Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 28th to 31st January 2008

Another work trip to Philadelphia, a relatively short one this time, and just work on the agenda - no extra fun like gigs or sports matches. I tried to minimise jetlag by staying on European time, so the trip was pretty much all work, eat and sleep. Whilst I was away, I missed the Arsenal vs Newcastle league game, during which it seems that Mathieu Flamini had his best game yet, in an outstanding season for him.

When I was out on the loose in Philadelphia, I saw a number of the murals that are all over the city. You sometimes see these in US cities, on spare walls, but there seem to be many more in Philadelphia, and in far more prominent places. I learned that this is part of a specific programme to give graffiti artists somewhere to paint, and to decorate the city - and that Philadelphia is a world leading city in doing this. The murals certainly help to liven up otherwise unremarkable parts of the city - the one in this photo is no more than 50 yards from the square at the very centre of town, and brightens up an otherwise dull back wall of a building, backing onto a car park.

Of course, whilst in the US, I went to plenty of restaurants, and ate plenty of huge portions of food. Restaurant management is a huge industry in the US, in which you can do Masters Degrees. The way in which they keep the tables turning over as quickly as possible, to maximise returns, is quite enlightening. When you are finished eating, you always get the bill brought straight to you and left on your table, with the waitress saying "whenever you're ready, here's the check - no rush at all".

Which of course results in you getting out of the door far quicker than if they hadn't left the bill with you, but makes you feel like you aren't being rushed. Very clever, and places in Europe are far less sophisticated, and just haven't cottoned on to this kind of thing yet. Restaurant franchising is also big business - when eating in many restaurants, you will see signs advertising "Franchising Opportunities" - so as well as trying to sell you the food on the menu, you can buy a whole restaurant of your own!

Another money making masterclass from the USA is the ability to make a big industy out of something seemingly irrelevant or useless. Because the whole country is one massive market, with one language, supplying even something stupid like the plastic tops of fast food soft drinks, is a huge industry. In a Pharmacy (which sells everything - even cigarattes), I saw the freezer door pictured here. The freezer sells ice - another really big industry in the US, and the sign of course scares people into buying more than they think they might need. Selling bags of ice cubes is a multi million dollar business here - you could argue that even buying one 2kg bag of ice is more than "enough", but you will still be gently "reminded" to buy more.

No real surprises on this trip, as I'm now getting over there a fair bit, but I still find that I have interesting observations and experiences on every trip. The fact that the US is such a huge market - nearly 300 million people, all speaking the same language (officially at least), means that, if you can find a niche, multiplying it by 300 million customers can make you an awful lot of money. Land of opportunity indeed.

The Courteeners - Forum, Tunbridge Wells - Saturday 26th January 2008

Having seen The Courteeners a number of times recently, on their way up, their January and February tour was really the first opportunity for them to take those excellent songs out to the whole country. Their previous gigs have been concentrated around the North West, or in London and other big cities. This time, they are visiting all kinds of places, like Portsmouth, Reading, and Tunbridge Wells. So, a rare sellout at the Tunbridge Wells Forum, to see a truly exciting band on the rise.

The support act for the evening was Kid Harpoon, a scruffy looking southerner with a guitar, backed up by a drummer. Having heard a few of his songs before the gig, (and seen part of a previous set) I knew what to expect, and I really enjoyed his set. The songs are not entirely unlike somebody like Jack Penate or Pete Doherty, but there are some good lyrics, and the songs sounded very good indeed. He talked about having lost a Battle Of The Bands at the Forum before – I don’t think that would happen any more, and I’m definitely keen to see him again asap.

The Courteeners came on stage just before 10pm, and played a substantially longer set than I have ever seen them play before. Kicking off with the usual Aftershow, they played most of their usual setlist, to which they added a couple of new(ish) songs – a b-side from the latest single, called Slow Down (although this song has been around in a number of guises for a while), and another new song called Yesterday, Today, and Probably Tomorrow. An absolutely mental version of Acrylic came about halfway through the set, and my set highlight, Cavorting, was saved until near the end.

