A very late start today! It was pretty impressive to have 7 of us up, dressed, fed, sorted and out of the house in an hour and a quarter. Mel is a drill sergeant when necessary, in the nicest possible way, she is amazing!
We had been warned that it would be COLD, so it was double layers of everything. Outside it was raining and windy, we were glad our seats were in the top 2 rows under cover and shelter.
It took a while to drive in to Hammersmith and find a park - eventually in a parking building beside a partially renovated mall, the exit was rather convoluted and we laughed and agreed we would never find it again to get back to our cars that night (why do boys think things like that are funny?).
Then it took nearly an hour to walk in the wind and rain to the park. The path went along the Thames for quite a while - it was flooded and choppy, actually I loved it! Nearly as good as the beach! We saw a small sailing yacht break its mast and need rescuing.
Arriving at Fulham Football Club we were exceedingly wet - sopping jeans and feet; and puffer jackets don't hold water well either. On entering the stand we found we were in fact in the front 2 rows - no cover and very exposed to the wind. Amelia and I immediately made a pact that we would stand out of the weather for as long as we could, then find a pub and wait it out there.
We were an hour early, so took seats about half way up and hoped the ticket holders had something better to do than come out on such a day. Wrong. After moving several times we decided to go for gold and went right up to the top 2 rows. A few of us were praying. Mel (that girl is just the person you need in these situations) made friends with an old Irish gent sitting by himself. We were in the middle of the season ticket stands, so he knew everyone who usually sits around him, and who were away on holiday. Brilliant! So we ended up with the best seats in the house, and where we had originally thought we were going to be!
The game was amazing fun. It's impossible not to get caught up in the excitement. Dave was so on fire he found it hard to sit down. Ali created and started a chant - I was the only one who followed it, but it was good! Amelia became quite vocal, haven't seen that for a while. There was a lady next to Dave who at one point called out "We need to get the ball out of there, it's VERY important" in a polite British voice and we cracked up!
The opposing team scored first, then Fulham scored, and then scored again, so we had lots of emotion rolling round the stadium. Such a brilliant experience.
Time for a walk in the rain again, in the dark this time. We stopped quite soon at a Pizza Express and thawed, warmed up, dried out and compared notes on the experience.
Finding the entrance to the carparking building was as difficult as we had anticipated, and we knew it locked at 8pm, so it was a relief to find some teenage girls doing who knows what in a deserted area, but willing to help us out with directions.
So good to get home! what a fabulous day.
Evening prayer: thank you God for Your favour with our seats; for family who will have a go at making anything a good time; and for thermal underwear.
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