FootyWanderer84

Coming off a long and tiring drive back from Sunderland on Sunday, and finding out that my plan of taking the train in to Edinburgh to begin my journey to Brighton via London was bust due to the storm, I really needed to avoid any further hassle. Far less any hassle I brought on myself…

I booked parking at the Flying Scot in Edinburgh, chose 07:30 to plan to arrive. However Google maps said I’d be there for just before 07:15, so I thought I’d be sensible and sit in the services at Harthill for a little bit. So far, pretty reasonable. Still very dark and very wet at this point, I should have ducked straight back out when I saw the car park and forecourt taped off, however I followed a van through a gap in the cones and found a little parking area just off the exit road, so drove in there to sit. After watching a YouTube video, I figured I had killed enough time, and I’d move on now. In the dark it looked like a muddy exit road to this little space, but I thought nothing of it until my front wheels went over and I ground the car! FUCK!!! What have I done?! No length of blog I can write out would explain the mixture of anger, frustration, rage and absolute sick feeling I was going through. I’d possibly just ruined the car I’d taken so much pleasure in buying last year and had enjoyed so many road trips on by sheer stupidity! I tried reversing back, all the tricks you’d expect, but to no avail. I got out and had a look, just maybe there was no visible damage, but how on earth was I getting out of this predicament? I consider myself to be reasonably smart, but I have moments where I excel myself doing some dumb shit, and this was right up there! I had plenty of time to beat myself up as I waited for recovery, wondering if I’d make it to the airport in time for the 10:35 flight, and wondering if the car was indeed going to be OK, or mortally wounded. Reality, maybe it was somewhere in between?

Eventually, and quicker than I’d really expected, rescue arrived, and initially tried pulling the car back, before realising that had he continued, my exhaust would almost surely have been ripped off. Plan B. Continue taking it off the front, and raise the wheels enough that I didn’t ground it and cause any damage. After some delicate work to navigate my way out of this situation, my car was back on flat ground, and quite miraculously, without anything more than some very dirty tyres (though I’m sure I’ve reduced the life of those front tyres considerably in attempting to get myself out of this!) As I didn’t have cash on me to cover the cost of this – as very few people would have these days – I went to do a quick bank transfer. Trouble is, as is the way my Monday was going, I hadn’t yet set up the mobile banking on my new phone, and nor could I remember enough of my details to set it up. Not to worry, there is a cash machine at the petrol station. Won’t matter that the road is taped off, just need cash. Trouble was, the cash machine is inside the shop, which was closed due to storm damage! Seriously?! Thankfully, one of the staff came to the fire exit and asked what I was looking for, and I explained, so she allowed me in to lift the money and then let me back out safely through the back door. Finally I could pay my debt for stupidity and get on my way. The recovery guy waited to ensure I got away with no issues, and I was worried by the noise from my tyres, but thankfully this was just the sheer amount of dirt accumulated and that drove off, I was finally on my way 2hrs later!

While sitting and waiting, I had been checking updates on my flight, it was still on, no issues, but I was getting there later than I’d like. I’m not a fan of rocking up at the airport late on. At least I’m well organised for security, and only have a backpack with me. Still, the body scanner pinged me, even though I’d removed everything and the 2nd scanner cleared me, but the tray was pulled with my bag. I’d forgot to leave the toiletries in a clear bag. Rookie error, I know better! Still, reality was I’d got through security pretty quickly given how busy it was, and I could go straight to the gate, they had probably started boarding now. Except they hadn’t. After a wait until 15 minutes before departure time, we had to move from terminal 21 to terminal 17, and then board via shuttle buses due to a technical issue!

Finally boarded, thankfully had a little extra space with nobody in the middle for what was a short flight. A rough takeoff was no surprise, given the weather, but very little else of note with the flight. As luck would have it, I wasn’t the only one with travel issues caused by the storms, as Graeme, who had been in London the previous day for Chelsea vs Manchester United in the WSL had saw his flight cancelled after the game and booked onto a flight today, the flight that I was coming in on was the one he was getting home! After a quick catch up on the respective Sunday games we had watched, it was time to head towards the hotel I had hastily booked when planning this trip a couple weeks back. Noting the price of rail tickets, I saw the cost of this trip was going to escalate again, after the unexpected expense earlier in the morning. Getting off the Stanstead Express at Tottenham Hale, I thought why not go check out the Tottenham Stadium. Certainly, I had no time to properly explore or do any tours, and I had even less time as I hadn’t anticipated just how far it was to walk from Tottenham Hale to the ground! Still, a quick walk along and some pictures taken, it was time to get on my way to the hotel from there, and start to question if I was going to make it to Brighton on time to see my first English Premier League game for quite some time.