The band seemed on very good form throughout the gig, singer Liam having some good banter with the crowd, and playing a couple of songs wearing a Stetson that had been thrown up from the crowd. The audience, for their part, were enthusiastic, especially towards the front of the venue, and Liam ended the gig by saying “Thanks, you've made it really easy for us”. The band sounded great, and absolutely rattled through the set – they sound increasingly accomplished every time I go to watch them, and looked like they were enjoying themselves.

I suspect that The Courteeners are getting a similarly good reaction wherever they go on this tour, with What Took You So Long in the charts and on MTV. It is always interesting to see how bands go down in places like Tunbridge Wells, away from the music scene of a big city – and they seemed to pass the test with flying colours. Their current tour has no London date – hopefully, there will be a fairly big one coming up before too long – I’m looking forward to seeing them play the Astoria.

Setlist: Aftershow / Kimberley / Kings Of The New Road / Please Don't / Slow Down / Bide Your Time / Acrylic / No You Didn't, No You Don't / Not Nineteen Forever / An Ex Is An Ex For A Reason / Yesterday, Today, And Probably Tomorrow / Cavorting / Fallowfield Hilbilly / If It Wasn't For Me / What Took You So Long.

Arsenal vs Newcastle United - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 26th January 2008

After the disaster during the week against Spurs, and their subsequent DVD release to celebrate, Arsenal fans needed a pick me up. A lot of crap had been spouted in the few days since our Carling Cup exit - much of it in the tabloid press, concerning whether Adebayor hit Bendtner or not, and about Arsene Wenger’s “disrespect” for the Carling Cup. But much crap had also come from Arsenal fans, saying that the Spurs result was the moment that Arsenal got found out, or that it was the end of the road for this squad. And, of course, you can always rely on Spurs fans to come out with a load more bullshit, like claiming that Arsenal had 9 first teamers playing (we had 3 starting, and another 3 came off the bench). So, if Arsenal (and Arsenal fans) needed one thing this weekend, it was to win a football match.

This season, if you need to win a football match, you can do a lot worse than play Newcastle, who have been surpassing even their usual standards of underachievement. Now with Kevin Keegan back in charge, their fans had also been talking a lot of rubbish recently, about how they were going to start to challenge for honours. Seeing 5,000 of them in the away end today, virtually all wearing their black and white stripy shirts, reminded me how many of them fall for that, time and time again – they seem convinced that they are going to win something, when that plainly isn't true.

The first half of the game was fairly even, Arsenal creating a few decent chances, but Newcastle also having a few moments where the Arsenal defence seemed to leave them unattended in the penalty area. There were a few decent Newcastle chances, which provoked lots of shouting at the defence to wake up. Goalless at half time, and despite an interesting first half, much of the talk was not about our game, but about how Liverpool managed to go behind twice, at home to a non-league team.

The second half was much less even altogether, and Arsenal really started to stamp their authority on the game, almost as soon as the players re-emerged after half time. Cesc Fabregas in particular, started to look like the player we knew and loved earlier in the season. Having said that, as Arsenal started to become dominant, Newcastle seemed to just retreat into their shells, and their resistance dried up. The first goal came soon enough, a brilliant finish by Emmanuel Adebayor, who went ballistic, and ran to the North West corner of the ground to celebrate.

After that, it was really game over. Despite a sense in the crowd that a one-goal cushion may not be enough, Arsenal never really looked in much danger after that, and the returning Jens Lehmann had one of his easier days in goal. A second goal from Adebayor, after a brilliant run from inside his own half, finished the game as a contest, and underlined what great form he is in at the moment There was just time for a third goal, a hugely entertaining own goal from Nicky Butt, and the Arsenal revival was complete.

In hindsight, this was a good win, against a team with a new manager, who could have caused us problems. To be honest, I had expected a tougher game from Newcastle, which they just didn't seem to be interested in giving us, after the first half hour. With a number of players out at the moment, it was a slight worry (but not a surprise at all) to see Tomas Rosicky taken off with an injury early on – but that aside, it was a good day. With only 6 Premiership teams left in the FA Cup after the 4th round (not including Spurs, who went out the day after this game), we have a great chance to have a good season in the Cup this year. Bring on the next round, and hopefully a nice easy draw.

