in 2021. Then I tried to keep advancing as much as possible without pushing too hard or weaving too much, so I won’t tire myself more than I had to so soon, and covering the first kilometer in 4:49 was better than expected under those circumstances. And the second kilometer included that climb, so I was once again pleased when I saw that I covered it in 4:55. That made the fact that I covered the third kilometer in 4:52 a little bit concerning, since it should have normally been faster than the first one, but I’m pretty sure that I overtook the 1:45 pacemakers on that kilometer, which also meant getting through the pack of runners that were staying around them and therefore losing a little time because of that. So it was the fourth kilometer that was the first one when I could see what my pace really was at that point, and I covered it in 4:42… Which was also the time for the fifth kilometer, which included the point where the route turns and ended just before the first refreshment point.
Speaking of the regular refreshment points, I had decided to take one cup of that other drink at each one, ignoring the water, and that was what I did every time, and I also took a piece of banana each time, eating it right away the first two times and still soon after I resumed running after the last one, but I kept the one taken at the third regular refreshment point in my hand for some time before finally eating it, since I was worried about it worsening the problem that I was already dealing with at that point. On the other hand, the nutrition sponsor also had a refreshment point, on the 13th kilometer, and if I’d have known that I really wouldn’t have taken that gel with me, but they hadn’t actually announced it, so I was somewhat surprised when I saw it and just quickly grabbed a jelly bar and a salt bar, only having an actual look at them after I resumed running, at which point I saw that I had taken the jelly bar that I actually wanted, with the fast absorbtion carbs, so I kept that in my hand for a while, putting the salt bar in the pocket of my tights. I might have preferred a different salt bar, but so be it, and I’m keeping it for the marathon anyway. But what I feel bad about is that I didn’t take a better look at what was available, so I only saw when the pictures were posted that they also had liquid magnesium, which would have been the first thing to take and keep for the marathon…
To get back to the actual run, I don’t know what my fastest kilometer actually was. According to the signs, it was the sixth one, since I passed that sign 4:35 after passing the one for five kilometers, but that was in an area where a street food festival was taking place those days, so the sign was placed in an available spot, and it’s not just that the corresponding mark on the road wasn’t right next to it, but I didn’t see it anywhere in that area, and a time that was seven seconds faster than the previous best despite having had a refreshment point on that kilometer makes it absolutely clear that the sign was placed quite some distance earlier than it should have been and I have no way of knowing what my actual time was, since I didn’t spot that mark at all. And that also means that the 4:50 that passed until I reached the sign for seven kilometers wasn’t correct either, and when the sixth kilometer was almost certainly not my best, it means that I should deduct more than seven seconds from that time for the seventh kilometer, which would make this one my best, so it’s even more frustrating that I don’t have the actual time for it. On the other hand, I covered the eighth kilometer in 4:41, which makes it my fastest kilometer that I know the actual time for, and that makes sense, seeing as it also includes the start of that detour that avoids Revolution Square, so the part where the road goes down.
With the ninth kilometer including that short but particularly steep climb, when the route returns to Victoriei, and seeing as I also made use of the fact that I slowed down to eat that gel at that point, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I still managed to stay under five minutes, covering that kilometer in 4:58. And covering the tenth kilometer in 4:49 was once again surprising, since the second regular refreshment point was on it, and there’s absolutely no doubt about the exact spot marking ten kilometers, since an official timing spot also exists there, and it’s right next to the finish line, when the route passes by that spot the first time. And what this means is that I covered those first ten kilometers, from the start line to that point, in 47:53, which is a time that I’d be content with while running that distance through the park.
That pace wasn’t one that I could maintain, however, especially since the route turned towards the wind, so the 11th kilometer, covered in 5:03, was the first one where I went over five minutes. But what was far more concerning was that the pressing need that’s so often my problem during such runs was starting to become noticeable, though the first faint signs of it had actually appeared shortly after eating that gel, so I really, really shouldn’t have taken it. So, under those circumstances, I started to calculate what I needed in order to at least stay under 1:50, seeing that an official time of 1:49 required the average time per kilometer to stay a little under 5:30 from then on and thinking that the longer I’ll stay below that time, the more I’ll afford to lose towards the end. And the wind, which was quite a problem, and which was going to remain one until the route turned, at about 15.5 km, was going to be behind me after that point, making that last part of the route a fair bit easier from that point of view.
