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They’ve upgraded me at the hostel for free, I’m now in a 4 bed (not bunk either) en-suite dorm instead of an 8 bed (bunk) one. They had some trouble with the lads in the 8 bed one and don’t want to put other guests with them, result. From the look of their sunglasses and clothes they looked a right bunch of numptys anyway.

I just saw the Sunderland ‘beach ball goal’, hilarious. It’s even worse than this one.

Okay I’ve been sat planning for getting to Italy for hours now and I’ve figured out how to get to the port at Patra from here (€15 on the bus) and also what ferries are available to Bari and prices (my ISIC should save me a nice few bob, though as cabins are really expensive I’ll just get a deck pass which will mean that will be a long night!). After that I’d intended to go to Sicily but reluctantly, I don’t think I’m going to anymore.

The main reason is that once in Bari, Sicily is not very easy to get to. I’d have to change about 4 times on a train (one of them being at Napoli where I was going to get a ferry to after Sicily) and it takes ages and gets me in at daft o’clock in the morning meaning another day lost (which I can’t really afford) plus I’d have been in transit for nearly 2 straight days by then. And all this is if there’s no delays and missed trains etc.

Another reason is that it would free up an extra 4 days which would give me a lot more breathing space with the rest of my hectic schedule.

But the main reason I can justify this is that my original Europe trip plan was to go from Manchester to Palermo on my Vespa so this gives me a huge incentive to still do that trip on a much smaller scale (maybe 4 weeks or so) in the future. I really want to see Taormina, Syracuse, Mount Etna, Palermo etc. and to do it all on an Italian scooter is still my dream. One day I assure you.

So my revised rough plan is:

Sun 18 – Athens
Mon 19 – Athens
Tues 20 – Night ferry
Wed 21 – Napoli
Thurs 22 – Napoli
Fri 23 – Rome
Sat 24 – Rome
Sun 24 – Rome
Mon 26 – Florence
Tues 27 – Florence
Wed 28 – San Marino
Thurs 29 – Venice
Fri 30 – Venice
Sat 31 – Milan
Sun 1 – Milan
Mon 2 – Vaduz
Tues 3 – Munich
Wed 4 – Munich
Thurs 5 – Zurich
Fri 6 – Zurich
Sat 7 – Bern
Sun 8 – Geneva
Mon 9 – Geneva
Tues 10- Monaco
Wed 11 – Andorra
Thurs 12 – Andorra
Fri 13 – Madrid
Sat 14 – Madrid
Sun 15 – Madrid
Mon 16 – Lisbon
Tues 17 – Lisbon
Wed 18 – Seville
Thurs 19 – Seville
Fri 20 – Valenicia
Sat 21 – Valenicia
Sun 22 – St Jean D’ Angely
Mon 23 – St Jean D’ Angely
Tues 24 – St Jean D’ Angely
Wed 25 – St Jean D’ Angely
Thurs 26 – Normandy (town/city TBC)
Fri 27 – Normandy (town/city TBC)
Sat 28 – Normandy (town/city TBC)
Sun 29 – Paris
Mon 30 – Paris

That looks a lot more managable than my first draft.

I’ve booked a hostel for Napoli and figured out which train to get there from Bari though a bus would probably be better, there’s no info online so I’ll see if I can find out once I’m actually there. The train is plan beta (Greek that is).

I should really go eat and have a shower and shave now, it’s been a long day/night and I’m starting to resemble some what of a waif. Then my next task (and most important of the day by a country mile) will be to find somewhere to watch the Pie Eaters vs City game. Might have a butchers at this ancient Greek stuff knocking about as well at some point.

Well I’ve got the warmth I was after, it’s not boiling but it’s okay to wear shorts. It’s a nice change compared to the last few places I’ve been.

I’ve found a boozer showing the match, is Sky as well and not just a foreign feed. Though with David Platt being one of the ‘pundits’ I think I’d rather it was Bulgarian telly being piped in.

As part of my regular pre-match schedule (dependent on Skype when abroad), I gave the old man a ring. After about 5 minutes he started giggling like a little school girl after I said something innocuous, every few years or so this happens with him. The last great one was when we were fishing (it’s a loose term) on the Bridgewater Canal when I was 14 and for whatever angling related mishap, he was off. The problem is that within 0.4 seconds I end up in the same state. I had to hang up.

The beer I’m drinking (Mythos) is shockingly bad, flatter than the Netherlands. But it’s €3 a pint as opposed to €4 (which would get me 4 or 5 pints in Albania) for the Carlsberg. I think I’ll nurse this one for the 1st half and then treat myself to the Danish stuff at HT.

There’s an American fella here in a Fulham shirt, bit strange that. If I remember rightly, Michael Jackson was a Fulham fan. I do, see here for details. Diheard he was too, it was said that he outright refused to miss a Fulham youth team under 13s game. Crikey.

Argh the American guy has Dempsey on the back of his shirt. They've had quite a few American players in the the last few years. That explains it.

I learnt to stomach the Greek stuff in the end, hobo style 'n all. €1 extra a pint adds up. What do euros make? prizes?, bankers happy?, modern art when strewn across the floor?. Negative to all, more pints is the answer.

Chris Kirkland just dislocated his finger, ouch. His tough guy reaction alone has pushed him ahead of Ben Fester in the England goalkeeping queue for me. Not quite Bert Trautmann levels of heroism mind, that man deserved a 3rd Iron Cross for the '56 FA Cup Final.

When Santa Cruz came on for the injured Adebayor it, did anyone spot the strange knee support things he was wearing? They looked like stockings and suspenders. Unfortunately I can’t find a picture but you could say it was a proper ‘Roque Horror Show’. I should really work for The Sun, their editor would commit patricide for that sort of back page pun.

So a point is probably a fair result, we certainly didn't deserve 3. When you consider that Wigan would more than likely take everyone of our starting 11 in place of theirs, you have to give them a lot of credit. They played proper football throughout. Definitely our bogey team though, I've had some very grim days at the JJB (or whatever it's called these now).

I had 2 gyros (insert Scouser joke here) when the barman was asking about as he was ringing for a delivery, at less than 2 sherbs each I thought these a better idea than the €12 meal facing me otherwise (from a glance at menus in the area). I got one chicken and one pork, nicety nice.

I had one more pint for the road and then some lad from Bath sat down at my table and I was talking to him but I didn’t really like him to be honest. He’d been working on some Greek island for the last 4 months and had a really annoying intonation when speaking, it was like he was talking to you like you were foreign, a bit like this. He also insisted on constantly boasting about his bedroom antics in Greece, I had no interest in hearing this. The problem was he bought me a pint so I was obliged to do likewise. Then he done it again, after I finished the 4th pint with him I made sure I was off before a 5th was got. I’d had more than enough of this toff by then.

So with all the planning and then the football I’ve not really seen Athens yet. I expected that to be the case though. Tomorrow I will correct this.

Today’s snap, like yesterday’s, is from Ohrid.