Chris Rock - Hammersmith Apollo, London - Thursday 24th January 2008

Live comedy is not something that I generally tend to go for. One reason for this is that, compared to a gig, it seems extremely expensive - compared to paying to see a full band do their stuff, you seem to pay twice as much to see one guy on stage with a microphone. Maybe thinking up all of those jokes is an expensive business. Anyway, I decided to break my "no comedy" rule to go to see Chris Rock, a very funny American man whose routines that I've seen on TV seemed very good. Given that, generally, I don't find much American "comedy" all that funny (how on EARTH is Friends allowed to be called a "comedy"?), this was unusual indeed.

Of course, I did wonder how Chris Rock's material, much of which is US-focussed, and some of which just wouldn't be understood outside America, would go down with a British audience - or indeed whether he would adapt his set for us. Anyway, after the disaster at Tottenham a couple of days previously, any amusement was needed to lift the gloom.

After a half hour routine from a supporting comedian, who was vaguely funny at times, Chris Rock appeared to a background of some booming and very loud music. The initial part of his show included some jokes about his time so far in the UK – the fact that our money is worth loads (certainly when you compare it to US Dollars); the fact that British people drink a lot, that kind of thing – to try to endear himself to the audience early on. This seemed to work very well, and he got a good few rounds of applause in the early minutes of the show.

After about 10 minutes of that, he settled into what seemed like a pretty normal Chris Rock show. The subject matter started with the US Presidential Election, then the mention of Barack Obama gave plenty of chance to start talking about black people and white people, before finally ending up with a routine talking about the difference between men and women. Some of the jokes were familiar, and you could see them coming a mile off – but others came like a bolt from the blue, totally unexpected, and that was a good part of the comedy value.

The show went on for very nearly 2 hours, and despite a few dips where it seemed to get stuck on something not all that funny, was very enjoyable. We learnt that 4 black people live in Chris Rock’s neighbourhood – him, Mary J Blige, Jay Z, and Denzil Washington. He told us that, after 8 years with a retarded president, America was certainly ready for a black or female one. And, he reminded us that women, especially black women (apparently) want everything, all the time.

A very enjoyable night out, and a nice earner for Chris Rock – after selling out about a dozen dates in the UK this month (including 2 in a day at Brixton Academy), he is coming back in May, to play a show at the O2, to 20000 people. As comedy shows go, that is a pretty big one.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Tuesday 22nd January 2008

After a somewhat fortunate draw in the home leg of this Carling Cup semi final (which I had to miss thanks to a trip to Warsaw), it was off to bandit country for the second leg. Spurs have been playing increasingly well against Arsenal in the 2 recent meetings, since the arrival of Juande Ramos as manager, and many Arsenal fans, myself included, saw this game as a big potential banana skin, especially given the likely Arsenal line up. 21 games unbeaten against Spurs (I was at the last defeat, 2-1 in November 1999, and I remember it well - not nice), so the run had to end some time, right?

Well, it did, and in pretty spectacular fashion. Despite a relatively (for the Carling Cup) strong Arsenal squad (most of the stars of which started on the bench, including Fabregas, Adebayor and Eduardo), Spurs were incredibly up for it, and came flying out of the blocks from the word go, practically steamrollering Arsenal from the first minute. For the entire game, Spurs players allowed Arsenal players absolutely no time and space on the ball, forced mistakes in our passing, and having scored their first goal on 2 minutes, saw our defence play so high up the pitch that they were able to get in on goal on too many occasions. In short, they just wanted the victory much, much more than we did, and that difference in commitment was reflected (although rather generously for Spurs) in the scoreline.

Much as the Spurs performance was good, and their players were extremely committed, several Arsenal players did not have a game to remember. Gallas was inexplicably poor in defence, Lukasz Fabianski looked like he could have done better for a couple of the goals, Hleb completely failed to work out that, when Spurs players are chasing you in pairs, you do not have time on the ball to waste. Bendtner scored an own goal, Walcott looked totally demoralised and out of his depth, and, well, there were several nightmare displays in Arsenal shirts (hello, Gilberto!!). The shitty icing on the shitty cake was a set-to between Bendtner and Adebayor towards the end, which William Gallas had to step in and break up. When your players are arguing with each other, it does at least show they care, but it isn't a good sign.

