Saturday's game at the Valley will be a little odd for me...as I won't be there. For only the 5th time in over 16 years, I will miss a competitive Charlton game at the Valley due to a wedding taking place in Sicily. I have been able to influence the arrangements of so many social events around the fixture list of my favorite team over the years, but on this occasion there was no movement!
Not since Feb 2005 - an FA Cup defeat at the hands of Leicester City - has my seat in the East Stand been vacant on a matchday, and in that case I was attending the stag doo of one of my closest friends. Before that, I blame two other weddings and a pre-planned holiday for my disappointing lack of support!
When I was much younger, I would have been secretly praying for a freak weather front to bring snow to South London (or something similar) in the hope of a postponement, but, as I've got older, I take a far more relaxed view on this subject. Ok, I admit, what I mean is I realise the chances of snow in August is remote and unrealistic! As I have resigned myself to the inevitable, all I'll be hoping for in my absence is another 3 points. If I'm honest, my away support over the years has not been even remotely as consistent, so I'll try and mentally treat the day as though we're away from home.
When writing this, I recall a story from some years back that was broadcast on a radio football phone-in show hosted by that Deptford-born friend of Chris Evans where the theme was something like 'to what lengths have you gone to get a game of football postponed?' There was a chap who took a shovel to a football pitch in the dead of night on the eve of a game to ensure the resulting holes he dug would postpone the cup final he was evidently suspended from. Without wishing to leave you on tenterhooks, I can't recall the outcome, other than the radio station's chubby host lording the caller and perpetrator as some sort of hero for the common man.
It's got me thinking.....
Thankfully, the wedding is Friday, so I can hopefully keep abreast of the action in SE7 on Saturday.....with a cool Peroni in hand looking out across the Med!
Not quiet the same though, is it?
Come on you Addicks.....Wish I was there!!!
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