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Vienna

A modicum of stability has been restored now that we've reached the quarter-finals. For 12 days, it was a diet of game-one-day-travel-the-next etc. But that sort of schedule is something I've come to associate with covering a football tournament.

The whole thing flashes by, so you enjoy the moments of calm such as when producer Phil Wye and I stopped for lunch on the lakeside terrace of the Grand Hotel in Zell-am-Zee en route between Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. Very pleasant. It's somewhere described in my Rough Guide as "picture-postcard perfection", although applies to almost every place we pitch up. In the same way that seemingly every signpost provides a titter...

Villach

The 5 Live team has discovered it is staying in the same hotel that the Germans are using before matches at the W枚rthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt.

It must be an efficient establishment, so imagine my surprise when I rang down to reception and asked for an iron and ironing board only to be told there wasn't one available until after the Germans had left.

Could it be I had unwittingly stumbled on the secret of Germany's success? Michael Ballack and co team ironing? Watch out, if Germany win Euro 2008, ironing might become all the rage...

Villach

So here goes with my blogging debut. The instruction is to give you an insight into the life of a commentator at Euro 2008, so that is exactly what I will endeavour to do.

Actually, it is a relief to be here. When none of the home nations made it, I did wonder if 5 Live would have the same appetite for the tournament.

What is your role at Euro 2008?
I'll be based in Austria for the most part and am down to commentate for Radio Five Live on the three group matches involving Germany, the three involving Spain, the second of the Vienna quarter-finals and then it's to Switzerland for the semi-final in Basle. Can't wait. I will also be breaking new ground in that I'll be writing a blog to go with it all.