Having waited 9 years and 22 games to beat Arsenal, the idiot Spurs fans of course made the most of it. At first, even when 3-0 up, they didn't sing much, doubtless still mindful of their team's ability to mess up from even the most comfortable looking positions. But, as Arsenal's brief revival to make it 4-1 waned, they started piping up with their Yid Army crap. By the end, there was an almost embarrassing scene - like when a third or fourth division team beats a Premiership side in an FA Cup game. They were waving flags, singing Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley, and I'm sure if there had been face painting available in the crowd, most of them would have gone for it. It was a little bit embarrassing to watch, but sod em, they are welcome to their 5 minutes of glory, before they get beaten in the final of the least prestigious tournament that a Premiership team enters.

Did that sound a bit bitter? Of course, this unbeaten run against them had to end some time. I do regret that, in almost a decade of dominance against them, we never gave them the battering they deserved on occasions. And, more than finally losing to them, the performance from our players tonight was pathetic, and didn't reflect the importance that Arsenal fans attach to beating Spurs. Despite what some may say, 5-1 was a joke scoreline that flattered Spurs, but there was no doubt that Arsenal deserved to lose today, and that Spurs deserved to win. Still, we did score the best goal of the game, a shame it was so pointless. Maybe this is the game that saw Spurs become very slightly less of a laughing stock than before.

Fulham vs Arsenal - Craven Cottage, London - Saturday 19th January 2008

Fulham away is always a favourite away game for many - nearby, and without the risk of bodily harm from home fans, it is usually a great day out. Last season's game was an absolute and total disaster, though, so at least things could only get better than that. Being on a Saturday at 3pm, a sellout of the away end was guaranteed, so it was a shame that Fulham elected to take the piss by charging £45 a ticket - I thought they were a nice club! £45 to sit (or, thankfully, stand as it turned out) on a stand made of scaffolding, with a bloody great pillar in the way, isn't great - but then hopefully they won't be able to get away with it next season, as Championship games cost less to get into.

Fulham have been struggling massively of late, which kind of serves them right for getting rid of a good manager in Chris Coleman at the end of last season. Without a win for a couple of months, and having recently appointed Roy Hodgson as their manager, they have looked pretty lightweight, pretty weak, and pretty inept over recent weeks. And so it turned out today. They do have some decent players, capable of playing some nice, skilful football. But they are just too lightweight - Arsenal's players were bigger, stronger, and better, in every department, and by some distance.

A good start, with some decent passing moves, got even better on 19 minutes when Emmanuel Adebayor rose above the Fulham defence to meet a cross from the very impressive Clichy on the left. Being 6'4", the Fulham defence was no match for him, and the keeper didn't even move as the ball sailed into the net. Thank God that Togo didn't qualify for the African Nations Cup, as that is where he would be at the moment, instead of scoring goals for Arsenal. More domination for the next 20 minutes, and Adebayor added the second shortly before half time. The second was a deserved goal in a couple of ways - Fabregas having been clattered by Danny Murphy in an unpunished and very late tackle as the move first began.

So, Arsenal were 2-0 up at half time, without really having expended much energy, but they were still comfortably better and stronger than Fulham. The second half was more of the same - Arsenal in total domination, but not really bothering to do all that much to press the advantage home - they just didn't need to. Finally, and after a couple of near misses in the 5 or 10 minutes leading up to it, the excellent Tomas Rosicky finished a good move, to make it 3-0. That was how it finished, and the three points were of course most welcome. It was one of the easier wins of the season, the gap between Arsenal and Fulham was huge, and you can really see why Fulham are struggling at the wrong end of the table. Sadly, Manchester United and Chelsea also won, both winning their games late on, after looking like they may be struggling - but never mind, it made Arsenal's win all the more important.

I said that Fulham was a good away game, and off the pitch, it was a great day out too. Lots of familiar faces (everybody and anybody seemed to have turned out), Arsenal fans filled the Putney End, stood up all game, and made an almighty racket. The Fulham fans, in response, made no noise, and no effort at all - they may as well not have been there. The singing was loud and constant, and the second half had the air of a near religious experience. Early in the second half, a song started quietly on the left hand side of the stand - Adebayor, Adebayo-o-or, Give him the ball, and he will score. It gradually spread, taking about 10 minutes to have the whole stand singing it quietly, then the quiet singing gradually turned to loud singing. Once that had caught on, people sang little else for the rest of the day - amazing to see a song start and spread like that. It had been sung at previous away games recently, but really came of age today - and it is a good tribute to a great player.

