I was browsing the Saints FC website, as you do, and I saw a photo of a Saints fan who went to desperate lengths to get tickets to the semi-final of the FA Cup. I thought to myself ‘he looks familiar’ and sure enough it was indeed Brian Percey, from Andover Baptist Church, the church I grew up in! Brian ate pickled onions, wore a Pompey shirt and cleaned the Pompey players’ boots with his toothbrush. Read more...

I wish, I wish, I wish. This rather nice Apple iBook is currently going for £900. I specced up something similar at the Apple Store and it came to £2700, with all the accessories and extra software. There’s even an iPod! Drool. Update: The seller has just closed the auction, cancelling all bids. I don’t know whether to be sad or happy…

I should have mentioned that we’ve been away, staying on Iona, in a house called Duncraig and taking occasional part in services and activities with The Iona Community. So, Hence the week-long silence here. We will have photos soon, and more words about the week.

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Thanks to Keith (who has broadband), I now have a set of Mandrake 9.1 disks. Woo! I’ll have a play tonight, maybe, and see how we get on. Edit: I should have mentioned that it will be an upgrade, at least initially, as I have Mandrake 8.2 running on the Dell at the moment, dual-booting with Win2k Pro. I must backup my data first, though.

Bill Kotsopoulos, whom I’ve never met, has started a blog. Welcome to the blogosphere, Bill! (via Rachel)

For the second week in a row, Saints fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2. The Ginger Ninja said that we deserve more credit — people have been saying that we “got out of jail”. What’s happening to the second-best defence in the league? We’re leaking goals at the moment.

Today Southampton take on Aston Villa. Mark Lawrenson said it would be a draw but, as we have more to play for, I hope we can nick a win. I don’t trust Lawro’s predictions anyway, but I’m glad he didn’t predict a home win — that’s normally a sure-fire way to put the kiss of death on us and produce an away win!

Our friend James Burton works for Gap Sports Abroad, an organisation “who offer the opportunity to combine the universal language of sport with the chance to travel to unique and exciting locations. GSA aims to assist sports development in third-world communities by placing highly motivated and enthusiastic volunteers into coaching positions in sports academies and local clubs in poor and underdeveloped regions.” “Football, football, football! — did that grab your attention? Read more...

War commenced overnight. What sickens me, and perhaps because I am as guilty of being sucked in as anyone else, is the swift descent into War As Entertainment, served up as a really real reality TV extravaganza. Wall-to-wall coverage, 24/7, every channel going. No sooner had the diplomatic options come to an end had the BBC News web site been plastered with a ‘Countdown To War’ banner. At least they didn’t have a ticking clock, counting down to 1am GMT, 20th March 2003. Read more...