A funny thing happened to me on the way to the game.....

[floyd__streete]

A thread for recounting, if you will, unusual happenings which you witnessed en route to football which were utterly unconnected with football itself.

I can recall my dad driving his mate, my brother and I to a game at EP one Boxing Day and as we crossed the railway bridge on the Tilehurst Road just before Western Elms Avenue the car in front of us a Robin Reliant lost control mounted the pavement crashed against the wall of the bridge and bounced back landing onto its roof. We helped the driver - a dazed and confused scrawny little middle aged man - out of the vehicle before pushing it back the right way up and driving on our way to enjoy a heartening afternoon of festive soccer at the former home of the Royals. Those were the days eh......you rarely see a Robin Reliant any more. Sadly the crash was a good metaphor for the season as the Royals were relegated by May.

[genome]

As far as I remember Robin Reliant's did that on a daily basis

[leon]

My mate Mark (a Berkshire Man City fan) was admiring the rammed away end at Elm Park and he walked into a lamp post.

Within two months we were both relegated.

[Hampshire Royal]

I was on the way to the Bristol Rovers home game at Mad Stad with my sons and got chatting to a Rovers fan. It was a bit of a building site then. I jumped over a small wall and tripped. The Rovers fan asked if I was OK and through gritted teeth I said I was. My knee hurt like oxf*rd, but I wasn't going to say that to the Gashead.

It was a metaphor for the game really (we lost 6-0, for those that don't know)and my knee was badly cut.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

I'll be annoying and tell a story from 'the way back from a game'

Me and 4 m8s (only one of whom supported Reading) went up to the Forest away Friday night game a few years back (3-2, Obita got the winner, Gunter got sent off) and had a bit of a debacle getting home

I think it started with me forgetting where I parked my car, and also being unable to locate 2 of the m8s who had skipped the game to spend the evening in Hooters. It then took us a few hours to actually get out of Nottingham, with my lack of driving-in-cities experience costing us dear

As we headed back down to Berkshire post-midnight we realised nearly every major road was closed for roadworks, and trying to follow diversions in the dark at 1am was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The main problem was the reliance on the SatNav, which only wanted us to take the normal route and didn't factor in that there were bollards in front of seemingly every roundabout exit

Eventually after a few hours of going round in circles I gave up trying to get on the M40 and decided on simply going M1 into London then M4 home, and we stopped off at a service station at about 2am for much needed caffeine and a few warm-up exercises in the car park for some reason

Finally at about 3am we got to the good bit of the story, as we hit the empty M4. As we approached Reading we finally saw one other vehicle, and on approach realised it was a bus, and not just any bus, the team bus

The sight of my m8 hanging out the car window kissing his badge screaming "CHRIS GUNTER" at the Reading team coach at gone past 3am is a rare highlight of what is a usually bland trip to and from Reading games. And no Chris didn't wave back, nor did any of the squad, and after 20 minutes of driving side-by-side the coach came off at Winnersh and we went on with our journey

I think with a lot of these there is an element of 'you had to be there,' but trust me, after 6 or so hours of driving lost through the night, sharing the M4 with the team bus was an unforgettable moment

[genome]

that sounds electric

[WoodleyRoyal]

I'll be annoying and tell a story from 'the way back from a game'

Me and 4 m8s (only one of whom supported Reading) went up to the Forest away Friday night game a few years back (3-2, Obita got the winner, Gunter got sent off) and had a bit of a debacle getting home

I think it started with me forgetting where I parked my car, and also being unable to locate 2 of the m8s who had skipped the game to spend the evening in Hooters. It then took us a few hours to actually get out of Nottingham, with my lack of driving-in-cities experience costing us dear

As we headed back down to Berkshire post-midnight we realised nearly every major road was closed for roadworks, and trying to follow diversions in the dark at 1am was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The main problem was the reliance on the SatNav, which only wanted us to take the normal route and didn't factor in that there were bollards in front of seemingly every roundabout exit

