May 2025 - A Month to Remember

I took the liberty of titling my last post 'Memorable May' and while it would have been memorable even with different outcomes, the month turned out to be one of the best of my life, and that is written with no exaggeration.

My son's wedding went off without a hitch at the Gorse Hill Hotel in Woking, and he and his bride are currently honeymooning in our ancestral homeland of Italy, and of course after supporting Crystal Palace for 58 years, they finally won a major trophy, and I am now prepared to concede that the Zenith Data Systems Cup was not really that major.

The stag weekend was in Cardiff - some drinking, darts, and rugby (Bristol v Bath) were all activities I could keep up with the younger ones at, the bubble football, not so much. At 68, trying to stand up without using your arms while enclosed in a giant plastic bubble isn't too easy but I survived and wasn't one of the two casualties of the weekend who were unable to process their alcohol the normal way. My son (also not one of the casualties) spent Saturday walking around Cardiff and watching rugby dressed as Woody from Toy Story, a look he carried off quite well I must say.

I then spent a few days in North Devon, walking to the top of the Little and Great Hangman hills near Combe Martin and staying by the harbour in Ilfracombe. The low point was finding out that Ye Olde Globe in Berrynarbor (established in 1675) is now closed after 350 years.

I also took my wife to the New Forest for a few days. She'd never been before, and I'd actually not been for many years, and it's really rather nice there.

Back to the FA Cup Final and my son and his daughter were both at Covent Garden and later the game with me, and with the latter having seen her first match in September, I fear the bar has been set a little high for her future years of support.

Both the wedding and the FA Cup Final were days I shall never forget. I was at the 1990 Final and Replay, as well as the 2016 Final and having been close to winning on both occasions, and playing one of the top clubs, it was with hope rather than expectation that I went to the Final. 

It was only when the clock showed 30 seconds left of stoppage time and Palace had a goal kick that I allowed myself to believe that we were actually going to win the FA Cup.

Tears were shed I am not ashamed to say. Whatever happens in the future, this will be the only time Palace will win their first major trophy and it meant everything. Even just writing this makes me emotional.

A thank you to Peter, Hikbuzz and Weirimdi for taking the time to comment on my last post or send me a message.

Hikbuzz wrote in early May:

Take it easy Cassini and have a great May

and after the FA Cup win followed up with:

Congrats on the FA Cup win, must have been so great to witness this first hand. I hope to emulate this myself as I am going to Munich on the 31st to support PSG in our quest for what would be our first Champions League win!

Much appreciated, and I am sure he enjoyed his first Champions League win, which was a little more comfortable than Palace's!

Given how good PSG have looked this season, I'm not sure 17th placed Tottenham Hotspur will be too excited about playing the Super Cup match next season.

Peter wrote:

Congrats to Crystal Palace and great to see your long term loyalty rewarded.
I'm sure you're still enjoying it. Not exactly the result we Sacred Manuscript subscribers were hoping for but ... oh well!

While I am still enjoying it, it is true that major finals often offer value for the Draw, but none of UEFA's tournaments hit this season, and only the Community Shield for the English matches. Oh well indeed... 

Did someone mention the Community Shield? Liverpool v Crystal Palace in August, the latter club with a chance to add a second major trophy to their collection... 

With the football season now over, I'll be working on the updates for the Sacred Manuscript. 

Peter identified a possible conflict with the recommendations for the Europa League Final (did I mention that Palace will be competing in this tournament neat season?) and the Europa Conference League Final and I'll make sure I clear this up. Thank you Peter for your input.

Regarding my minor skin cancer issue, Weirimdi also commented:

I wish you all the best. As someone who works in cancer research I can tell you that early discovery leads to very good outcome.

I am now required to have a full skin check every six months, which is a very minor inconvenience given the upside of any early discoveries as Weirimdi says. 

Back to Palace for a moment, and one of my long time friends who was a little older than me and a Palace supporter since the early 1960's passed away before the Semi-Final from prostate cancer, so get that 'finger up the botty' as one of my friends puts it, although these days that's not routine procedure. But get it checked anyway! 

Again, thank you for the comment Wierimdi, which is much appreciated.

It'll be a busy month for the Sacred Manuscript.

As I mentioned, the football season is now over following Oldham Athletic's win over Southend United yesterday.

In the USA, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals and the NBA Finals (both best of seven) both begin this week.

On Wednesday the NHL Final opens with the Florida Panthers playing the Edmonton Oilers who are hoping to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since 1993 and are favourites to do so.

On Thursday in the NBA, the Finals begin with the Oklahoma City Thunder big favourites to win against the Indiana Pacers.

The WNBA is also is full flow now, as well as MLB of course. 

As I fully anticipated, May was not a good month for my weight. Getting out of my routine with wedding related activities, football matches, catching up with old friends meaning I drank beer on 27 days, and a lot on a few of these, means I am back to where I was at the end of last year. June will be a lot different.

Financially, May wasn't such a great month either. I helped my son out with his wedding bar tab and upgraded his gift from the toaster I was hoping to get away with, and my former employer's stock price continued to decline to the point where none of my options are now in the money. 

Some individual holdings had a good month to help limit the damage - Tesla was up 23%, Boeing was up 13% and Palantir up 11% but with the news that Warren Buffett is retiring as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO at the end of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway's stock price slipped by 5.5%. 

Overall I was down 1.8% on the month, the fourth consecutive losing month which is a first for me and hopefully a last, but probably not. Good luck to you all in June.