Reinelt12
Sick Note
I was going to post in the "What is your plan of action for tomorrow" thread on Friday, but if I had, the actual day would have looked nothing like what I would have put...
My wife and I headed down from our home just north of Birmingham at around 6.30am, it was our Anniversary weekend, and she was booked to spend the day at the Nutfield Priory as we had been given a voucher, while I went to the football - then we would meet up later to go out in Brighton.
Making good time on the M40, with signs saying M25 shut between 8 to 7, and the radio was stating that it would open at around 9am - shouldnt be too much of a problem we thought, as we had set off very early and were expecting some delays. We got to junction 9 and again everything seemed fine, if it had been bad surely it would be stacked up much further back... do we come off at jct 9 and try the A roads, or see how it goes, particularly as we needed to get off at Jct 8 first of all to drop my wife off in any case... at this point the radio was still wavering on when it will open so we went for it...
About 4.5 miles out from jct 8 we hit the traffic and just stopped - at the time this didnt seem too bad, it was around 9-9.30am at this point, and we were only 7m from our first destination. The radio however started to paint the picture a lot worse than before... it wouldnt open until 12pm, and all surrounding roads were gridlocked.
I still wasn't panicking though, we still had over 5 hours... 1 hour went, and we moved just 1 mile... ok, now I was getting stressed and very concerned. Should we have come off at 9, 10, tried a completely different route, or even travelled the previous night (not possible as we had no babysitter for our youngest son).
Another hour, pile on the stress - 12pm and very little movement... hopes beginning to fade that I was going to get there, by 1pm I had practically given up when my wife said I should get out and walk (To the nearest station to try to get south from there, not because I had pissed her off from my stressing!)
I didnt fancy walking down the hard shoulder of the M25, mainly because there had been plenty of idiots (mainly in BMW's and Mercs) who had flown down there past us, and even though I desperately wanted to get to the game I had waited 14 years for, I didnt want to get killed trying. Not only that, but I had reconstructive surgery on my foot last year, and it wasnt exactly 100%.
I decided that when we got close enough to the junction I would then go for it... 1.45pm at this point... Alternating between running/walking briskly I made my way down Reigate Hill to the station and got there just before a train left to Redhill - thank God it was all downhill!
Now I knew I just needed to get south of Crawley as my dad could then pick me up to take me to the Amex (he wouldnt have got anywhere north of Crawley because of the gridlock, and he also had my mates ticket with which I was to gain entry - thank you SO much for the ticket) - I also knew at this point that kick off was impossible, but I just needed to get there to see any of the game, I was thinking even the last 10 mins would do (ironically so it turned out)... Redhill station though had SO little info on when/where trains were going and the timecheck was 2.30, so I hopped on the next one to Three Bridges and then had to wait for another to Haywards Heath.
I had been phoning my dad throughout - directing him to different stations as/when I worked out where I was going, I was very lucky he didnt tell me to go do one!
Dad picked me up from HH and at around 3.30pm the Amex was visible from the car... bearing in mind I hadnt ever seen the stadium "live" before and only photos, it just blew me away and even more so given my journey.
I ran up to a steward and asked how to get in, (by this time my feet/legs were like jelly and very painful) - in the WSU Block B... got to the stairs... HOW MANY STAIRS?! That was a mixture of pain and elation running up the stairs knowing I had made it even before half time...
Got to my seat - apologising for making everyone get up... and flopped down just as Sharp opened the scoring!
The view was brilliant and I thought 2nd half we were very good... from the others around me it appears I missed the worst part of the game. The Sharp tackle looked innocuous first hand, but I havent seen any replays - however I don't believe Dunk would have meant any malicious intent at all.
Great hit from Buckley to equalise, and then Noone's run and pass was just sensational for Buckley to put away the late late winner... the whole stresses of the day released at that point as I went completely mental - and if the elderley gentleman next to me is on here, then I am really sorry for pretty much leaning on you with my head when the goal went in!!
Marvellous scenes and well worth the earlier drama 100 times over... I will never ever forget the day.
To those who think I was stupid to stay on the M25 to get to Jct 8 - possibly, but the information we were getting was conflicting - a bad decision in hindsight.
To those of you who didnt get to the game - Really feel for you and please don't see this as a gloat, I really really didnt think I was getting there, and the happiness I felt walking in the stadium and then at the end will live with me forever - i just wanted to share the story.
