Colin Sheridan: Random encounters at the Cottage

A day trip to London brings delays but some reunions too.

WEST END BOYS: Home of Fulham FC, Craven Cottage in London. Pic: Warren Little/Getty Images)

London town, on a windy April morning, alighting the tube at Putney Bridge and walking down towards Craven Cottage past Ranelagh Terrace. It's fresh, but the breeze off the Thames is mild. Certainly milder than the tempest that held us on the tarmac in Dublin airport for an extra hour and a half. 

Fly Aer Lingus, I told myself. They always leave on time and land on time and Heathrow’s easy, especially because the express train would have us in Paddington before they’d even had the breakfast at home. I told myself these things the way a man justifying a day trip away to watch a Premier League match tells himself things. Aer Lingus. Heathrow Express. Paddington to Putney Bridge. We’d be sitting in the Old Dog and Duck by noon, blowing froth off a couple of ales, trying to figure out how many times Georgie Best and Rodney Marsh played together for the Cottagers, before taking a slow stroll down to the prettiest ground in English football. Yeah, that’s what I told myself.