Updates, updates

I'd like to draw your attention to a couple of my favourite haunts. Firstly, at last, the redesign of the mighty Acts Of Gord has been launched. Gord owns a video games store and anyone who's ever worked in technical support or customer services will recognise the people who try his patience. Secondly I just have to point out a particular gem at Uncle Bob's Diary O' Chuckles. Uncle Bob is a very funny man indeed, not only much funnier than I ever manage to be, which is irksome enough, but much funnier than any man who isn't a professional comedian has any right to be. As you will see when you read And Maybe The Pope Could Be Our Best Man.

European football rocks

Personally I loathe the Champions League and the avarice and elitism it represents. However, it does have the useful purpose of allowing the casual fan to attend games in places for which getting tickets is normally difficult.

And what a genuinely awe-inspiring stadium the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund is. It's not just that it's immense, though it is immense; it's not just that you're close to the pitch, though you are; it's not just that the sight-lines are superb, though they are; it's a combination of all of these. It holds 69,000 people. The terrace behind the south goal holds 24,000 alone and 24,000 people standing together in one place make a hell of a lot of noise. The rake of the seating is something like 35º which means that no matter where you sit or stand you aren't far from the pitch and there is not a bad view in the entire place. Access to and from the stadium via the Dortmund Underground is excellent too; I was back in the central railway station 25 minutes after the end of the match, and that included starting from the furthest side of the stadium.

It's the most fabulous stadium I've ever visited; the only place that surpasses the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It is a true cathedral of football. You get the chance, you should go there.