Four years ago, in 2002, I was coming to the end of my second year at university, living in a small house in Heworth, York, with one guy and two girls. The World Cup was about to start in Japan & South Korea - henceforth known as Japorea - and it was a very exciting time. Several trips were made to ASDA to buy some booze in. I remember by the end of academic year and coincidentally the end of the World Cup, some four weeks later, I had gone through 72 bottles by myself.

Skip forward four years, and the next World Cup has begun in Germany. Excitement was building once again, memories of Japorea resurfacing. Now back home in Huyton, Liverpool, trips to ASDA were once again made to buy in the alcohol. During the first week of matches, many bottles have already been consumed.

I went to the pub on Friday to have a few drinks with my mate, and much fun was had by all. Then on Saturday I got a text from another friend who was back home from university for the weekend and wanted to go the pub. So, Saturday night I ended up at another pub. I decided to take it easy given the week previously, and I didn't drink. At all. Apart from maybe two. And you know what? It was still fun.

So that's when I learnt that you could go out and socialise without alcohol and still enjoy yourself, provided you are doing it with good mates. With this theory in mind I went to watch the England match on Tuesday in the pub, and limited myself to a couple of cokes. Again much fun was had by all, and the best thing is that due to my non alcoholic night I was able to drive there and back, saving £10 on taxi fare.

This has opened up a whole new world to me. I can go to more places now because I don't have to worry about how to get there - driving is possible (parking still tricky)! Where will this amazing epiphany lead to? Only time will tell...

Just a quick note to mark the 16th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. There's been a lot of talk recently about Heysel because of the Juventus tie, which has somewhat overshadowed the continuing fight by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

Justice for the 96. You'll Never Walk Alone.

Finally the farce has come to a confirmed end. It shouldn't have gone on this long - it was never an option in the minds of Liverpool. Sharing a stadium with our Merseyside rivals is so laughable an idea, it shows how far out of touch with the fans certain ex players are. I believe Mark Lawrenson said in his BBC column that "it makes sense" to share a stadium. Perhaps sharing can work with smaller clubs, or between clubs of different sizes, but not Liverpool and Everton, two of the biggest English clubs. It would also damage the pitch, having matches every weekend and more, not to mention the traffic jams in the city on match days.

By far the biggest gripe about sharing a stadium is the sense of pride a home instils in its supporters, staff and players. Would it mean anything to a Liverpudlian to touch the fabled "This Is Anfield" sign if Everton ran out under it every other week?