I tweeted several weeks ago "I don't dislike Bent. I dislike that he gets so much credit for so little" and that is still very much the case, probably more so than when I originally tweeted it.

As part of the incredibly exciting "The Face Project", which comprises many ideas such as a performance of chamber opera "Face on the Ballroom Floor", a video installation and a virtual choir, it was suggested that a good idea would be an art exhibition depicting faces affected by facial palsy. This ties in nicely with the opera, in which there is a scene where an artist is painting a face on the ballroom floor, and led to the suggestion of an art competition with the winning piece becoming the "Face on the Ballroom Floor".

It wasn't a great day in Croyde for taking photos of surfers; the waves were seriously messy, but a few managed to stay up while others opted to stand on the beach and look at it ponderously.

With Gabriel Agbonlahor in arguably the form of his life right now, it should have been a no-brainer for Capello to include him in the squad for Saturday's friendly against Spain. I think most Villa fan's would agree that they are delighted for him and that he fully deserves it, but I'm not sure, from a selfish point of view, I'm entirely happy.

No-one can complain about the very convincing 41-10 scoreline against a very physical Georgia side, and in any game scoring 6 tries is not bad going at all. It was certainly a much better performance than against Argentina; we moved the ball faster and there seemed to be far more intent going forward as a team, but the number of penalties we are conceding is still something of a concern.

Those who are still disappointed with our lack of signings (did you not read my previous post?) should consider that we no longer have as much scope to strengthen our squad thanks to the FA rules brought in last year. Just in case you missed them, a club must register a squad of up to 25 players including a minimum of 8 home grown players (those that have been affiliated to the FA for a minimum of 36 months prior to their 21st birthday) and a maximum of 17 foreign players, which may be supplemented by an unlimited number of players under 21.

So summer is over, well not officially until September 23rd but in terms of football at least, and where does that leave us?

Having lost Webcam and Pid, NRC, Big Brad, several bit-part and youth team players, and perhaps most devastatingly Mike Bradley (I still haven't got over it) the mood amongst most Villa fans was fairly negative, just for a change. However, I'm fairly happy with the business we have conducted this transfer window.

There were plenty of times last season when we heard moaning about half our squad being out on loan, and admittedly it was quite hard to keep track of with John Carew at Stoke, Barry Bannan and Eric Lichaj at Leeds, Andi Weimann at Watford, Brad Guzan at Hull, Nathan Delfouneso at Burnley, Stephen Ireland at Newcastle, Curtis Davies at Leicester, Jonathan Hogg at Portsmouth, Shane Lowry at Sheffield United - did I forget anyone?

From Vermont we headed south to Lenox in the heart of The Berkshires, nestled in amongst the rolling Appalachian Mountains, to the historic 100 year old Cranwell Golf and Spa resort set on 380 acres. At check in I think I might have been mistaken for someone else as I was greeted with "Welcome back Miss Hickey" and it was assumed I knew where Beecher's Cottage, where we were staying, and the Mansion, where breakfast is served, were. I really wouldn't mind being a regular at all, and the only disappointment was that we were only staying one night.

The drive from Conway to Stowe was spectacular. First through the White Mountains, climbing to around 3000ft, and then into the Green Mountains of Vermont. We were only 49 miles from Canada when we had to stop on the Interstate to allow a family of wild turkeys to cross the road.

After grabbing lobster rolls and root beer to go we set off from Kennebunkport towards New Hampshire. The sat nav pronounced we were at our destination but we found ourselves at a Doggy Daycare Centre instead. Driving up and down the "White Mountain Highway" we were starting to get worried. The road had intermittent run-down clapboard buildings and abandoned diners, certainly nowhere we would want to stay.

My trip to New England was more than just a holiday. I had a mission.  My mission, although I had little choice to accept it, was to find Stu a robe and bring it back. Sadly I failed, sorry Stu. Out of nine hotels I only found three robes and one of those was at the hotel where we left the car at Heathrow. I wasn't going to take a robe all the way to the States to bring it back, so I left that one there, and unfortunately due to the baby clothes for my new niece, Red Sox merchandise and a Michael Kors handbag we had to bring back, there was no room in my case to bring the others back either. So I'm afraid Stu you'll have to make do with photographs and my sincerest apologies.