It feels good, doesn't it? It feels good not to have a sense of impending doom looming over you while you do your weekly shop, debates about James Milner and Theo Walcott swirling round your head as your mind wanders feverishly at work.
As usual, Early Doors has found England's exit from a major tournament to be a liberating experience. No longer tied by accident of birth to a bunch of kick-and-runners, now it is time to truly enjoy the competition and what it offers in the way of elite football. Apparently, ED has heard there are some teams out there who can string more than two passes together with suffering a nervous breakdown. Who would have guessed?
Certainly the semi-finals awaiting us at this particular tournament promise much in the way of entertainment, pitting against each other the four best teams in the finals, by quite some distance.
First up, tomorrow night, is the all-Iberian orgy of excellence that is Spain v Portugal.
In Vicente del Bosque's side we have the undisputed best team in the world, the reigning World Cup and European Championship winners who are two games away from becoming the first country to win three major tournaments in succession.
They are the best functioning team at the finals, with the clearest identity and most cohesive approach, but on Wednesday they come up against the supreme individualist: Cristiano Ronaldo, a man who like Diego Maradona before him may come to be credited with winning a major finals almost single-handedly should Portugal win the thing.
Certainly the fact he had 20 shots across Portugal's last two games, scoring three times and hitting the woodwork on four occasions, suggests he is capable of demolishing even the best of teams should he fancy it on the day, and he usually does. Ronaldo is replicating his club form now, which is handy, as Wednesday's game has the feel of a Clasico about it.
Five Barcelona players are expected to start for Spain. Madrid will have four and another three from Portugal. More than half of the players on show will derive from the world's two greatest football teams. Though admittedly one of them is Pepe, at least he ups the 'despicable villain' contingent by a strong one.
With team-mate up against team-mate, and rival up against rival, this match promises more subplots than a particularly convoluted episode of Hollyoaks. ED hardly knows where to start. Though just as in Hollyoaks, the exceptionally greasy, vain heartthrob will take centre stage. And ED suspects you know who that is.
If Spain v Portugal does not excite you (that is, if you don't have a pulse) then coming up on Thursday is a meeting behind two historic members of Europe's royalty, the two most successful countries from the continent, as Germany take on Italy in Warsaw.
If Spain are football's pre-eminent cultural force, then Germany are the pretenders to the throne, the Made in Chelsea to Spain's TOWIE. Younger and more glamorous, the Germans want top billing of their own finally after being knocked out of both the 2010World Cup and Euro 2008 by their Spanish counterparts.
Drawing as many as seven of their starting XI from one of Europe's grandest clubs in Bayern Munich, this is a team who, following Chelsea's Champions League triumph on German soil, have a point to prove. Bursting with explosive young talent, they are the team best placed to take Spain down, and don't they know it.
"We knew before the tournament that we have a strong team," says Mesut Ozil, the beating creative heart of the German team. "We believe in ourselves and the goal is to return to Germany with the title. That's why we are here and I'm convinced we can do it."
But first Jogi Loew's side must overcome Italy, the most tactically flexible team at Euro 2012, who have switched between three or four at the back en route to reaching the semi-finals.
Frankly, all you need to know about Italy is that they play Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano in attack - two of football's biggest over after the past few seasons. Their combined back catalogues would have George Best nodding sagely in approval.
In purely footballing terms, though, these four teams indisputably deserve to be the four contesting the semi-finals. They have played the most proactive, stylish football and have the best players. Netherlands and France could be been in that elite clutch too, yet they fell by the wayside in disappointing circumstances.
As Spain's Xabi Alonso says: "The four sides who have reached the semis are excellent. They've performed well to get this far and the games have been really entertaining which is good for the tournament. The best thing is that each of the remaining teams wants to win the ball, dominate possession and to use it to attack. We all deserve to have come this far."
Only two will continue, of course, and ED can't wait to find out who they are.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We are concerned at the reports regarding allegations of abuse aimed at England players Ashley Cole and Ashley Young on Twitter. They have just given everything for the national team at Euro 2012 and it is appalling and unacceptable that messages of an abusive type are being posted. We support any police investigation in identifying who is behind this." - The FA reacts strongly to allegations that Ashley Young and Ashley Cole were subjected to racist abuse on Twitter after failing to score penalties against Italy.
FOREIGN VIEW: The maddest story for quite some time is coming out of Spain this morning with suggestions that Didier Drogba could be signing for Barcelona. Yes, that's the same Didier Drogba who just signed for China's Shanghai Shenhua. Apparently he has a clause in his contract which says he can speak to Barca if he wants. It's a quickly moving story and if it does transpire to be true could be one of the most bizarre transfers in recent memory.
COMING UP: It's another rest day at Euro 2012 of course but Andy Mitten will be filing his latest column on semi-finalists Spain, while we also look into the respective penalty records of the four semi-finalists at lunch.