Wheels on the Bus
6.20am: Leave home in the dark.
6.38am: Pick up Sopuru.
6.52am: Sitting outside Severn Vale School. Mistake Cyril for Wixey. Then Wixey arrives. Where’s Cyril? Collect bus.
7.30am: Depart Longlevens; destination Nottingham. Myatt rebels against early start by falling asleep before end of Cheltenham Road. Coach Wilson completes Times crossword before Tewkesbury. Photographer draws breath half a mile shy of Droitwich.
9.05am: Arrive Donnington Park Services. Gregg’s very popular. Photographer buys other staff breakfast after scanning menu for cheapest items. Team’s first compliment of the season from very nice member of the public – ‘Smart and well behaved.’ Sopuru eats sausage roll in three seconds. No crumbs.
10.20am: Arrive Highfields; avoid tram; fine facilities; change noisily. Millward adjusts hair. Burgess models new, but horrid pink boots. Myatt carries drinks. All of them.
11.05am: Win £3 on sweep to guess number of away fans.
11.06am: Two more supporters arrive. Lose £3.
11.10am: Kick-off. Sopuru robs goalkeeper to score on four minutes. Daniels produces at least four fine saves. Nottingham equalise on 21 and take lead 60 seconds before half time. Jaffas eaten. Wine gums too. Sopuru scours container for real food. Nothing doing; disappointment obvious.
11.40am: Very good home side go 3-1 up. More heroics from Daniels. Nine minutes to go; May finds Sopuru; fine finish; 2-3; game on. Two sniffs at an equaliser. Nothing transpires. Hosts add two more in last five minutes. The only disappointing phase of the game. Lose 5-2.
12.30pm: Burger van lunch on grass. Sopuru eats entire tray. Then starts on food. Nine seconds max.
1.10pm: Sitting on outside wall identifying punctuation errors on university signage. Dinglewell and Highnam good, half of Norton too. Upton, Haresfield & Elmbridge okay. St Paul’s impressive. St Mary’s hides behind Highnam, just in case. King’s so-so. Five punctuation gaffs and one spelling mistake. In one place. At a University. Be warned.
2.05pm: Arrive Twycross Zoo. Straight to aviary; rainbow lorikeets and nectar. All players bar one have a bird on their arm. Some people get all the luck. Myatt finally attracts and immediately exhorts a grammatically challenged, ‘I done it!’ Who wants more nectar? Eleven hands shoot skyward.
2.52pm: Bonobo ape bangs on perspex for 38th time. Caple jumps out of the way for 38th time. Keeper / coach visits giant turtles in pen opposite for daily practice session. ‘More movement,’ implores the coach, probably for the 38th time too.
3.25pm: ‘Where’s the gorillas?’ Burgess confidently takes both the map and the lead. ‘Follow me!’ he orders.
3.30pm: Arrive giraffe enclosure.
3.35pm: Jones rolls eyes and takes over map reading.
3.36pm: Arrive gorilla enclosure.
3.45pm: Half time at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Gloucester City 1 Eastbourne 0. Joeee Parker. Delight.
4.12pm: Photographer takes 199th animal-based picture as we leave zoo.
4.23pm: On the A42, heading south west.
4.24pm: Begin mental analysis (phase one) of today’s game. Effort good. Resilience good. Attitude good. Interaction good. Control the controllables. Beaten by better team. No problem. Learning points? Yes. Will we learn? Yes.
4.50pm: 90 minutes at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Gloucester City 1 Eastbourne 2. Despair.
4.55pm: 95 minutes at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Lidds heads home. Gloucester City 2 Eastbourne 2. Don’t you just love an injury time equaliser?
5.25pm: ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ as the brake goes on and the engine turned off in Strensham car park.
5.35pm: Caple and Myatt join Coach Wilson in Costa Coffee. Very middle class. Everyone else is in MacDonald’s.
5.54pm: Sopuru eats very big Big Mac in 13 seconds. Vye last to order, last to get served and last to sit down. No seats at team tables so plonks down on own. No fret. No fuss. One independence point. Good man.
6.30pm. Pull up at the Home of Football on the proverbial dot. Former physio turned goalkeeper gives out birthday sweets.
7.10pm: Drop bus back at Severn Vale and transfer contents to car. No Wixey or Cyril in sight. Only Sopuru, looking for more to eat. Canteen locked. Glum face.
7.34pm: Drop Sopuru off in Moreton Street.
7.58pm: Get home. It’s dark again.
7.59pm: Begin mental analysis (phase two) of today’s game. Six days of rumination to go….
Summary: 213 miles. 13 hours 38 minutes. Lost 5-2. Great day.
Gloucester: Daniels; Millward, Caple, Freeman; Vye, Jones, Pathfinder, Fieldhouse; Obieri; May, Myatt. Attendance: 35 (8 away).
