Scots wha hae

It's been a good weekend to be a Rangers and Scotland supporter.

On Saturday Rangers beat Kilmarnock 3-0 to go back to the top of the league, albeit only for 24 hours if Celtic beat Dundee United 24 hours later.

Then, Scotland beat Australia at rugby for the first time since 1982. I only saw the last, desperate goal-line stand from the Scots that ended in an overtime try for Australia that they failed to convert. 9-8 to Scotland. Obviously England losing to the All Blacks made the win all the sweeter.

On Sunday, while I was buying some very bright - some might say brave - 5-a-side shoes, Celtic managed to lose two late goals in Dundee to make sure Rangers stay at the top, and with a game in hand. Lovely.

Meanwhile, at the O2 Arena Andy Murray was doing his bit for Scotland by despatching Juan Martin del Potro in the ATP World Tour finals.

So, all in all a pretty good sporting weekend, although not if you're an English rugby-following Wigan supporter, who got humped 9-1 by Tottenham.

The sporting weekend ended with one final piece of good news with The Eagles beating the Bears 24-20 in Chicago.

It doesn't happen very often, so allow me my indulgence...

In God's country

Wenge and I went up to Edinburgh at the weekend for a whistle stop visit. It was supposed to be a surprise party for my younger bruv Nigel, who celebrated his 50th a couple of weeks ago. Then, when he announced that he was getting engaged, it became a double celebration. Except that he found out about it, so it was no longer a surprise. Still, that helped with the pickup arrangements.

We left Luton on Saturday morning in torrential rain, and arrived in Edinburgh in glorious sunshine. We had a couple of hours in the centre - most of it at the Debenham's sale - before heading out to Torphichen, where Nigel and Fiona live. My older brother, Scott, was also there with his girlfriend Rosemary.

The day was spent eating, drinking (yes, in moderation) and walking into the village. At night we went to nearby Linlithgow for a pretty average but enjoyable Italian at Bar Leo.

The next morning was torrential again but we made it back without any problems - I'd maintained radio silence since getting on the plane so that I could watch the Rangers game when I got home, only for it to be abandoned at half time due to the waterlogged pitch.

Have I mentioned the new kitchen we're having fitted? It should have been done and dusted by now, but another week's gone by and Lincoln is still here. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say I'm looking forward to christening it by cooking something special - I'm just hoping it won't be Christmas dinner...

Arse

It was a footballing weekend as Rangers came to Town for the Emirates tournament. Two double headers in two days, and a chance to see how the Scottish champions would fare against Arsenal, Paris St Germain and Atletico Madrid.

My brother Nigel came down with tickets, and shortly after midday on Saturday we set off for the first day. Our seats were right at the back, but we were able to move forward to empty seats much nearer the front. The view was fantastic.

The football was less fantastic. Rangers beat PSG 1-0 in a dull encounter that had pre-season friendly written all over it. Tidy in possession but not much in the way of action. The decent sized Rangers support did its best to liven things up and we had a good singalong - the only problem being the paucity of songs that aren't anti-catholic which, frankly, embarrases me as a Rangers fan. A shame, because some of the tunes are quite good. Arsenal then beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 with all the goals coming in the last 5 minutes... just after I'd received a text from James to say that he and his mate had left to get the tube.

On Sunday we watched a very entertaining PSG v Atletico game while the atmosphere built up for the main event; Rangers v Arsenal. All the noise was coming from a full Rangers end, but unfortunately it didn't take long for spirits to be dampened. Just 2 minutes in fact when Eduardo - offside by the way - laid off nicely to Wilshere to slot home. What a player he is, by the way. Less than 10 minutes later Eduardo scored and the game was over as a contest.

Arsenal showed the gulf in class between the English and Scottish leagues and when Wilshere scored a third nobody could say it was an unfair reflection of play. Rangers should have scored at least one but poor finishing saw to that.

We did at least win the battle of the supporters - singing for most of the game while the best Arsenal could do was the Mexican wave, which has no place in football. Once again, though, I was reminded how unpleasant some of the Rangers support can be. Thankfully there are also many decent ones who made the long journey down t support their team.

In the end, it wasn't the greatest of tournaments and a disappointing second day but a rare chance to see the Gers. A chance, also, to see a free-flowing Arsenal side that will excite again this year. Next up, Man City at Ibrox.

