I thought it was about time I gave you all an update on my 2014 World Cup sticker collection. You may recall that I began collecting the stickers last month. The fact I have not mentioned it on my blog for a while would probably lead some of you to believe that I had just given up on the idea; coming to the conclusion that it was daft to be spending stupid amounts of money on sticky bits of paper, and getting obsessed over swaps and shineys, like some 8 year old school boy. Far from it.

After spending stupid amounts of money and getting obsessions over photos of international footballers, I am pleased to announce that I am just 24 stickers away from completing the album. A mammoth swapping session with Sam last week helped a lot. I also found someone on Twitter who I was able to do some trading with. See, it’s all modern stuff these days – none of this hiding behind the bike sheds shouting “need, need, need, got, need, got”.

Such is my obsession that I have even been having dreams about stickers – or rather nightmares. A week or so ago, I dreamt that I dropped my album into a muddy puddle. Given the fact the album is almost finished and stickers are very expensive, the album is probably worth its weight in gold. If this dream became a reality, it would be a disaster. I think if I tried to ring my insurance company to try and make a claim, they would just laugh at me.

The remaining 24 stickers, which I require to complete my collection, are somewhere between Italy and Bath. Italy, because that is where Panini, the company who make the stickers, are based. It is said to take up to 3 weeks for delivery – any longer and the World Cup would have started and England would be on the next plane home, after an predictably early elimination.

I’ll let you know when the stickers do turn up. In the meantime, hopefully the album won’t fall into any puddles.