How Durus can talk about glamour is beyond me... It's four in the morning and I'm stood in my drive way watching foxes tear apart the neighbour's bin bags. I should be in bed.

When the taxi driver arrives he eyes me with something between disappointment and contempt. At this time he'd rather be picking up drunk and flirtatious girls that desperately need to get home, rather than driving an ageing geek to a coach station. Even he is pining for some glamour:

“So what you doing at the coach station?” he asks

“Getting a coach”

“Yeah, but what you doing once you get to where you're going?”

It is a good question. Travelling to London to cover a one day LAN event is only a small part of the story. The UkeSA finals so far has been met with an underwhelming response from the community it was supposed to cater to. The last minute change of venue meant there would be no spectators , not exactly something that boded well and a factor that will rob any event of much of the atmosphere that makes them so memorable. There were rumours about some organisational issues as well, conflicting versions filtering out of the event itself from various sources. Yet I had watched the stream all day yesterday and you would never know anything was amiss apart from the eerie silence where there should be cheers.

The reality is, if we can do that rarest of things and focus on the positives, that a lot of people had to dig deep to make sure this event was going ahead at all, let alone with a few minor hiccups. And if you want to be a purist you could always just look forward to the games, which on paper throw up a whole host of grudge matches, personal duels and individual stories that any e-sports writer could turn into award winning material. Hell, yesterday I even got excited by the COD4 final aznd it is a rare moment indeed when that game coaxes those emotions out of me.

The complexities of the situation are best left to the notepad, not blurted out to a taxi driver whose eyes will glaze over the moment you just get to the point where it starts to make sense. Instead, I lie to him. I'm going to a sales convention. Yes, on a Sunday. Work hard, play hard. Cash over ass. Always be closing. The journey passes by with me dropping maxims at the rate of one per minute and he seems pleased with it. I long for the day when e-sports is mainstream and it is OK to talk about it.

Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn - Soon to be stomping on face?

After a coach journey where I share seating with an African gospel choir that are going over their favourite numbers while I'm trying to grab a power hour. I'd tell them to stop but how can you get confrontational with people wearing robes? Confrontations may well be on the cards at the event. Did Sam “RattlesnK” Gawn really say he was looking forward to stomping on Ladoslav “Guardian” Kovacs face? Is Henry “HenryG” Greer, the man who broke Crack Clan and some allege the entire UK scene, playing against them again after the public break-up? The semi-finals seem to be more interesting than any combination the final throws up. But then again over the course of an event, with much banter being exchanged and alliances being forged and broke over beers in hotel bars, there could be another host of stories and reasons that games take on a new significance.

I am waiting at the tube station not having a clue how to get to where I'm going and mulling over how plausible the premise for the film “Creep” actually is. I hear a voice behind me:

“Do you work for Cadred?”

The choice to wear the polo top that was handed down to me by Max “Goodeh” Silver in a tearful changing of the guard ceremony has proven to be a good one. Luckily, I have managed to meet one of the QuadV guys going to the event and he guides me there with ease and in good time. So I'm here and aiming to bring you all the stories, some interviews and a bit more on a event that could rise like a phoenix from the flames and kickstart the Summer Season with some classic encounters. Sat here in a TV studio, already been recognised in public – sort of... Maybe there is a bit of glamour in this after all.