Thursday

After a few days away and a long-ish first half of the week doing mostly sober activities, it feels like a long time since I've just sat in a pub and chatted the evening away over a couple of pints. Sure, we had beer in Germany - but that was special occasion beer. Tonight I'm craving the mundane.

And if it's mundane, beautifully simple entertainment I need, I look no further than my friend Will. Uni housemates for three years, we have a long and merry history of doing just this - taking up position in the sort of pub designed for men far older and (usually) far scarier than ourselves and debating (almost exclusively) the ins and outs of the current global football situation as we see it.

Tonight, since I haven't seen Will since the first evening of the World Cup, I'm looking forward to chatting about the tournament with someone, other than the podcast boys, whose interest in the game isn't exclusively limited to the World Cup and whichever team they happen to have drawn in the office sweepstake. We grab a couple of cold Kronenbourgs in the beer "garden" of the Hope and Anchor and discuss a tournament which has been, up to the current pre-Quarter Final stage, mixed in quality but not lacking in drama. We also spend a little time on the woefulness of England and the relative merits of teams who are actually able to get on with the game and play football in a tournament like they've actually done so before.

Will also offers his congratulations on the engagement, which is nice, and I offer my suggestions for the outfit I'd like to see his 6'4'' gangly skeleton parade around in on my wedding day. I think I finally settled on Lederhosen.