Just got back from my trip to Portsmouth about an hour ago. I caught a train to Lymington Town from London Waterloo on Friday evening, with 3 friends, and met another en route (the one who own the boat). Drank quite a lot of beer and talked quite a lot of football!! Loaded our gear onto the boat in Lymington, and met the skipper and his missus. Went for a very nice curry later. Enjoyed it a lot, but I was breaking wind like mad the next day!!!! Stayed up late, watching the stars, drinking, and discussing the affairs of the world.

After about 3 hours of sleep, we had to rise and set sail for Portsmouth. Luckily it was a nice, calm day, so the sailing went very smoothly. I didn't feel even the least bit sick, which was an unexpected delight! We had the tide with us, so we completed the trip in about 2 and a half hours, instead of the expected 4 hours!!! I have to say, I'm no lover of boat trips. I like cruising along a river or slightly out to sea (where the waves aren't too choppy!!), but I have no interest in spending hours on end, or even days on end, on a boat. Small doses suit me fine!

We had a late breakfast or early lunch in Portsmouth, had a few drinks, then went to the match. I don't want to offend any Portsmouth fans, but the stadium - Fratton Park - is a real tip!!! It's like something from the dark days of football, as if it had travelled through time from the 1950s. And the section of the stand where the away fans sit is uncovered -- there's no roof!!! Now, that's fine if it's a sunny August afternoon -- but yesterday, it rained non-stop for the full 90 minutes of the match, and most of the time it rained heavily!!!! All us Spurs fans were soaked to the bone. And I do mean SOAKED!!! You'd expect such conditions at a club in the lower divisions, but not in the Premiership, or even in the Championship! And the toilet facilities were awful too! Don't even get me started on the food stall!!!! It's just not good enough for Premiership football. In my view, Portsmouth should be forced to bring the stadium up to scratch, or they should be booted out!!!!!!

Now that I've got that rant off my chest ... Spurs won 2-0, so it was a great result! We've been very poor away from home for the last few seasons (well ... almost as long as I can remember, to be honest!!). In fact, this was our first away win in all of 2005!!!!!! We didn't play very well, but the win was the most important thing. All in all, it was worth getting soaked to see us notch up a rare away victory. The Spurs fans loved it -- we hardly stopped singing all through the game, especially in the second half, when it became clear that we were going to win. If you've never been to a football match, and are ever thinking of going to one, it might be worth trying to get tickets to an away game rather than a home match -- away fans are normally a lot more boisterious and enthusiastic than home fans ...

Had a few more drinks after the match, then went for a meal. Did a small bit of gambling in the casino near where we were docked, then had a fairly early night, tucking in not long after midnight -- we were all absolutely exhausted!!! Got up about 8 this morning, cleaned up the boat, then caught the train back to London. Feeling tired now, but not as wrecked as I might have been. When you get to your 30s, you tend not to party as hard or as late as you do in your 20s -- your body just can't take the aggro!!!!! I'm by no means a boring old fogey, but I do like to get a nice bit of sleep at the end of a busy night!!!!!!!!