大象传媒

My Euro 2008 adventure will finally begin on Wednesday when I fly to Basle. Naturally, with my lengthy absence in mind, I have been spending some quality time with my wife.

That involved avoiding all hints we should go to the cinema at the weekend to watch , abandoning my usual tactic of insisting we watch sport for "professional reasons", and, instead, pulling out weeds and planting potatoes at our allotment. I did, however, manage to see , their friendly against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday night.

Halfway through the rather meaningless encounter in Port of Spain, the thought did cross my mind that there had been some tension in the air a few hours earlier as I tried to remove some without upsetting the fledging marrow shoots.

Given my impending work commitments, I would have much preferred to spend my Sunday afternoon watching the offering from Rotterdam as the Netherlands continued their Euro 2008 preparations with .

From the five minutes or so that I covertly managed to see, it seemed the Dutch fans were brimming with the kind of excitement and sense of anticipation that only a looming major tournament can generate. Looking at Marco van Basten's line-up, it's pretty clear that their prime assets are up front, and I wonder whether they will be defensively strong enough to survive a group that also includes France and Italy.

Nonetheless, with all of their group games in Berne, I expect the Swiss capital to turn orange for a couple of weeks. One recent estimate suggested that there as many as 40,000 Oranje fans will descend on the city. With that in mind, 3,500 locals have been sent on a course that will teach them how to be polite to the Dutch masses.

I haven't been sent on any courses ahead of the tournament, though being an employee of the 大象传媒 you can rest assured I have done my fair share of paperwork. Foreign correspondents travelling to remote, unstable republics must complete a lengthy risk assessment form before they depart, but I struggled to think of any kind of threat I might face in either Austria or Switzerland.

All that remains now is a last-minute dash to the shops to buy undoubted essentials. I might even engage in a rare bout of meteorological optimism and purchase some suntan cream in addition to toothpaste and shampoo.

The washing machine is currently whirring away at home so I can fulfil my mother's wish that I always have clean underwear. I have never quite understood what difference the cleanliness of my pants would make to my welfare if I was run over by a car, but my mum always seemed to attach the greatest of importance to the issue when I was growing up.

I'll be in Basel for the first few days of my trip as the countdown to the opening game on Saturday continues, so any suggestions of things I really must see or do in or around the city will be greatly appreciated.

I thought it might be interesting to meet up with FC Basel coach - once of Tottenham - to find out what his looks like these days, though I have no idea where to find him.