When the Saints go marching in.

Last weekend we went to my in-laws In Northamptonshire.  We went to a Micheline starred restaurant on Saturday night called The Nut Tree and then went to watch a rugby match on the Sunday.

We haven't been to a match since the children were born and we both really miss it, particularly DH who doesn't have any other hobbies.  I decided to surprise him with tickets for his birthday when his team reached the quarter finals of the European Cup.  They were playing not far from where his parents live and so I tapped them up to babysit for the day.  Everything seemed to be going well until I couldn't get tickets!  I ended up having to pay through the nose for hospitality tickets but it was a special ocassion and something quite different for us.

I was so annoyed when the visiting team, Ulster from Northern Ireland, sent back over 1500 normal tickets and we could have had a normal seat after all.  Some people find it really strange that opposing fans can sit together in total harmony but that's just how it is with rugby union.  Obviously there is some friendly banter but its all really good natured.

The meal was really nice and we had a good crowd on our table, some Ulster and some Saints so it was a good laugh.  The stadium was in Milton Keynes, home of the MK Dons football team and they'd never hosted a rugby match before.  They ran out of beer way before the match started and just couldn't get their heads around not having to segregate the fans which is unheard of during football matches.

It was a reasonably close match and I was hoarse within about half an hour of kick off.  It was so good to be at a live match again, I hadn't realised how much I had missed it.  Thankfully the Saints came home 10 points clear so it was a great day for DH's birthday treat.

Now we're desperately trying to get hold of tickets to the semi finals but its like getting tickets to Take That!  We sure have got the rugby bug again!  Of course I will be scrapping the event but I feel I may be rather limited in my colour scheme ;-)

Bye for now