A flying start

I should go away more often. On return from my two week sojourn in France, I was astonished to find Cardiff City sitting proudly on top of Division Two. (I'll leave it to others to call it the Championship). Even more astonishingly, Felinheli are lying second in the Caernarfon and District League and remain undefeated after four games.(I'll leave it to others to call it the Safeflue Caernarfon and District League).

I wasn't that astonished by Cardiff, as I had been receiving the papers whilst abroad. But from what I've read, it seemed that it was all a blip. Each game was a one-off. The Nationals are struggling with the idea of Cardiff lying in first place, and are treating the strange occurence with disdain. Whilst the Times covered last week's victory at Leeds with one sentence on the League Leaders and four paragraphs on the Yorkshiremen, The Observer barely saw fit to mention the match at all.

With Cardiff beating Birmingham 2-0 at home yesterday to go three points clear, Sports Editors across the country closed their eyes, covered their ears and hummed the Marseillaise. Today's Daily Express copes admirably, simply by ignoring the game between 1st and second in the Division. Even the Wales on Sunday led with Wrexham's League Cup draw on the back page. That was bizarre, even if it was a North Wales edition. You're either a National paper or you're not.

Meanwhile, Felinheli are also unbeaten, and rumours are circulating about a 6-0 win. I've only seen two wins since I moved to the village two years ago, and while I'm away, they decide to go for it. That's just plain vindictive.

In another certain confirmation of my jinx, while on holidays I went to see Barcelona, my favourite Continental side in the European Super Cup Final. They lost 3-0. Luckily I'm not going to Prague.