Unbeaten in seven

Watford have not lost since the day of my birthday party when my 'Boro friend John came and delighted in seeing his team triumph 1-0 at home. It had been a mixed handful of games before that, with wins punctuating away defeats in "the most competitive league" in the country (TM). Since then, however, it has been mostly draws that have kept us unbeaten and as a consequence we have hardly moved in terms of relative league position. On Boxing Day we went one up but were held by Cardiff on Malky's first return. Clearly, if we keep this up, we will finish exactly where I predicted. I've still yet to go this season, though. Mediocrity rarely felt so rewarding.

daddy's little star

Sofa so mediocre

Sean Dyche's reign did not begin well but a first win of the season yesterday at the Madjeski has added a tint of blue to the stratosphere. Hammered by West Ham in a game I was refused permission by my wife from going to, it took a draw that felt like a point won at home to Birmingham before the international break for The 'Orns to feel like the fates were not against them.

15th, this season, I reckon and I'm not sure I'll get to any of them now the next Watford Boy is here.

All change at the Vic

The manager's gone to Cardiff, we've sold Danny Graham and more.

The run-in

I am back in Britain and made the Vic one of my first stop-offs for the Hull match, which we lost 2-1. Since then we have drawn 2-2 at home to Norwich and an Elland Road game finished the same. On Good Friday, captain John Eustace scored after 43 seconds to win the home game against Barnsley and today we lost 4-2 after twice being ahead at Leicester.
Entrenched firmly in mid-table, there is little for Watford to play for when soon-to-be-champions QPR visit next Saturday. I may go but Joss has now established himself at the back of the ground with some friends and the youngest Watford Boy will not be born for three more months. I warned in the last entry that my football blog may be coming to a close. With Joss' evolution that time seems to be upon me.

In Spirit

I may be 11,358 miles away (or 13 hours ahead) but enjoy the news of Watford's fifth straight win (2-1 at Scunthorpe) and seventh game without defeat. Three wins out of three in December (snow prevented matches) - beating Sven's Leicester 3-2 at home; inflicting QPR's first league defeat of the season (3-1 at Loftus Road); thrashing protion-chasing Cardiff 4-1 at the Vic - have been followed by a 3-0 over Portsmouth before this latest triumph. We are top scorers in the division and now have the prospect of suffering for our success: Burnley are sniffing after our manager and I'm sure there will be bids for top-scorer Danny Graham. As is pointed out with crushing regularity at this time of year, we are "a selling club".

Beer as art

My twenty four weeks in London were an extension of an on-going period of time-off that began in China, October 2008, and saw me washing down and then writing down the beers I came across. Half of my London goal, then, was to drink as many different beers – and more specifically ales – as I could. My main limitation was not financial, temporal or biological but merely the monotony of choice in many of the pubs I visited. Invariably, in those tied-houses, I would have a half and move on in search of greater diversity.

Variety is limited in the lager world; I supped more than fifty in London and another forty or so in a handful of other countries and – bar the demarcation between wheat and non-wheat ones – would have trouble distinguishing many of them. Not so with British real ales. In the three hundred plus pubs I visited (and with some bottled beers too), I managed just short of 300. Proud as I was of enjoying 107 different beers in 2009, the addition of real ale varieties took me over 400 discrete beers in 2010, a number I can’t see myself surpassing this year.

I list the ales here because, after all, that is what writing them down is about. Before that though, two things. First I recommend Morocco by Daleside brewery as my favourite: spicy and full-bodied. Great in the summer and probably equally suited to the winter. Second, I laid claim during my summer of ale to this being a type of performance art, an observation met with scorn by one of my mates in particular (“Well, he’s a lager drinker,” it was said of him). So, if I cannot be said to be a performance artist for managing 300 pubs and 400 beers in 2010, perhaps we can agree on a simpler term: "p. artist" will do.

Happy New Year all.

