They Don’t Have Rain In Spain

Before I ask... apparently he was almost a saint. That means MD’s walk went well. I must admit I was surprised when he hadn’t been returned home by the time I left for work.

Perhaps he and L have bonded or perhaps he’s just couldn’t be bothered today. Very little barking and no hurling himself at cars apparently. He didn't even shout abuse at the dog with no knees, which is an open goal really that he declines to take this morning.

I collect my bike from the doctors. It’s been fixed, serviced and is looking good. The price also wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I didn’t need a new wheel after all.

L asks when I think I'll be fit enough to bike to work. Well the cough is subsiding nicely but my leg is still painful and I’m finding standing up easier than sitting, which is quite a dynamic way of working. So perhaps April? I think L might have to trade me in.

Then again, cough wise, Wednesday should be possible... I’ve just got to shake this knee injury.

L suggests I should cancel squash. That’s a bit rash.

It’s a tricky game in the FA Cup tonight for Derby away to Crawley Town, who are flying at the top of the Blue Square Premier. They’ve also thrown a lot of money at their squad in an effort to get into the Football League. Which means they've probably spent more highly on their squad than we have this season and they’re in form, which we certainly aren’t.

Anyway like most ‘big’ clubs I imagine we have dismissed the game as being an irrelevance, as finishing 15th in the league is clearly of more importance than a cup run. Not.

So assuming the worst, that Derby wouldn’t cause a shock and win, I arrange to go out rather than listen to it on the radio. I have no idea how you get ESPN to watch it on TV.

Defeat is as a good as confirmed before kick off with Derby not only repeating recent mistakes by playing the best right back in the division at centre half and a midfielder at right back but by bringing a centre half into centre midfield and pushing a central midfielder up behind the striker, a position he hasn’t played before. Then just to make sure of defeat, we leave our second best player, our on loan Spanish striker, on the bench all evening... I suppose it was raining, I understand they don’t have rain in Spain. Well ‘mainly on the plain’ so I'm told, not that that’s likely to be true either.

So we lose, although it’s closer than I expected and I don’t find out until later we even missed a penalty. No one from the club would speak to the press afterwards. I imagine the manager is still trying to understand his own team selection.

Mind you, I had a good night out. Glad I didn’t ruin it with football.

(Monday 10th January)