Gentrification

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If my eyes don't deceive me, there's fancy Ikea/Habitat style red blinds on the windows, and that dark shape on the balcony looks suspiciously like a proper barbie, as opposed to a tinfoil disposable effort propped up on a tower of used disposable efforts.

The hot water probably works an'all.

...mind you, those crappy wicker blinds are still up in my old room (with red ones behind) and Mike's window shows no sign of being tarted up, so maybe it's early days, before they settle fully in, get comfy and break out the inflatable basketball hoops and the like. There might even be - god forbid - a bird (or birds!) living in there.

The Villan of the piece

It was a pleasure and an honour to spend the evening with my old championship-winning cricket partner last Thursday night, the tanned and relaxed Mister Jim Smith happy to recall our victory at the south London Dan Brown invitational tournament of 2007. After a bit of dinner and a few beers there were only so many wonderful tales of laid back travelling life I could take, so as a former CIT champ I laid down the gauntlet to the current holder, confident that an old skool purist like myself had what it takes to overcome this new 'pub iron man' pretender.

In the back room of the Green Park Hotel I had what can only be called a very jammy run, with speculative hit-n-hopes generally finding a pocket. Apparently this was something close to the lucky streak that Jim had on that fateful night back in December, though having now seen him wield a cue I think that's more an example of his well-known modesty than anything else. Heard of the Unofficial Football World Championships? I'll say no more other than I'm happy to host recognised CIT entrants in my home town if they fancy taking me on…

Brisvegas - it's a small world

Work's sent me to Brisbane for four days as I'm helping design a new sports site and the sport editorial team are based up here. I've been sent up to talk them through the new ideas and design, take their feedback on board then tell them what we've got planned anyway...

Got here yesterday and the first lad I sit down with is a journo who's got the Villa team photo as his screensaver. We're blethering about the Premiership and Villa's shocker against Stoke. I'm about to mention that Tony Pulis learnt the craft of managing a team and achieving success despite no money in a certain corner of the garden of England (also that Big Mama "he's more a creator than a scorer" also learnt the craft down Priestfield), when the lad asks me who I follow.

Pick this out: I tell him that whilst I grew up in Edinburgh and like Hearts, I moved to Kent when I was a lad and am also a big Gills fan... and then the bloke next to him let's out a cheer and holds up his tea mug, a Gillingham FC mug with "Up The Gills" on it.

He's an Aussie but was travelling and working in the UK for a while. He got mates with a teacher from Leatherhead who grew up in Gillingham and went to the Gills so went along to Priestfield to watch a game with him. Now this is the weird thing that makes people followers for life: It was the 10th of December 2005, a home match against Port Vale and he tells me about the cracking game that the Blues won three nil, with missed penalties, sendings off and "Matty Jarvis getting a brace to seal the victory".

I'm standing their stunned, half because there's an Aussie journo in Brisbane who's been to Priestfield and I end up meeting him, and half because he had the luck (misfortune?! Haha) to go to a cracker of a game and got locked in to supporting Kent's finest.


Harj, Dan and Mick: You went to Brisbane eh? It was a while ago but if there's anywhere particulalry memorable you remember going do let us know. I'm up here on my todd with expenses to be spent.