Yes folks, it is now clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am insane, bonkers, mad - call it what you will. Last night I didn't go to bed. Instead I dozed on our sofa for half an hour before grabbing the car keys and heading over to Hull - departing Sheffield in fog at three forty five am for the hour long drive to East Yorkshire.
I arrived at The KC Stadium before five am - not knowing what to expect. To my horror, the car parks appeared full and worse than that I soon spotted that the queue of supporters around the ground stretched for a few hundred yards. There were people with tents and sleeping bags, deckchairs and plastic bags filled with food or beer bottles. Blithely I had expected a line of a few dozen supporters and only a handful of cars in the car park. I knew that the ticket office opened at eight o'clock and had thought I would probably be away by ten am. No chance.
I finally and by then rather gratefully reached the front of the queue at three thirty in the afternoon. With the kind help of a woman supporter, I was able to buy an extra ticket on top of the two tickets I was entitled to buy as a result of attending the FA Cup semi-final last month. That's ten and a half hours of queueing! See, I told you I was mad!
Perhaps worse than the long wait was the biting cold. The wind has changed direction in the last twenty four hours and Hull was assailed by a bitter wind straight off the North Sea. It gnawed into your bones and I was so glad I had brought two coats otherwise I think I might have been overcome by hypothermia.
Most of the day was spent chatting with the other people around me in the queue - all of us keen Hull City supporters but not in possession of cherished season passes. At first I thought that the prospects of securing tickets would be slim but as the Arctic day continued, I came within touching distance of something much, much better than one of those golden tickets in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and here it is:-
Sing with me - to the tune of "The Red Flag":-
From Boothferry to Wembley
We'll keep the Hull flag flying high
Flying high up in the sky
We'll keep the Hull flag flying high
From Boothferry to Wembley
We'll keep the Hull flag flying high!
See ~ now that is why you retired ~ to queue for 10 hours! You could make a habit of this ~ Apple Store openings, concert tickets, Boxing Day sales.
ReplyDeleteGo the Tigers!!
A professional queuer! Now there's an idea Carol! Thanks for the suggestion.
ReplyDeleteYep! It is confirmed, and confirmed by you so it must be so! :)
ReplyDeleteBeelzebub - Tom's a cold! Is that a dagger that I see before me!? (laughs manically) Hahahahaha!
DeleteYou are not mad. A little strange, eccentric and time will tell whether you are misguided.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the 17th. I will no doubt hear the result from you which will save me buying a paper.
Err. If we are hammered by Arsenal - which logic says we should be - all that you will hear from me is wailing and hysterical screams of "It's not fair!"
DeleteShades of SWFC and their 3 games against Arsenal 21 years ago in 1993. Hope you manage to stuff em.
ReplyDeleteI was there for the FA Cup Final replay. I am hoping that someone can crawl into the Arsenal FC air-conditioning system and decant a phial containing the deadly lurgi virus - or maybe legionnaire's.
DeleteI would have made you a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea if you had called in on the way back to Sheffield, and I could have shown you Petula's (duck) wee nest with 16 duck eggs in it!!
ReplyDeleteYou could have also run me a hot bath. Next time I spend ten and a half hours standing in the freezing cold in Hull I shall remember to call in at Printemps Towers on the way home milady. I would have loved to see Petula's eggs - maybe your Romanian housekeeper could have rustled up an omelette for me.
DeleteMarika would have been very happy to rustle up an omelette for you and Heathcliff could have put another log on the fire and kept the Yorkshire tea coming until you thawed out.
DeleteIf my life depended on it, I suppose I'd be willing to stand in a queue for 10 hours. Otherwise, I'd simply say "f..k it, I'm going home" and go back to bed.
ReplyDeleteOoooo Arian! And there's me thinking you were a cultured lady! Though you put a couple of dots in "that" word, I know exactly what you meant. As an English gentleman of high breeding, I of course never swear!
DeleteNext you'll be queueing to hear Nigel Farage out on the stump.
ReplyDeleteLLX
The only stumps I'd queue to see Nigel Farage on would be those bleeding ones found just above the knees when your lower limbs have been blown away.
DeleteI think it's wonderful when an old fart can still get excited about something. Many of us are cynical and don't participate in such things anymore. Those people miss out on a lot of fun things. Go team!!!!
ReplyDeleteMs Blawat, I hereby anoint thee as the Secretary of the Hull City Supporters Club (Sloughhouse CA Branch). I trust that you will fulfil your duties in a diligent manner.
DeleteYes I will, and I'll be wearing my Henderson's T-shirt while I do.
DeleteOh, Mr. Pudding. You do thrill me sometimes. 99.8% of the time you are the most generous, kind, well-mannered, soft spoken, educated, poetic, farmer walking gentle gentleman. And then.....and then.....when your Hull football team is the matter in your head....then comes the unseemly side of you. You are ready in an instant to inflict incredible suffering on opposing teams, ready to go to war, as it were. Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteMs Thyme, I hereby anoint thee as the Secretary of the Hull City Supporters Club (Colorado Branch). I trust that you will fulfil your duties in a diligent manner. To order Hull City branded items go to http://www.tigerleisure.com and study the "For Her" section to satisfy your needs.
DeleteSeriously???
ReplyDeleteI bet you would have done the same if Wrexham F.C. had made it to the FA Cup Final Jenny. You'd be there with your deckchair and blanket, a flask of coffee and your copy of "The Sun" to wile away the hours.
DeleteIn your dreams...! :)
DeleteMad, but in an alive sort of way. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI did a bit of queuing for Barnsley tickets back in the 80s when they had a couple of cup runs, but I don't think it reached the 10 hour mark! Bet some people's phones had actually gone flat on them by the time you'd been served ...
Aren't all mobile phones "flat" Brian? I have never seen a football-shaped one or a cuboid one. Mad but in an alive sort of way - I like that.
ReplyDeleteI doubt I would queue voluntarily for that length of timeeven if my life depended upon it.
ReplyDelete