faraday: 4500/m between 2?

I wouldn't call that rolling in money... 45,000/m yes

AlexKMG: hahaha. We always lose because having invented the game we were content to just run around a lot and hoof the ball in the air a lot, rather than playing it as a team game. We seem to be slowly catching on now though..

@blobbles:

Portugal! Interesting! Don't think they have enough quality beyond Ronaldo. I'm looking forward to their game tonight though.

Its hard to guess the final, but I think it'll be Brazil vs somebody! Argentina perhaps?

As for Spain, they have a great pool of talent, yet they play Torres, who has barely scored since leaving Liverpool in January 2011! They need to let the old spine of the team (Casillas, Xavi, Torres) make way for the new spine: De Gea, Iniesta, Diego Costa

On the food point:
I don't criticise local (Zhejiang and Yunnan) food because it is Chinese. I criticise for food reasons: it is generally too oily (Zhejiang) and too spicy (Yunnan, Sichuan) for my taste and digestion. Also, the small pieces of bones common in the food (because proper butchery seems to be almost non existent) can break teeth if you are unlucky. When I first came to China I was keen to try everything: I have eaten duck head, chicken head, feet, pigs ears, toad/frog, snails, whole fish, many kinds of tofu, bones, all kinds of fruit and vegetable. It wasn't a question of me being closed minded to local cuisine and from the beginning, far from it, it is something that has developed from a great deal of experience.

In the UK, I seldom go to McDonalds. They are near the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality and hygiene, just above the grimy kebab houses/takeaways/ pizza delivery shops. But here things are different. As much as I dislike going to McDs on a regular basis and how pathetically I am dependent on their fatty salty sugary food, McD and BK provide food of a reasonably consistent quality and hygiene that that I can almost trust. The same cannot be said for most places in a similar price bracket here. If this post makes me a cultural imperialist/colonialist in mm's eyes, then fine. His arguments/logic have been thoroughly de-constructed already.

p.s. I actually don't mind mixian! I am led to believe that the food in the north west is good (lots of lamb) and I liked the food in Beijing. I am also told that the food in Guangdong and Vietnam is very good (not too oily and spicy). So I am by no means condemning all of China's/SE Asia's food.

Well... only roughly 2 or 3 billion people.