Have been watching, and enjoying, the ESPN build up to the FA Cup for the last 3 hours. Think they have done a great job, but as we approach 3pm I am turning over to the BBC to watch …….. Snooker!

Seriously what is that about! There is something seriously wrong when the FA and TV are allowed to be so dismissive towards tradition and nostalgia!

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Am struggling to remember ever having so much apathy towards the FA Cup Final. In previous years it has been easy to support my own team (Man Utd), the underdog or even a stylish way of playing.

This year I couldn’t care less! Chelsea represent to me pretty much everything that is wrong with the modern game, and while I can usually muster enthusiasm to at least watch in the hope that they get beaten, this year that would mean wanting Liverpool to win, and I am afraid that Dalglish’s arrogance and the clubs acceptance of racism earlier in the year means they are second only to Chelsea in teams I dislike!

In fact the racism question will linger over the final for both teams.

But there is another contributor to my apathy: boredom with the sheer volume of underwhelming football on TV.

It seems to me that despite the best endeavors of pundits and commentators to convince us that everything is ‘the best’, ‘brilliant’, these days, I think the better teams are getting worse, which is why the others are catching them up.

Time wasting, cheating, diving, feigning injury, rugby tackles, lack of respect to officials, spitting, lack of use of technology …. the ‘beautiful game’? You are having a laugh!

And as for 5.15pm kick offs and playing the semi-finals at Wembley, ‘they’ have killed the nostalgia and traditions, and with it our loyalty!

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Many expats in Spain are claiming the country’s financial troubles are forcing them back to the UK. But their problems run deeper than that, says Chris Marshall. You can read my latest column for Telegraph Expat here

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Our little girl is two today. She is a very small cat, and timid around people that she doesn’t know, but around Sands and I and the other cats she is lovely, sweet, and when required a right little madam!

Basically if she wants something she gets it. She may be the smallest of the gang, but she is as feisty as they come, and more than stands up to the three boys, and wins. At the same time she is unbelievably pretty and cute as the latest pictures below show.

As I sit her typing this she is walking round the desk with her tail and head in the air, purring away and as happy as you could wish a cat to be – a far cry from when Sands rescued her with her badly broken leg, and the vet suggested we had her put down.

We didn’t and every time we take her to the vet for her annual injections Miguel is reminded (and thanked) for doing such an amazing job in saving her leg, and with it her life!

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Over the weekend Mick and I drove 45 cats and 2 dogs to their new homes in Germany for Sands and my ALStrays cat and dog re-homing and transport project.

One of the dogs was a sweet little chap called Zero. When we took the little chap for a walk and to go the toilet I have to say that he had both Mick and I in tears.

He certainly has a very distinct way of having a pee!!!

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Another birthday celebration today, this time for the youngster in the family, Dusky. The little fella is one today, and it is amazing how well he has settled into our life.

You couldn’t wish for a happier more placid cat, that gets on with everyone, and seems incapable of walking and not purring at the same time!

He purred all the way back from the beach when we found him abandoned last summer, and Sands had fallen in love with him by the time she had carried him back.

All the other cats love him to bits and he is such an appreciative cat, demands very little, and is always on the look out for something or someone to play with.

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Mori is 6 years old today! Amazing to look back over the last 5 and a half years that we have been privileged to have been owned by the handsome fella, at how quickly the time has gone and how much our lives have changed.

When we adopted Moreno both Sands and knew it was going to change of life, and to be honest the desire to change was a huge factor in our decision. We had already decided to base ourselves in Spain, but had spent the previous 18 months splitting our time between Spain, UK and USA and we both felt that we had had enough of that lifestyle and wanted a more grounded, simpler future.

Enter Moreno and the start of a truly amazing 6 years. With 5 cats and the ALStrays cat re-homing and transport project a testimony to how much influence he has had on our lives, it isn’t overstating it to say that the little fella has totally transformed and influenced our lives.

As we have added more cats to the family he has been brilliant with all of them, and he loves playing with them, cuddling up to them, and keeping them in order, but at the end of the day he is happiest still cuddled up with me. He spends hours every day curled up on my knee as I write at the computer, joins us on the sofa each night, and is an ever present curled up between my legs at night on the bed.

He is a strong character, and is a tad fussy as to who he likes to come into the house, as it is very much his house and hos family to protect.

As you can see he is very much at home up on the roof enjoying the sun, which is where we will spend a lot of today. Fresh prawns are on the menu for the cats today and an extra lot of attention and fuss.

Happy Birthday Mori, we all love you to bits x

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In my Telegraph Expat column this month I have taken a look at the relationship between Expats and Spain, and questioned if Spain should stand up for its culture more.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a piece of game theory that shows that while it would be in the best interests of two parties to co-operate, they don’t. I was reminded of this recently here in Spain when considering many expats’ reaction to the ongoing crisis facing the country.

It really was depressing last week in Spain, with the general strike taking 800,000 Spaniards onto the streets to protest at labour reforms, and the following day the Government announcing around €27 billion of budget cuts and taxes, including a seven per cent increase in the cost of electricity. The number of new mortgages issued fell for the 21st consecutive month, 51 per cent of drivers tested for drugs failed (although rather bizarrely, given the circumstances, Spain is considering increasing the speed limit on motorways to 130km/h) and it was announced that Spain is the European country with the second highest spend on private health care.

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