Eventually I made it to the hotel, and of course there was a guy checking in just in front of me who had an issue with his booking! Once I got in, it was up to my room, where I remembered that to get such a cheap room, I’d booked a room with a single bed! Just as well I’m boring and don’t go on these daft trips looking for company! Next issue was realising that the charger I had hastily thrown in the back was useless, its not the first time I’ve travelled without the right charger, hopefully this one will be the last time I have to go and overpay for an emergency charging cable! On the plus side, it was about half 3, and it should only take a little over 2hrs from the hotel to the ground. I’d worry about the return after the game.

After a brief rest and a freshen up, it was time to head towards Brighton. Short run on the underground from West Kensington to Victoria to change to a train for Lewes, the changeover gave me a chance to pay over the odds for a suitable charging cable, which was put straight to use when I got a seat on the train with a charging point. The train took around an hour, and was probably about the most relaxing part of the day, not that it had much competition for that honour!

Even though I got into Lewes over 2hrs before kick off, there were more than enough fans to lead the way, which was from platform 1 to 4 to get the train out to Falmer. Didn’t take long on this, but it saved a long long walk, and I was starting to wish I’d brought the scarf and gloves I’d decided to leave in the hotel. Maybe it was warmer during the day, but clearly wasn’t extending to the night. Getting off at Falmer, there was no danger of struggling to find the ground, even without the crowd the station is right at the ground, situated similar to the tram stop at Murrayfield. This gave plenty time to walk around and sample some of the food on offer, and have a wander around the club shop. Some nice stuff, but I’ve no reason to be buying Brighton stuff, though I did grab a pin badge for 4 quid. Programme was then bought, and it was time to head in and find my seat.

First impressions of the ground matched expectations, it’s a lovely ground, nestled really well into the surrounding area, and the concourses and kiosks are open and spacious. Friendly stewards should always be mentioned too, they can make a matchday experience much better, especially as a visitor. I was seated close to the segregation, so got to listen to a bit of back and forth from the comfort of my padded seat – not many grounds have their regular seats offer padding.

As for the game, unsurprisingly the hosts had the majority of the ball, but to my annoyance as a viewer, they showed no desire to do anything with it, and it was Wolves who looked more likely to nab a goal on the counter attack. This continued through the entirety of the game, watching the evergreen James Milner deployed as a wide midfielder didn’t help Brighton any more than having their most creative players Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour dropping into their own penalty spot to collect the ball from goal kicks and open play. Despite this being the English Premier League, it wasn’t touching the 2 women’s games I’d watched already over the weekend for entertainment. Lots can be argued about quality, but I want to be going to football and being entertained, and having something to invest my interest in. This game gave me very, very little of that.

Once the game was over, despite my boredom I stayed until the full time whistle, it was a surprise to see the kiosks still open. Always wonder why teams don’t do this, surely they would sell more if they had even some open after the match? Back out of the ground, it was time to join the queue for the train back to Lewes. This was time consuming, with the location of the ground there are limited options for getting away from the ground, so the wait wasn’t surprising, just frustrating. Eventually got on the train though, and just before 11pm I was on the last train back to London Victoria, where I could then get a short subway ride back to the hotel, have a shower and get some sleep! At this time though, with more limited services on the underground, I got off a bit further from the hotel, so being exhausted, I ran part of the way to reduce the 30 minute walk Google maps predicted. The shower could wait until the morning to help me freshen up, 1am was time enough to make a start on a short sleep.

After what seemed like 5 minutes, it was time for my alarm to get me started on the long road home. At least my ears had finally stopped hurting after the flight down, something I don’t usually suffer from. After a shower and getting ready, I headed along to the end of the road to a cafe I’d spotted on my way to the hotel, Cafe Continente, where the offer of a full breakfast had to be taken! As it happened, I was served by a friendly Scottish girl, so a quick chat about travelling back and forward between home before a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast and the day had at least started better than yesterday.

Fed and watered, I made my way via some underground changes to Tottenham Hale where I caught the Stanstead express and had time to comfortably get through security with no issues and relax before the flight. Flight boarded sharp and was on the runway on departure time, and arrived in Edinburgh slightly early. Not before I’d had more problems eith my ears though, leaving my head pounding and head spinning. Hopefully not a sign of things to come for upcoming flights and just a result of exhaustion, but I wont have long to wait to see if there is a repeat on my next flight.

Back home eventually, had an all too brief sleep before heading into work, where I planned to take the next night off after getting a ticket for Hibs away, a very rare offer to get that I was only too happy to snap up, cheers Wilf!

It is my intention to post these weekly, but my Monday trip was anything but plain sailing, so worthy of its own entry! So I finish this as I finish my McDonald’s, on my way to Easter Road. While I hope to thoroughly enjoy this game, and Sundays trip to Aberdeen, I hope they are comparably uneventful compared to the Brighton trip turned out to be!