Thursday, December 22, 2005
Southend Away - How far is it ?
The kids' nursery rhyme goes on about "How many miles to Babylon" and how long it will take to get there. This story is about an away trip to Southend and an error in a programme.
It was the sort of season where you try to get to as many games as you can - I'd got nothing better to do, or maybe it was before my first marriage broke up, I don't honestly remember. If it wasn't, I was living on my own, with my daughter, and so I asked BJ and Chris if they fancied the mid-week trip to Southend. I think that's who it was, but I could be wrong. Might have been Radish - or not. Anyway, the Vale programme for the game before gave a mileage from Burslem to Southend so I based the amount of time we'd need to get there on that. As it was about an hour from kickoff time, and we were still nowhere near London, never mind Southend, we started wondering about the mileage in the programme. When we found the road to Southend off the motorway, and it was still quite a few miles to go, and the match had kicked off already, it was patently obvious that the programme had got it wrong. By the time we got to the ground, it was very clear that the programme was 100 miles out. I know I drive a bit faster than is legal, but there was no way we'd ever have got there in time. But we are there now, and all we have to do is find a way to get in.
All the turnstiles have closed - probably more than half an hour ago, as it is pretty close to half time. We end up banging on some gates and eventually this steward comes to it and asks us what we're doing. We explain, and he decides to let us in for half price ( nice of him, really) and then he escorts us round the edge of the pitch to the away end. We get a few comments from friends, about timing, mising the match and so on, but we are there. We find out that the score is 1 -1 .
Within a few minutes of our arrival, Paul Atkinson ( who played for the Vale at the time) gets himself sent off - can't remember if it was second yellow or straight red, and then it's half time.
Vale are defending the end away from us second half, and 90% of the action is that end. Once in a while, they manage to break towards us, but no shots, nothing.
Final score ? 1-1. And we have to drive all the way back, late at night, having missed the key incidents of the match ( well the goals anyway) so nothing to talk about except the error in the programme about how far away Southend is.
The moral ? Always check on a road atlas first. So I do after that.
It was the sort of season where you try to get to as many games as you can - I'd got nothing better to do, or maybe it was before my first marriage broke up, I don't honestly remember. If it wasn't, I was living on my own, with my daughter, and so I asked BJ and Chris if they fancied the mid-week trip to Southend. I think that's who it was, but I could be wrong. Might have been Radish - or not. Anyway, the Vale programme for the game before gave a mileage from Burslem to Southend so I based the amount of time we'd need to get there on that. As it was about an hour from kickoff time, and we were still nowhere near London, never mind Southend, we started wondering about the mileage in the programme. When we found the road to Southend off the motorway, and it was still quite a few miles to go, and the match had kicked off already, it was patently obvious that the programme had got it wrong. By the time we got to the ground, it was very clear that the programme was 100 miles out. I know I drive a bit faster than is legal, but there was no way we'd ever have got there in time. But we are there now, and all we have to do is find a way to get in.
All the turnstiles have closed - probably more than half an hour ago, as it is pretty close to half time. We end up banging on some gates and eventually this steward comes to it and asks us what we're doing. We explain, and he decides to let us in for half price ( nice of him, really) and then he escorts us round the edge of the pitch to the away end. We get a few comments from friends, about timing, mising the match and so on, but we are there. We find out that the score is 1 -1 .
Within a few minutes of our arrival, Paul Atkinson ( who played for the Vale at the time) gets himself sent off - can't remember if it was second yellow or straight red, and then it's half time.
Vale are defending the end away from us second half, and 90% of the action is that end. Once in a while, they manage to break towards us, but no shots, nothing.
Final score ? 1-1. And we have to drive all the way back, late at night, having missed the key incidents of the match ( well the goals anyway) so nothing to talk about except the error in the programme about how far away Southend is.
The moral ? Always check on a road atlas first. So I do after that.