Speaking of that headwind, I wanted to stay behind others, but at that point I was in an area where the other runners were relatively few and scattered, being a fair distance ahead of the 1:45 pacemakers, and obviously far behind the 1:40 ones… And the guy who was just ahead of me for a good part of Unirii Boulevard kept spitting to the side, so I didn’t want to be right behind him, and getting ahead was difficult as well, since his pace was similar and ending up more or less alongside him for quite some time while I slowly edged ahead was something that I wanted to avoid even more… And once I did finally get ahead, after a brief push, I ended up in completely clear air at a point when I definitely didn’t want that, since the next runners were quite some distance ahead and I was really feeling that headwind.
Either way, I covered the 12th kilometer in 5:04, but my time on the 13th is once again uncertain, since what I saw when I reached the sign was 4:59, but the corresponding mark wasn’t there, I didn’t spot it elsewhere in that area either, and the real spot was once again probably farther ahead, since I really doubt that I was faster on that kilometer that included that “special” refreshment point and, even if I just grabbed those two bars so quickly and put only one of them in the pocket of my tights, I still lost at least a little time. Yes, I’m quite certain that I was ahead of that guy who kept spitting by then, and in case that brief push had been on that kilometer, it might have made a difference, but even so, I doubt that it was enough.
Speaking of being behind others, I did end up behind a pretty large guy just as I reached Decebal, which means a light but long climb, but any hopes of staying behind him for a while were immediately dashed because he just about stopped as soon as he felt the first signs of the slope. So I was in clear air again, and I made use of the fact that I was going to be a little slower anyway to eat that jelly bar… But I’m not sure of my time on that 14th kilometer. By the time I finished, I seemed to recall thinking that it had been 5:07, but I was only absolutely certain of the fact that the total time was between 1:08:51 and 1:08:59 at that point, so the time for that kilometer was between 5:05 and 5:13, and likely in the lower part of that range. And, of course, considering the fact that the sign for 13 km had probably been placed earlier than it should have been, the real time for the 14th kilometer was probably a little lower than that. Either way, the third regular refreshment point was at the start of the 15th kilometer, and I believe that the total time was 1:14:12 when I reached the 15 km sign, which would make the time for that kilometer 5:19 if I assume that 5:07 as correct, and therefore that I reached the 14 km sign in 1:08:53.
The time definitely was 1:19:46 when I reached the 16 km sign, so the time for that kilometer should have been 5:34, and that was the only time when I went over 5:30… And that was because I walked for a little while, probably around 30 seconds, since after the route turned I really thought that I was going to shit myself, the sensation coming with such force that I just couldn’t see myself managing to fight it for much longer. The 1:45 pacemakers also overtook me just then, while I was walking, which I guess felt somewhat less bad than being overtaken and falling behind while I was actually running. But I really wasn’t thinking about that at the time, being completely focused on holding it in a little while longer and desperately looking around for a toilet, other than the one from that restaurant that I used for this purpose during last year’s marathon, since I was just in that area again. And, while the immediate crisis soon passed, the feeling lessening significantly moments after I was almost certain that I won’t even manage to get off the road before shitting myself, I didn’t think that the relief was going to last, especially if I was going to resume pushing, so I was wondering about dashing in the park and hoping that the better toilet from there would be free. That’d have meant adding about a minute of running each way on top of the time actually spent on the toilet, but if I went and it would have been free, I was calculating that I was still going to at least finish in less than two hours, while if I decided against it and the feeling returned, I was going to lose even more time and then still need to go anyway, somewhere else, and as a result end up even going over two hours… And possibly soil myself as well. But, in spite of that, I decided to risk it and just keep going.
I covered the 17th kilometer in 5:14 and the 18th in 5:13, even though I think that it was on that 18th kilometer when I spotted a coin and grabbed it, falling on my hands as I did so but getting back up right away… And then noticing that the coin was a foreign one, so it ended up in dad’s little collection. Either way, since I had been very concerned about consuming anything else, I only finally dared to risk drinking a vial of liquid magnesium at the start of the 19th kilometer, which was way too late, since the effects were only going to kick in right at the end, most of the duration ending up wasted. But at least it did provide that boost at the end, and knowing that pretty soon I was going to feel far less tired probably had an effect on my confidence and overall state of mind before that moment as well… As did the fact that I could still see the 1:45 pacemakers ahead of me after the last refreshment point, and even just after reaching 20 kilometers, albeit only barely in this latter case.
