suewhistle

That sounds great! For others who haven't used the Italian rail service, it's very good value, even for longer distances. My sister recently visited old haunts in Rome and commented to my old mum to remember it as it was in the 60's when we lived there: it's now packed with tourists even at this time of the year. It's a great walking city though, so you can always find some less frequented nooks and crannies. Might be a good idea to install transponders on the kids though!

Difference is that unless we go in the opposite direction to Portsmouth in the leagues they have a serious rival within that catchment area, whatever it consists of.. Saints still don't at the moment unless we count Bournemouth with their limited capacity (and possible, with all their injuries, a very short stay at the top).

Good attempt, completely understandable but as I teach Italian I could probably have found a few mistakes. It's the bloomin' endings that catch people out, so watch your verbs and nouns. :-) I once taught an intensive English course to squaddies at the Alpine training school. They have some recruits who only sign up for short periods, as little as a year (!) - VFBs - Volontieri di Ferma Breve (not sure of my endings there!) so effectively almost like conscripts. Some were keen but others not so; I think joining the army was just a way of getting out of their one-horse southern village. As the lady who contracted me said: 'Some only speak dialect and not even Italian', let alone any English from school. You'll find the fatter or stouter ones are marescialli - W/Os - and they're always good for a joke amongst the recruits for their appetites in the mess. If you need Italian lessons when you get back let me know: with the price of season tickets I could do with a few more classes!

Glad you had fun. :-)

Note to Agent Napalm: Departmental budgetary constraints do not allow for a season ticket. A ticket to the Villa cup match has been despatched.

Can you do us a quick management summary?

Doubt if you'll be able to get a half-n-half scarf though..

Absolutely, walk and get lost. Nip across to the Giudecca, try back street bars where the locals go and generally keep your eyes open. Glass jewellery is a great gift: my last visit was by sail so I bought myself a square glass pendant with a dolphin image, but there is something for all tastes.

Yep, 5p a bag towards grass-roots football: my team could do with a few new training balls..

Funnily enough, that was more or less what the BBC said about Liverpool's strategy..

and.. 'STEADY ON GUYS !! AT THE MOMENT THERE ARE ALMOST A THOUSAND "GUESTS" LOGGED IN, NO DOUBT LOOKING FOR A SHED END MELTDOWN !!!' How true. :-)

Just back from the pub in a PO postcode, with a couple of other happy Saints fans also in there, and it nearly kicked off with a mouthy Chelsea fan. If I weren't playing tomorrow I'd have stayed on to watch the rugby and have a few (more) celebratory pints. Very satisfying, and no fluke.

This is Italy, everywhere has their own dialect and Rome's distinctive. Haven't been there for years but lived there in the 60s! My more recent experience is in the North where dialects vary from valley to valley!

Thanks, that is good. I was expecting =>£15.

Beh.. direi di no! Do you speak romanaccio?

I think Caulker's ball-watching at that corner showed why he's down the list of starters for the first team. He handled the rest OK enough at u-21 level, but failed in one of the most important tasks in his role.

Well, I normally drink elsewhere pre-match, but the opportunity to meet the legend of the PTS thread is sorely tempting.. ;-)

Did you name our scorers?

Quote from the OS: 'The game against Sunderland kicks off at 7pm BST and will be shown live on Southampton’s official YouTube channel.'

I'm surprised you didn't mention Newport's away win!

Ooh, can we all be patronising ****s then? I happen to agree with Vectis that he has added 'snap' to his play and did an awful lot off the ball. You didn't notice that then, you only notice the obvious stuff? Bit of a lack of understanding of the game, I'd say. See, how you express yourself makes a difference, so do you think you could tone it down a bit and try not to come over oh-so-superior/ If you are a top-level coach with all your badges then I apologise, but I can assure you that that is not the impression you give.

Go back to sleep and dream up another one. That was a 'mare. ;-)

Incidentally, was anyone else surprised that Bertrand played the full 90 minutes on Saturday? Does this mean we're not rushing players back until they really are ready? Back outside now to look at the lunar eclipse again..

That machine looks great for some pre-ski season training!