Glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur

Today was the biggie, the event that this entire holiday has built towards. Not my visit to Tescos, the day when I got to watch my beloved Spurs play live for the first time since 1990. The day started with a hiccup though.

We stayed at the Glasgow Airport hotel, so we could get up at 5am and literally roll across the road to check-in at Glasgow International for our 6.45am flight. At this stage everything was moving smoothly, too smoothly as it turns out. The universe had obviously seen the fun I have been having and the luxurious lifestyle I have been living and thought, screw you buster, let's have some fun. So we boarded our easyJet flight on time and sat there ready to takeoff for London. And we sat there, and we sat there, and sat, and sat....you get the idea.

We waited in the plane at the gate for over an hour and a half. Now this wasn't easyJet's fault, the fog in London was affecting flights all over the UK. What was easyJet's fault was letting us board when they knew we couldn't take off until after 8am, sadistic bastards! This meant that we didn't reach London Gatwick until after 10am and screwed my master plan of doing a little sightseeing pre-game.

Upon reaching Gatwick we rode the monorail between terminals and checked into our hotel, the Hilton (remember the luxury theme). Once that was done and our bags ditched we legged it faster than a Labrador chasing a sandwich for London Victoria and onwards to Wembley Stadium. At this point I have had a request to mention the weather. Yesterday in London it was sunny and 22 degrees. Today it was not. Today it was 10, with constant rain. Oh universe, you cheeky bugger, you wont stop me.

We forged on, through rain and cold and arrived at Wembley just after 1pm. This gave us time for me to visit the merchandise store, where I showed admirable restraint and only bought 2 Spurs shirts, some Spurs gloves, a Spurs baseball cap and a matchday scarf. I shall buy more when we return to London after our time in Florida, and when I have an extra suitcase.

Spurs shopping complete we strolled the concourse waiting for kickoff and praying for sunshine. Obviously god doesn't do requests, because the rain continued, throughout the entire match.

3pm and kickoff eventually rolled around and I have to admit there was a pretty big lump in my throat as the ref blew the whistle to start play. A wild mix of emotions surged through me. Excitement and joy at seeing my team and sorrow for missing mates who didn't live to see this day. Squeezing back the tears I sat back for two seconds until I got caught up in the game and then lived every kick, pass and tackle for the full 90 minutes. Fortunately Eric Dier calmed Spurs' nerves in the eighth minute by smacking in a messy rebound and Spurs bossed most of the match from then on, apart from a few Cardiff attacks. When Cardiff were reduced to 10 men about the hour mark I thought the match was in the bag. However, Spurs being the generous team they are you can hardly ever rest easy. In the end though the ref blew time and a cheer of joy and relief range out from the faithful.

Now Spurs may have won the match, but I have to give props to the travelling Cardiff support, they cheered, sang and clapped their boys for the full 90. They even tried to have a go after the match, but got a quick kicking from some handy Spurs lads.

My journey to mecca complete we tramped back through the rain and retraced our steps to our Gatwick Airport hotel. This required three train rides over 90 minutes.

Now sitting in the warmth of the Hilton, the colour is finally returning to my frozen body, Jean however may need to be microwaved to raise her core temperature. Despite the delays and English weather nothing can diminish my joy at having once again being able to support my team in person.

Tomorrow we catch our Norwegian Air Dreamliner for Orlando. Mickey you better make sure the place is tidy.

To see some of my match action click either of these links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw4cePv2MUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV_0q8cnjUYRead more