I’m pretty sure that, unlike the previous “regular” ones, which started right after such a sign, that last refreshment point ended just before the sign marking 19 kilometers, and I seem to recall hitting the button on my stopwatch while still walking, before I finished drinking and resumed running. However, I don’t remember the time for that kilometer, nor for the next one, and I didn’t see any sign or mark indicating 21 kilometers. There was a spot that I thought might mark that distance, but I covered the distance between it and the finish line in 21 seconds, and even though I did give everything that I had left and put in quite a burst of speed at that point, that seems too fast, so the real spot was probably a little earlier and therefore the only thing I actually know for sure is that I covered the distance between 18 kilometers and the finish line in 16:15. And, seeing as I’m absolutely certain that I only went over 5:30 on that 16th kilometer and the average time for those three kilometers approaches 5:20, it means that the times didn’t vary too much, and the 19th, which must have easily been the slowest of the three, was definitely over 5:20, if not even closer to 5:30.
The time on my stopwatch was 1:46:28 when I crossed the finish line, so I must have pressed the button just at the right time, both at the start and at the finish, since the official time was 1:46:29 and those times tend to be rounded up while my stopwatch rounds down. As for the real time, considering that start time of 47 seconds, that was obviously 1:45:42, so not even this one was below 1:45… So it was disappointing, far from good enough, but at the same time not as bad as I was expecting and maybe not quite close enough to the target to be frustrating. Yet it was definitely bad enough to make me struggle to even write about it for a month and a half…

As for the part about the following run, I’ll start from the early hours of May 18, when I once again found time slipping away and ended up eating dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:20 AM. And, while I had set the alarm to ring at 2 PM, that’d have meant recording the qualifying for the race, and when I couldn’t get back to sleep after waking up just before 9:15 AM to pee, I considered getting up around noon, when dad was supposed to leave. I eventually fell asleep again, but it took a long time, and between that, still waking up as Liza kept going to the litter box, also while dad was getting ready to leave, and when he actually left, I don’t know how much sleep I actually got, but I did unexpectedly get a little more after that, since I meant to get up but obviously drifted off again for a little while, seeing 12:49 PM when I woke up yet again and checked the time. But, after taking a couple more minutes to really make up my mind, I did decide to get up at that point, though I took it slowly and it was 1:10 PM when I actually walked out of my room. Then I had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing being two somewhat nicer, albeit recently expired, biscuits, with added honey. I left just before 3:20 PM, wearing the full running gear, which from then on meant returning to the old running shoes, though I otherwise decided to stick to the t-shirt from this year’s half marathon. The reported temperature was about 19°C, increasing to 21°C when I finished.
The time was 1:18:38, with sector times of 4:34, 5:14, 6:02, 4:33, 5:09, 6:01, 4:33, 5:10, 6:02, 4:36, 5:09, 5:58, 4:33, 5:15 and 5:49, making for lap times of 15:50, 15:43, 15:45, 15:43 and 15:37. I just aimed to stay under 1:20 and that already seemed pretty much impossible after the first sector, so I also saw no point in trying to memorize the exact times, and after the second sector the target was just to cover that first lap in less than 16 minutes and then hope to stay under 1:22, worrying that I won’t even manage that. However, sector one of lap two made me wonder whether I’ll manage to stay under 16 minutes on that lap as well, and after sector two it seemed that lap two might even be faster than lap one, which it was. But I was still quite certain that I’ll go over 16 minutes per lap after that, though I was starting to hope to stay under 1:21, so I pushed more on lap three, and while having the same sector one time on lap three as on lap two wasn’t enough to change my mind about those targets, being just a second slower on sector two was, and at the end of lap three I actually started wondering about staying under 1:20 after all, and even about staying under 16 minutes on each lap. Sector one of lap four was slightly concerning from this second point of view, but sector two put me at ease, and even made me start wondering about staying under 1:19, which became the clear target after the end of the lap. So I pushed even more on lap five and gained those two seconds that I needed from the first sector, so being exactly on pace on sector two was fine, but I still gave everything on sector three, ending up with the best sector three and lap of the day, even if it was still over the pace required for 1:18. So it was still a poor time, but at least my pace improved slightly after the first lap.
There was an Asian food festival in the park, so the area behind the stage, which is a part of the long straight of sector one, was quite crowded, but once I was aware of it, I adapted and, while it meant that I couldn’t try to really sprint on that part of that straight, I wouldn’t say that there were notable problems there. However, there was one on sector two of what I believe was lap two, when I had to slow in order to squeeze through a roadblock, and one of the worst was on sector one of what I believe was lap three, after that straight, when I probably stopped for just an instant in order to find a way through another roadblock. There is a chance that those two problems were a lap earlier than what I stated above, however. Either way, slowing in order to squeeze through roadblocks was a rule after that, once or twice per sector, and on sector three of the lap with the bigger problem mentioned above I also had to go on the grass and around a bench and a drinking fountain, cutting a turn but slowing a fair bit. Sector three of lap four was quite clear, but on sector two of lap five I might have stopped for just an instant again in order to find a way through a multiple roadblock, and just before reaching what I consider to be the finish I again had to stop when I was completely blocked, so after squeezing through I more or less walked across that line.