A good day all round today, an easy win in all respects really, and important to get back onto the right track after the disappointment of the Birmingham game last week. Now, we have 2 cup games in a row again - the second leg of the Carling Cup game against Spurs, followed by Newcastle in the FA Cup. Hopefully, the run of not losing to Spurs will continue - I would happily see us go out of the FA Cup in return. We'll see.

Work trip to Bornem, Belgium - 16th to 17th January 2008

A couple of days in the small Belgian village of Bornem, where one of my colleagues lives. Not much to do there, but the journey did give me the first chance to have a look at the new St Pancras Eurostar terminal, albeit at an outrageously early hour in the morning. Much of it seems not to be properly open yet, the business lounge for example has walls that are in fact black curtains. The St Pancras departure lounge has nice brown wooden floors, and apart from that, I was too tired to remember anything about it. When you go up the ramp to get onto the train, though, the inside of the station is an incredible sight - I'm looking forward to seeing that magnificent roof a few more times.

The journey went a bit downhill from there really, as the train got stuck behind a broken down freight train inside the Channel Tunnel - and stayed stuck behind it for just over 2 hours. Not good, especially when I had got up at 5am to get an early train, so that I could get a full day's work. We eventually rolled into Brussels 2 and a quarter hours late - most annoying, but just one of those things.

After a couple of days where I didn't leave the hotel I was sleeping, eating and working in, the journey back was altogether better - an hour and fifty five minutes is pretty impressive to get back from Brussels, and the high speed line in the UK is just that - the train absolutely hammered along, through endless tunnels, until we glided back into St Pancras. Definitely the way to travel now, if you manage to avoid the perils of the broken down freight train.

The Courteeners, Nick Harrison - The Hospital, London - Tuesday 15th January 2008

This was one of those lovely free gigs - always the best kind - laid on by Q Magazine in a very small venue in Covent Garden. Their competition to win tickets started months ago, and they were on a first come first served basis - given that few people have heard of The Courteeners in London even now, and even fewer had back then, we were able to get a small group of us into the show. As well as a free show, there was also a free bar, which really was the icing on a very nice cake. The gig was at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden, a private members club for people that work in the creative arts, but which also has a number of TV studios, rehearsal rooms, and generally places to entertain people - a very posh venue. The whole shebang was being filmed by Q Mag for their website as well.

Before The Courteeners, there was a 25 minute set by Nick Harrison, and his band comprising a couple of other people. They were playing acoustically, and played half a dozen or so songs, none of which were really memorable (although a couple sounded OK at the time). For much of the set, they sounded like white reggae, which I often find to be cringeworthily embarrassing - and this was no exception. They also reminded me to some degree of The Kooks, although very much of those bits of The Kooks material that I don't really like, where they sound like they are pretending to be an Irish busker band.

So, all in all, I wasn't a big fan of Nick Harrison (and band). They sounded OK, but it was nothing remotely original, and was of a genre that is already very well covered, and done much better by several other artists. Doubtless Q Magazine will be huge fans, but I was left underwhelmed, and thinking how very safe and unadventurous it all was.

After a short (free) beer break, The Courteeners (or more accurately, singer Liam Fray playing solo acoustic songs) appeared, to lots of polite applause. The thing about acoustic gigs is that they tend to be very quiet and polite regardless of the artist playing, and so it was for this show. Liam ran through an 11-song set, featuring many Courteeners songs that sound rather guitar heavy in their normal versions - like If It Wasn't For Me. However, it was incredible how well many of them seemed to transfer to being played acoustically. The set also included a version of a Stephen Fretwell song called Darling Don't, and a fantastic song, also linked to Stephen Fretwell, called Smiths Disco. Just before playing it, Liam said that Mr Fretwell had given the song to him, and I really hope that The Courteeners (or somebody!) record it soon, because it was very good indeed.

