I had to go to the British Museum to retrieve my anorak, which has been exhibited over the summer along with other prehistoric artefacts.

It saw service on a chilly Sunday afternoon at "The Warren" and will no doubt see a lot more over the next seven or eight months. I’ll probably buy a new one for the 2012 Olympics.

I went to 16 Youth Cup ties last season and saw some crackers. The first one of the current 'campaign', as we say in the business, was a Preliminary Round match between Hampton & Richmond Borough and Hayes which had been switched to the latter’s Church Road ground.

A crowd of 55 saw Hayes win 7-0 and I think it’ll take a good side to knock them out.

Every Vase game I’ve ever seen has been a 'battle'. And I mean that in a positive sense – every team has been so keen to get as far as they can along to road to Wembley (or to other major grounds since 2000). The Vase is for small teams; they can all dream of reaching The Final.

Both of my ties at the weekend finished 3-2 and both were excellent adverts for a competition now in its 32nd season.

I hadn’t been to Silver Jubilee Park, home of Kingsbury Town, for more than 20 years and I walked up to the entrance just as the Saffron Walden team were piling out of their mini-van.

With nearly an hour to kick-off I went straight into the clubhouse and watched some of Hull City v Luton Town on the big screen with a cold drink. On the next little table to me was an Asian lad wearing a St Mirren shirt. A few feet away one of the assistant referees was pumping up some balls.

I think there’s a new Vase rule this season that requires teams to enter the field side by side in two lines behind the match officials. At Kingsbury the corridor from the dressing rooms to the tunnel (a kind of wire cage) is so narrow that the players were practically wedged in together. The process of walking out onto the pitch took several minutes.

The Kingsbury No.9, 'Enoch', scored a very brave goal on 16 minutes to give the home side the lead.

He got his head to the ball a couple of feet off the ground a fraction of a second before a Walden player kicked it. His head, that is, not the ball. The physio rushed on and told the relieved player that there was no cut.

The Southall and Wroxham players were similarly lined up for a big entrance before an estimated 50 fans on Sunday. I heard one of the players joke: "Come on, let’s have a bit of intimidation!" At least I hope he was joking.