Went to the newly and excellently refurbished Freemasons at Wiswell last night. Excellent dining experience with superb quality food well presented and a fine selection of cask beers. Maybe not recommended for those with a voracious appetite. For the first time in years I had a pudding! Only query I have is that there are so many quality eateries within a couple of miles radius I wonder how they will all survive.

Home?

'Carlsberg Export' is a different animal to Carlsberg Paul.

Rum do this. I had a bit of business to see to in Gisburn so me 'n er indoors lunched today at the Bull at Broughton. Just sandwich, chips and cos it was lunchtime a pint of Wainwrights (the best chips in Christendom imo and just about the best bitter too) but I noticed that they had Pilsner Urquell and Peroni on draught! What gives? Favouritism for the tykes? There's one or two on here would have this down as racism I can tell you. Truth is I mentioned the lack of a quality lager in the Ribble Valley Inns to the chief cook at Langho one day and he said that their bar manager couldn't understand my point about quality lager. Seems like he's learning.

I came to that conclusion about the Champions league a few years ago. It's designed to be just a procession of elite clubs in the early stages. Crap and uninteresting.

I sussed the reason for this last year Tris when I swopped homes for 5 days with my sister. I went to her house between Beaconsfield and Higher Wycombe and she came here. Er indoors and I dined out every night down there and most lunches and found the service to be generally poor. When I phoned home r'kid had been to the Clog and said the service there was awful too. Anyway.......... It's university time isn't it! All the A level lot who have been working in the restaurants clear off to uni and the badly trained freshers from the Lower V1 intake move in. btw It's the reason imo BUT it should never be used as an excuse. Just like cooking the secrets in the preparation.

'Clakky Diner' to give it it's Sunday name I believe S.

He prob came up the M1 from London rather than the M6.

Largely ignored by SGE even though naturally left footed English players are as rare as hens teeth. Unfortunately as Heskey found to his cost SGE rarely looked beyong the top 4 clubs for his squad.

I cannot think of any England managers in my lifetime who had any managerial experience of international football when they were appointed. And not all that many who even had international experience as players.

Indeed ...... and it is also the foundation of much profit. 'When the front door is open, keep the back door closed' is good advice in business.

I must admit old Nige has a gift for making the cheapest cuts and offals (Wild rabbit / Black Pudding / Saus and mash / mutton pudding, tripe etc) into well respected and much lauded dishes. No wonder matey reckons it's great value is it? Nowt wrong wi that of course...... as they would say ova thills.

Neekoy........ it's a nice relaxing Sat morning and you have just sent my blood pressure through the roof! SGE started well enough but his tactical ineptitude was glaringly exposed in just 45 mins in the the WC quarter final v Brazil. With Ronaldo replaced and Ronaldinho sent off and we did not manage one shot on target in the second half simply because he could not adapt to their deep defending. Unbelievable that he kept us trying to pass to Owen down channels that were no longer there. He spent the second half looking like a rabbit caught in headlights. With all the best teams already out that represented our best chance by a mile to win it for the second time. Just Turkey and the worst German team in living memory in front of us and we could barely muster a bloody shot in 40 mins against 10 men. Even worse the daft barstewrads at the FA rewarded him with a megabucks contract until 2008! Unbelievable. There has always been some kind of mystique that to win Seria A in Italy you had to be a master tactician. SGE blew that theory to smithereens in Japan that year. After that his England career was all downhill with single best thing that happened to him was that his ineptitude was not exposed through the FA employing a complete numpty of a manager who was even worse.... Wally!

And news this am that the inter city line is to be upgraded. Edward kennedy dies whilst undergoing treatment for a tumour. 'F Troop' anyone?

Teams consisting of Blackburn and Burnley U13 schoolboys with Duggy, Fred and Ronnie guesting for us and Lockhead and Noble for them! Back to the drawing board Jan.

I was told years ago that the police would not shut the notorious pub The Queens on Town Hall St because as all the dealers and users congregated their the drug squad could quite easily keep an eye on the situation. He said that if they'd shut it down the drug scene would have fragmented all over the town and it would have required far greater manpower and effort to police. I guess this is the only reason for Millwall's existence?

He didn't say it per sae. All he said was 'in some schools......' The 'Get Big Ron' lynch mob was down to the workings of our press and media. Stick a secret mike in any workplace / pub / club etc etc and someone will get nabbed every five minutes for something un pc. Are they all deeply prejudiced? Not a chance.

Daniel wont be bothered about em thats for sure.

Clog and Billycock at Pleasington.......... yet again. Unless you prefer Chinese or IndoPak. Clog is 3 miles away and about a fiver in a taxi. If you want something really special then try Stanley House (5-6 miles and £8-10 in a taxi).

A gentleman and a true football man. A dying breed amongst the avarice, showbiz and win at all costs ambition of modern football managers if you'll all forgive the pun. He looked very poorly at the match last week but I'm amazed that he died so soon after yet was still able to attend. Obviously a very brave and selfless act. As a manager ..... Good, very good even but not a great. Maybe to become truly great managers need to have a bit of a tough bstard mentality about them and this may well have been his shortfall. He had the best player and playmaker that this country had seen for a generation in Hoddle yet would not / could not find a formula to play him in his best position and ended up wasting his world class talent on the wing. Also very fortunate latterly to have had the only other true world class playmaker at his disposal in Paul Gascoigne. Those two were exceptional talents which should somehow have seen us win something.

Expert? Surely you must have heard that an ex is a has been and a spurt is just a drip under pressure? Duk was enjoyable for lunch but depending on the nature of your business I'm not sure that it's 'formal' enough. Sorry but I'm not knowledgeable enough about Preston diners to help. Only ones I've been to in the distant past were Bistro French and Heathcotes...... but both a decade or so ago.

Pigged out proper yesterday through a combination of a work day off but with a business based evening meal. Duk in Preston for lunch which offers a slightly different but very enjoyable dining experience and the San Marco at Much Hoole in the evening. I'm off to the dieting thread now just for the craic.

La Scala on the A59 and Clayton le Dale do an 'any pizza or pasta for £3.99' night. Know I know that a soggy limp sarnie from a petrol station is £2 but even at that price I cannot recommend a visit. Poor fare.

Typing whilst driving is not normally regarded as safe practice.

Stanley House restaurant last night. Not for the people with voracious appetites seeking value for money but a superb and relaxed dining experience all the same. I could feed a family of 4 for a fortnight for about the same cost of course but the food was excellent and very imaginative and the setting discreet and selective. A very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere overall and one imo that is rather more favourable than it's great rival Northcote, where in my experience the staff are rather too stuffed shirt, overly invasive and a tad intrusive on what really should primarily be a 'social experience' rather than a 'Northcote experience'. Stanley House is costly of course as one would expect from any 5 star but if the drinks are kept in moderation the overall cost is not too bad for a special occasion. Alternatively if the drinks are to be free flowing and excessive then consider increasing your home loan to cover it.