Otherwise, it was early in the run when I started feeling that I hadn’t left everything in the toilet, but the feeling was more notable on laps three and five, when I pushed harder. And I believe that it was on sector three of lap three when I felt some warnings from the right knee and left thigh, and that knee was joined by the right ankle in giving more warnings on lap five. And some parts of the lane were obviously damaged, including some that created a risk of tripping, and some parts were wet, so I avoided what I could.

On the way back, I had a quick look in a store and picked up two more plastic bottles with the deposit symbol, then I did the day’s squats, ate some peanuts, changed, and left again a little after 6:50 PM, taking the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin, the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and the cozonac that dad had brought from his mother and that I wanted to give away. Since I was going to do that, I had also meant to give away a chocolate figurine that dad had brought long ago and neither of us wanted, and which was also quite crushed, but when I took it from the fridge I realized that it was a Santa, not a bunny from last year’s Easter, and the date that’s listed on it is from 2025, so we could wait to give it away at a more appropriate time.
Either way, I went straight to Kaufland, used the recycling machine, and entered the store with what was left, since those recyclables which hadn’t been accepted before weren’t accepted then either. But the main reason for going there was to get deodorant for dad, since he had told me to look for cheap ones and a 30% discount for deodorant and soap applied those days, so I was looking for a particular kind of those of one of their store brands and managed to find an unopened box that was behind the others of that brand, all of which were of the other kinds, so I took all of it, and also two cheap soaps, plus a deeply discounted drink as a “reward”. However, I forgot to add the deposit for that drink when I calculated the total, so at the self-checkout I thought that the discount for the soap hadn’t applied and called over an employee, but she said that I should pay and then check the receipt, since there’s no way to check what that discount applies to before paying, and if there’s a problem they’ll give me the money at the information desk, so I did that, also using the voucher received for the recyclables, and then saw that the mistake had been mine.
Since I had dad’s metro card, after putting the purchases in the backpack I went to the metro station, taking the metro for one stop, to cut the time needed to get to Supeco. I also grabbed two more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way, but when I got to that recycling machine I only tried those which hadn’t been accepted at Kaufland, and when they didn’t work there either I didn’t bother to use it for those two, entering with everything and seeing that the cabbage that was discounted, which was listed in the catalog as Romanian and which did have “RO” on the label, nevertheless had Egypt listed in the country of origin field, and while that might have been the result of somebody making a mistake, I gave up on the idea of getting any and just walked out, not finding anything else to get either.
After returning to the metro, I took it for two stops, to get close to Kaufland Basarabia, though at the first stop I dashed out when I saw Penny catalogs, ending up grabbing two and then leaving them in their place at the stop where I got off, after seeing that they were the current ones, not those for the next period. Then, after getting a little confused at first, I reached that Kaufland and used the recycling machine, having also found another recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way and one more after having a quick glance in those crates that were next to the machine. And, after several attempts, that machine actually accepted those two glass bottles with an odd shape which hadn’t been accepted before, though I was still left with that can and that plastic bottle.
After washing my hands, I entered the store, with everything, at 9:20 PM. Then I got one bread that was discounted and, after finding a price checker that worked, scanned the label for two others, seeing that they weren’t. I also used that price checker to check the ingredients of two other bakery products, deciding against getting them and just adding some more buns. I was also considering two kinds of sweet pastries, but someone else grabbed all of them of both kinds by the time I made up my mind. Either way, I then grabbed some vegetables that had great evening discounts and made my way to the self-checkout after the closing announcement, though I still took a moment to glance at the non-refrigerated expiring products on the way. And the machine didn’t recognize the bread and buns as the correct product, so I had to call an employee to override that error, and since I wanted to reduce the risk of needing to do that again, I then decided to separate the vegetables instead of entering them all at once, which took longer but did avoid any other problems. Then I also used the voucher received for the recyclables, arranged the purchases and walked out, needing to use the emergency exit.