297 Ales

1.            Acorn                    Old Moor Porter

2.            Adnams               Bitter

3.            Adnams               Southwold Stout

4.            Adnams               Broadside

5.            Adnams               East Green Carbon Neutral

6.            Adnam’s              Explorer

7.            Adnams               Regatta

8.            Adnams               Ghost Ship

9.            Adnam’s              Gunhill (good spicy beer)

10.          Anglo Dutch         Kletsman

11.          Arram                   Dark

12.          Badger                  England’s Gold

13.          Badger                  Fursty Ferret

14.          Badger                  First Gold

15.          Badger                  Golden Champion

16.          Badger                  Golden Glory

17.          Badger                  Original Ale

18.          Banks’s                 UCB

19.          Bank Top             Dark Mild

20.          Barnsley               Gold

21.          Bass

22.          Bateman’s          GHA

23.          Bateman’s          XXXB

24.          Bateman              Victory Ale

25.          Batemans            Valiant

26.          Bath ales              Ginger Hare

27.          Bath ales              Barnstormer

28.          Bath ales              Gem

29.          Battledown           Natural Selection

30.          B&T             Phantom Thirst

31.          Beartown           

32.          Black Beauty      Porter

33.          Black Sheep

34.          Black Sheep        Gold Sheep

35.          Boddingtons

36.          Brain’s                  Dark

37.          Brains                    SA

38.          Brain’s                  Monty’s Magic

39.          Brains                    Steam Wagon

40.          Brain’s                  SA Gold

41.          Brain’s                  Merlin’s Oak

42.          Brains (Buckley)    Reverend James

43.          Brakspear            EPA

44.          Brakspear            bitter

45.          Brakspear            Oxford Gold

46.          Brakspear            Triple

47.          Brew Dog            Punk IPA

48.          Brooklyn Brewery

49.          Burton Bridge    Kingsway

50.          Bushy’s               Piston Brew

51.          Butcombe           Bitter

52.          Cairgorm              Black Gold

53.          Caffreys

54.          Caledonian         Autumn Red

55.          Caledonian         Mellow Yellow

56.          Caledonian         Edinburgh strong ale

57.          Camden               Pale Ale

58.          Camden               Wheat Lager

59.          Camden               Hells Lager

60.          Camden               Wheat Beer (?)

61.          Cannon Royall   Fruiterer’s Mild

62.          Castle Rock         Harvest Pale

63.          Celt                        Golden Ale

64.          Chiltern                                Ale

65.          Clark’s                   Rams Revenge

66.          Coach House      Dick Turpin

67.          Cottage               Champflower

68.          Courage               Best

69.          Cropton               dutch wink

70.          Dale’s                  Old Chestnut

71.          Daleside               Morocco

72.          Dark Horse          Birdie

73.          Dartmoor            Best

74.          Davenport’s       Fury

75.          Derventio            Emperor’s Whim

76.          Deuchars             IPA

77.          Earl Soham          Sir Roger’s Porter

78.          Elgood’s               Cambridge bitter

79.          Elgood’s               Strong Bitter

80.          Elmwood             Good Cheer Beer

81.          Everard’s             Equinox

82.          Everard’s             Flourish

83.          Everard’s             Golden Zest

84.          Everards              Sunchaser

85.          Everards              Tiger

86.          Falstaff                 Harpy

87.          Felinfoel              Double Dragon

88.          Flowers               Original

89.          Fraoch                 Heather Ale

90.          Freewinner          Bumble Bee Honey Ale

91.          Fuller’s                 Red fox

92.          Fuller’s                 Discovery

93.          Fuller’s                 ESB

94.          Fuller’s                 London Pride

95.          Fuller’s                 Mr Harry

96.          Fuller’s                 Chiswick

97.          Fuller’s                 Honeydew

98.          Fuller’s                1845

99.          George Gale         Seafarers Ale

100.        Golcar                Dark Mild

101.        Goacher’s           Stout

102.        Great Newsome Pricky Back Otchan

103.        Great Oakley     Gobble

104.        Green Jack        Orange Wheat

105.        Greene King      Abbots

106.        GK                    Abbott Reserve