This set really showed another, softer side to The Courteeners' songs, and especially to Liam Fray, who the music press seem to be portraying as a totally arrogant tosser. He didn't seem like that at all, cracking jokes between songs, making fun of himself, and generally coming across as a thoroughly good guy. The band's mammoth tour of small venues starts tomorrow, and by rights, they should be playing to packed, sweaty venues up and down the country. This was a million miles away from that, but a fantastic show all the same - made even better by the fact that it didn't cost a penny.

Setlist: How Come / Darling Don't (Stephen Fretwell song) / Bide Your Time / An Ex Is An Ex For A Reason / Smiths Disco (Stephen Fretwell song) / Please Don't / Acrylic / If It Wasn't For Me / What Took You So Long / No You Didn't No You Don't / Not Nineteen Forever.

Arsenal vs Birmingham City - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 12th January 2008

Given the recent flurry of games in December, and over Christmas and New Year, 11 days without a League game seems like an eternity. An FA Cup win against Burnley, and a Carling Cup draw against Spurs have filled the time in between, but it is good to get back to business in the League again. Strangely, despite having played 21 games, we haven't played Birmingham at all yet - this means it is our first meeting with ex players Sebastian Larsson (recently making himself popular with all Gooners by scoring a winner against Spurs), and Fabrice Muamba, both of whom were the subject of a number of newspaper articles on the morning of the game.

The game itself was a frustrating one. Arsenal started off OK, having the majority of possession, and creating a few decent chances in the early part of the game. After about 20 minutes, we were awarded what looked like a very soft and generous penalty, which Adebayor tucked away nicely to give us the lead. Then, complacency seemed to set in, and it all went downhill from there. Passes started to go astray, and, despite domination of possession and complete territorial advantage, we didn't really trouble the keeper much at all after that.

Early in the second half, a momentary defensive lapse saw Birmingham equalise, and the game then seemed to turn into a grim reminder of a number of home games last season. Virtually the entire second half was played in Birmingham's half of the pitch, but Arsenal just couldn't really create many chances, and couldn't finish off the few that they did manage to create. Lots of possession, but very little of use was done with it - lots of huffing and puffing, but to little effect. Theo Walcott was extremely ineffective on the right of midfield, Hleb was incredibly frustrating throughout, and Cesc Fabregas was way off his best - as he has been for a couple of months now.

As the second half wore on, the pressure on Birmingham kept building, but an excellent defensive performance, combined with a poor Arsenal display, meant that it came to nothing. At the final whistle, the away end erupted, with Brummies celebrating like they'd won the League - and it was a very important point for them. Not good to watch, but their manager did exactly what his employer needed him to do. So there you go - 2 points dropped in a disappointing way.

This game was just one of those things in my view. It was a very off key performance, certainly the worst of our 12 home league games so far this season. We have played a lot of games lately, although this display was something of a surprise, since several of the key players have had a bit of a rest recently. We played like this in quite a few games last season, and whilst this was a very unwelcome reminder of that, it also reminded us that, thankfully, we have not seen too much more of it this season. Hopefully, this one will just be put down to experience, one of those bad results that you get once or twice a season. A week off now, then a trip to Fulham next week, as a chance to bounce back.

Work trip to Warsaw, Poland - 9th to 10th January 2008

It is never a good thing to find out that a city you are about to visit is twinned with Grozny, the pile of rubble that passes for the capital of Chechnya. As if that wasn't bad enough, Warsaw is also twinned with Coventry. But, about 3 and a half weeks after last getting on a plane (which is some kind of record), I headed off there for my first trip of the year.

Having been to Warsaw before (albeit a long time ago), I remembered it as the centre of all things business-like in Poland, but a very functional, not very pretty city. Krakow got all of the nice squares and buildings (or rather, avoided having them all destroyed by the Germans in World War II), and Warsaw got left with all the ugly buildings during the postwar rebuilding effort. But then, having been almost completely destroyed on a few occasions in the not too distant past, perhaps the fact that it exists at all is remarkable enough.

The journey over there was punctuated by the usual Heathrow hassle, although the security queue was very suspiciously short. The flight featured a 2 year old boy who cried throughout the entire flight, usually very loudly, and seemed to be in a load of discomfort. When we parked up in Warsaw, we were not allowed off the plane, and the Polish authorities sent doctors on to see what was wrong with the kid - and whether he was contagious, and could have infected the rest of us. I would much rather that they'd done this before he got on the plane, and I spent 2 hours in a confined space with him!!

