I'm a glory hunting, Surströmming eating, rumour reading Aston Villa fan

Morning all. We're not playing today or tomorrow which means I've not done a match preview yet and it also means I've sort of got a couple of days off. I'm not actually going to take them off, I'm still here, but it does mean, for all of us, that today is going to be different.

Now, this next part isn't going to be nice and we will have a couple of games in hand, but come Monday we could be bottom and even with a game in hand, come Tuesday, we could still be bottom. Bottom after three games, as that is how it will look, almost a 10% of the season.

It doesn't matter and fortunately for us, it isn't how you start the season, it is how you end and while a few have some concerns, we've played one game and I'm confident things will change.

But, all that doesn't matter just yet, as it's Saturday and we don't have any football. Instead, I'm going to be watching The Ashes, which is something I've only really briefly flicked over to this summer, because cricket isn't football, but seeing as we have a chance of winning them back, I'm going to watch and if we win them, I'm sure I'll be happy and I've also got a feeling that it is going to be quite exciting.

The Oval wicket is turning and I think we got the best of it and it all really does come down to the first few hours today. If we stand tall and firm, we can do it but it isn't over yet, it could still go horribly wrong.

But back to football. The rumour today is that Stephen Warnock is coming from Blackburn and that we are paying £8mn for him. It does seem a lot, but if that is the player Martin O'Neill wants and that is what he has to pay, then that is the deal.

He is a left back, which if true, doesn't seem like positive news for Nick Shorey and doesn't provide much hope for Bouma, who I fancy isn't going to wear a first team shirt again, which will be a pity, but you never know. If Warnock comes in for that money, you've got to fancy he will be first choice and if he comes in by Monday he'll be going back to the team where he started his career.

Anyway, I'm about to go finish cutting the grass, but I have to tell you about something I think I might be eating later today or tomorrow. It is called Surströmming and is considered a Swedish delicacy. It is fish, herring to be precise, fermented in a can for what seems like a lifetime when you open it, but it is, I'm told, only a year.

I could spend hours writing about it, the smell mostly, but instead, I'm just going to ask you to {rokbox title=|Surströmming :: A Swedish delicacy consisting of fermented herring| text=|watch this video on YouTube|size=|853 505| album=|demo|}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebNdCSqWmc&hd=1&autoplay=1{/rokbox} and hope that you will feel sorry for me.