On the way back I picked up one more can with the deposit symbol and eventually gave that cozonac to a homeless man that I’m pretty sure I gave something to at some point before as well. He was also eating something else at the time and had four bags full of things around him, so he might have needed it somewhat less than others, but after having decided against giving it to any of the others that I had seen until then because they were drinking or smoking, I just went for it when I saw one who wasn’t doing either. I later saw another one sleeping on a bench and then a man that I’m not even entirely certain was homeless, but he did seem to be, just had one bag with him, and sat on the bench in what struck me as quite a dignified manner, so he’d have probably been the most appropriate recipient, but even if I’d have passed that first man as well, I’d have definitely left the cozonac with the sleeping one, so I wouldn’t have gotten to this last one anyway.
I got back a little after 10:50 PM, but after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put just the buns and the peppers which I had bought for dad in the fridge and spread out the other purchases, drank that drink, ate an apple and lunch, and went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 12:45 AM, being done exactly an hour later. Then I put the other purchases in their place as well, dealt with my bread, and ate dinner between 3:50 AM and 4:30 AM. I got in bed at 5:35 AM. And I’ll also mention here that on May 20 I timed the squats again, doing them in 2:06.

I guess it sounds fitting to have 24 teams in Euro 2024, but it’s just too much. It also makes for a weird competition format, with third placed teams indirectly competing with each other in a way that can’t possibly be fair and pairings and routes for the knockout phases that can’t be known ahead of time, but it’s the number itself that’s just too high. True, weaker teams can give everything in the first matches and create some surprises, or at least some interesting matches to watch, while those that fancy their chances tend to take it slowly and may offer less of a show, especially during the group stage, but overall it still seems to me that 16 teams was a fair number.

But I guess it remains to be seen how it will turn out, starting from this evening’s opening match. And opening match results may well be strange, even more so when the host country that plays in that match is one of the better ones in the competition, but the difference in quality between Germany and Scotland lead me to believe that a strange result would be a narrow and more difficult win for Germany, not anything else. And I would consider Germany to be one of the favorites for reaching the semifinals, probably along with England, though I’m expecting them to stop there, with a final between France and Portugal appearing most probable at this point, and the paths through the knockout stages also seem set just for such an outcome. Not that I’m necessarily discounting Belgium or Spain, but they’re probably in the third tier this time around. And I’m tempted to say that Netherlands and Switzerland may be the other two teams to make it past the round of 16, but things are less clear at that level and there may be other options as well.

I’m about to go out to vote, and over here that means casting no less than five votes today, since our officials have decided to lump our local elections together with those for the European Parliament. On the other hand, in a few other countries the European elections have already taken place over these past few days. But in most other EU countries, today is the day of the European elections, with one vote to cast that really will have a significant impact on where the European Union goes over the next five years and how the multiple crises will be dealt with, or even whether they’ll be dealt with at all. So I’m just taking this opportunity to ask everyone to go out and cast an informed vote, seeing this action for what it is, a far from sufficient but definitely necessary act of involvement in public life, a practical requirement of being a citizen, and a prerequisite for having any sort of say in what happens between elections, for any sort of right to complain, demand, protest, petition or, in general, express any sort of opinion. Express it now, when you’re asked in a formal manner, and then continue to get involved in as many other ways as you can.
And these really are critical elections, with the far right, “eurosceptics” and allies of Putin’s Russia continuing their surge, the big business lobby continuing to do what it has always done, and the support for even the terrifyingly weak existing or drafted environmental regulations, for proper social policies, for Ukraine, for European integration, or even for EU and even NATO membership, waning. So, if you are fortunate enough to have some proper Green-Left options in your country that also stand firmly for the European Union and against Putin’s Russia, please vote for them, if you haven’t done so already. And if that doesn’t exist, try to see who’s likely to do the most for the environment, first and foremost, then who may go against big business and support social policies that are actually suited for the future, who may push back the hardest against the far right, nationalists and “eurosceptics”, who may stand most firmly against Putin’s Russia, supporting Ukraine and any others who are or will be under threat, and preferably also who may support Palestinians, a larger European Union, accepting a few more countries in the foreseeable future, and freer migration policies… Or, if it comes down to such an unpleasant choice, who may at least do something for even one of those issues and the least against the others.
There’s no way around it, the situation will be bad for the foreseeable future and we’ll need to spare no effort if we’re to have any hope of improvement. But this is a deciding day for most of the European Union, a moment when we can make the next five years, and possibly far more than that, either a little easier or a whole lot harder. And yes, you may say that a single vote doesn’t count for much, but there may well be situations where just a few votes may decide whether one person or another will get elected, and later there may be situations where that person may make a difference. And, even if that won’t be the case, or if it won’t be the case for your vote, casting it is, as I already said, a prerequisite for making any sort of demand to be heard in the future.