I had the strangest dream this morning - I was lying in bed in New Zealand, but I was quite vividly watching Newcastle get relegated in spineless fashion. Ah well - even if it wasn't just a dream, I've seen it happen twice before, and being on the other side of the world is certainly good for getting perspective. And just think - I reckon I've only been to 10 or so Championship grounds, so plenty of opportunity to add to that tally at the likes of Doncaster :-( I would imagine that the toon is a pretty sombre place at the moment...

Drove from Queenstown to Dunedin today, the 'Edinburgh of the South'. By NZ scenery standards, it was a fairly unextraordinary drive. I got here earlier than I have been typically arriving in places, which gave me the opportunity to walk around a little bit in daylight. I've heard of tribute bands, but never tribute towns before... all the streets I've seen seem to have Edinburgh equivalents, and there's even a 'Scotland Shop' across the road from this internet joint selling tat which wouldn't look out of place on the Royal Mile.

One big disappointment though - there's a famous whisky bar at the railway station, but it only opens Thursday-Saturday - what's that about?!

I had a meal in Queenstown a couple of nights ago which was soundtracked by 'Automatic for The People' and 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' - tremendous. It brought back vivid memories of the flat I lived in when they came out (1995? 1996? Bewick Court - the tower block for those of you who knew it) They were picking tracks off the latter (including "1979" twice in a row), so I requested "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" - just as well they were closing up or it would have scared off any genteel customes. For those of you who don't know it, the chorus is a shouty "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage".

Of course, I don't have it on my ipod now that my memory of it has been prodded, so I just put it on random today - it usually turns up something I fancy listening to within four or five tracks. And today's random selection brought up Creedence Clearwater Revival. I'll close this rambling entry by quoting some very relevant (at the moment anyway!) lyrics:

- Left a good job in the city Working for the man every night and day

- And I never lost one minute of sleeping Worrying about the way things might have been

And on that note - I'm off for some food.