107.        Greene King       Back of the net

108.        Greene King       Bretwalda

109.        Greene King       George Inn  ale

110.        Greene King       IPA

111.        Greene King       LBW

112.        Greene King       Olde Trip

113.        Greene King       Phoenix

114.        Greene King       Royal London

115.        Greene King       St Edmunds

116.        Greene King       Sherlock Holmes Ale

117.        Greene King       Sun Dance

118.        Greene King       London Glory

119.        Guinness             Red

120.        Guinness            

121.        Harvey’s              Sussex beer

122.        Henry’s                IPA

123.        High House Farm Cyril the Magnificent

124.        Hogs Back            Tea

125.        Holden’s              Bottom knocker

126.        Holden’s              Bitter

127.        Hook Norton      Haymaker

128.        Hop Back             Summer Lightning

129.        Hydes                   Ringmaster

130.        Hydes   Hubble Bubble

131.        Ind Coope’s        Burton Ale

132.        Island Brewery Yachtsman         

133.        Jennings              Cocker Hoop

134.        Jennings              Golden Host

135.        Jennings              Sneck Lifter

136.        JW Lees             Chocaholic

137.        Kelburn               Red Smiddy

138.        Kelham                 Pale Rider

139.        Kelham island    Pride of Sheffield

140.        Kilkenny               Smithwicks

141.        Kingstone            1503

142.        Leeds                    Monsoon

143.        Lion                        Stout

144.        Loddon                 Bamboozle

145.        Lymestone         Stone Cutter

146.        Marston’s           Brewers Droop

147.        Marston’s           Double drop

148.        Marston’s           Old Empire

149.        Marston’s           Owd Roger

150.        Marston’s           Oyster Stout

151.        Marston’s           Pedigree

152.        Mauldon’s          Mole Trap

153.        McMullen           Country bitter

154.        McMullen           IPA

155.        McMullen           Golden Bitter

156.        Meantime           London

157.        Meanwhile         Pale ale

158.        Mighty Oak         Ale

159.        Milestone (Notts)            Shine On

160.        Mongozo             Banana beer

161.        Moorhouse’s     Pride of Pendle

162.        Moorhouse’s     Pendle Witches Brew

163.        Mordue               Workie Ticket

164.        Morland               Old Speckled Hen

165.        Morland               Old Crafty Hen

166.        Murphy’s

167.        Naylor’s               Black and Tan

168.        Nelson                  Core Commander

169.        Nethergate        Old Growler

170.        Nethergate        Sweeney Todd

171.        Nethergate        Three Point Nine

172.        Newby Wyke     England Expects

173.        North Yorkshire                Crystal Tips

174.        Oakham Ales     Last of the Few

175.        Oak leaf               Hole hearted

176.        O’ Hanlon’s         Dragon Ale

177.        Otley                     01

178.        Palm                      Steenhuffel Blond

179.        Phoenix                               Monkeytown mild

180.        Pitstop                  Penelope

181.        Porterhouse      Brain Blasta

182.        Porterhouse      Plain Porter

183.        Porterhouse      Red

184.        Porterhouse      Oyster Stout

185.        Purity                    UBU      

186.        Purity                    Mad goose

187.        RCH                        Pitchfork

188.        RCH                        Old Slug Porter

189.        Redemption       Pale Ale

190.        Ringwood            Best Bitter

191.        Ringwood            Boondoggle

192.        Ringwood            Old Thumper

193.        Rooster’s             Bangtail

194.        Rudgate               Battle axe

195.        Rudgate               Ruby Mild

196.        Ruddles                                County

197.        Salamander        Dark Corner

198.        Salem                    Porterhouse

199.        Sambrook’s        Wandle

200.        Sambrook’s        Junction

201.        Samuel Adams  Blonde Ambition

202.        Samuel Smiths  Taddy Lager

203.        Sam Smiths         Sovereign

204.        Sam Smiths         Old Best

205.        Ss                            Taddy porter

206.        Samuel Smiths  Alpine Lager

207.        SS                           Pure Brewed Lager

208.        SS                           Organic Cherry Beer

209.        Sam Smiths         Stout

210.        SS                           Oatmeal Stout

211.        Sam Smiths         Organic wheat beer

212.        Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale

