What a difference a weekend makes!

This was my first weekend off all year, and I spent it down in London with friends and family, firstly at one of my best mate's weddings, then my normal sporting routine took over with a day of golf on the Saturday and a 6-a-side cricket tournament at my old club on the Sunday.

Does it get any better? Well it did mean, unfortunately, while visiting my mother and staying in the land of no Sky sports and internet that for once I wasn't glued to the weekend's sporting activities, missing pretty much all of the football, cricket, tri nations and even the Olympic Closing ceremony.

(Although, from what I understand, the one little part that we were involved in organising - the double decker with Beckham and Led Zeppelin - was so cringe-inducing that it set the scene beautifully for our Chas & Dave and jellied eels Opening ceremony in 2012)

So instead of giving you my nonsensical impressions of the weekend of sport, I will let you know what I got up to, and how it was the perfect weekend!

Read on ...

I did something I don't often do on Saturday at 2.59pm.

I let out a bit of a girly scream on my Offside show as the footy season was about to kick off, the anticipation of the last two months of signings, all the hype in the papers and, of course, all the rhetoric spouted by people like me paid to talk about it.

It was finally here!

Now I love all sport (seriously, I'm getting scared at how addicted I'm getting to the weirdest of events in the Olympics. The other day I sat for two hours watching the team Final for Show Jumping.

Honestly, show jumping.

I hate that kind of thing normally, but the tension and the drama of the final, and the 61 year-old Canadian guy who took it to a final ride-off (what a legend - an Olympian in his 60s!) just added to the drama.

Although I would like to suggest that the cheerleaders so prevalent on the beach volleyball court are used in all events.

But my love of sport went into overload when I suddenly realised that the footy season once more was upon us.

I love the Olympics for many reasons, but it took until 10am Sunday morning for me to really get into this amazing event in Beijing.

I knew I was hooked as I bit my nails, fretting whether the GB Women's Archery team could nail a couple of tens in their last end to put the pressure on the French team for the bronze medal.

I wouldn't mind but I had already picked the facts up from the commentator, so that when my housemate joined me on the sofa I could inform him of such exciting titbits as: "Oh, watch out for her, she won bronze in Athens and has been a full-time pro ever since!"

Or: "Well, technically, if it breaks the line it's a nine not an eight ... idiot!"

Before the archery we witnessed Team GB's first gold medal, in the torrential rain that was the cycling road race.

Congratulations to Nicole Cook, who took gold when even such cycling luminaries as myself thought she'd blown it on the last corner.

Also well done to those girls who got gold and bronze in the swimming up and down in the pool event. This was a great achievement, and an amazing race.

But wait, there was more ...

Footy's back - and what a start to his Birmingham City career for Kevin Phillips, scoring the winner for the Blues in the last minute of injury time against Sheffield United!

I've always liked Phillips. He strikes you as a hard-working player who never rests on his laurels, and who also has a huge amount of talent.

When MacLeish signed him from the Baggies a few people raised their eyebrows. At the age of 35 he isn't getting any younger, and they thought he might just be looking for a cushy deal to retire on.

But no, I can see him providing a vital boost to the Blues promotion bid, and it might just be the best bit of business ever if his goals get Birmingham back in the Premiership.

The start of the season wasn't so good for Derby and Paul Jewell will be hoping for a win as soon as possible to help his team's fortunes improve. The stats show it has been something like 478.298 years since they actually won a game.

Winning is what Kevin Pietersen managed after his first game in charge of the England team, and I must admit I was very impressed in the style in which we managed to achieve this.

With Harmison looking back to his best, and the rest of the bowling unit stepping up to the plate, we didn't even have that many nervous moments in chasing down the runs to win.

Although you do get the impression that if it were not a dead rubber game, with the Saffers having already won the series, that the result might have been a bit more hotly contested.

I think KP faces some much sterner tests in the future, but it's a great way to show that being captain won't affect your natural game by hitting a ton in your first game in charge.

I got a nice surprise this week for the Mighty Harborne CC by being asked to make the move up to the first team to open the bowling.

