Change of weather, change of podcast subject, switching to the ever entertaining film reviews on Five Live with Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, evidently live in Das Kapital: they will see Berlin before I do. More than one listener had witnessed Professor K. captaining the Australian footy team.

Hard cheese on the Sheilaroos going out to a last gasp dodgy penalty against an uninspired Italy, though Totti's take was top-notch. Every mention of Oz's Culina brought Nosferatu, aka Senor Vauxhall, to mind, and a Fractured tribute song rhyming Collina with the phrase deus ex machina. Final whistle and I leapt for the off switch, threatened with the mind-bending banality of McCoist, Townsend and Allardyce.

Praise be for digital TV's red button to get away from Mick McCarthy's impression of Graham Fellows doing Dave Tordoff. McCarthy dour, Ukraine dull, Switzerland duller. Sure sign of aging when you're more familiar with the coach than the players: ooh look, there's Blokhin, once a super striker like Van Basten and Klinsmann. Guest manager for the Swiss had the look of a local driving instructor. Blew up some balloons (for The Boy's birthday) during a prolonged extra time. Pleased to see the Carpathians go through, only 'cos Shovkovskiy was wearing a retro green Shiltonesque keeper's jersey. Someone should tell Shevchenko the trick to taking a Ukrainian penalty: don't take too many Steppes.