though your dreams be tossed and blown

One of the best games of football ever, and I didn't watch a single kick of it, as I was in the finest restaurant in Nottingham with my lovely girlfriend for her birthday meal.

I don't know: first her brother schedules his wedding (in France) for the Saturday of the Trent Bridge Test against the Australians, and now this. I reckon there might be some kind of "anti-sport" gene. Isn't that the only explanation? It's not that she doesn't like sport, either, because she does - she plays football herself.... there's just some alignment of the stars and planets that mean that the sporting calendar just does not align with major events in her life. All those people who schedule their weddings for the same day as the FA Cup final - they've got this gene too. It's not like they pick the day deliberately, it's just that they were unaware of anything else happening on the same day.

If such a gene does exist, one thing I do know is that C. and her brother certainly didn't get it from their father - he rang her up from France (where they live) to wish her happy birthday whilst we were having our pre-dinner drink at the restaurant, and took the time to pass on the score to me.... (we bonded over test match special, you know - none of C's French boyfriends ever really understood cricket).

Still. I wouldn't have been anywhere else last night.... of course I wouldn't..... although I should offer thanks to Lord Bargain for sending me regular text updates on the game, which were gratefully received until C. got the hump and I thought it better to read them the next time I went to the toilet....

It was a delicious meal though, and I hope she had a very happy birthday.... I'm lucky to have her, and ultimately no football game is more important than that (and, frankly, Wolves are never likely to put me in a position to really test that theory, are they?)