Unexpected Pleasures

As if the excitement that was a place in the FA Cup Semi Finals wasn't enough - there was more to the visit to Villa Park than just thinking that I'd have to be declared insane before trying the dogburgers on offer from the standard footie-identikit vendors scattered around.

Being a travelling footie fan meant that due to the absence of any Travel Jonahs on the way up to Villa, this happy hammer had around 4 hours to kill before turnstyles opened and the "greatest cup competition in the world" waddled into life - ahem, that flaming great that our match was on naffing Sky and not the beeb... So with the twin missions of finding something to do for a few hours and the growing need for a pee, the serendipitious find that is Aston Hall was truly welcome.

This is a free, let me repeat free, local stately home occupied by the Holte family (Holte End linkage) and also by James Watt Jnr, son of the engineer. The current Villa Ground is part of the fishponds and cesspools area from the great house and is worth a visit in it's own right. And not just because I needed a "comfort break" - although the guide had clocked that the average woman clad in team scarf and a sightly manic look in her eyes might welcome the update on facilities.

It's fantastic! Any fans wanting to kill time pre match v Villa, head up the Trinity Road and just for once, emphasise with life in a different era. The house is one of the Community Funded museums of Birmingham and is less nobby then the National Trust properties I've visited, with the trustees actually enthusiastic about what they are showing you and happy to point out small details. OK, it's not everyone's cup of tea (did I mention that coffee is 90p a cup and served in a proper mug) but for an unexpected find on a potentially grim afternoon, it's brill. Go see it, hunt out the remanents of the giant turtle, see if you can identify the bed ark and restain your companion from pinging an anicent fishbowl marked "Do Not Touch"

If you are into Jacobean architecture and lifestyle, this is a real find - and if you aren't, then the guides are used to fans wandering in with a rather fixed look in their eyes after a long coach journey.

And the football? We won. Cardiff here we come, recommendations for cultural gems welcomed.

Tree Hugging

My brother's birthday - always a dilemma. The dilemma being that as I have very little to do with him, it's really hard to buy him anything. I had shied away from the classic fall back for blokes of socks on two grounds; it was too much of a cop out and also, well I don't know what size feet he's got. This decision was a baaad one as upon discussions with the Oracle, footcoverings had been a required article. Bugger.

The perfect gift presented itself to me in the form of a twisted willow tree. I'd be leaping around like a frog in a sock if I was given one. Who wouldn't be thrilled to the gills with a twisty tree heralding in spring? I think I found the answer to that.

Still, there are a lot of advantages to buying a tree (well grafted sapling to be precise).

You don't have to wrap it - well I guess a half hearted attempt could have been made to put a bow on it.

It's really hard to not use it - afterall all you have to do is plant it and it's not like you can just wheel out on high days and holidays in the unlikely event of a visit by the giver (in my case it would probably have turned to fossil fuel before I was likely to be dropping in)

It's a constant reminder of the kind person who gave it to you......

It can't be passed on to someone else as a cheapskate way of funding another present

There is endless fun involved in getting into a car as twisty it may be, flexible and foldable it isn't. Much hilarity can be sourced from watching someone wrestle with Nature's Gift in an attempt to get into a car that has been boxed in all sides. Although there is a slight trade off here in that much fun can be sourced by walking blithely around with said article not realising just how close you are getting to "treeing" someone.

And of the course the best bit is when someone opens the door and you can thrust a tree at them and say "it's a tree, for a present" and beam like a very contented gloworm.

Happy Birthday!