Wembley!

For Christmas I bought Miss E - and me obviously! - tickets for the Women’s Nations League England v Spain game.
Miss E finishes early on Wednesdays so we went into London first for the afternoon rather than just straight to Wembley for the football.
We decided to ring the changes and walk from Euston to Gay’s The Word and then down to Forbidden Planet.
Just like we do every single time we go!!!
While Miss E went into Forbidden Planet I went into a cafe down towards Seven Dials and sat and had a much needed cappuccino.
When she came back we headed to Oxford Circus and jumped on the Lioness Line to Wembley.
Miss E took jeans back to Primark and then we walked to the stadium. After many wrong turns we found Subway in the outlet centre. By then it was a bit late so we took it in with us.
We had brilliant seats again. The pre-game lights and fireworks were fab!
The game was great. We were pretty much battered from beginning to end but our defense was rock solid and we managed to withstand all their efforts. And we scored in the 33rd minute. Whoop whoop!!!
There was excitement in the 52nd minute when the floodlights went off. It was quite something to see - just the advertising hoardings and the light from thousands of phones. Luckily they came back on pretty quickly.
The only downside was the cold. It was freezing!!! For some stupid reason I’d just worn a light shirt under my coat and my converse rather than my boots. I almost froze to death!!!!
But we won and it was worth it!!!
We marched back to the station at top speed and just like last time there was a train to Watford within minutes. Whoop whoop!
That’s where our luck ended. The train stopped everywhere and seemed to take forever. I was hopeful we’d make the 23.19 train from Watford to Milton Keynes but minute by minute it got less likely. But there is always hope!!!
I kept tracking the train we wanted to meet, hoping it would be a few minutes late. It wasn’t.
We got off at Watford Junction and ran for it just in case. And we waved it off as it went, leaving bang on time.
Not too bad we thought, only a fifteen minute wait til the next one.
Of course the next train wasn’t bang on time. In fact, it was cancelled. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! And the one after that wasn’t until 00.07.
We did make friends with a couple of young women as we waited and chatted to them for the half hour wait. They’d been at the football too and also waved the other train goodbye!
Miss E sat with them when the train eventually arrived but there were only three seats so I sat behind. I had worried that Miss E might feel a bit overwhelmed, being abandoned with strangers. I needn’t have worried!
The younger one was twenty, training to be a physio in Leeds and just on Miss E’s wavelength. It was lovely listening to them chat. Even exchanging photos of gigs and outfits!
They clearly thought Miss E was older than she is, asking her what she does.
Miss E chatted about A-Levels and plans for university. She’s so focused!
She thought nothing of saying she’s aiming for Cambridge. At her age, I’d have mumbled something about maybe thinking about going to Uni, embarrassed to aim so high.
She makes me so proud!!!!!!!
I moved seats to join them halfway home and it was really lovely chatting.
Miss E and I always meet nice people on the train. Funny to think we’ll probably never see them again. Just a special chance meeting.
There was no traffic just after 1am so the journey home was super quick.
I went straight to bed but all the excitement meant I couldn’t sleep. Still wide awake at 2.30am, sigh.