Advances...

A second trip to Wembley is on the cards - Hull FC's defence outstanding in the 16-22 victory over the Bradford Bulls in the Challenge Cup and propelling them into the semi-finals. There was someone on crazy, whacky commercial station KCFM this morning suggesting that Hull City's promotion to the Premier League will result in dramatic reductions in crime, raised educational standards and a city full of aspirational youngsters that spurn drink, drugs and twocing in favour of working hard and earning so much money that the whole of Hull can be rebuilt out of gold within a week. So, cripes, if FC manage to get their hands on the Challenge Cup again surely the entire universe will have no choice but to start to revolve around us?

Barton beer...

Finn visited his second beer festival in his six and a half month existence today when we headed over to Barton to catch up with Lozman and D. We ended up heading to the nearby park, where the 10th Annual Barton Lions Beer Festival was taking place in a marquee and fenced-off grassy area. Real ale is nice, of course (well, the stuff that doesn't taste of vomit, that is), but does have a tendency to contort the face with every mouthful.

Last Saturday's Wembley shindig feels as if it took place months ago now, although the city's heady optimism remains. I was included in the Mail's post-Wembley commemorative special, a mildly amusing quote attributed to me on one page, a photograph of our travelling party of four on another. Nice that I am within the pages of a document that people will be hanging on to for a few years to come.

Wembley...

This, if you'll excuse the bad stitching, is the view we enjoyed at Wembley. It looked somewhat different inside the stadium come kick-off...

And pretty magical come the final whistle...

Hull - a city of winners...

Daily Telegraph
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Sunday People
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If...

I have a bag full of pasties and crisps and my clothes are all ready to jump into in the early hours of tomorrow morning before I head off to Wembley. It'll be a great day.

I couldn't have missed such a significant moment in the city's history now, could I? But I'm really there for my dad, who would have given anything to have seen a player in black and amber crack in the goal that took his beloved Tigers into the top flight for the first time in their history. Everything is crossed in the hope that another dream is about to come true. Readers based in Orlando can watch the game here.

External...

On the strength that I am a theatre practitioner of sorts I have been asked to endorse a performing arts degree prior to a learning institution seeking external validation for the course. It's nice to be asked. Although, as I read through several reams of A4, it began to dawn on me that the students will not be studying me. I may have to kick up a fuss about that.

I am going to Wembley on Saturday. I am rather excited. It will be a big day out for the people of Hull, most of whom are exactly like the family recently seen in the television show The Duchess In Hull. So lock up your cheap sausages, we're on the march.

Wembley? Hull City? Been there, done that...

In 1986 - when I was 'between' building sites - I was an extra in Mark Herman's short film See You At Wembley, Frankie Walsh, which was about a football-mad bridegroom whose wedding day coincided with Hull City reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup. I only remembered this again last night (though as write this I'm thinking I may have mentioned it here before), jolted by the fact that M's cousin has a birthday party taking place on the Saturday of the Championship playoff final (poor thing, she's very concerned that everyone will be on London on her big day). And I hadn't realised that Mark Herman was the director until I imdb'd the title. It was, I've since read, Herman's thesis short when he was a student at the National Film and Television School and won an Oscar for best student film. I'm in it for around 0.025 seconds, walking out the back of the south stand at Boothferry Park. It was on BBC2 way back when. I think I'm right to assume that some of the 36,000 Hull City ticket allocation for the final has been put aside for those of us that endured all the hanging about between takes. Or maybe I'll just have to make do with the kudos of making a fleeting appearance in an Oscar winner and the memory of stale sausage rolls eaten in a shoddy catering caravan.