During 2008 we went to the Prince of Wales 24 times, and took six victories. We finished second twice, didn’t finish third at all but finished fourth four times. Clearly this must mean that every time we’re in third before the last round we crack under the pressure.

2009 starts with an evening of fearsome cold. Temperatures in Highgate are well below freezing, my glasses steam up the moment I walk in the pub and I stumble around blindly until I bump into Pete. Chris is setting the quiz, and inexplicably wants us to think of a team name before round one even begins. Normally we spent most of round one ignoring the questions and concentrating on the team name instead but tonight we have to submit something lame.

Does this free our minds and allow us to score highly? It does not. The quiz tonight is all about things that happened last year, but we must not have been concentrating and our scores are modest. Who published his bank account details to prove that no-one would be able to do anything with them, only to have 500 pounds stolen the next day? We remember that it was Jeremy Clarkson, and the memory makes us happy, but it doesn’t help us to anywhere but a mid-table finish. But this is a good thing: if we are going to win a quarter of the time this year, and we’ve already got a non-win out the way, I believe that statistically we are more likely to win next week.