I took a half day today, to go and catch the crucial World Cup Qualifier at Wembley with Chris. While I perhaps could have just asked to leave earlier but it is not the same rushing to the stadium with everyone else leaving work. I would much rather head over and have plenty of time on our hands. However, as it panned I had a few jobs to do in Newbury before I headed over to Henley. The masterplan, which I had formulated, involved driving to Wycombe station and catching the train from there into London. From there we would be able to catch the direct train back to Wycombe from the stadium and then off home. There was no flaw in my plan. We got to Wycombe station, parked up and then headed to the ticket machine. You could hear the eerie music in the background (or more likely the theme from Tales Of The Unexpected. If you are clueless, just ask your parents!). As you may or may not know, Chris and I have a poor history when it comes to car parks, parking tickets and ticket machines. Here was another case in point. We were waiting for the clock to tick over to 16:00 so that we could pay the reduced half day rate rather than the full day rate. So as Chris had his pound coin ready to insert, I snapped a few pictures on my E65 for old times sake.

We went to Leicester Square and got a bite to eat at the Wetherspoon’s Pub underneath Capital FM studios, Moon Under The Water. I ordered some food but Chris had already eaten but ordered some deserts. They were two for one, so I thought I might as well help myself to the chocoolate pudding. So there I was, eating this pudding for on only my main meal to arrive. Presented by a waitress who looked very similar to Edna Mode but more on that later. “Wrong order…” I said but only got a frained smile from the lady before she disappeared. It was around 6pm now and we decided to head over to Wembley as soon as we could to ensure we got there in plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere.

The sun was setting in the distance as we made our way down Wembley Way through up to our gate. It was busy and there was a sense of optimism in the air. England were going to qualify with two games to spare and actually not make a meal of leaving it to the last group game. Once we got our progammes and found our fantastic seats, Chris got his flag out and put it on as a cape. Oh no, he was going against the advise of Edna Mode. Please tell me you have seen The Incredibles. If not you have missed out one of the best Disney Pixar animated movies ever. Edna plays the role of costume designer to the superheroes and has a stringent policy of “No Capes”. Chris updated his Facebook status, via his iPhone. Of course, the moment I wanted to update my Facebook status, the iPhone became a glorified mp3 player. The 3G signal was dead and there was no other airwave to jump on, even the Wembley wifi was chargeable. I thought best to leave it for now. We settled down for the match.

A great game to watch, I did not expect Croatia to just crumble, roll over and die like they did. Just hope the country does not get carried away by the result. We are far from world beaters but it is important to make sure you are at the finals and we are. The next stage is fine tuning the team in preparations for those games. The next stage for me is to organise myself to be there for the final. Anyone up for a trip to South Africa?