213.        S&N              Bulldog

214.        S&N              Newcastle Brown ALe

215.        Sharp’s                 Cornish coaster

216.        Sharp’s                 Doombar

217.        Sharp’s                 Special

218.        Sharp’s                 Red Ale

219.        Shepherd Neame         Whitstable Bay

220.        Shepherd Neame            Spitfire

221.        Shepherd Neame         Canterbury Jack

222.        Shepherd Neame            Late Red

223.        Shepherd Neame     Bishop’s Finger

224.        Shepherd Neame     Kent’s Best               

225.        Shepherd Neame            Goldings

226.        Sierra Nevada

227.        Skinner                 Betty Stogs

228.        Skipton                 Copper Dragon

229.        Slater’s                 Premium

230.        Sleeman              IPA

231.        Soltaire                 Harvest Moon Ale

232.        St Austell             Black Friar

233.        St Austell             Proper Job

234.        St Austell             Tribute

235.        Stonehenge       Pigswill

236.        An ale called “swift”

237.        Tetley’s               Cask

238.        Tetley’s               Midsommer Madness

239.        Tetley’s                Headless Huntsman

240.        Theakston           Old Peculier

241.        Thornbridge       Jaipur

242.        Thornbridge       Wild Swan

243.        Thornbridge       Kipling

244.        Three Castles, Pewsey  Saxon Archer

245.        Thwaites              Lancaster Bomber

246.        Thwaite’s            Highwayman

247.        Thwaite’s            Wainwright

248.        Thwaites              Original

249.        Thwaite’s            Strong Brown Ale

250.        Timothy Taylor  Landlord

251.        Tom Wood’s      Vanilla Orchid

252.        Triple F                 Autumn Daze

253.        Truman’s             Runner

254.        Tryst                      Blathen

255.        TS A                       Double Espresso

256.        Twickenham      Naked Ladies

257.        Wadworth          Henry’s

258.        Warwicks             Purity

259.        Wells & Young Courage Directors

260.        Wells                     Bombadier

261.        Wells                     Bombadier Burning Gold

262.        Wells                     Banana Bread Beer

263.        Wells                     Waggle Dance

264.        Welton’s              Heatwave

265.        Welton’s              Ewell sticks

266.        Welton’s              Chactonbury

267.        Welton’s              Magog

268.        Welton’s              Liquid Lunch

269.        Welton’s              Same Again

270.        Westerham        1965

271.        Westerham’s     Grasshopper

272.        Westerham        Special Pale Ale

273.        Westgate            Back of the net

274.        Westgate            Gangly Ghoul

275.        Winchester Ale

276.        Windie Goat       Final fling

277.        White Moon (????)         GB

278.        White Horse       Bitter

279.        White Horse       Wayland Smithy

280.        Wolf                      straw dog

281.        Woodforde’s     Wherry

282.        Wood’s                                Wonderful

283.        World Top           Mars Magic

284.        Worthington’s  

285.        Wrasslers XXXX Full Stout

286.        Wychwood         Hobgoblin

287.        Wychwood    King Goblin (Special Reserve)

288.        Young’s                                Best

289.        Youngs          Double chocolate stout

290.        York                       England’s Pride

291.        York Brewery     Centurion’s Ghost Ale

292.        Young’s               Golden Ale

293.        Young’s               London Gold

294.        Young’s               Kew

295.        Young’s                Light Ale

296.        Young’s                Ram Rod

297.        Youngs                 Special

London’s Superlative Pubs

Further to my report of the summer's expedition, I present here my first list of my findings.

The First Irish Pub outside Ireland

Though a particular acquaintance of mine may be so boorish as to propose that more than half of the three hundred pubs I looked in on were different branches of “O’Neills”, pay such nonsense no heed. I endeavoured to circumvent chains of the same name and entered not a single “Slug and Lettuce”, “All Bar One” or “Pitcher and Piano”. It would be remiss of me to fail to concede that I did deign to sup in a single “O’Neills” but compensated for a perceived – and entirely mistaken – tendency to be less than original by stopping by “The Tipperary” on Fleet Street, the site of a pub since 1605 and an Irish one for more than three hundred years. Some nice panelling and mirrors, but why there weren’t Guinness-themed hats on everybody’s head, I still fail to comprehend.

