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The Walshaw Whites 1st "Football Weekend Away"!
Roots Hall, Southend United FC
Southend United 1-0 Bury
Day 1, Friday 25th February 2005
The journey for the 3 of us started at 07.30am with us getting a lift with Marks Mum into Bury. We made our way to the Metrolink and headed for Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. We walked to Chorlton Street Bus Station and waited for the 350 to Cambridge, on route to Southend on Sea. The coach arrived slightly after its 0905 departure time and we boarded. The coach then took us on a very detailed tour of the East Midlands, stopping in Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Peterborough amongst others. We were slightly worried we might miss our connection as we ran 10 mins late but the other coach was a bit late too. By 17:00 we were pretty fed up and couldn’t wait to get there. After a whistle stop tour of Essex, we arrived in Southend at 19.20, It was freezing! We quickly made our way to the local McDonalds for warmth and some food. We rang the person we were staying with and she sent her husband to get us. She said he would be 5 mins but it felt like 20mins stood outside Southend bus station freezing cold! We got in his car and a short 5-minute drive later we were at our accommodation. We were expecting a sign outside, as in a stereotypical B&B but it was just a house! After getting over this initial surprise, we unpacked and spent the evening chilling out, watching TV and generally relaxing. We were happy with the house, it was warm, clean and the beds were pretty comfy. Eventually we got Mark to stop talking and texting people and we fell asleep bout 1 ish.
Glenn
Day 2, Saturday 26th February 2005
After telling Linda that we would like breakfast at 09:00, we finally got out of bed and made our way down for breakfast at 09:30. Once we had our full English (egg, 2bacon, fresh tomato, beans and toast) we made our way to our room to get ready to walk down to the sea front. We went up to the room where Mark got ready to go but Stu and Glenn watched Saturday morning telly. We decided to set off for town at 10:30, which turned to 10:45.
We decided to walk the short distance, and we were doing ok until we decided to follow the road sign for the sea front. We turned left like the sign said but there was no sign of the sea. We walked down the road asking the way to find out whether we were going the right way. After about 40mins of walking we finally found the front. We decided to have a couple of quid on the 2p machines (hardcore gamblers) and then we made our way to the famous mile long pier. We started walking down, only to be stopped and told that you had to pay £2.25 each just to walk down a piece of wood. Mark told the woman what he thought of that idea and we left to go into town for something to eat.
Time was getting on so we decided to make our way to the ground and stop off at a chippy. As we had trouble finding the sea front Mark decided to ask a local burger woman the best way to the ground, which was not the best idea (no offence to women) but when he asked the way she replied “you know the Library?” Mark was dying to say “yes I’m a local and I’m just asking the way to Root Hall as I’m bored” but being the model Bury fan he just said “no, sorry”.
We found the ground, bought our tickets and went in and put up the flag. The lads came out and played well but were unlucky with a dodgy free kick, which saw the Shakers go a goal down. Second half saw the Shakers control the game but just couldn’t score and ended up losing the game 1-0. However if it was a boxing match Bury would have won on points. We decided to have a walk back to the front, now we knew where we were going and walk down the front at night. After our walk we decided to treat ourselves to a posh tea, so we went to Frankie and Benny’s. After we ate we made our way back to the room to watch Match of the Day and play some cards.
Mark.
Day 3, Sunday 27th February 2005.
Our final day got off to a cold start with us waking up at around 7:00am, to be met with 4” of snow in sunny Southend. We quickly got dressed and made our way down for breaky (egg, bacon, tomatoes, fruit, cereal), before going back to our room to pack. After a stop at the newsagents for supplies and papers we were soon at the bus stop. We were met with ironic laughs, as the bus driver was the same as going down and we had mentioned we were in Southend for the footy, a few banterous moments later and we were on our way home!
The journey home was pretty uneventful, as we reversed our tour of the midlands, and eventually arrived back at Chorlton Street at around 6:30pm. A quick met journey, and car journey and we were soon home, knackered, but proud to have gained another ground on our quest for the 92.
Total Time Away: 60hrs.
Total Money Spent: approx. £80.
It’s all part of being a footy fan!
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