Here comes the weekend...

With the launch of hedkandi.com just a week away, it's good to have Lee beside me at Ministry of Sound for the week to manage testing. After recent events, the last thing I need is to launch a site with any undiscovered bugs (although, I suppose if they went undiscovered until September it wouldn't hurt that much... only joking - I'm a pro, remember?)

And Lee provided the good news story of the week. A call on Wednesday afternoon, interview on Thursday morning and starts work next Thursday at the world's most famous department store. They're going to become even more famous when Lee gets his teeth into the website.

A sunny weekend is forecast so that means plenty of barbie action.  I'm picking James up at the end of his first year at Uni on Saturday, and if I'm very lucky will get to meet his hot new girlfriend.  

And of course it's Rangers v Falkirk in the Scottish Cup Final.  Football's truly coming home...

That winning feeling...

In the end, it was easy. A comfortable 3-0 win for Rangers at Tannadice while Celtic were unable to score against Hearts meant that the league championship returned to its rightful home in Govan. The helicopter didn't even have to change direction this time, as it had when Celtic lost two late goals in Motherwell to give Rangers the league in 2005.

I was preparing for a far more tense afternoon. Up early on Saturday morning, I went through my usual routine for important games: make sure that there's no hint of any green in any of my clothes, and enjoy a cup of coffee in my Rangers mug. Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst, I nervously got through the morning, only allowing myself one short period of absolute belief that my boys would step up and do what was needed. However, our poor record against Dundee United over the last few years ensured that this was to be a short-lived high.

Ice cubes were prepared and a bottle of champagne was on standby in the cellar, but that's as far as I was going to tempt fate until I could be confident we had won. I've seen too many last minute twists.

I needn't have worried. It took only 6 minutes for last week's villain Kyle Lafferty to redeem himself with an early opener to settle the nerves. Then, on the stroke of half time Pedro Mendes powered a beauty through a cluster of Dundee United players to take us in 2-0 up at the break. Kris Boyd added the killer third and at that moment I knew it was safe to put the champagne on ice ready for full time.

Roll on the Champions League!

To cheat or not to cheat

In case you didn't know by now, I'm a Rangers fan. That means that when I'm with non-Rangers supporters (Steve K, for example) I'll usually try to support my team. But I'm also, I think, a reasonably balanced individual who doesn't always see things in black and white.

I found it impossible, for example, to defend the behaviour of a number of Rangers fans when we got to the UEFA cup final last year. The whole episode sickened me and ruined what was in all other respects a fantastic occasion.

Then, on Saturday, one of our players, Kyle Lafferty, managed to provide one of those moments that will be shown and shown again for years - cheating a fellow professional to get him sent off. Disgraceful, and unacceptable for any Rangers player - indeed for any professional footballer.

Lafferty has been villified in the media, and rightly so, but I do sometimes wonder about the accepted wisdom in football that cheating or spitting (oh, how the media love a spitting story) is somehow a more heinous crime than, for example, deliberately going over the top to injure someone.

I wouldn't dream of indulging in petty rivalry to make a point, but compare and contrast Kyle Lafferty's childish and despicable actions with Glenn Loovens' deliberate attempt to injure an opposition player. I know which I think is worse.

Back on top

After the traumas of last week, the weekend lifted the spirits.  The weather was fantastic, allowing me to try my first prawn and asparagus combo on the barbecue, which went beautifully with a chilled Provence rose.

And of course Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 to take us to the top of the league with three games left.  Anything could still happen but if we'd lost it really would have been all over.

Next up, Hibs away on Wednesday..

Better days

A welcome relief to end the week - situation now amicably resolved and we move on.  The glass has been topped up for the weekend. Now I just need a Rangers victory tomorrow.

That damned glass

After the high, the low. For reasons that I can't detail here, things have got a bit tricky at work. I'm trying very hard to resolve it but the outcome is either going to be bad or very bad, and it's hanging over me like a yellow card in a Champions League semi final.

Steve knows very well how Maslow's hierarchy of needs kicks in rapidly in these situations so it's difficult, and frankly it's doing my head in. 

In the interests of topping up the eponymous glass, Wenge and I went to Razorlight at the O2 last night and really enjoyed it. After a slow start the hits started flowing. Johnny Borrell has a great live presence, at times reminiscent of a young Jim Morrison. The highlights for me were Wire to Wire from Slipway Fires, accompanied by gospel singers, and a stonking America.

