As a general rule, I tend not to write a post on Valentine’s Day. Over the years, I have tended to blog a few days after but this evening I have opted to break the mould. There is far too much happening and I have a major rock and roll weekend, so will not have time to give the usual Friday night update. I suppose I better explain what is going on before getting to the actual main headlines. Friday is Chris’ birthday night out, although of course his birthday is not for a week later. He has a free house, with his parents away on holiday so a big group of us are staying over. Last year we went into Reading but this year we are keeping it local and going out in Henley. Originally it was supposed to be just a group of his friends, but we have roped in a number of work colleagues, so there will be a big posse of us out on the tiles in Henley-upon-Thames. You have been warned. Then, on Saturday I will pop back home, watch football (will get to that shortly) before heading over to Leicester for Sachin and Rish’s civil wedding ceremony and reception.

Back to the present day, the weekend is still a full two days away. I have a courtesy car at the moment. I will not bore you with the details but it is the worse car in the universe. This is the first and hopefully last time I ever have to drive a Ford Ka. A tiny 1.3 petrol engine, cream flowery interior and general inferior feeling driving this girly car, makes me long for my A3 back. To add insult to injury, there is firstly no rev counter. Where this should be there is a Ka logo. Secondly the standard factory stereo is cassette tape. It is a 2006 registration, so you would think, it would be time to move over to CD. Even the Micra I had over 5 years ago, had a CD player. So I have had to deal with radio in the morning, switching between the Urban sounds of KISS 100 London and Moyles on Radio 1. Obviously I listened to KISS more as they play more of my genre of music and there is not so much chat. Although generally speaking I prefer to listen to wall to wall music, which is why I always listen to my music in the car instead of radio, particular on the work commute. Anyway, I am more than willing to put up with, and long to have my car back. Perhaps this is some psychological blackmail the garages and insurance companies use. They give you an absolutely rubbish group A car, so that you just pray to get your car returned as soon as possible. I know I could have argued for a bigger and more suitable car but I would rather just get my car fixed and returned without the aggrivation. When I got my Punto, I promised myself that I could never go below a minimum engine spec of 1.6 (either petrol or diesel) but this has been difficult to maintain.

Decisions, decisions. This evening we have the Brit Awards broadcast live (for the first time since 1989, remember that fateful night, don’t we?) Well unfortunately this clashes perfectly with FA Cup replay between Arsenal and Bolton. If this was being screened on Sky, then we would have major problems, but as the match is on BBC1, I can make use of my dual tuner and record ITV1, while watching BBC1. Fantastic. Plus, I am sure there is a friend of mine, whom would like a DVD copy of the whole show.

Enjoyed what can only be described as a classic FA Cup replay this evening. I thought Arsenal had done enough but that injury time equaliser meant we were in for extra time. However, I had to drive to the station to pick up my Dad so had to switch over to Five Live. Only to hear Freddie score the crucial goal. The penalty misses and quality of the first half performance all added to the tension. Just a shame we could not get the job done with home advantage a few weeks ago. I am a big fan of the cup, particularly with the strong history and luck in recent years. While it is perhaps wrong to chase glory, but it would great to be at the first cup final at the new Wembley.