Eventually after a few hours of going round in circles I gave up trying to get on the M40 and decided on simply going M1 into London then M4 home, and we stopped off at a service station at about 2am for much needed caffeine and a few warm-up exercises in the car park for some reason

Finally at about 3am we got to the good bit of the story, as we hit the empty M4. As we approached Reading we finally saw one other vehicle, and on approach realised it was a bus, and not just any bus, the team bus

The sight of my m8 hanging out the car window kissing his badge screaming "CHRIS GUNTER" at the Reading team coach at gone past 3am is a rare highlight of what is a usually bland trip to and from Reading games. And no Chris didn't wave back, nor did any of the squad, and after 20 minutes of driving side-by-side the coach came off at Winnersh and we went on with our journey

I think with a lot of these there is an element of 'you had to be there,' but trust me, after 6 or so hours of driving lost through the night, sharing the M4 with the team bus was an unforgettable moment

[Sutekh]

Didn't there used to be a thread just like this one in the GF forum one time a few years back?

[leon]

We got lost on the way to Molineux about 15 years ago only to drive up behind Sir John in his roller somewhere in Wolverhampton.

So we thought we'd follow him - he'd know where the ground was. Except we ended up in an industrial estate, he was lost as well.

Mad, mad days.

[Ark Royal]

Something similar to the Elton John tale.

Car load of us were on our to Molineux for the opening game of the 94/95 season and we stopped at Frankley services on the M5. As we got out of the car, violinist Nigel Kennedy parked up in his Rolls Royce, which was painted in Villa colours. Out gets our Nigel wearing a Villa shirt and as he sees us all in hoops, asks us "...who have QPR got today?". We all screamed back in unison "WE'RE FUC KING READING, NOT QPR!". He apologized and laughed. We laughed. A nice bloke. Bet he's not so happy-clappy at the moment.

[Royal Ginger]

I've had to work with Nigel Kennedy a couple of times, and he was a total diva with a rediculous rider. Not a fan.

[sloughroyal123]

Saw a MK dons supporter outside of their ground last year with a free hugs sign

[Royal Ginger]

I hope you hit him.

[genome]

Saw a MK dons supporter

You could've just ended the sentence there tbh

[From Despair To Where?]

Best I can do is bumping into Sam Torrance at Keele Services on the way back from a League Cup game in Stoke. He was haggling with the cashier over the cost of a travel rug.

[MoorgateRoyal]

Coming back from a game during one of our sun-soaked promotion chases (either 2006 or 2002, I forget) I was having a piss in a service station among many other Reading fans, and fans of other clubs.

Suddenly the whole toilet erupts with 'URZ' as Sir John walks in to do his business. There were people clapping, cheering, trying to shake his hand and all sorts.

He looked fairly bemused, but not as bemused as this small Asian guy who must have thought the king of cottaging had come in.

[Norfolk Royal]

I was on my way to a game once and I got beamed up into a spaceship by aliens who did some experiments on me, yes including probing.

However, they were kind enough to drop me back quite close to the ground after they had examined me and it didn't really spoil the day to be honest.

[Franchise FC]

A group of us used to go to neutral games when Reading weren't playing.

On one notable journey to see Birmingham vs Norwich I was driving and coming the other way was a lorry. As we got close to the lorry a car came out and overtook the lorry, coming straight at us.
My passenger could only comment "We're going to die - we're going to die"
I have no idea how we didn't get hit, not least because I had my eyes closed expecting the worst.

p.s. Birmingham 0 Norwich 4

[OldBiscuit]

I was. On the way to Elm Park to watch us take on Bournemouth once and I found myself walking down the Tilehurst Road.
Ah! Happy days!

[AthleticoSpizz]

Happy days indeed

Turned up in the SB for a Pompey 1970's game thinking that I was amongst friends donning blue and white.......only to find.......

WRTTOP, I was on my way to Grimsby once, to watch us play......(.Grimsby don't play in Grimsby).....