I know it's been a while; a few off-field complications, all sorted now.

But a couple of people have asked what's happened to the blog and, as it's nice to know someone cares, here we are again. Anyway, I have some unexpected spare time after a disastrous sporting day.

It was a speedway double-header between Lakeside and Eastbourne, up here at lunchtime, down in Sussex tonight. I decided to skip the home half in order to stick with the Ryman League and the day's only game, at Whyteleafe, conveniently placed for a run down the A22 to Eastbourne afterwards. And no sooner had I arrived in the area than it tipped it down.

So, for the second time this week, I had a lengthy journey (Ashford, Kent, on Monday) only to find the game called off just as I got there. I didn't miss much at Lakeside, where the action was abandoned after two races, and I was told of flooded roads in Sussex so I reckoned the evening outing was a write-off. So here I am in front of my keyboard while, down at Eastbourne, it's 30-30 with five races to go; seemingly a cracking finish in store. Curses!

This horrible, horrible weather is also causing problems on Route 66. Not serious ones; I've done 65 of the 66 grounds now, only Fleet Town to go. It will be my third attempt to get there tomorrow; I have a nasty feeling I won't make it again. Luckily they have lots of home games left.

Hello, 37-41 at Eastbourne. We could win this. All we need is for the mysteriously out-of-form Jonas Davidsson to come good in heat 14 and we'll be almost there.

Back to the football. Apparently this isn't the worst season ever for Ryman League postponements; that, I think was 2000-01 when a few matches were left unplayed. I don't have the exact figures but if we lose a substantial chunk of the Easter programme, and, judging by the weather forecast, we might, it could well be a new record. At least tomorrow there should be something to watch if Fleet is off.

It's ironic, in a way,that Fleet will mark the end of the 66-club trail. Apart from Worthing where I went when I was little because my granny lived there, it was the first current Ryman League ground I visited. It was for an Athenian League match against Woodford Town in 1979. I had some hope of seeing Jimmy Greaves in action but it turned out that he had played his last game for Woodford - and for anybody - a couple of weeks earlier, at Dorking. Annoyingly, I could have been there but didn't spot the fixture until 2.30. I believe the little fat fellow, as he was then, scored a couple in a 4-3 win.

The other fat fellow, a very large fat fellow in this case, was still in the Woodford line-up. That was an aging Joe Kinnear. Mobile he wasn't. Woodford also had three Americans, which was pretty progressive for those days. They won 2-0 and I think current Brentwood manager Les Whitton scored one of them.

What's going on with that Davidsson? He blew out again, Kasprzak lost his maximum to Zagar in heat 15 and it finished 45-45. Better than losing, but very frustrating.

Meanwhile, I can announce that the Route 66 blog has hit the jackpot. I had an email from the US of A this week, from a Dr Kirkis no less, advising me that "Route 66 was not even a shadow of its former self" in an area of New Mexico.

Truth be told, Route 66 (yes it was the way to Amarillo) was wiped off the official map about 25 years ago. Maybe I should call this blog Interstate 40, but that wouldn't make any sense.