Although I’ll be back, I’ve now done Anglesey and really enjoyed it.  I grinned smugly at the queues on the Britannia Bridge as I headed east on a swift and uneventful trip home.  I had pondered Snowdon and its railway.  I considered another friend in Llandudno (they seem to gather there) but in the end cloud and tiredness convinced me to head home.

As I negotiated the A55 the madness of the Easter Monday trip to watch Bristol Rovers entertain the mighty Oldham Athletic struck me.

I’ve tried genuinely hard not to make this a football blog.  Swindon away was about Stonehenge.  Northampton on a Tuesday night was about freedom to travel and a bed and breakfast now that work is done with.  Bristol Rovers is utter lunacy.

Chris can’t travel on the Sunday.  I have the excitement of oncology first thing Tuesday morning.  The idea of an overnighter with a few snaps of the Clifton Suspension Bridge is done for.  This will be about a long drive, a football match and another long drive.

Let’s just say the M6 and M5 aren’t a good idea on a bank holiday.  The three hour journey took me six hours last time I did it.  This 3pm kick off needs an early start.

We have visited the Memorial Ground previously.  A Dagenham and Redbridge player had smashed a ball into the Boundary Park crowd pre-match.  Chris, the ever efficient ballboy who once got sworn at by a Liverpool player for accidentally rolling the ball past Luis Suarez as Latics clung onto a 3-2 lead, stuck up an arm and the force of the ball broke his wrist.

Reliable Dad made him watch the match and it took his Mum to drag him to the hospital a few days later before the fracture was diagnosed.  Surgery.  Recovery.  And a special long distance away game by way of apology from Dad.  Paid for with the £100 received from BUPA for Chris having his op on the NHS.

My memories of the game are slim.  A 1-0 defeat.  Terrible performance.  And I think Chris got food poisoning at an iffy service station on the way home.  Some quality Dad and lad time.

I’m not overly worried about the result this time, despite relegation still being possible.  Getting there for kick off and having the energy to get home the same day is the bigger concern!

If I’d Been on That United Airlines Flight all This Would Never Have Happened