You can tell that the next Ashes series is almost upon us. What seems so soon after England won last year's series 2-1 the build up for the next series is growing and building up.

Whereas England are suffering with injuries the Aussies appear to be suffering from a few little internal squabbles but good old Glen McGrath has come out and repeated his 5-0 prediction.

England drew 0-0 with Macedonia. Not the greatest of games but then the England players never really got going. I fell asleep during the first half and came and went a little from the second.

Naturally, the 606 phone in afterwards became a bit of a farce. I had to turn off after a while, all the arm-chair fans who all think they know better and have already condemned Steve McLaren. Still, as with all managers there are those who will criticise regardless.

Footballers don't always play well and it's been a little unfair on Macedonia who aren't one of the very small countries who can't play football. Macedonia defended well and made attempts to get forward when they could.

Three days in Scarborough come to an end. I'm exhausted now.

The trouble with being self employed is working at home can sometimes be a little boring. It's also far too easy to not work as much as possible whereas visiting a client can focus the mind somewhat.

Still there are the pleasures of a few trips along to the coast on the train. I still enjoy trundling along on trains. Much like buses or planes they give you a chance to think, plan the day ahead (or evening when going home again).

The site revamp continues and the AFL goes into the finals. Smart and regular visitors will notice that the site now has a new host (more space, more bandwidth).

All the photo galleries have been redesigned with some new photos and some old ones removed.

Not much in the way of new writing but that'll change in due course as Wayward Wandering continues to expand.

Although most of the photography from 2004-2005 have now been added there are a few more to go. Some of the April 2004 photos have started to go into the system as well. There also some new ones from York (with some more to come). All the photography from the USA has still to be sorted and uploaded.

I was a bundle of nerves earlier, unable to do much of anything except listen to the start of the AFL finals, St Kilda currently lead the Demons by 20 at half time. The weather's gone bad and anything could happen in the second half.

How do you pass the time when you're travelling and those days of downtime come along?

It always happens, especially on the longer journeys around the world. You need a rest or the weather's so bad that even going outside would be painful.

Games were always the way to go when I was young. Board games, card games, word games. Whatever was available and whatever everyone wanted to play. Then the internet came along. These days internet gaming is big. Very big.

Poker especially seems to have become a national sport for some countries and the plethora of online websites has taken on epic proportions, from the simple to the complex. Millions of dollars change hands every day (even in countries where such behaviour is illegal).