I'm sure we've all double booked it at some point. What awkward situation have you had to get out of and did hilarity ensue?
Here's my story...
Football fans will understand that FA Cup Final day is the day when all supporters should be sat down in front of TV watching the drama unfold. However, in 1993, I not only managed to double book, but treble book, in two cities 200 miles apart.
This was the year of Arsenal v Sheffield Wednesday final in which I had no interest in the two teams involved but I'd watched every one over the previous 15 years so I wasn't going to miss this one either. Anyway, some weeks before I had agreed to take part in a charity raft race in Hull. I decided that I could still take part and get to watch the game there before going back to where I lived in Peterborough, about 100 miles away.
A while later I arranged to stay the weekend with my then girlfriend who was a student nurse in London and totally forgot about the raft race and the Cup Final. The booking error didn't dawn on me until a few days before - my problem was that my girlfriend had gone to great lengths to get the whole weekend off because of her shift patterns didn't normally allow it. You can imagine her surprise (and anger) when I told her I had arranged to be at the other end of the country on the same day.
On the day itself my friends and I built the raft but came nowhere in the race - I then raced to the train station to try and salvage something of the weekend and my budding relationship which was heading off downstream fast. The only way I could catch the game now was to try and listen on a radio on the train which ended up being sporadic at best but as it was a terrible game I didn't miss much.
The match ended 1-1 in the days they still had Cup Final replays just as I was getting into London. I headed to the student residence to find my girlfriend had decided to punish me for my thoughtlessness and was going out for the night with her pals. This meant I was stuck in her room on my own all evening but it did at least mean I could watch the Final highlights on Match of the Day...except my girlfriend came back just as the programme was starting and promptly turned off the TV.
I knew not to complain and we split up a few months later.
