Have thermals, will travel (Blackburn postponed)

Saturday morning in Shepperton and I awake to a scene resembling a Christmas card. All very pretty but nothing to unduly concern me. The phrase match postponement didn't enter my thoughts. I had no concerns when Dad rang to ask if I thought the game would still go ahead, though I did keep one eye on the Internet from that point on. Dad headed up from Sussex and I popped down the High Street. It really was a magical sight, a thin covering of frost on the ground and sparkling ice in all the trees. Quite cold but surely not bad enough to stop a Premier League game from going ahead?

I decided to dig out my thermal underwear which took a bit of finding and eventually involved a trip to the loft and the movement of a fair number of boxes. I had Radio 5 on when Dad arrived. As he walked through the door they announced that the game at Portsmouth was off. Uh-oh. News filtered through of a pitch inspection, thanks largely to TiFF, and then, at the exact moment we were about to leave the house, confirmation that the game was postponed. Bugger!

I'd been up to the club shop the week before to get replica shirts for both my boys with some of their Christmas money. They'd not had much in stock and we'd planned to collect the one for my eldest on the way to the game. With not much else to do, and some doe eyes to encourage us, we decided to go up anyway. Arriving in Fulham there were plenty of home fans milling about, some filling the football shaped hole in their day with an extended stay in the pub, some heading for home. Blackburn fans probably didn't have the same options, booked on coaches and trains well in advance and with no alternative but to stick with those arrangements. It made me wonder weather Rob Styles would have been better waiting until nearer kick-off before making a decision.

We made it back before the half-times and settled down for a cup of tea and a chat. The kids arrived home shortly afterwards and got very excited about the new football tops. We had a mini fashion show as they tried them on and pulled their best football star shapes. An oddly satisfying day despite the lack of any actual match.