Today's going to be a difficult day - partly because of the situation at work, and partly because I somehow managed to leave my glasses at home. All of HMV's spamming is going to come to fruition - I'm going to have to Get Closer after all.

Oh, and there's the not so small matter of Rangers v Celtic tomorrow, of which doubtless more later...

Good times

Last week was one of those good weeks, where everything just seemed to go right (apart from Chelsea beating Liverpool on Wednesday - but it was an absolute belter of a match so that made up for it...) and I seemed to be on top of things.

Relaxed by the long weekend and buoyed by the success of the ministryofsound.com relaunch, I got into the office on Tuesday fired up and ready to go.  Those who really know me know that I'm what in football circles is called a confidence player - when I'm feeling good about myself I operate so much better, so I was ready for a good week, and so it turned out.

Rudy was on holiday, so I hot-desked in his chair for the week with the rest of the eCommerce team - much more fun than the new desk that I moved to a couple of weeks ago.  The banter was flowing all week.  

I had one main thing I needed to achieve, and that was to produce a requirements document to give to the agency that we've appointed to design a new Hed Kandi site: the strangely-named but very impressive (so far) Code Computer Love from Manchester.  Team meetings, wireframes and mind maps all came together by Friday afternoon and I managed to do what I set out to do.  Box ticked.

Over the Easter weekend I had sent out an update to many of the recruiters and headhunters I've been in contact with - taking the opportunity to bring them up to speed with what I'm doing at Ministry of Sound.  I had a really good response with a number of them contacting me during the week and a couple of potential opportunities coming my way for consideration, so that's encouraging.  Having said that, if the right permanent opportunity came along here at Ministry (and I know exactly what that is) I'd definitely be interested.

To the weekend: always good to see the sun, and I took advantage of it on Saturday when Wenge and I had a walk in Hampstead Heath followed by lunch at Carluccios; later we went for a Thai at The John Baird and then saw "In the Loop" at the Odeon.  Some very funny moments and world class swearing, but still more suited to TV than film for me.

Yesterday I watched Rangers beat Hibs, a game that featured two of the best goals anyone will score this season (watch them - they're in the link).   There was even a minor bonus when I found out that Razorlight at the O2 is on Thursday 7th May and not Wednesday 6th when Chelsea are playing the second leg  of their Champions League tie against Barcelona. 

It's the end of Monday as I write, and the new week has started off reasonably well, so let's see if I can stay on the roll...

Back to earth

I'm feeling a bit strange at the moment. I'm not complaining; I had a great weekend skiing in Italy with some mates from football, of which more later. But since I've come back I've been feeling strangely low. You always feel a bit that way coming back to work after a break, but this time my confidence seems to be shot, and while not exactly having panic attacks I'm worrying about stuff for no real reason.

As I said, there's no reason for it. Things are going pretty well, all things considered. Work here at Ministry of Sound is good, and I'm about to sign a contract to keep me here until August. So I don't have to worry about no money coming in while I look for a permanent job. I'm still being contacted by recruiters and I've had a few roles put to me over the last couple of weeks. So that hasn't dried up, although I know that I need to do more if I'm to be serious about it. The trouble is that I'm so focused on what I'm doing at Ministry that I'm really not giving enough thought to it. I think that's what's bothering me.

I suppose Rangers losing to Celtic in the CIS Cup Final didn't help my mood - a pretty shocking performance that didn't deserve any more.

To the skiing. Two and a half days in glorious sunshine, in Pila, Courmayeur and La Thuile, including a ski to La Rosiere in France on Saturday. A snow walk on Thursday night, walking over a mile on snow shoes to a restaurant half way up the mountain; exhausting but a breathtaking, star-filled sky that made it worth the effort. Lunch looking across a valley to Mont Blanc. The hospitality of local establishments that kept bringing out snacks and plates of cold meats to accompany our beers.

And of course the banter that comes with a weekend spent with good friends. Unfortunately I can't publish the joke of the weekend on the grounds of political correctness, but contact me privately if you want to hear it.

On Saturday I lost my glasses somewhere on the slopes, which was annoying. I've brought some some old ones back into use but I'll be glad to get replacements as my eyes are feeing the strain - thankfully Direct Line will pay for like-for-like replacement so that's good. As it happens, I'd been thinking that I needed some new glasses so maybe it's actually a good thing.

