So the season ended for Villa with a satisfying sixth place, and a spot in the Intertoto Cup. Another year of improvement, after an eleventh place the season before. A run in one of the Cups would have been nice, but never mind. We've now lost a few squad players, and new signings seem imminent, with the likes of Steve Sidwell, Brad Guzan, David Bentley etc all expected to sign for us. Here's hoping...

On to us! We had a great morning at the Villa back at the beginning of May, for Football Aid. Our Craig played at central midfield, along with site host and friend Lee at, initially, left back before he moved to right back. That sort of versatility could get him noticed! The lads both played well in searing heat, and special mentions must go to the two Managers - Chris Nicholl and Charlie Aitken, along with legend Pat Heard who played a blinder. Sadly they narrowly lost but it didn't dampen an unforgettable event for them. Better luck next time! Here's a few shots of the match:

At the end of May, my gorgeous wife Kelly and I took a very much needed and well deserved break - this time, as ever, we went via the Eurostar and TGV, down to the South of France. This time we went from the rebuilt St. Pancras station - which was very nice if you like glass and shops. Not a lot of heritage left there, sadly, of the old interior, although the building itself remains iconic. We arrived in Aix En Provence on the Friday afternoon, after whizzing down through France at 200mph+ for three and a half hours. We picked up our hire car, and tootled off to our hotel, the Aquabella in Aix. We had three lovely nights here, with the weather being nice until we left on the Monday morning, by which time it had turned rather ugly. Here's my beautiful girl in the old town of Aix, chilling out, along with one or two shots of Aix and ugly me by the Rotonde!

Then we drove on to Cannes, home, of course, to the world famous Cannes International Film Festival, which has closed the day before we arrived, so we didn't get to see any stars. We did see the hotels bedecked in Hollywood paraphinalia for each film that sponsored the hotel, and the red carpet was still there, albeit somewhat soggy. We stayed at the Sofitel Mediterrane,which has a charm to it, but is a little dated in places. We didn't get to sample the outside pool, as it constantly poured with rain. Whilst in Cannes, we drove over to Grasse to visit the Fragronard perfume factory, and get a few gifts for the family, and then plonked ourselves in a local bar, the Equator, where we met some lovely people, Tim, who's a big Villa fan (this nutter and his Dad fly back for every home match and almost all away games!) and his lovely Mom and Dad, Rog. They are all lucky enough to have moved to the sunshine, with Roger & Cynthia recently completing to move up the road from Tim and his lovely wife Sandra - good luck on your new home folks, great to meet you! As it would be rude not to, we went out for a meal and several drinks with Tim & Sandra, and as I said to Tim the other day, me and him would still be sat there now, drinking, if it wasn't for our trusty wives! Anyway, great to see you both, hope to see you soon.

Of course, it was our First Wedding Anniversary on the 26th, and a year that has flew past. Kell and I had bought each other some little mementoes for our Anniversary, and we had a lovely night out too - thank you for a wonderful year babe, you are the best wife anyone could ever wish for xxxx I love you more with every passing day, if that's possible, and life wouldn't be complete without you xxx Thank you for making me so happy darling xxxx

We ended our little break with a couple of nights back at our Honeymoon hotel - Kell couldn't resist seeing as we were so close to the area! So we checked into the Le Meridien Juan les Pins for the last couple of nights, and had a wonderful time, despite the weather still not having improved. It was lovely to see the place again, and lie in bed and see the sea! We had a great time, if only the weather had brightened up it would have been perfect. Anyway, we then went back to Aix for a night, before we got the TGV back to Lille on the Sunday, and the Eurostar back to London, before sitting in traffic for an hour and a half trying to get out of the place. Next time I think we'll go from Ebbsfleet International, give that a try. Just means going over that dreaded Jubilee Bridge!

Finally, for this update, we were lucky enough to go to the Nelson Mandela 46664 concert at Hyde Park last week, and without any doubt the highlight was when the great man came on stage and spoke. I had a lump in my throat and a bit of grit in my eye, I think! More on that lovely night soon. Thanks for sticking with us, the hits on the site are as ridiculously high as ever! My next Q&A is coming up, this time with a Villa man, and a good friend of mine...

Cheers!