There is always a price to pay for a girls weekend away and I’m not talking here about the health implications of the cake, salty snack and Prosecco diet.
Nope, it’s the payback to the abandoned Mr TLF, who as he put it, “had been left at home, ALONE because you went AWAY, AGAIN.” I would like to point out that the majority of previous AAAs have been down to work commitments (apart from the theatre and football related ones of course). But fair play, I do appreciate that relationships are about give and take and so to assuage any guilt/smooth path for future AAAs I promised that the following weekend would be date weekend, which roughly translates as ‘TLF won’t go to football.’ I did this without benefit of the visual aid that is more commonly known as a diary and so too late found I had given up one of those Satdays where Saints and Foxes were at home…..I only had myself to blame and so I chose the advice that I like to pass onto my staff, “suck it up.”
But the footballing gods, perhaps recognising that recent results had not gone my way gave me a break. As it turned out that Mr TLF’s mates had messed up their diary and their pending visit was a week earlier than planned and they would be present for date weekend…..I did my very best, obviously, to greet this ‘disappointing news’ with suitable solemnity and I like to think I waited a respectful number of minutes before saying, “So I could fit in a match then?” And this little episode dear reader, is what is known in common parlance as a “happy accident.”
Being equally respectful to our visitors I did only negotiate a 3 hour pass and following a pub lunch with them at the Old Fighting Cocks (another pub crossed off the list) I was off to Clarence Park. I can’t quite decide if the first half passed me by because I was in shock at the idea that the opposition played in aqua marine or whether it was down to the in depth discussion about mobility scooters, cross dressing and dogging (three separate discussions I hasten to add) but I do remember we missed a couple of sitters and their goalie got VERY grumpy.
Things looked up in the second half, if not because of what was going on a la hallowed turf then definitely because of a very in depth analysis of Strictly. I won’t embarrass the gentleman involved, but apart from not getting the ‘Artem thing’, that is one man who knows his chasses from his rise & fall.
It was all looking like a bit of a tedious nil-nil and then as if by magic, John and Davey Mac appear (like two Mr Benn shopkeepers, but sans fez), for some old school ranting and BOSH!, the fantastic Sean Shields scores the winner as the sun goes down on his sojourn at St Albans (see the headline vaguely makes sense now). Happy Fox. Happy Accident.
Match Stats
St Albans 1 Havant and Waterlooville 0
Attendance 349
Random coloured failing raffle tickets 10
Lager consumed 1.5 pints Peroni, 1 pint Stella, 1 bottle German stuff
Snacks The mighty BFs return to winning ways, previous packets must have come from a duff patch.
Terry & Julie Fox