Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead.

Santiago, Chile: This was the classic joke about an uninteresting press story, but there is little interest in Santiago tonight about Charlton´s performance at Reading. I received some despairing texts from Addicks about the game, especially the defence, but local television only showed the top Premiership matches and then switched to the Spanish league.

Being so far away gives a strange sense of distance from current events at Charlton. Plus I have been distracted by the red carpet treatment I have received here which included a reception at the presidential palace and dinner with the acting foreign secretary. On the way back from a vineyard this afternoon, via an unplanned diversion via the largest barrio, I passed the stadium of the top local team, Colo Colo, which has a capacity of 50,000. But they are playing away today and I have not been able to fit in a match, although judging from the television the Chilean league is a lot slower than the Premiership.

Kappachino Kid sent me a ´going down´ message repeated several times. Perhaps, but I don´t think anything has any degree of certainty until Christmas. But having had a quick look at the other blogs, the consensus is gloomy.