suewhistle

Why, thankyou! :-) I must be speaking to an expert in buying women's clothes online. Do they come in an unmarked plain brown wrapper? ;-) Sorry about that, but this whole debate is a bit absurd really. Not being an expert on London pubs, or indeed the tube system, I'm going by the few places I know. But my limited experience of pubs near grounds is that sometimes you have to walk a bit to get a) a decent pint and b) served it, so I may as well take advantage of my one day travel card and start south of the river! Where I end up is another matter.. Incidentally, are there any decent pubs near Paddington?

I think it's more the 45 minute wait to be honest. I shall be on my own so not even any division of labour "your turn to queue..". I frankly couldn't give a stuff about MU fans spoiling my drinking experience! Do you think Turkish will be there? I'm tempted to wear some dungarees (not sure where I'd buy them though), wave an Italian flag as they're in town for the rugby, plus face-paint, red and white fright wig and a foam hand.

Surely rum goes better with coke, and tea for that matter? :-)

I agree about Jones but Rooney did put in a very good cross for ZI's goal in the early season match, and the media were suitably nauseating as described above.

Mine arrived Saturday, so I'd start to panic on Tuesday if..

Yes, but rain forecast the day before and after, so if the weather systems are slower or faster than anticipated we may get wet hurrying between hostelries..

Yesterday my team didn't have a fixture so was able to have a few (cough, cough) lunchtime pints down my social club in the village, practising for next Sunday... The bar man is a Pompey fan so we got chatting. He hates Cook, inter alia for not playing their top scorers and being generally incompetent, but he also was scathing about TCWTB (I whispered the meaning in his ear as the bar was crowded!). He wished that he and his 'window lickers' [his words] were not associated with the club. I had some sympathy with that view.. He also observed that whenever the telly interviews women in Portsmouth they always go for the ones with 'pickle stickers'... anyone heard that phrase before? :-)

My ticket arrived in the post this morning, hurrah! Off out to buy a fire-proof safe...

Good summary Whelk. As for the idea that it's somehow good he's going to put his country first, it just illustrates he hasn't the foggiest that in trade wars everybody loses out. The essence of a good buy in any market place is that both sides are happy with the deal, he seems to think only one side can win.

Cheers vG. Staying with aged parent in Maidenhead, and a capital card from there is less than £11 with a senior railcard so I'll be able to do a London wide pub crawl!

Not a bad shout. I misinformed you all on my last comment about visiting Neal's Yard for cheese - the one you want is Stichelton..

:-) Rallyboy has such a wonderfully beetchy turn of phrase that I wonder what he could achieve with a bit of PMT!

Sorry to hear that but can I point out I didn't go to Liverpool due to budgetary constraints. I thought we'd get to the final and that's going to cost a bit.:-) I shall be on my own as most of my usual crowd aren't going due to age and illness, but that won't stop me. Most of the away games I've been to have been on my own: Newcastle last year, O.T. this, but I do remember kebab fumes in my younger days...

Any suggestions for getting from Paddington and appropriate drinking holes, as I'm thinking of combining the game with a visit to Maidenhead in the Thames Valley?

I hear Cook on Solent today. Does he normally sound like a frog with a sore throat?

If you're at Sunderland start a chant: tripletta - Italian for hat-trick. TRI-PLE-TTA, to make MG feel at home, and with any luck... (PLE as in meh)

I dunno, I'd pay good money to see Turkish, Alpine, Hypochondriac and CBFry in that get up..

Cheers. I managed Newcastle last year, Man U and San Siro this, and have visited Wembley but in a lower tier. Will defintelty be taking my distance glasses..

Got back from holiday late last night and booked my ticket today from what was available. Do you know if Wembley allow you to take in binoculars...?

Thank you...

Ch**t, what's the male equivalent of pmt, I swear some of you suffer from something similar. We need a new CB. certainly, and I suspect we had that now injured player lined up. But getting such a better player than we have in the January window is not a simple browse and buy activity. I'm sure we could get someone, but I'm not sure i could put up with the whines here when they didn't meet with your approval.

If there's anything worse than watching Saints play badly it's following a game on here. All this play your strongest team when 5/6 players are out injured or coming back from injury... If Boufal is Puel's signing that's a good sign, but he's got to be allowed some leeway for the existing raw materials he has to work with. Our midfield has been a low contributor to scoring for years, our strikers also are not top notch. We do need to play with a higher tempo and be more incisive, but we attack and they score with a breakaway goal and all it is is a cue for more moaning. Our need for a striker and CB is obvious but that shouldn't be paid at his feet.

Here I am on a skiing holiday and still suffering from PTS syndrome and had to pay a visit.. Haven't seen anything else on partial closures, got a link? After my last visit and the collapsing seat incident I wouldn't be surprised...

Yep, that's the correct spelling! Driving out there via Portsmouth this week for a couple of weeks skiing and wine drinking. When I lived there I had an away day to a pre-season friendly at Thun in Switzerland, drove over (instead of the tunnel) the Great St. Bernard Pass, had a mooch around Thun and a swim in the lake. Best forget the result.. I recall a good day at Huddersfield (apart from ahem, the result) as there is a great railway station bar, and they had a food festival going in the station square. I was training-it from local friends so seem to recall mainly taking advantage of the beer tent. Games like that made you realise Jake Thomson et al weren't really up to it. Best forget the result..

.. and on the same lines, I heard Puel's interview in the car on the way home today. I took it to mean that they were considering a new defender, but that the difficulty was getting a better one than the ones we already have, and he's not Redknapp stupid in ruining the confidence of players he may have to rely on. He's well aware of the Gardos situation, for example, and that after his injury he may not be part of the solution..