Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A Disappointing and Sad Evening








Firstly, here's some Black and white shots taken in Whitby on Sunday!

Now, lets skip back to a conversation I had on Monday evening;

Father: Danny and I are going to get a ticket for tomorrows away match at Barnsley, would you like me to get you one when I go to the ticket office?

Me: No, I don't like away games on week nights as the traffic is usually bad, and it can be a bit of a risk making it to the stadium in time for the start of the match! Besides they are showing it on Sky Sports!

Then we skip to 16:00 yesterday;

Father: Are you ready?

Me: What for?

Father: The football game, it'll take about an hour and 20 minutes to get there!

Me: I said I didn't want to go, it's on sky, and the weather is pretty poor!

Father: Oh, I thought you said you wanted to go!

So, as he had already paid out £20 for me, I took the ticket, got ready and left the house, and we started the 70 mile drive to Barnsley. Everything was going great, except the weather, it was pouring down with rain! We were making excellent time and it looked like we would arrive one and a half hours before the game, and get a decent parking spot.
We were 50 miles down the M62, just 1 mile from the turn off we needed, when all of a sudden the traffic came to a standstill! We waited a while then one by one, emergency vehicles started passing us by on the "hard shoulder" in total 5 fire engines, an emergency support vehicle, 5 ambulances, an air ambulance and 8 police cars! Oh no we thought, this is serious!!! It turns out there had been a multi vehicle pile up involving six cars, started by the driver of a crane swerving, and resulting in a 10 year old boy (also a Hull City supporter on the way to the football match) being killed and 10 others seriously injured (the fire brigade had to cut people out of wreckage) all this happened about 1/4 a mile (30 seconds drive time?) in front of us, we could see the emergency vehicle lights flashing up ahead as we exited the car to look along the line of traffic!
So we sat there as the time to "kick off" approached, deciding it was very likely we would miss the start of the game............after 4 hours of sitting in our car, listening to the match on the radio, the game was almost over when we started to move and were directed to turn around up ahead and join a long line of cars waiting to follow a police car back up the "hard shoulder" in the wrong direction, to the previous turn off, where we journeyed back home listening to the Hull City fans phoning in the radio station, saying what a great game it had been, and the atmosphere in the stadium had been fantastic "like one huge party"...............................

Things to be thankful for...........1) We were not involved in the accident 2) Hull City won the game and are in an automatic promotion spot 3) We recorded the game on Sky+ 4) We weren't one of the articulated lorry drivers who couldn't turn around and probably had to wait until the early hours for the accident to be investigated and the road to be cleared!

Also, you cant help but feel for that poor boy, the other injured people, and their families!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Jesus, that's a total nightmare... :(

Really interesting B&W work though, thanks!

JJ said...

Nice black 'n white shots, but remember there's no grey in black 'n white ;)

Glad you and Danny were lucky enough to avoid the smash.

(M)ary said...

yikes. that is harsh. i feel sorry for the boy and his family.

on a lighter note:
another thing to be thankful for: you were with your dad. even tho your dad toally misunderstood you, i think it is sweet that he bought you the ticket. you said "nope, i don't want to go." your dad heard "sure dad, i would love to go to the game with you." that must mean he likes having you around. that is pretty cool, altho at some points, i am sure, annoying.(-:

ps love the new photo! hot!