An Empty Chair

By now, we all know the sequence of our fixtures for the coming season. 

This morning, I honestly felt a little bit excited at the prospect of learning what I would be up to over the period until May 2010. 

When would there be that cheeky evening flit up the motorway?

When would a weekend break be possible to coincide with the football?

Just after 10 o'clock this morning, I got to glance at the club website. My initial reaction was a feeling of disappointment.

Yet again, I will be missing our first game of the season due to being on holiday but I was hoping that I'd be absent for an away game - and one that I wouldn't have wanted to go to at that.

It wasn't to be.

My seat will be empty for the visit of the Chairboys.

 I'm not going to pretend that I won't be having fun while I'm away. 

I know for a fact that I'll be loafing around in the sunshine with the occasional swim in the surf when it all gets just too hot to be comfortable. I'll be eating fine food and drinking far too much I imagine.

All year I look forward to the Summer break we take in the sun. Dreaming about it gets me through some of the frighteningly cold weeks around February time.

However, between the hours of 3pm and 5pm on the 8th August, there will be a very small part of a Greek island following the events in SE7 very closely and wishing it was a little nearer.

My other big disappointment is our fixture away at Brighton. 

A midweek evening game was definitely not what we had ordered. I fancied a weekend on the South coast, staying with my sister and her family. I'd even promised my nephew that I'd take him to his first Charlton game when we played in his home city. It's not possible now.

Anyway, despite the moans, it's good to be looking forwards. 

At this time of year, it's all to play for and everything is still possible.