Today was our last day in the U.K. and it was to be filled with great joy and great sadness, almost in equal measure. It was always going to be a tough day to say goodbye to family for an indefinite period of time, but there was also going to be a highlight as I had tickets to my first Boxing Day game at Old Trafford.
We woke late due to the sins of the day before and nearly missed breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast we had the unenviable task of packing lots and lots of square pegs into a few square holes. We set the kids up in their room with TV, craft and digital babysitters (iPods) and became totally overwhelmed by the task at hand. We had tried in vain to keep our suitcases in good order while at this hotel knowing we were only here for 4 nights before leaving, however Christmas had thrown us. We also wanted to try and have a system for our packing as we would be dealing with extremes in America (sub-zero temperatures in New York and DC then 30 degrees in Orlando and 20s in LA).
With a crude system established, we set about removing Christmas presents from their packaging to fit it all in. I was then saved by the bell because I received a phone call offering a lift to the Manchester United v Sunderland game at Old Trafford. This meant that as much as I wanted to continue helping Yvette with the packing, I had to stop and get prepared for one of my dreams to come true.
Watching Boxing Day football is a long standing tradition for me. Even when Yvette and I were in the UK last we tried in vain to get tickets to Old Trafford for Boxing Day. As it would have been impossible not to be at football on Boxing Day we settled on a trip to Boundary Park to watch Oldham Athletic play Scunthorpe on that occasion. To finally have tickets for a United match at Old Trafford on Boxing Day was a true fairytale.
I quickly changed into my new jersey that I received for Christmas and scarf and raced around to catch my ride. I was very grateful for the lift from Lynsey and Nathan’s neighbour as without it I would have been catching buses, trams and walking and would have been gone for most of the day.
When we arrived at the match the atmosphere was electric. We had been playing well and winning recently and the expectation was the same for today. This was to be my 6th United match (4th at Old Trafford) and they had never lost while I was watching them. In fact, given they had even won 4 of the previous 5 I was half expecting season tickets from Jose as their lucky charm.
As we were there early I used it as my last opportunity to visit the megastore and found some small gifts to take home. I then headed through security and upstairs to take my seat. Strangely, I realised that although this was my 6th game, it was my first league game. I realised it because the stories I had heard about the atmosphere being different to other matches were completely true. While season ticket holders don’t attend all Cups and ancillary matches, they never miss a league game, providing an extra dimension. The songs were ringing from every seat in the stadium with an added Christmas cheer. Fortunately I was able to join in most of them, including some golden oldies about former greats like Eric Cantona and Jaap Staam. The ones I didn’t know were the twisted Christmas Carols which I quickly learned and enjoyed. My favourite being “Feed the scousers, let them know it’s Christmas time.”
While the first half of the match wasn’t the reds’ finest ever, they came out in the second and dominated Sunderland. The jubilation of the crowd each time United scored their 3 goals was something I am never likely to witness at a sporting match again. I have absolutely loved the opportunity to watch the team I am passionate about playing live both at home and away during my trip. At the end of the match I came to the stark realisation that I would now be back to waking up in the wee hours, all bleary eyed to watch them on the screen at home – I won’t even be able to sing alone because the rest of the house will be asleep. I guess I’ll be singing on the inside from now on.
I met Will and Tom at the car after the match but we had to wait half an hour for the roads to clear and reopen before we could set off. When we got home I wandered next door to my cousin’s house knowing Yvette and the kids would be there enjoying their last play. We had arranged to have dinner at Harry’s new found love, Frankie and Benny’s. We drove down to Ashton to the nearest franchise and arranged a kiddies table and a parent table. While we had a great time and gave the kids free reign of the menu to order from, there was the unspoken sadness lingering as we knew when we said goodbye it would be for a good while.
Throughout the meal Nathan continued to threaten to buy the restaurant’s CD for Harry so he could remember the excessively loud music which is played on constant rotation. Not to be outdone in the wind-up stakes, I had a little trick of my own up my sleeve. Many people come to Frankie and Benny’s to celebrate their birthday because they make a big deal of them. A grand version of Happy Birthday and another celebration song are played even louder over the PA system and the whole place sings Happy Birthday as they deliver your cake. So I mentioned to the waitress on the quiet that Nathan was celebrating his birthday (which of course he wasn’t). The look of surprise and confusion on his face was better than I could have imagined when they delivered his dessert. Lynsey was laughing so hard I though she might actually burst. It now seems I may have given birth to a new family tradition of surprising people (including random strangers) whenever they visit the restaurant.
After dinner came the inevitable, we had to go back and say goodbye (after a brief lounge room disco). The farewells were filled with the obvious tears and Audrey again had to be physically removed from her cousin Tia. I had to be physically removed from Al, our faithful Nissan Almera. Making it worse was that we had to drop into the Daisy on the walk home to say goodbye to Terrie and Billy, which we knew meant saying goodbye to the whole village again. Let’s say our plan to get home early was thwarted. While the kids were in bed by 9 Yvette and I had some last minute packing and preparing (although I must say Yvette had done the lion’s share for which I was truly grateful) so we weren’t in bed until midnight. Getting up at 2:30am for our 3:30am taxi was going to be tough.
Mark (on behalf of the wandering winrows)
wanderingwinrows 