Off on my hols to Europe tomorrow and have been scanning the web for potential games in my vacationing vicinity. I was planning on SC Borea Dresden (formerly Dresden Nord) against Dynamo Dresden next Wednesday, but it clashes with my brother-in-law's weekly kickabout, and I still prefer to play than watch as long as I've got working legs. And I 'did' the Jaegerpark stadium (a generous depiction) a couple of years back when I saw Dresden Nord Reserves play FSV Zwickau, an afternoon no longer much talked about in Saxony footballing circles.

The following week there's Forfar vs East Fife on the Tuesday, and St. Johnstone against Burnley on the Wednesday. I likely won't get away with both, and the latter looks the more attractive fixture, if there is such a thing pre-season. On the other hand, although I went to Muirton Park 30 years ago and McDiarmid Park is there to be ticked off, it looks a flat-pack, unalluring structure. Station Park in Forfar looks better from an anecdotal point of view - that is, when I come back to DC and am mingling with hot young Capitol Hill interns in their 20s, saying I went to Forfar Athletic versus East Fife is sure to have the pol-chix wondering out loud and at length "how the bridies were".

The long term weather forecast for the Highlands is absolutely fucking miserable (11 degrees Celsius, "feels like" 8, on the day we get there), so I'll more than likely end up huddled up in front of a log fire roasting haggis, quaffing malt by the vat, and thinking that anyone who drives to Forfar on a freezing August night would have to be insane.