To those of you wondering what happened to my wife - she finally got to her destination, 5 mins after her friend had left - so her day was far worse than mine, I had a lot of making up to do in the evening...
My wife and I headed down from our home just north of Birmingham at around 6.30am, it was our Anniversary weekend, and she was booked to spend the day at the Nutfield Priory as we had been given a voucher, while I went to the football - then we would meet up later to go out in Brighton.
Making good time on the M40, with signs saying M25 shut between 8 to 7, and the radio was stating that it would open at around 9am - shouldnt be too much of a problem we thought, as we had set off very early and were expecting some delays. We got to junction 9 and again everything seemed fine, if it had been bad surely it would be stacked up much further back... do we come off at jct 9 and try the A roads, or see how it goes, particularly as we needed to get off at Jct 8 first of all to drop my wife off in any case... at this point the radio was still wavering on when it will open so we went for it...
About 4.5 miles out from jct 8 we hit the traffic and just stopped - at the time this didnt seem too bad, it was around 9-9.30am at this point, and we were only 7m from our first destination. The radio however started to paint the picture a lot worse than before... it wouldnt open until 12pm, and all surrounding roads were gridlocked.
I still wasn't panicking though, we still had over 5 hours... 1 hour went, and we moved just 1 mile... ok, now I was getting stressed and very concerned. Should we have come off at 9, 10, tried a completely different route, or even travelled the previous night (not possible as we had no babysitter for our youngest son).
Another hour, pile on the stress - 12pm and very little movement... hopes beginning to fade that I was going to get there, by 1pm I had practically given up when my wife said I should get out and walk (To the nearest station to try to get south from there, not because I had pissed her off from my stressing!)
I didnt fancy walking down the hard shoulder of the M25, mainly because there had been plenty of idiots (mainly in BMW's and Mercs) who had flown down there past us, and even though I desperately wanted to get to the game I had waited 14 years for, I didnt want to get killed trying. Not only that, but I had reconstructive surgery on my foot last year, and it wasnt exactly 100%.
I decided that when we got close enough to the junction I would then go for it... 1.45pm at this point... Alternating between running/walking briskly I made my way down Reigate Hill to the station and got there just before a train left to Redhill - thank God it was all downhill!
Now I knew I just needed to get south of Crawley as my dad could then pick me up to take me to the Amex (he wouldnt have got anywhere north of Crawley because of the gridlock, and he also had my mates ticket with which I was to gain entry - thank you SO much for the ticket) - I also knew at this point that kick off was impossible, but I just needed to get there to see any of the game, I was thinking even the last 10 mins would do (ironically so it turned out)... Redhill station though had SO little info on when/where trains were going and the timecheck was 2.30, so I hopped on the next one to Three Bridges and then had to wait for another to Haywards Heath.
I had been phoning my dad throughout - directing him to different stations as/when I worked out where I was going, I was very lucky he didnt tell me to go do one!
Dad picked me up from HH and at around 3.30pm the Amex was visible from the car... bearing in mind I hadnt ever seen the stadium "live" before and only photos, it just blew me away and even more so given my journey.
I ran up to a steward and asked how to get in, (by this time my feet/legs were like jelly and very painful) - in the WSU Block B... got to the stairs... HOW MANY STAIRS?! That was a mixture of pain and elation running up the stairs knowing I had made it even before half time...
Got to my seat - apologising for making everyone get up... and flopped down just as Sharp opened the scoring!
The view was brilliant and I thought 2nd half we were very good... from the others around me it appears I missed the worst part of the game. The Sharp tackle looked innocuous first hand, but I havent seen any replays - however I don't believe Dunk would have meant any malicious intent at all.
Great hit from Buckley to equalise, and then Noone's run and pass was just sensational for Buckley to put away the late late winner... the whole stresses of the day released at that point as I went completely mental - and if the elderley gentleman next to me is on here, then I am really sorry for pretty much leaning on you with my head when the goal went in!!
Marvellous scenes and well worth the earlier drama 100 times over... I will never ever forget the day.
To those who think I was stupid to stay on the M25 to get to Jct 8 - possibly, but the information we were getting was conflicting - a bad decision in hindsight.
To those of you who didnt get to the game - Really feel for you and please don't see this as a gloat, I really really didnt think I was getting there, and the happiness I felt walking in the stadium and then at the end will live with me forever - i just wanted to share the story.
To those of you wondering what happened to my wife - she finally got to her destination, 5 mins after her friend had left - so her day was far worse than mine, I had a lot of making up to do in the evening...
