9/11? Isn't that in November...

And I'm back in the UK after a ridiculously difficult weekend trapsing about Europe. First there was Glasgow, for the clash between Scotland and Lithuania. And that, my friends, was the highlight of the trip. The game was an absolute cracker, with Scotland firing 3 goals past the Lithuanians; and them only being able to respond with an incredibly dubious penalty.

First was a clever free kick from Darren Fletcher - taking advantage of the rule that states that all you have to do to take a free kick is to ask the referee if you can go. The Lithuanians, caught of guard, were unable to do anything about Chris Boyd tearing through their defence and heading home. The Lithuanians hit back in the middle of the second half, with a dive from Mikoliunas over Fletcher's leg convincing the ref, but not a single member of the crowd gathered at Hampden. Of course, seeing as Craig Gordon is hardly Edwin van der Sar, the Danilevicus stuck it home.

Then, on the 77 minute mark, substitute Shaun Maloney - with his first touch of the ball - crossed in towards the far post, where Stephen McManus slotted in a sitter. Then, not six minutes later, James MacFadden, out of the blue, takes a shot and slams it into the back of the net!

That sticks us fair and square at second in the group, with as many games played as the leader and third place. Problem is, we have to play France - the leaders - on Wednesday; and although we beat them last time with a lucky goal, I wouldn't count on a Scottish victory in France! Still, we can potentially hold them to a draw, and then qualification for the Finals of Euro 2008 won't look that unlikely at all! So far, so good! Highlights are here!

However, the other match I attended - having gone from Glasgow to Amsterdam to Lyon to St Ettienne, all in the space of 7 hours - was not so good. Scotland vs Portugal in the Rugby World Cup. Considering that Portugal consist entirely of amateur players, it was an appallingly dull game. We should have run rings around them, with at least a 70 point margin over them. As it stands, we won 56-10. And yes, against any other team, that would be astonishing - but it seems that amateur teams were destined to make professional ones look decidedly ordinary, with the USA frustrating England, and Portugal frustrating us! We made a spate of handling errors - one even handing them their single try - and just generally look like we weren't meshing as a team. We'd better get our act together, and soon...because otherwise I forsee yet another early exit. And that would be severely disappointing, especially given our superb 'World Cup Warm Up' form.

Onto less sporty things...well, there hasn't exactly been much of it. I was going to try and go see Hallam Foe, but the passport control at Schiphol held me up so that I missed my connecting flight. Which was bloody annoying.

Oh yes! I finished Bioshock, and unfortunately, I was totally under-whelmed by the ending. Still, the build-up was absolutely stunning, and so I've forgiven it. Though I'm also told that I got the 'bad' ending, and that I should have a try for the good ending and see if it's any better. So I have re-commenced, on hard mode, with the intent of only saving the Little Sisters! For I am a benevolent man!

Anyways! I'll be back later in the week, and hopefully have something slightly more geeky to report back on! Like a film...or a TV show...or something...