[Albion] Getting The Match Date Wrong...

[WATFORD zero]

Sort of related, I have an old mate from Oz staying with us at the moment. She told us about another old friend who went over to see her and bought her a beautiful cast brass sun dial as a present. My friend then bought a big old rock to install it on.

It was only then, that the issue became apparent

 

[Weststander]

My sister, BIL and their 3 kids did exactly the same one year coming back from a holiday in Europe (can't remember exactly where). They showed up at the airport only to discover the flights had been booked for the day before! I think it cost them a couple of thousand pounds to book new flights.

A far more common faux pas.

We once arrived late at Gatwick by one minute. We hadn’t cottoned on that it was the night of the spring clocks change, pre using phones as alarms we relied on old style alarm clocks. Hastily arranged (at our expense) new flights and a cab to Heathrow cost us £1,900.

 

[Bodian]

Two things I didn't actually miss, but.....

I once caught the train from Brighton up to Montrose to watch Brechin City on the Wednesday night. We travelled up on the Tuesday. On the bus from Montrose to Brechin I picked up a left-behind local paper, and whilst idly browsing noticed a small paragraph about the match on that night. It had been brought forward by a day.

Brechin is tiny - we could easily have been in a bar a few hundred yards away from the ground and missed the game altogether if it hadn't been for an idle look at a paper.

On the converse side of things, I had an extremely rough New Years' Eve in Sydney - being out till about 3pm and a little 'tired and emotional' as Private Eye would put it. But, nonetheless, we managed to struggle out of our pits early on NYD to walk the couple of miles to the SCG for a mid-ashes one day match starting at 10am. Only to find it was a Day/Night match. So we tried to sleep off our hangovers on the pavement until the gates opened. (England lost, obviously - that's what we did in that era against the Aussies).

 

[Dinner with Gotsmanov]

My Dad recently attended, greeted people for and sat through a funeral before realising he was a day early (coincidentally the deceased had the same name as the person who’s funeral he was supposed to be attending) and the one he was due to attend was the following day.
Also involving my Dad, we drove to Dagenham for the Boxing Day game (2010), parked up and we’re walking around the ground before wondering why it was so quiet. Apparently we were two of the only people that hadn’t heard it had been postponed.

i had set off for that but halfway up the M23 we heard it was off.

however… in 2000/01 I drove all the way to Halifax and only on arrival at the ground found it was off. Luckily the trip was coinciding with running Mrs DWG up north to see her mum. Didn’t make the rearranged game.

 

[seagullwedgee]

About 5 years or so ago, Mrs W is a huge Lionel Richie fan, bought tickets to see him twice, first at Northants CCC, and a few weeks later at Hove, Sussex CCC. First gig was great, then turned up at same time of day for Hove gig, and saw just his encore, as he finished. No time on the printed tickets, but it had started 2 hours earlier for evening noise abatement reasons. Some would say, including me, that was a blessing in disguise.

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

Turned up at Knebworth on Saturday 1st August 1992 on the back of my mates motorbike (a traumatic experience for me as I hate motorbikes) to see Genesis. Looked around and thought it looked a bit quiet to be told that the Saturday gig was cancelled and all tickets were valid for the Sunday gig. Apparently they'd made the announcement on Radio 1 - which neither of us had heard.

Had to find somewhere to stay overnight and then turn up again on the Sunday. Being on the motorbike post gig was an advantage as we got out of the car park after about an hour whereas cars were still finding their way out the next morning.

Anyway, I'm in here somewhere ...

 

[Eeyore]

i had set off for that but halfway up the M23 we heard it was off.

however… in 2000/01 I drove all the way to Halifax and only on arrival at the ground found it was off. Luckily the trip was coinciding with running Mrs DWG up north to see her mum. Didn’t make the rearranged game.

Seem to remember I was set to go to Halifax and heard before I left Brighton. Thankfully it wasn't too late. Unlike Newcastle away in 1990 when I went up the previous night and heard at 8am the next day. Thankfully it was nice and early as I caught one of the last trains to leave that day due to the snow. Halifax has always been on my bucket list.

