I tried so hard to motivate myself to get up from a comfy lounger in the garden and watch the Ireland vs England match, but what with the sun being glorious and the prospect of end of season international friendlies being anything but, I just couldn’t do it.

There was one period – just after the second half – where I had to come in because I was a wee bit too hot and also needed to phone Clarks to ask them about exchanging a pair of shoes for my Dad, in which I was on hold and so watched 15 minutes or so, but that was pretty much all I could stand.

The only real interest from an Arsenal perspective came from Jack Wilshere who, depending on which journalist you read was either the most effective of a pretty poor bunch, or once again failing to sparkle.

I think most of the sensible journos are going for option A, with those who obviously have click targets to achieve trying for a bit of option B, but given I go for option C (don’t bother reading any of it) doesn’t really impact my life too much. The fact of the matter is that this was an ill-timed friendly in a point in a year in which most of the players will have been wishing they were already on their holidays. The stretching of next season so it starts at the beginning of August means that player recouperation time will be short enough as it is, so whacking an international friendly in is about as helpful as asking Jack Warner to invest some cash into good causes.

Most of the players will be jetting off on their holidays now I’d expect, which means that the transfer machine will be roaring into life and spewing forth its contents in a furious manner for the foreseeable future. Arsenal have already signed Benzema, Cech, Higuain, Kondigbia, Schneiderlin and Pele if you believe what you read, so the sensible option is not to bother. Take up a hobby. I was thinking about doing something useful with my hands, because I spend two hours a day on the tube, so I need to find something other than NewsNow and Twitter to occupy my time. Maybe I’ll try knitting. Sure, I might get the odd look from people, but if I can bosh out a home made Arsenal scarf or bobble hat, perhaps that will bring some semblance of masculinity to the pastime. 

No, probably not.

Maybe I should throw my hat in to become the next Mayor? After all, Sol Campbell appears to be looking for a hobby at the moment and that’s his latest attempt at something to do, so perhaps it’s worth me giving it a go. Plant a few trees, kiss a few babies, sit in City Hall and get abused by other politicians who want to be mayor but didn’t get enough votes. Seems something that could keep me busy. I’d only want to do it for a couple of months though, because as soon as the season started i’d be conspicuous in my absence, so maybe not the best option for me. Maybe should start reading about non-football stuff. I see loads of people with novels and Kindle’s, so perhaps I should give that a go? I’d need to get back in to practice though, so maybe I’ll start by reading Fever Pitch. I am a slow reader though and it will probably take me a couple of months to get through it, which will take me to August and then I can start obsessing about Arsenal again. Yes, perhaps I’ll do that.

So, it’s settled then, my non-football hobby for the summer will be to re-read Fever Pitch again. Jolly good.

See you tomorrow.