At approximately 18:00 CET, I am 36,000 ft approaching the English coast, flying back to London Gatwick from my birthday weekend away in Barcelona with my wife Michelle. I had decided to postpone listening to ArseBlog Arsecast from Friday (recorded late on Thursday evening) until this particular moment. (A full blog post to follow in due course but I was enjoying a Real Husbands of Hollywood marathon on my Nexus 7) I had almost drifted to sleep to the hum of the Airbus A319 engine outside. Minutes later I heard my name on the mp3 player, while still in a semi conscious state. I had to rewind and listen again! Then I had to interrupt Michelle reading her magazine for her to hear the announcement as well.

The irony of this whole weekend is as follows. Last year I won a competition on the same aforementioned blog for tickets to see Arsenal play Southampton at the Emirates. The same opponents we played this weekend, on my birthday infact but I would be away in Espana. Being able to catch up on the scores later that evening via the BBC Sport app and BBC World news (which annoyingly but understandably no longer displays a clock on screen!)

On Friday afternoon my winning prize – an exclusive cashmere scarf from Savile Rogue arrived and I had to post a photo online. Many famous football faces such as Mancini and Delia Smith have worn their famous football wear.