My trip to Wembley last night

Dont know whether anyone is interested or really cares but i thought i would give you a brief breakdown of how the afternoon/evening went.

With the Tube strike in full swing we decided that an early set off time of 2-30pm was in order, this was to prove crucial as some 2 and a half hours later we were still 20 miles from our destination and about to meet the North Circular at rush hour time. The next half an hour were spent stop start stop start, then suddenly we hit open road for about 10 miles. Bouyed by our sudden road freedom and the stadium well in our sites we motored on but as suddenly as it had begun it was all over, no movement for another half an hour. Just 3 miles from the stadium, the London Borough of Brent had ground to a virtual standstill. The Tube strike was proving more of a nightmare than any of us had ever thought.

Our Sat-Nav finally delivered us to our car park some 3 and a half hours and 120 miles later. The car park is very close to the stadium, about a 5 minute walk and only ?10, which for the 5 hours we were there we all thought was quite reasonable given other places en route were charging ?20.

With 2 hours to kill before the game, we all decided that a drink was in order. The first pub we came across, The Greyhound on Harrow Road, had a que outside about 100 people deep and 2 bouncers who didnt look like that had any intention of letting anyone in, even though from the pavement it didnt look like hardly anyone was inside. Too our astonishment after walking round to the back of the pub the back door was open and no bouncers and no que. Surely we couldnt just walk in un-noticed but that was exactly what we did. Straight to the bar and served straight away. The beer was s**t and the toilets were dreadful. After one drink we all agreed it was time to go, walking out the front door with somewhat of a smug grin on our faces at what we had gotten away with.

With a spit of rain in the air we decided to head straight to the stadium. Although not our first visit, im still in awe of the place. I couldnt wait to get inside. After paying ?53-50 for my ticket i was anxious to see where exactly we were going to be sitting. I was pleasantly surprised to be about 20 rows back to the left of the dug-outs right in front of the press boxes on the end of the row.

With the location of our seats found it was time to get ripped off for something to eat. One burger, drink and bag of crisps later and ?10 lighter, it was time for the game. Im sure most of you saw it, the most one-sided game i have ever witnessed. Greeno looked almost bored at times, i think i counted 5 touches of the ball all game. Andorra were a disgrace really with no intention of going forward and anything less than 10 England goals was a result for them. Given the crowd was about 30,000 light it was still a good atmosphere with the band doing a good job at keeping spirits high.

With the rain pouring down as we left the stadium, and given that there had been numerous announcements during the evening that Wembley Tube and Train stations would both be open at the end of the game, the all knowledgable police had decided in their wisdom to barricade one of the entrances to the Train station off and force everyone into a narrow walkway past the Inis hotel. Like the drive down to the smoke we were again at a standstill, going nowhere fast. Children were getting scared and screaming and im not surprised. It was quite a squeeze at times.

We got back to the car some 30 minutes after the final whistle and after a couple of stop start moments it was a clear run all the way home and the end of a really enjoyable, if not frustrating at times, trip out.

Posted By: CarlsbergCanary, Jun 11, 21:00:40