Hurrah! The glass is half full after all...

Old friends

Last night I met with Helzo and Simon, my two partners in crime when we used to be in the corporate communications and event production business. We eventually set up Fingerprint Productions in 1997, operating from a series of offices 'borrowed' from a range of clients who all went out of business, ending up in a fantastic office with a rooftop terrace in Great Titchfield Street. That one was ours.

It was a quieter night than the last time we met, at The Sanderson Hotel with Justin and Kelvin from Illusion Factor. That one was a bit of an epic and probably best forgotten (the bits I can remember that is). My zavvi chums will remember me turning up at around 11.30 the next day with the mother of all hangovers. By the way; thanks, Steve, for pressing ahead with our weekly catch-up meeting at the end of the day... Incidentally, when I did manage to get out of bed on the Friday morning and turned on my phone, I received a message timed at 09.00 from Simon saying "Nearly home now".

Anyway as we enjoyed some very tasty if grumpily served Wagamama-style food at Satsuma, talk inevitably turned to shared memories, and of course the best ones (in retrospect) are where things were going wrong. There were a few of those times - not that our clients would know about most of them. Think of the swan analogy.

My favourite was the Virgin Our Price show where we had Darth Vader arriving onto the stage with sound effects and a cloud of dry ice to deliver the new Star Wars DVD boxset to Doug Morton.

During rehearsals, Simon came up to me and said "We could have a problem with Darth. I don't think he's going to be able to see well enough to do the handover. "How do you know, Simon", I asked, to which he calmly replied "I thought I should do a test, so I put a chair down, asked him to come over; and he tripped over it."

It might seem that Simon is bearing the brunt of those exchanges and maybe Helzo was just a consumate professional throughout. Professional, yes, but Helzo had more japes than an Enid Blyton character. It would take a separate blog to cover these.

I'm off to Aosta tomorrow for a long weekend skiiing, with Chiswick Casuals mates Andy, Graham, Pete, Mark and Alan - who lives there. Should be fun and I promise I won't go on about it when I get back. In any case, there will only be time to get home and switch on the TV for Rangers v Celtic in the CIS Cup Final on Sunday.

Finally, the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that this is the 100th post since I started writing melvtopia all those months ago - a milestone indeed.

The week that was

This is the first post on my new MacBook.  I'm in Leek , in Staffordshire, visiting Wenge's family. I watched the Old Firm game in a pub nearby - I'll take 0-0 although we could have won it in the 2nd half - and now I'm sitting at Wenge's mum's house with the MacBook on my lap, hacked into the next door neighbour's unsecured wireless network.

First thoughts on the MacBook...  The hardware, of course, is stunningly beautiful, built from one piece of solid aluminium and with an illuminated keyboard that is a real joy.  The display is sharp and bright, and it's fast. It's just a gorgeous piece of kit.

I haven't got to grips yet with the differences between Mac and Windows.  For example, as I write this browser seems to zoom in and out without me knowing what I'm doing to cause it.  I can't find a delete key, nor any 'home' or 'end' keys, and when you click on a url in the browser window to copy it, it doesn't select the whole thing so you have to manually select it.  And where are the 'page up' and 'page down' keys?  Basically, after the first few hours I haven't a clue how Macs work.  But I'm prepared to believe that I'll love it in a few months, and I have enough friends with Macs that I can go to for help if I need it.

The more serious issue is that the trackpad isn't responding as it should - it sticks sometimes when I move the cursor.  For the money I've spent I want it to work perfectly, so it's definitely a call to Apple Customer Services next week. 

On Wednesday I went to an interview for a Head of eCommerce position at Ann Summers.  For anyone who doesn't know Ann Summers - for example my new Scandinavian follower(s), they provide goods, mainly for women, of a risque nature (assuming you consider Rampant rabbits risque of course).  I've heard good things about them as an employer; the interview went reasonably well, and there is so much wrong with their web presence that it would be a great opportunity to make an impact.  However, two hours each way by bus, tube and train to a warehouse on a dual carriageway in a small town near Redhill isn't my dream job. I'd like to be asked back before I tell them though...

