Day 216: Shitshitshitshitshit....

Today's soundtrack:  Kasabian - Empire

And the day had started so well too.  A quick trip out to Marks and Sparks to stock up with goodies for the weekend - including some cheeky bottles of wine and three walnut whips that just fell into my basket - plus the purchase of some more grout to finish off the bathroom when....disaster!

I looked in my wallet at the space where my Everton season ticket should be and...nothing!  It wasn't there!

Cue panic.

I got home, searched the car to no avail, and then went through the house from top to bottom, searching through coat/jacket pockets...

Nothing.

I couldn't remember where or when I'd last seen it - other than two weeks ago, at the last home game.  It had obviously fallen out of my wallet at some stage since then, probably when I'd been buying something.

So on the phone, mentally retracing my steps to every store I'd used my wallet in over the past couple of weeks.  B&Q.  Marks & Sparks.  Sainsbury's.  Tesco.  Blockbuster.  To be fair, everyone I spoke to was very helpful, and made the effort to check to see if anything had been handed in, but they all drew a blank.

Last thing I wanted to do was report the card missing - I had vague recollections of the small print that came with the card advising you to insure the card against loss or theft - because they were not replaceable.  I didn't want to have to go through that palaver - not least because the period when I could have lost the card straddled two insurance periods - the insurance renewal came up in the middle.  Unable to say with any certainty when the card had gone missing, I had visions of a stand-off between two companies, both denying responsibility.  But there was nothing else for it, I had to call the club.  By now, it is fast approaching the end of the working day, and I've got a match to go to tomorrow.  Can I get this sorted in time?

Completely thrown by the girl's response from the club.  "You need to report it to the Police, and get a crime number", she said.  "Without that number, we can't replace your card."

"But there's been no crime", I say.  "I just lost it".

"Sorry, we need that number".

OK then - so I called the Police.  To tell them I'd lost my season ticket.  "But no crime has been committed, Mr Waring.  Why are you telling us this?"

"Because the club told me to".

Ok then.  Card reported as lost.  And here's your number.  Which had the rather tell-tale letters 'L', 'O', 'S' and 'T' as a prefix.

So off to the club tomorrow first thing to give them this number, and see what transpires.

To be continued....

Kasabian's 'Empire' is the soundtrack to all this.  Despite being one of many 'K' bands that seemed to come from nowhere in the mid-2000s, Kasabian are a cut above your average landfill indie band.  Fixtures at Glastonbury, I always seem to be somewhere else when they are on - but they are by all accounts a great live band, particularly in the festival environment.

Here they are at Glastonbury in the 2007 rain, Shooting the Runner...