London’s First (and only) Scottish Pub

Remaining with the Celtic theme, “The Rob Roy” near Edgware Road underground station displays a breadth of football memorabilia related to Scottish teams. Though the landlord was a jovial chap, the establishment had no beers of note and little to recommend it or Scottish pubs in general.

The Oldest Riverside Pub

Visible across the Thames from the friends’ house in Rotherhithe where I stayed for half of my time in London, Wapping’s “Prospect of Whitby” is a characterful 490-year-old destination with good ales and a noose hanging on the banks of the river to boot (“Hanging”  Judge Jeffries used to drink here). A haunt for artists and writers at various times, its modern claim to celebrity comprises Del Boy’s visit in an episode of OF&H.

London’s Most Beautiful Pub

There may be some competition for this accolade, but I must declare the “Warrington Hotel” in Maida Vale to be my champion. Ornate on a grand scale, if one is to close one’s eyes ever-so-slightly, one could believe one were in a Renaissance Ballroom.

London’s Best Real Ale Pub

The dingy “Bree Louise” in close proximity to Euston train station has been awarded CAMRA’s London Pub of the Year status on more than one occasion but as I was fortuitous enough - when staying in Kentish Town - to live around the corner from “The Pineapple”, I availed myself of its beer festival on consecutive evenings and supped a dozen brews. 

London’s Grottiest Pub

Whilst there may be other contenders from the three hundred pubs I visited for “most beautiful” status, “The Globe” on Lisson Grove wins this category peerlessly. Adjectives fail me.

Best Theme Pub

Though full of suits when I visited, “The Sherlock Holmes” on Northumberland Avenue wins in this category for its range of exhibits. My favourite was the Greene King “Shelock Holmes” Ale, though admittedly it tasted suspiciously like the Greene King “George Inn Ale” found in Borough.

Thrice one hundred public houses

After nineteen months of cultural enrichment travelling the world between late 2008 and mid-2010, I determined to ensure my return to the greatest city in the solar system™ did not result in immediate philistinism. To that end, I revisited a handful of the big galleries and some of the major museums as well as journeying to England’s great centres of learning in my twenty four weeks in the United Kingdom but it was my efforts as regards those smaller institutions of cultivation, the public houses (and the tasting of the beverages within), which may be judged – by others, naturally, for I would not presume to assert thus – to have reached the status of ‘art’.[1]

Ultimately, the one hundred and sixty seven days I remained in England occasioned the visitation of three hundred and fifteen such establishments. Fourteen lay outside the boundaries of Greater London and it is the other three hundred and one which constitute the pool from which I draw the observations and opinions that make up my next log entries. The reputable organisation CAMRA asserts that the capital maintains approximately five thousand seven hundred public houses but other sources count as many as seven thousand. I hope I will be allowed, therefore, to claim that my summer jaunts in the name of art and culture took me to somewhere in the region of five percent of all London pubs.

Sadly, it has been reported in the venerable Times of London that British public houses are becoming defunct at the rate of fifty two per week. For that reason it is appropriate before listing to mourn a paragon of ale houses, the “Black Horse” in Fitzrovia which served an impressive range (it was a Nicholson’s pub) when I visited on twentieth June but which will quench travellers’ thirst no more.

---

[1] For a final decision regarding this, please see also my entry on beers drunk in 2010.

Round up and away

After a dismal home performance against Scunthorpe, which we lost 2-0, it was even harder to convince myself to return to Vicarage Road on my birthday and final whole day in the UK for another year or so. Truth is though that this Watford Boy lost his passion for the matches a while before we left in 2008 and the sole reason for my continued attendance is a bit of time with my nephew.

Nevertheless, with the Hornets involved in a “thrilling” 3-2 away defeat (Portsmouth) and having beaten Ipswich at home in a game I did not get to (rain and broken bike stopped play), I was able to put aside the mauling at Derby and hope for a timely gift from the Golden Boys in the match against Nottingham Forest.

Jordan Mutch provided one after three minutes and my optimism held out another quarter of an hour before the Reds equalised. Another dull game finished all square but at least it was not as excruciating as the previous home match. A second “thrilling” 3-2 defeat (at Selhurst Park) since then has seen us slide into thirteenth and though the number may not bode well, most fans would take that as a final position, given a choice.