Then on Friday a sadly familiar story at Ministry of Sound, where I'm doing some consultancy. At around 5.00 we got a call from our eCommerce partner to say they'd gone into administration - just a day after trying to sell us a new platform they were building. So, website down, redirects up to an external site to continue selling tickets for the weekend, and my job here looks like it could be bigger than it was supposed to be.  Glass half full.

If you saw my twitter feed earlier in the week, you'd have seen that I tweaked a muscle in my side after football on Saturday.  It was a stupid thing, caused by leaning over awkwardly to lift up my bag.  Since then I've been amazed at how many things can aggravate it - picking up a cold midweek added a couple to the list.  Anyway, here's a list of things that hurt when you pull a muscle in your side:

• Taking a casserole dish out of the cupboard
• Reaching for anything on my right
• Opening the bathroom window (which requires reaching over the bath)
• Getting up from lying on the sofa
• Turning off the bedside lamp
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Running

Thankfully it seems to be settling down now so I should get back to footie this week.

It's good to see visitor numbers reach an all time high over the last couple of days, and followers increasing to a massive 15 signed up - but remember we're aiming for 25 by the end of the month. Welcome one and all. And finally, congratulations to Ana, who is joining blinkbox as Managing Editor - exciting stuff and well deserved.

Project for this week: watch more of The Wire - it's been a week since I last had a fix...

The weekend

It's been a great weekend so far. Yesterday, we took James back to university and did some shopping in Guildford, driving back to London just in time to make the early showing of Slumdog Millionaire.

All that's been written about is true, and then some. It's been billed as a feelgood movie and it's definitely a movie that makes you walk out with a huge smile on your face. But it only gets there via a series of personal journeys that are anything but feelgood and it's this combination of hardship and tragedy coupled with love and dreams that makes Danny Boyle's film one of the best I've seen in a long time.

Emerging from the cinema into gale force winds and horizontal rain, Wenge and I took refuge in the John Baird where we had a drink and a Thai meal in their Black Orchid restaurant. Very nice.

In the meantime, Kris Boyd scored 2 as Rangers beat Falkirk 3-1 - how Rangers are even considering selling him is just beyond me... he's started 99 games for Rangers and scored 92 goals.

This morning, Wenge and I had a bracing but highly enjoyable walk on Hampstead Heath, and I've just seen that Aberdeen have beaten Celtic to reduce the gap at the top of the SPL to 2 points.

Now, it's up to the Eagles to cap it off with a win in Arizona tonight. Another excuse, I believe, for a gratuitous pic of an Eagles cheerleader.

I'm only joking, of course. I wouldn't be that shallow. However, I'm sure you'll all want to join me in congratulating Amy, who has been named a 2009 Pro Bowl Cheerleader.

Believe in Green!

As some of you know, since spending a lot of time in the city some years ago I'm a big fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. That's American Football, for the uninitiated. An excuse, then, for a gratuitous photo of an Eagles cheerleader.

In American football the holy grail is the Super Bowl, which the Eagles have never won - a major letdown for the hugely passionate Philadelphia fans. I remember watching the 2005 Super Bowl with good US buddies Pazen and Andrew, all the way from Chicago, when the Eagles could (should) have beaten the New England Patriots but choked when it mattered.

The eagles, after an unmemorable regular season, secured a wild card spot in the playoffs a few weeks ago thanks an the unlikely combination of a win over Dallas coupled with other results going their way. A 26-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings was followed by a 23-11 divisional playoff victory in New York on Sunday - against top-seeded the Giants, winners of last year's Super Bowl.

So there's one more game to go to decide whether the Eagles will be going to Super Bowl XLIII on February 1. A visit to Phoenix on Sunday to play the Arizona Cardinals. The Eagles beat the Cardinals 48-20 on thanksgiving weekend, but since then then Cards have been on fire. Like the Eagles, they sneaked into the playoffs, so it's a game that's too close to call.

James and I will be glued to Sky from 8.00 on Sunday night hoping that an impossible journey doesn't end in the desert.

Of course I'll also be believing in blue, as Rangers take on Falkirk tomorrow...

A visit to the job centre

So I had my interview at the job centre - or JobCentre Plus, to give it its correct name - this morning. It's so not set up for dealing with anyone at any kind of senior level, or indeed anyone in the eCommerce or internet sectors.

I have to say the experience wasn't as unpleasant as it might have been. I chose to go to Barnet rather than Wood Green, which is nearer to me but now that I've started watching The Wire is just a bit too close to Baltimore. Sadly they don't have job centres in Muswell Hill, Hampstead or Highgate...

