Five Star Weekend

Am gradually getting back to life, back to reality, after a week or so of good times, good company and five goals.

Please accept my contrafibularities if this post is even more of a diary than my usual ones. Neil has written a decent journal of the last week on his site so I'll try not to repeat what he said too much.

It all started with the arrival of La in Corsham last Tuesday; it had been over two years since I'd seen him but after a Sopranos style hug, it was like he'd been away for 2 minutes. Nothing had changed with him, I got to hear his little political views (something I really miss when he's not here, as he has something to say about everything, although it is usually general curiosity about his bits and other people's) - most of which i couldn't print on here - well, a 'safe' one was "Jesus is Santa Claus for adults, like", which I quite liked, seems that Neil has the kind of theological acumen that Richard Dawkins would be proud of.

Had a brilliant day in Bath with La and Marcus on the Wednesday, just wandered around really, looked at the pigs (one was later abused by a certain scouser, I'm sure you don't need a picture), waited for Neil to have a tattoo then before I knew it, Friday had arrived and it was time for Amsterdam.

The football couldn't have gone better, especially for me, everything I touched went in and I ended up bagging 5 goals in a 6-3 win (R Wilson got the other which was followed by a typically subdued celebration). The game had started badly with Nick 'Frank Sinclair' Earl heading past a hapless La in the BCHE goal. However, we soon took control with the midfield and front 4 overpowering the Dutch with their pace and incision, whilst the defence stood firm, with Davis, Haines, Woods and Earl proving too strong for the Dutch. We went to the Dutch lads' very pleasant clubhouse after our victory and bathed in some rare sunshhiiinnne for a couple of hours before heading to a great sports bar for booze, food and a terrible Arsenal performance.

We didn't end up back out in 'Dam till 11, had a nice walk with La around the red light although we had probably the worst meal in history in a kebab shop, it was meat, pitta and a string of lettuce, the meat looked like cat food with the jelly removed, we both ended up cleaning our plates.

Sunday was all about saying goodbye, after it seemed we had only just said "alright". So good to see everyone again, we spend the majority of time taking the mick out of each other, but the love shines through and it's such a pity we can't get together more often (my thoughts go out to Bri and Paul, who suffered ridiculous bad luck and missed the trip, you were sorely missed).
Would've loved to have seen more of Nathan, thankfully he came out on Friday night which was great. I love Amsterdam and can't believe I haven't been before, the atmosphere was just electric and very friendly. Won't be too long before I take the family over for a weekend with Nath and gang (to make up for my non-appearance on Sunday!).

Had a real planes, trains and automobiles day (in that order, no amusing John Candy character around tho, just Rich - whom I also love, especially when were funking out in our room) and was all over the place by the time I arrived back at home, still not back to 100%...

Hope you're all enjoying the Fantasy League this year, 23 is a pretty good number, check your progress here.

In other news, my very good friend Daniel Bruce Brown had an article printed in The Independent this week, its all about controlling your cash at Uni, (bit late for that!) but if you want to have a read follow this link.

More to come over the next week, got Kristian's European Away trips to put on here, plus my thoughts on a superb film I saw called 'Taking Liberties', look it up, buy/download it, show it to your friends and get them to show it to their friends. Just found out you can watch it here!

Finally, and just for Jake (he of the hilarious hair jokes), here is a brilliant video of the Death Star over San Francisco, enjoy...