Sunday

Today is the birthday of K's sister Lucy, so we make sure she has a nice cooked breakfast and a few presents to wake up. I give her the newly-published paperback edition of Richard Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth - a book I have read around half of in hardback, but keep finding the thing too heavy to read in bed and too bulky to take on the tube. As a result, I bought two copies at Sainsbury's yesterday in the hope that I can finally finish the very interesting book in a handier format. The hardback will just be for show, I suppose.

Another of Lucy's presents is the film Avatar on DVD. Having been suspicious of the gimmickery of the 3D cinema experience, I had made sure to avoid the film when it came out last year, but since it's now become the highest grossing movie of all time by some distance, I feel I should probably watch it - so we stick it on after breakfast.

I am surprised to find that it's very enjoyable indeed - the effects are obviously very impressive and, unlike in certain other effects-based films, it's easy to forget that nothing on the screen is real and, apart from the indoor scenes with real humans, there aren't even any shooting locations. The story is predictable but there are some nice details, particularly in the design of the animals and some of the human technology, as well as the practicalities of having humans pilot the organic Avatars. In short, I'm shocked to realise that the film has probably been unfairly slagged off by those I've talked to - though I still feel that the 3D stuff would be unnecessary, and that I haven't missed anything by not watching it in that format.

Just as the film finishes, Alex comes round and we head to the Hope and Anchor to watch the Liverpool v Chelsea game, which is a 1.30 kick off and, potentially, a title decider. I'm a little nervous about the game but, thanks to goals from Drogba and Lampard, Chelsea win 2-0 and remain in control of the title race. I still refuse to be particularly comfortable about it all - they still need to beat Wigan at home next Sunday; exactly the kind of fixture we've ended up drawing in the past when points were needed. We shall see - but either way I leave the pub feeling much more relaxed than when I entered it.

Joined by Will, we walk down to The Kings Head to meet K and her sister who are having lunch and sampling a range of guest ciders. I keep it classy and order a pint of Red Stripe and we chat happily while the girls eat. By 6.30 or so we've all had enough of the pub - so head back to our house via the Co-Op to finish off our left-over wedding booze (which includes a few beers, a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a bottle of champagne) and play a bit of Scrabble. Over the next few hours we're joined by Nick, Rich, Helen and Ant - leaving a nice round number to play with four teams of two.

But not before Will and I have brought back the old days with a game of the BBC Match of the Day quiz game. I got this for Christmas in 2006 and we spent many hilarious nights testing each other's esoteric football knowledge, accompanied by a ridiculous electronic scoreboard containing such sound effects as "That's a yellow card for sure!" and "The flag stays down...it's a goal!". Getting it out of the box after at least three years of neglect is great fun - except that the batteries have half-destroyed themselves over this time and make the poor commentator's voice sound frightened and pained. And really funny.