It's been a long time. What with one thing and another, personal writing seems to have taken a serious back seat over the past few months. The book is still stuck at chapter 61 and probably never will see the light of day now, which is a shame. But you never know. Meanwhile, much of my creative energy has been taken up by editing the Hornchurch programme, a new task this year. It's been more than 20 years since I last did a programme and the advance in technology seems to have made it harder work, rather than easier. And the latest effort will never see the light of day either, since tomorrow's game was called off in time to stop the print run. Grrrr...


I haven't been directly involved with a club for more than 20 years, either, so that's been interesting. I've been going to all the Hornchurch home games (including reserves) and quite a few aways. There have been some ups and downs, the oddest up being the 8-2 FA Cup win after which the opposing goalkeeper was chosen as the FA's man of the round.

So I won't be visiting all 66 Ryman clubs this year (though the count so far is 23) and, although that's a bit disappointing, I admit that I don't miss the regular cross-London journeys through nightmarish traffic.

This sudden return to blogging action(and, as ever, I hope to be more regular in future) was provoked by a couple of emails telling me that some bloke calling himself James had spammed one of my earlier offerings with some rubbish about places to stay in Brazil. If this blog is important enough for this pillock to advertise on it, I'd better get it moving again. And, James, I will advertise almost anything you like in return for some consideration, in cash or kind. Aren't Jaguars great cars (ahem, you listening, Mr Jaguar)?

So, the World Cup doesn't come to England in 2018 (and therefore, probably, not again in my lifetime). Did anyone seriously believe that it would? But we've had it before, so have Spain, and Holland/Belgium have had it next door on numerous occasions. So, in footballing terms (let's not consider politics or the voting system), Russia was the right choice.

Qatar, though. Blimey. Again, Japan, Korea and the US have had it recently, so it was Qatar v Australia. No contest, you'd think. I suspect the hand of the big TV companies, making it clear that they would pay a lot less for a World Cup kicking off at such unsocial (European hours). Of course, Qatar are filthy rich and I'm sure it'll give you a warm feeling to know that you'll be paying for 2022 as you cough up £1.25 for a litre of petrol by next month (probably) and heaven knows how much by 2022.

Talking of Australia, tee hee. Better laugh now because who knows what the next few hours will bring. That first over last night was funnier than Fawlty Towers ever was. I watched an hour or so, went to bed, got up about 5, watched a bit of Hussey and Haddin, then went back to bed at the start of the over where Swann took two wickets. Can't win them all. Am I getting old (well, yes, I am, obviously), or did anyone else feel uncomfortable about the cavorting that followed Ponting's departure? Respect, please, gents.

Two Ryman League games left tomorrow at time of writing. Do Wealdstone really believe their pitch will be fit or did they not get the email allowing clubs to call off games today (it was sent out first thing this morning, but didn't reach me until 6 o'clock tonight for some electronic reason)? It looks like a Saturday afternoon at home. Ugh.