WHERE THE RAINBOW ENDS?

The River Itchen gliding past St. Mary`s Stadium - home of Southampton Football Club - on its was down to the Solent. Tomorrow evening, Southampton play Cardiff City in a crucial game in the upper echelons of the Championship.

Now, I don`t always attend evening matches - well, it`s a long drive down from deepest Kent....and it seems to be an even longer drive home afterwards and I do find the night driving on the video game which our Motorways have become to be a bit tiring. I`ll do well to be home much before 1.00am, but as there is no `ordinary` Saturday afternoon fixture for about six weeks, I want to make the effort tomorrow. I plan to make it an occasion; I`ll leave home in the early afternoon, drive down to my `home` village on the shores of Southampton Water, meet up with some old friends there, have a thoroughly unhealthy tea, drive into Southampton, park at Town Quay and meet more good friends off the Isle of Wight ferry.

As for the football, Saints have recently hit the crest of a slump and will do well to claw their way back into the play-off zone of the top six teams in the league. Three successive away defeats have left us in eighth place, with some catching up to do. This could start tomorrow evening - I hope it does - but for me at least the football is just part of what will be an enjoyable day out - in the part of the world I love and with friends who I count myself fortunate to know.

There are those who seem to demand nothing less than unending success for the football club they follow, perhaps through a need to live their lives vicariously. As for me, I`m just glad of the day and all that it may offer - win, lose or draw. It really won`t be the end of the world if my team fail to get promoted.....as witnessed by the fact that this morning I renewed my season ticket for the next year......but it might just be the end of the world if for whatever reason the day ever arrives when I am unable to make the journey.

I hope that day is a long way off.