In what may well be a hangover from the old days in Poland, we were bussed to the terminal, a journey of 30 seconds at most, and one which could have been walked in a fraction of the time, since the plane parked no more than 10 yards from the building. It seemed like something that was done solely to keep some bus drivers in employment, especially as there were dozens of pristine and unused airbridges all along the terminal. The passport control room seemed equally bureaucratic, and the whole room was an unsettling orange colour, which made the whole airport look like a subsidiary of EasyJet.

My colleagues in Poland were fantastic, and really went out of their way to look after me, which was great, especially given that the language is fairly daunting. Unsurprisingly, many Polish people I met were interested in the fact I was from the UK, and many reported having friends and relatives there. The huge migration of Poles to the UK is really felt in Poland as well, in the form of acute people shortages to do many jobs.

I did get some time to wander around in the city centre - which is a curious mix of "old" communist era buildings, and gleaming new capitalist skyscrapers. These are often right alongside each other, as in the photo here, which often looks weird. There seem to be quite a few skyscrapers in the city too, half of them old and drab, and the other half new and gleaming. Because the city was largely rebuilt after World War II, it is very efficiently laid out, with lots of wide boulevards, with yellow and red trams running down the middle.

This was a short but a good trip - the way home was again coloured by more Heathrow hassle. It really irritates me sometimes that the first a foreign visitor sees of the UK is a disfunctional disgrace like Heathrow Airport - a really bad welcome (back) to the UK, and an awful advert for the country. What a shame.

Arsenal vs West Ham United - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 1st January 2008

Thanks to a nice slip up by Manchester United a few days previously (at West Ham, amusingly enough), Arsenal started the New Year at the top of the Premier League. There are stats aplenty about how often the team that is top on New Years Day goes on to win the League (for the last 3 years in a row it has been the case), but I am still not expecting that Arsenal will win the title - and nor are many Arsenal fans I know. As time passes and we stay top, we may get slightly more optimistic, but it is very cautious optimism. Manchester United have to remain the favourites, they are the reigning champions, they have a far bigger and more experienced squad, and we have yet to really see Arsenal on a bad run of results - which we are surely due. So, we are in a great position now, but I still don't expect any trophies at the end of the season.

With Manchester United losing to West Ham on Saturday, and our 2 losses to West Ham last season, there was some trepidation that we would be in for a tough game. West Ham always seem to do OK against the big 4, and have a great record against Arsenal in the last few seasons. It being the last League game for a while, as FA and Carling Cup games now take over the calendar, it was also important to go into the break with the lead in the League (so to speak).

So, there was great delight in the first 20 minutes of the game, as Arsenal did an extremely professional job to win the game with the minimum of fuss. We were ahead within 5 minutes, Eduardo following up his 2 fantastic finishes against Everton on Saturday, with another one here - looking every inch the perfect penalty box predator. Coming so early in the game, the goal kind of knocked the stuffing out of West Ham. They were getting back on their feet, and starting to come back into the game, when a second goal killed them off completely - and all before 20 minutes had passed. Adebayor ran through, got to the goal line, and clipped the ball back from a seemingly impossible angle to score.

So, after 20 minutes, the game was over. Of course, excellent news for Arsenal, and a part of me wishes that we could win every game like that. But, it did mean that the rest of the match was something of a non event. West Ham were on damage limitation mode, just trying not to get hammered, and showing no attacking ambition whatsoever as a result. The game seemed to drag as it went on, and this, combined with the blearly hungover heads of a majority of the crowd, meant that the atmosphere was not the greatest for most of the game. Still, it seems like it was crap at Manchester United as well, so all the attention is at least on somebody else's atmosphere problem.

But, in truth, it would be foolish to complain - Arsenal won the game at a canter, and were a class above West Ham today. We have had 6 points from them this season, and seen them beat Manchester United - so this season at least, they have been the perfect opponents. The BBC match report has all the stats - Arsenal made it look easy today, not the most exciting 70 minutes of football once the match was won, but the 3 points (and the energy saved as we switched back down into 2nd gear) is the most important result of the day.