Anyway they had someone at reception to meet and greet, and within 5 minutes of arriving I was being seen by the first person, to go through the details I had given on the phone on Wednesday.

That's when it started to go pear-shaped. I then went upstairs to meet with a personal consultant, or something like that, to go through my objectives and my plan for finding work. We sat at her computer and she started by asking me to tell her three areas that I'll be focusing on. I started with 'eCommerce'. Not a clue. I explained to her that I ran the zavvi website; "So you're a computer programmer then?". No, I explained, and talked her through the intricacies of content management systems, searchandising and offshore fulfilment. Well, actually, I asked her to imagine going to a website and buying a CD, which she seemed to understand. Anyway, they don't have eCommerce anywhere in the Department of Employment's systems, so I suggested she just put down retail and spelt eCommerce for her to add in brackets.

On to number two. I said that I'm also interested in other internet related positions. Guess what, there's no 'internet' option either, or website unless you're a programmer. Ho hum.

On to my availability. I said that I'd be happy to work any hours between 8-6, which she then input as 08.00 - 06.00 making for a very long day indeed...

Now we discussed what I was doing to find employment. The first suggestion was to come in 10 minutes early before my next sign-on appointment so I can look at the jobpoint kiosk. She asked if I was able to commit to sending my cv out to 2 people per week, which I reluctantly agreed to - honestly, what do these people want from me! A further suggestion was to look in my local paper, so I've also signed up to checking the Muswell Hill Journal every week - I'm not familiar with their executive search section but I'm looking forward to it. I made the suggestion that I would look at The Guardian's Media pages on Mondays, and Technology pages on Thursdays, but we struggled with that one since she couldn't spell 'Guardian'. Still, we got there together.

By now you'll have gathered that I'm not holding out too much hope of Bridget playing a major part in my job search; frankly I'd rather she spent her time helping others that might benefit from it more anyway so it's not really an issue. If I can get a little money and my National Insurance contributions paid that'll be fine.

In general the job search seems to be progressing well enough, although I'm more than aware that positive conversations don't necessarily lead to interviews or job offers, and being busy isn't to be confused with making things happen. But at this stage it's about making connections, talking to people and getting myself in decent shape to take advantage when the important conversations happen. It's been a decent week, with a few meetings lined up for next week, but I need to push myself to keep the momentum going.

In the meantime, as I write it looks like Kris Boyd isn't leaving Rangers, and Andy Murray has just beaten Roger Federer 6-7 6-2 6-2 in Qatar. So that's good.

One down, one to go

In the end, a comfortable win, kick-started by Pedro Mendes' wonder strike 24 seconds into the second half and followed by two typical Kris Boyd goals.

Now it's up to the Eagles.

Sporting Sunday

So a big day for my two teams today. In a few moments Rangers take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle, buoyed by Celtic dropping two points yesterday. We need to win to keep any title aspirations alive.

Then an even bigger game. The Eagles travel to Minnesota for a playoff game that looked unlikely a week ago. No margin for error and everyone will need to be on their game. Thankfully the game is on Sky so I'll be able to watch it, unlike last week. I remember some amazing games on the way to the SuperBowl in 2005 - here's hoping for a repeat starting tonight.

On the best of days, on the worst of days, the sun always sets.

I think it's pretty much official - this is the worst Christmas ever. Not only have I been ill since Christmas Eve, with the mother of all sore throats and aching all over, but Rangers lost 0-1 to Celtic earlier today. It's been the least alcoholic Christmas ever, too - not that I'm suggesting the two are related - I haven't had more than three drinks since Wednesday.

So I think I'll just accept this as a time to withdraw, regroup and get ready for the challenges ahead. Starting with a game of Guitar Hero...

When Saturday comes...

Up late, shopped and cooked some chilli two-bean beef for friends coming round tomorrow.

Rangers beat Hibs 1-0 (Boyd again...), then, after a decent game of 5-a-side I went to Guildford to bring James home for Christmas.

On the way home he was able to fill me in on the details of his game earlier in the day for Surrey University - particularly:

A depleted Surrey team found themselves two goals behind but fought back with James Simpson bagging a sensational hat trick to win the game for Surrey.

I'd like to say 'like father, like son' but of course modesty forbids...