 

[kevo]

Only a few weeks ago my aunt and her husband booked tickets for a Milton Jones gig. Turned up at the theatre on the date to be told they were exactly one year too early as the tickets were for April 2025.

Friends did similar with a hotel booking for a wedding. Booked a year in advance, turned up and had nowhere to stay.

 

[kevo]

My Dad recently attended, greeted people for and sat through a funeral before realising he was a day early (coincidentally the deceased had the same name as the person who’s funeral he was supposed to be attending) and the one he was due to attend was the following day.
Also involving my Dad, we drove to Dagenham for the Boxing Day game (2010), parked up and we’re walking around the ground before wondering why it was so quiet. Apparently we were two of the only people that hadn’t heard it had been postponed.

Did the same, Macclesfield away (1998?). Got the train up and headed to the ground early. Thought it was a bit quiet, but hey it's Macclesfield Town (ave attendance 2,000). Only when I actually got to the turnstiles did I find out it was postponed. Waterlogged pitch - the only match off in the country that day. Worst thing was I'd booked a post-match train back at about 6.30 or something, so had a whole afternoon to kill - which I spent in the pub with some other Albion fans who'd made the same mistake.

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

I was all set for work from home this evening. Tottenham v Man City on one screen, Albion on the radio.

I looked it up last night and the page said 'tomorrow'. Unfortunately, I looked it up just past midnight...

No loss, just a game to listen to tomorrow night.

But have any folk on here gone a step further and turned up for a match that wasn't happening ? I would extend this to occasions other than football.

It did look a bit weird when there was no match thread. Glad I decided not to start one.

If I’m honest(nod to Warren) I’d have expected @JCDenton to be all over this - he’s always in the wrong place - allegedly(wink)!

 

[keaton]

I was about to set off for talk on the history of Lewes Little Theatre last night and realised it was on Monday

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Did the same, Macclesfield away (1998?). Got the train up and headed to the ground early. Thought it was a bit quiet, but hey it's Macclesfield Town (ave attendance 2,000). Only when I actually got to the turnstiles did I find out it was postponed. Waterlogged pitch - the only match off in the country that day. Worst thing was I'd booked a post-match train back at about 6.30 or something, so had a whole afternoon to kill - which I spent in the pub with some other Albion fans who'd made the same mistake.

We had a lucky escape with that one. Our train broke down just outside Bletchley. After a while, the guard put out an announcement to any Brighton fans heading to Macclesfield that the game had been postponed.

It was FA Cup third round day so we looked at the paper for games we could get into around London. First choice was Charlton but I think they had not long returned to the Valley so we didn't think we would get in there. We ended up going to Arsenal v Port Vale, a very uninspiring goalless draw. It was pretty cold so we got strange looks from Arsenal fans as we were sat in the North Bank wearing Albion hats.

 

[Eeyore]

I was going to go to a lecture by the Retrospective Society today, but then found out it was 15th May 1980.

 

[kevo]

We had a lucky escape with that one. Our train broke down just outside Bletchley. After a while, the guard put out an announcement to any Brighton fans heading to Macclesfield that the game had been postponed.

It was FA Cup third round day so we looked at the paper for games we could get into around London. First choice was Charlton but I think they had not long returned to the Valley so we didn't think we would get in there. We ended up going to Arsenal v Port Vale, a very uninspiring goalless draw. It was pretty cold so we got strange looks from Arsenal fans as we were sat in the North Bank wearing Albion hats.

Yes, I remember it being FA Cup third round day. It was the day West Ham played mighty Emley AFC at Upton Park and scraped a 2-1 win. That may have been a better game for you to have gone to.

 

[BNthree]

Not quite the same and not my fault but had an issue with my eye so attended Sussex Eye Hospital. Got drops and told I’d be contacted for a follow-up appointment in 4 weeks. Never got an appointment but no bother as the drops had worked. Then a year later got a letter inviting me for an appointment. Duly go along and the dr is as baffled as me as to why I’m there. We work out between us it was the 4 week check up except it was a year and 4 weeks later due to human error when being booked.