SO, on the eve of renewed battle with the old foe, the big question for England: is the glass half-full or half-empty?

We’re all a bit more South African this morning than we were this time yesterday. A bit more ecstatic, a bit more relieved and, after a night’s sober reflection, just happy to live to fight another day.

TO begin with, a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to the 2010 World Cup, a life-saver for those who will not be able to devote their every waking hour to football for the next four weeks.

WITH just six days to go to Johannesburg and almost eight months since Paris, it is time to look on the bright side, time to move beyond the recognised five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and that “low-down, no-good, cheating b*****d Henry” – time to acknowledge that defeat in the play-off was the best thing that could have happened to us, that nothing good could have come of our boys going big game hunting in South Africa and that, all things considered, the nation has been spared a World Cup of pain.

BUMPED into a man in my travels this week who sounds like he might have a hot prospect on his hands.

WHAT a week of snarling, no-holds barred, edge of the seat, competitive drama – and, no, I’m not talking about the Irish senior side taking on Paul Doolin’s Irish U23s.

NOSTALGIA hanging heavy in the air above Dublin 4 just now, the other day I dug out my old copy of Simon Inglis’ definitive ‘The Football Grounds of Europe’ to see what the expert had to say about Lansdowne Road back when his sumptuous tome was first published in early 1990.

THANK heavens for little boys.

THE maths might argue that it could still end up as the most nail-biting finale in years, but football logic strongly suggests that this year’s Premier League will end with more of a whimper than a bang. The bookies also say the same thing and, let’s face it, they know more about maths than Stephen Hawking.

NOTWITHSTANDING the one about the risen Lord, it is perhaps the greatest story ever told.