Eight hours ahead of GMT as I now am, many of the scores for the rest of the season will be looked up after a night’s sleep. This blog has become less a football diary and more a travel journal. Until the younger Watford Boy takes over the match reports, it will remain so. In the meantime, I cross my fingers for today’s trip to Turf Moor and hope for the fans’ sake that we can win a thriller again.

Sweet Dreams are made of (most of ) this

Starting a fortnight ago (2-0 at Bristol City), Watford won three games on the trot, including our biggest ever away victory (at Millwall's Den, 6-1) and then a 3-1 home defeat of Middlesbrough, Danny Graham latching on to a poor back pass to score after 17 seconds and give Hanna a great start to her first ever football game.

Last night, though, we were 3-0 down to Swansea (with Brendan Rodgers "Short, greedy bastard, you're just a...", Liam led) with three-quarters of the game gone and there seemed no way back as they outpassed us and outplayed us in the middle. Out of nothing, a Troy Deeney goal sparked a remarkable comeback from the 'Orns, that saw us score a second and have a 95th minute equaliser disallowed.

Though I have not been blogging much about the team's fortunes since my return I have been going and since we are in a very respectable 4th place after 9 matches, many fans feel that pre-season predictions of relegation were misplaced. Who am I to disagree?

You make your own meaning to life...

The best years of her life | Fond memories of blindfolded prisoners « Dimi’s notes

The best years of her life | Fond memories of blindfolded prisoners « Dimi’s notes

Top of the league

The season's first league game saw promotion hopefuls Norwich City host can-we-stay-up Watford and get spanked. The BBC may be reporting the first quarter of the game as dominated by the home team, but since the Horns were 2-0 up after 24 minutes, I have trouble concurring. Watching in a Marylebone pub with no volume except the banter of the Millwall fans behind me, I had to supply enough atmosphere for half a pub to care. Danny Graham helped, with two well-taken goals, but I thought John Eustace's 14th minute chest-and-half-volley effort was better, not least because he knew it made up for an earlier miss. Told to calm down after Adrian Marriappa should have put us 3-1 up during a Canaries spell of domination, I enjoyed milking our unexpected victory. Next Saturday, Adrian Boothroyd brings his Coventry side to the Vic and I go to my first Watford game for almost two years. It may not quite be like watching (in) Brazil, but I'm excited.

Why is Stonehenge not a henge?

Because its bank lies inside its ditch, as you can see in this picture.

UK Hung Parliament: a bit like sex, really

Nobody can know how much influence Lord Mandelson´s pre-election quip had on potential Liberal Democrat voters who did not want Etoryinans in power.

“if you flirt with Nick Clegg in these crucial Labour-Tory marginals, then you’re likely to wake up the next morning with David Cameron” he said.
“And let me assure you, that is a night you would come to regret. You would wake up thinking something had gone horribly wrong in your life.”

However, Nick seemed not to have paid heed and said he fancied David a bit more. The resulting political speed-dating made it clear that Gordon can not now qualify for the grand finale of  “Date or dump: who rules?”. If Nick is indeed “being wooed” by both parties as CNN report, then New Labour has offered to sweeten the morning after by removing Brown´s face from the pillow.

David Miliband, go on down!

Imagining Electoral Reform

I start a six-day trek to the Tayrona (or Kogi) culture´s “lost city” here in north Colombia today, which means returning when the results of the UK General Election are finally decided. Or rather, when the results of the 150 or so marginal seats are decided. The outcome in each of the other 500 constituencies is already a foregone conclusion.

The introduction of TV debates seems to have been the main catalyst for the increased popularity of Nick Clegg and hence the party he leads, the Liberal Democrats. This in turn means that a hung parliament is being discussed as a real possibility. Pessimistic in this regard, I fear that the Etoryians will get a working majority and see out a term (low expectations means anything else will be doubly delicious).

Despite the apparently increasing willingness of the electorate to use tactical voting to be more effective in our first-past-the-post system, I do not believe 2010 will be a watershed. Nevertheless, I am hoping the system will come close enough to breaking point in its disproportional representation of the defeated parties that binding promises will be made by politicians heeding the anger of disenfranchised voters. 

