Parochial? us? not on your Nelly - here's Spenny, one of our intrepid Lovechickens on the ground...

The time has flown since I first started planning for this Lions tour last year, and now it's happening. This week. To say I'm excited is an understatement. In less than five days Big Doug and his raiding party will be the first people from my former life to visit me in this great land, and we'll be sharing a beer like old times.

Above: Queensland Red Gill and HA! a vest...what a flaming Galah!!

Despite being lucky enough to tour Australia with the Love Chickens elite in 2003, I missed out on experiencing the famous "Sea of Red" in 2001. So the thought that I'll be a droplet in the 2013 Sea of Red, not once but twice, is damn near making me soil myself. My only problem is, and this goes for many people in Brisbane, the great Club versus Country dilemma.

Yes I, like dozens of ex-pats who live here, am a Queensland Reds season ticket holder. I bloody love the Reds. I go to all the home games, I wear the replica shirt, I have the car sticker, the signed team poster at my desk, I've even handed my bemused infant son over to several of them to have his photo taken. So I've thought, how do I show support for the team that I'm fanatic about this coming Saturday, when they face the mighty British and Irish Lions? Do I wear my Lions shirt, and my Reds member's baseball cap? Or scarf?

Do I fuck. I'm British. I'm a rugby fan. And this weekend I'll be supporting the British and Irish Lions. I can support the Reds for the next 11 years until the Lions come back again.

But don't forget Lions fans - the Reds have seven players named in the Wallabies squad; Faingaa, Gill, Genia, Horwill, Simmons, Slipper and Ioane, (second only to the Waratahs with ten). All but Ioane are likely to turn out for the Reds on Saturday. And then of course there's big Radike Samo, and a certain man called Quade, who might also have something to prove to Robbie Deans. So don't expect a Barbarians-style walkover. This, and the following week's game against the 'Tahs, will be the dress rehearsals for the real thing so the Lions need to be on their mettle.

Tell me you're not excited too.