HOW’S your week been? I have to admit I’ve had a memorable seven days. 
 
I was whisked to Cornwall by my wonderful girlfriend for a well-earned break. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say Cornwall is stunning. We managed to catch England’s evisceration of Ukraine, watching on an iPad on a Cornish hilltop during a storm of biblical proportions. 
 
As I stubbornly sat in the torrential rain outside our yurt watching England’s comfortable quarter-final victory, 300 miles from Wembley, my mind drifted back to events 19 years earlier. 

That summer I had sat in a stadium in Shizuoka, Japan, and the buoyant optimism of this week was in stark contrast to the feeling of being utterly crushed back then. 
 
I had just watched England lose 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup. I had spent the whole month sampling the delights of such an incredible country and was out on my feet, shattered, with nothing left to give after such an intense tournament as a travelling visitor. As were the Three Lions, going down to the eventual champions without a fight.
 
A few weeks earlier I had been to Saitama, a non-descript commuter town outside the intense city of Tokyo, to watch Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side embark on their doomed campaign to lift the trophy with a 1-1 draw against Sweden. 
 
My pals and I then headed up on the high-tech Shinkansen “bullet train” (complete with immaculate-looking staff in pristine white gloves) all the way to the northern island of Hokkaido, to cheer on our country to a memorable 1-0 victory over old foes Argentina. 
 
Hopes were high as the 250mph train, complete with the trademark bento boxes that included raw quail eggs, sped via what was then the world’s longest tunnel back to the main island and onto Japan’s second city, Osaka. 
 
I won’t mention stumbling into a pachinko parlour full of shady gangsters minus half their pinky fingers, a sure sign of Yukaza membership. 
 
The all-night Osaka karaoke bar where we ended up heard us sing everything from the Beatles to the Happy Mondays to England’s 1982 World Cup song, This Time (More Than Any Other Time). 

It was far more fun than the 0-0 draw that took place the next day between England and Nigeria, even if the objective of qualifying from the group had been secured, before visiting stunning Kyoto and sobering Hiroshima ahead of a knock-out clash with Denmark.
 
Back to the future. It was my birthday this week. On Wednesday. The day England beat Denmark 2-1 after extra time at Wembley. 

Earlier in the day, freshly returned from Cornwall but with no chance of getting a last-minute ticket for the crucial semi-final, my girlfriend whisked us off to one of my favourite places, Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, for a glorious lunch of fish and chips on the shingly beach. 
 
You could tell that Cornwall had tournament fever as Euro 2020 was written on the pasties. In Suffolk’s case, I spotted a single St George’s cross discretely displayed in a window. High fervour indeed for the wonderfully understated seaside town. 
 
And when, many drinks later, Harry Kane slotted home after his penalty fluff to make it 2-1, we all danced around in celebratory delirium. Just as I had done 19 years earlier in the Big Swan Stadium, nestled in the Niigata Prefecture on the west coast of Japan, watching England beat Denmark 3-0 in the 2002 World Cup.
 
That victory all those years ago was the precursor to the biggest England game — and the biggest England disappointment — I have ever experienced in the flesh, namely that desperate gut-wrenching defeat by the Brazilians in June 2002.  
 
Like the majority of us I will be eagerly watching the game tomorrow — somehow I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a face-value ticket for the final.

I still don’t think it’s sunk in, and I don’t think it will. Certainly not until I’m actually in our national stadium tomorrow evening, after hopefully passing a lateral flow test at some stage this weekend.
 
In a strange quirk I’ll be covering my first game of the fledgling 2021-22 football season today when I visit old, evocative Top Field – with its wooden terracing and homely welcome — as Hitchin Town take on near neighbours Stevenage in their North Herts derby.
 
But please forgive me if my thoughts turn to all the disappointments England have foisted upon me, and us, over the years. I still recall the humiliations in Euros 88 and 92. The valiant but doomed Euro 96. I was at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, while the failures of 2012 and 2016 still hurt. 
 
Is it coming home? I have no idea. But it’s certainly been a memorable week. Here’s to tomorrow. Come on England.
 
PS: It’s been great to see everyone around the country embrace the flag of St George. Once the sole preserve of right-wing pondlife, the iconic image is now a sign of Southgate’s inclusivity, after the way he and his team battled for the knee. My message for tomorrow before kick-off? Don’t boo the knee. Don’t boo the Italian national anthem. And let’s enjoy the biggest game of our lives.
 
What I’m watching: England v Ukraine on a Cornish hilltop. England v Denmark dancing round the front room on my birthday. England v Italy at Wembley.
 
What I’m listening to: Full disclosure, it has literally only been Three Lions. Along with my personal favourite World in Motion and my second favourite football song ever, This Time (More Than Any Time). Sorry. Not sorry. 
 
What I’m reading: Rebel Ideas, by the brilliant Matthew Syed — the UK’s very own Malcolm Gladwell. How the power of diversity breeds success. Just like Southgate’s squad.