The scene was set for a devastating up the hill opening spell in which I took all 10 wickets, scored a ton and even pulled the barmaid after the game (Hang on, wasn't it Steve behind the bar on Sunday? Oh wel,l you get the point).

Alas it was not to be as a torrential downpour robbed us of our game. Ah well, as they say in cricket, there's always next week!

Lecker Boet!

So it finally came to an end, the most successful England captain has quit from his post, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Well, apart from maybe at the Pietersen residence.

Michael Vaughan ended his tenure as skipper with the dignity and pride that has become synonymous with his reign.

The selectors went for Kevin Pietersen as the new captain of England and, I have to agree, I think they made the right choice.

So what if he wasn't born here?

He wears the Three Lions with pride, and I feel that if he is playing for England, there is no reason why he can't be captain. In fact, I would make him chief of selectors, coach and Prime Minister all at the same time.

Sure, in the past, appointing our best players like Flintoff and Botham has backfired spectacularly, with both not actually winning a game during their time in charge, but KP is different.

So Robbie Keane has made the northwards journey to his childhood favourite football team Liverpool for a credit crunch-busting £20.8 million, and at first I was dumbstruck by this piece of business.

Don't get me wrong. Having watched the Irishman ply his trade at our arch-rival Spurs for the last six seasons (I support the mighty Arsenal, of course!) there can be no doubt he has talent.

And I was surprised to hear during this time he has managed 107 goals in 254 appearances, which by any standards isn't bad, especially when you consider he has had to fight for his first team place, and he is also only about 3 feet high.

My biggest shock was probably at the price they paid.

At 28, Keane is not getting any younger, and with the fresh new talent that is out there, I felt that Benitez might have misplaced his decimal point when he signed the cheque.

But now, having had time to mull it over, I think this could be a stunning bit of business for the Reds.

When you think about it, they have one of the best out and out strikers in the world with Torres, and the biggest piece of the puzzle they have been missing is a decent support striker who can not only make chances, but bang them away, as well as being able to make the unexpected happen.

Gerrard filled this role towards the end of last season, but think how much more influence he can have on a game in centre midfield with Keane and Torres' movement ahead, and the Irishman's eye for a pass!

I reckon I can see why Rafa dug so deep into his wallet to get his man.

Keane is a proven Premiership player, and has bags of ability. It will be interesting if Benitez can make this front two click, because if he can, Liverpool might finally have a strike partnership to take them to the title.

Twenty Twenty Finals day came around on Saturday, and with teams looking to not only win the tournament at the Rose Bowl, but to qualify for the plethora of Champions League, Stanford Cup, and other prestigious tournament places that were up for grabs, there was that little extra bite.

I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure the winning two teams get to go play the Royal Family at Windsor in a one-off day/night game or garden party with £500 billion going to the team that looks most like Ian Botham.

OK, that might be a little off, but I'm sure I am not alone in being so confused with all these new tournaments springing out of nowhere, and who gets to play what.

Now have the ICL, the IPL, and the EPL, and you can't play in the IPL if you have played in the ICL, and they won't let you in the Champions league if one of your players has ever been to Wales.

And quite right, too.

With all of that confusion out of the way, when the games actually started, it was one of the great days for showcasing cricket.

Both semi-finals had plenty of drama, and with the final itself going to the last ball and with perfect weather all day, you couldn't have asked for more.

Well, apart from the phone numbers of those boundary girls (the skimpily dressed blondes who dance like inebriated hamsters every time someone hits a 4!

Congrats must go to Middlesex for pulling off the win, and especially to Tyrone Henderson, their South African all-rounder whose batting was more destructive than the Hulk, and his ability to keep calm and bowl at the death spectacular, especially when it came down to the last two balls.

Sticking with cricket, the Mighty Harborne Sunday 2's recorded another win this weekend against Moseley to make it six in a row!

I was especially keen to beat our local rivals as the away fixture was the only game I have played in and lost this season, and after that narrow defeat, there was certainly a bit of edge in the return fixture.

Well, until about five overs in when we already had 60 on the board.

Honestly, as an opening bowler, there is nothing better than the oppo winning the toss and putting you in to bat when it's 30 degrees, especially when your batsmen effectively take the game away from them in the first 10 overs.