You may say I´m a dreamer, but I´m not the only one.

Survival of the just-fit-enough

Watford romped past Reading 3-0 on Saturday to ensure Championship survival in what every fan hopes was their nadir season. Danny Graham scored either side of a Heidar Helgusson left-footer. The Sheffield Wednesday v Crystal Palace match this Saturday will decide which of those two drops with Peterborough and Plymouth. Watford´s result at Coventry will be irrelevant for both teams.

As the manager and local paper have emphasised over and over, "survival" was all we hoped for this season as the mismanagement of the funds from an-always-going-to-be-one season in the Premiership with which this blog began left us worse off than if we had never won the single most lucrative game in world football. How the fuck does that work? Ask Graham Simpson.

Colleagues of mine who shared Friday drinks from the few years before I left London will know that I am an arrogant pedant who is too keen on the invitation “Wanna bet on it?”. My favourite win until recently was against a Russian friend who told us that she had been to the Kazakhstani capital. I won a couple of quid telling her that she hadn´t.

Watford´s guarantee of Championship football in 2010-11 along with a poor season for Oldham in League 1 means that I have won a two-and-a-half-year old wager with Luke that the Latics would (not) be in a higher league positon than the Hornets on 7th December 2010. I was sweating on it for a while but – good sport that he is – I received a congratulatory message from him following our victory.

Oh, and a hundred pounds is not to be sneezed at by someone who hasn´t had a full time job for two years.

It was all yellow...

I may have been at South America´s largest market (Otavalo, Ecuador) but despite the multi-hued blankets, belts, bags, bracelets and bowls, my mind was focussed on just one colour. 

In three weeks, Watford have lost two six-pointers (at Hillsborough and home to Palace) and drawn our other three games: two home points against Boro and Brom, one brought back from Deepdale. Three points in five is relegation form so today´s Vic victory against second-bottom Plymouth only brings temporary relief (whilst sealing Argyle´s fate). Our three main companions in the fight against ending twenty-second in the Championship (the two mentioned first, and Scunthorpe) all lost today. QPR, by beating Palace, are now probably safe on 51 points, barring some significant form-breaking results.

The bottom looks like this:

Team	Pld	GD	Pts	Fixtures
Watford	42	-10	48	QPR (a) Leicester (a) Reading (h) Coventry (a)
Scunthorpe	42	-24	47	Bristol C (h) Reading (h) Donc  (a) Forest (h)
Crystal Palace	43	-3	46	Derby (a) West Brom (h) Sheffield Wed (a)
Sheffield Wed	43	-19	45	Sheffield United (h) Cardiff (a) Palace (h)
Plymouth	43	-19	41
Peterborough	43	-28	31

Watford have three away games in their final four matches while Scunthorpe have three home ones out of four. Cystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday each only have three matches left, with Palace travelling twice and Wednesday once. Palace are only where they are because of a 10-point administration deduction but it is already clear that the final relegation position will only be decided on the final day, when they travel to Sheffield. I am not going to make a prediction. I just hope my fingernails hold out. How do the words go? “For you I bleed myself dry”...

Libertadora del Libertador

Though it is said that you learn something new every day, most of my knowledge about the liberation of South America from Spanish colonial rule has been obtained by a sort of osmotic process over a year: statues and street names, obelisks and museums, artworks galore. I am at the point where I could recognise a silhouette of Sucre or the back of Bolivar (though the portraits of the latter by Julio Blanco (a good link to which I cannot find) were something different). 

Before noticing a museum two days ago (behind the Monastery of Santa Catlina, where she was raised after  her mother died a month after giving birth), the name of Doña Manuela Sáenz meant nothing to me, however. No feminist will be surprised to hear that the woman Bolivar called the “liberator of the liberator” (she is said to have saved her lover´s life on three occasions) had been airbrushed from history until recently. 

The tour round the museum (again, “no photos”, again, a lenient guide) was more of an attempt to insert her into the liberation story than a genuine reflection on her life (I had learned more from Wikipedia last night) but most of her belongings had been burned when she died a pauper´s death in Paita, Peru. We were told she was a brave woman, fearless: unfortunately there is little left to illustrate her heroism.