“2 ‘o’ clock were on the A9, anyone late and Jabba tours leaves without you”…..

Grahams ruthless warning at the previous nights meeting seemed to have worked, as at 2p.m precisely the HDB’s once again took to the road, this time for the CIS cup semi- final against Livingston, and surely another glorious day out at Hampden to follow.
The weather was wild and windy as we passed by Aviemore, Kingussie, Newtonmore etc, Grahame soon realising the inadequacies of a 17 seater mini bus compared to his turbo charged, fuel injected VW and attempts to pass tankers requiring a 3 minute overtaking span

left Derick in the front passenger seat ashen faced and requiring a change of Boxer shorts!
Fag break was taken at the Yuppies favoured watering hole at House of Bruar, where stern looks from the Tartan clad staff followed the HDB’s as they rushed to use the Facilities, they appeared to sense we were not there to purchase Cashmere sweaters and Barbour jackets, don’t suppose Swayndo helped, asking if they could re-fill his travel coffee cup! And so, back onto the by now

rain swept A9,as we trundled ever Southward to Easter road.
As we neared Perth, the radio, to everyone’s dismay announced the Forth road bridge was closed to high sided vehicles and vans /mini buses etc, Chairman Maork took the initiative and devised a route through villages and towns over the Kincardine bridge and so on to Edinburgh, having negotiated the bridge, the radio announced “the Forth road Bridge has re-opened to all traffic” arrrgggh! ***!!@@## By now we were past our original arrival time of 5-5.30 ish and Arnie was making noises about the first one “no touching the sides” After Jabba’a skilful negotiation of the Edinburgh rush hour “well we are a bus so we can use the bus lane eh!” we saw Edinburgh zoo, Spartans football ground, the castle from all 4 sides, Tyne castle and a good few places the average tour operators don’t take their clients, we finally pulled up at the aptly named “Persevere” in Easter road 4 hours 15 mins after setting off! Jabba turned to announce our arrival and realised everyone was already in the pub before he had time to finish parking the bus!

Arnie’s prediction that it the first “wouldnae touch the sides” proved accurate as the diet took a back seat for the evening and Pints instead of wine spritzers were the order of the night, some stayed in the “Percy” whilst others made their way to the ground to partake in further refreshment at Easter road.

Following instructions to” turn in at the tyre place “ we found ourselves taking a “shortut” through the local Howff, as we could see the stadium in the distance only to discover this cemetery only had one entrance and no exit that we could find (sorry to the two guys who followed us assuming we had the slightest idea where the ****we were going) so another 5 mins valuable drinking time disappeared as we backtracked to get out before the Adams family turned up (cueJTQ)
Ater a peh and pint in the famous fehv lounge,

(note Jamie hiding in case a teacher spots him)

it was off to the match and and soak in the atmosphere that 7,ooo hardy souls can muster inside Easter road on a wet Tuesday night,

the restricted view from the East stand was a real pain with everybody having to stand on seats etc whilst a million empty seats with uninterrupted views stared at us from across the park, nae wonder the games in the state it is whilst the games administrators and organisers come to these absurd decisions (they could do with getting Jabba on board to organise things for them.)
After a minutes silence for the late great Ally Macleod, impeccably observed by all those inside the ground, the game kicked off, and to begin with it felt like we were well in control, it was surely only a matter of time, but as the game wore on and long ball after long ball was punted up for Marvin Andrews to gleefully return with ease, and mistake after mistake at the back, nerves set in and Livi created far more chances, fortunately their finishing was dire and they squandered several chances, with only one corner to show for the whole game, I think that is indicative of our threat up front, and as extra time loomed and thoughts of a really late home coming, Speroni’s indecision coupled with Mair and Sancho’s rash challenge in the 90th minute left the Dee support gutted and sent the Livi fans into raptures and it was left to ex Arab Lilley to convert the penalty and complete our misery sending the HDB’s on the long haul north feeling empty and disappointed.
After a quick pint we consoled ourselves at least we’d get a feed in Perth at KFC on the way home, but when things aint going your way everything just goes to s***, and so it was by the time we cleared the traffic in Auld Reekie the eating establishments in Perth (well fast food anyway) were well and truly shut “ah well, just have to fill up with diesel and get up the A9” muttered Jabba, we pulled into the garage and ambled into the shop for juice while Grahame re-fuelled

“Ya beuty they dae hotdogs “announced Arnie,

 

deciding the diet was well and truly shot for the night,(despite this slight lapse Arnie has lost the fantastic total of 19 pounds to date and is on target to raise the best part of a grand for Dee4 life,any one reading this who wish to pledge towards Arnies efforts can do so through the guest book )so it was with everyone fed and watered we headed home for the bright lights of “Snekkie” getting home at 2.00 A.M after a subdued run up the road.
Despite the result another great tour from Jabba, organising and driving this time, superb, as usual Jabba,many thanks from all.
(By the way if Jamie’s headmaster or any teachers stumble across this site, Jamie was not with us as he had a hospital appointment, and any resemblance to him in pictures is purely
coincidental) hope that keeps you in the clear Jamie!

Alanmac