6.38am: Pick up Sopuru.
6.52am: Sitting outside Severn Vale School. Mistake Cyril for Wixey. Then Wixey arrives. Where’s Cyril? Collect bus.
7.30am: Depart Longlevens; destination Nottingham. Myatt rebels against early start by falling asleep before end of Cheltenham Road. Coach Wilson completes Times crossword before Tewkesbury. Photographer draws breath half a mile shy of Droitwich.
9.05am: Arrive Donnington Park Services. Gregg’s very popular. Photographer buys other staff breakfast after scanning menu for cheapest items. Team’s first compliment of the season from very nice member of the public – ‘Smart and well behaved.’ Sopuru eats sausage roll in three seconds. No crumbs.
10.20am: Arrive Highfields; avoid tram; fine facilities; change noisily. Millward adjusts hair. Burgess models new, but horrid pink boots. Myatt carries drinks. All of them.
11.05am: Win £3 on sweep to guess number of away fans.
11.06am: Two more supporters arrive. Lose £3.
11.10am: Kick-off. Sopuru robs goalkeeper to score on four minutes. Daniels produces at least four fine saves. Nottingham equalise on 21 and take lead 60 seconds before half time. Jaffas eaten. Wine gums too. Sopuru scours container for real food. Nothing doing; disappointment obvious.
11.40am: Very good home side go 3-1 up. More heroics from Daniels. Nine minutes to go; May finds Sopuru; fine finish; 2-3; game on. Two sniffs at an equaliser. Nothing transpires. Hosts add two more in last five minutes. The only disappointing phase of the game. Lose 5-2.
12.30pm: Burger van lunch on grass. Sopuru eats entire tray. Then starts on food. Nine seconds max.
1.10pm: Sitting on outside wall identifying punctuation errors on university signage. Dinglewell and Highnam good, half of Norton too. Upton, Haresfield & Elmbridge okay. St Paul’s impressive. St Mary’s hides behind Highnam, just in case. King’s so-so. Five punctuation gaffs and one spelling mistake. In one place. At a University. Be warned.
2.05pm: Arrive Twycross Zoo. Straight to aviary; rainbow lorikeets and nectar. All players bar one have a bird on their arm. Some people get all the luck. Myatt finally attracts and immediately exhorts a grammatically challenged, ‘I done it!’ Who wants more nectar? Eleven hands shoot skyward.
2.52pm: Bonobo ape bangs on perspex for 38th time. Caple jumps out of the way for 38th time. Keeper / coach visits giant turtles in pen opposite for daily practice session. ‘More movement,’ implores the coach, probably for the 38th time too.
3.25pm: ‘Where’s the gorillas?’ Burgess confidently takes both the map and the lead. ‘Follow me!’ he orders.
3.30pm: Arrive giraffe enclosure.
3.35pm: Jones rolls eyes and takes over map reading.
3.36pm: Arrive gorilla enclosure.
3.45pm: Half time at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Gloucester City 1 Eastbourne 0. Joeee Parker. Delight.
4.12pm: Photographer takes 199th animal-based picture as we leave zoo.
4.23pm: On the A42, heading south west.
4.24pm: Begin mental analysis (phase one) of today’s game. Effort good. Resilience good. Attitude good. Interaction good. Control the controllables. Beaten by better team. No problem. Learning points? Yes. Will we learn? Yes.
4.50pm: 90 minutes at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Gloucester City 1 Eastbourne 2. Despair.
4.55pm: 95 minutes at the Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. Lidds heads home. Gloucester City 2 Eastbourne 2. Don’t you just love an injury time equaliser?
5.25pm: ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ as the brake goes on and the engine turned off in Strensham car park.
5.35pm: Caple and Myatt join Coach Wilson in Costa Coffee. Very middle class. Everyone else is in MacDonald’s.
5.54pm: Sopuru eats very big Big Mac in 13 seconds. Vye last to order, last to get served and last to sit down. No seats at team tables so plonks down on own. No fret. No fuss. One independence point. Good man.
6.30pm. Pull up at the Home of Football on the proverbial dot. Former physio turned goalkeeper gives out birthday sweets.
7.10pm: Drop bus back at Severn Vale and transfer contents to car. No Wixey or Cyril in sight. Only Sopuru, looking for more to eat. Canteen locked. Glum face.
7.34pm: Drop Sopuru off in Moreton Street.
7.58pm: Get home. It’s dark again.
7.59pm: Begin mental analysis (phase two) of today’s game. Six days of rumination to go….
Summary: 213 miles. 13 hours 38 minutes. Lost 5-2. Great day.
Gloucester: Daniels; Millward, Caple, Freeman; Vye, Jones, Pathfinder, Fieldhouse; Obieri; May, Myatt. Attendance: 35 (8 away).