I have not seen batting as classy and as demoralising for the opposition as I saw on Sunday for years.

Special mention to our opener Emir who smashed 161 off about 70 balls, and he was supported ably by all the other batsmen, including Andy and Raj who put on 100 in the last ten overs to post a whopping total of 386-6 off 45 overs.

With a score like that to chase, the oppo were always in trouble, and it was great to grab a couple of wickets in my spell early as we reduced them to 42-6 off the first 16 overs!

As you can guess, we managed to wrap up the big W, eventually winning by 295 runs, which was the perfect revenge for the loss earlier in the season.

Only two more games to go in the league, and two wins out of two would put us in amongst the leaders, so I'm off to go work on my run up. If I get that sorted, who knows, I might even bowl a straight one!

Hang on Peter, I'll get my kit!

I'm sorry the blog is a little bit late this week, but that was because I, along with every other club cricketer in the country, have been awaiting a certain phone call from England coach Peter Moores, telling me that I have been picked to play the Saffers at Edgbaston next week.

I even bought some new cricket trousers with a few less holes in just in case the England selectors decided to play another game of bowler Bingo, where they pick a complete random player out of a hat to have his chance on the big stage.

It's a game they must be playing to keep themselves entertained. Let's be honest, being an England selector can't be that much fun, as I can't fathom any other reason why Pattinson got called up.

Not to have a go at him, but he was as surprised as the next person.

He tried his best, and if he had blown away the South Africans and taken 10 wickets in the match, we would have all called it a master stroke, but he didn't.

He looked about as likely to take a wicket as my mum after a few sherries on a Sunday afternoon in the park.

They should have picked me, on the basis that I am a few months younger, I also used to work on a building site, I bowl a bit quicker and have taken more wickets this season, albeit for the mighty Harborne Sunday 2's.

Besides, I almost scored with Michelle Pfeiffer ...

Well, I waited a day to write this as I was anticipating an incredibly exciting end to the 1st Test between England and South Africa at Lords.

How wrong was I? I'm gutted. I missed out on spending an afternoon watching paint dry instead.

Take nothing away from South Africa - they performed brilliantly in the second innings, with Smith and McKenzie leading from the front, and Amla showing why he has scored so many runs already in his fledgling career.

And the England bowlers didn't do anything wrong. They tore in all day and put the ball in the right areas, but with little or no swing available, they just couldn't do enough on a pitch that was as flat as a 5 day-old beer.

Now I love my test cricket but for it to have a bright future, especially with the rise of 20/20, I think groundsmen should be looking to at least give the players a pitch that will allow a result.

Let's be honest, playing any sport for five days only to get a draw isn't exactly going to get kids around the country queuing up to play, is it?

Music-wise, this week sees the release of two great albums for all you rock lovers.

There's The Subways' return with All Or Nothing, the follow-up to 2005's amazing debut Young for Eternity.

So what have they been playing at for three years?

Well, the lead singer had to recover from career-threatening surgery to remove nodules on his vocal chords, there were also band and relationship issues, but thankfully all of them have been resolved, and to see them happy and making amazing rock music is awesome.

These guys and gals played a Live @ Kerrang gig during the week, and blew me away.

They have always had the ability to combine dirty riffs and scuzzy bass with complicated harmonies, but with this album they take it to new levels, and it gets a big Luke thumbs up.

If this wasn't enough, the track Turnaround is one of the best things I have heard for ages, and even on first listen had me prancing around like a kangaroo on a trampoline.

They also signed my motorbike (kindly donated by those excellent folk at Streetbike), which we are getting loads of bands to sign and then we will auction off for The Teenage Cancer Trust later in the year.

I pretended that Charlotte, the rather attractive bass player, actually put a kiss on the fuel tank for me but I think she was just being friendly. If only I had more chloroform! Check it out!

Another album worth checking out is the eagerly anticipated return of the Electro/rock/pop legend that is Beck with Modern Guilt.

Produced by Dangermouse (the genius behind Gnarls Barkley and many more!), this album is slightly more eclectic, but with added beats and electric noises adding to Beck's already impressive soundscape.

It's one that you can mellow out to but also play at a party and people will get up and dance on their hands!