From Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - The short trip round the corner from White Hart Lane overground station. The slalom between flats westbound from Northumberland Park. The long walk down from Seven Sisters. The painful drive around the north circular.
For the first time on a small scale since December, the first time on a semi-large scale since Eric Dier climbed into the crowd in March 2020, it was matchday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs fans have been through the wringer since their last trips to N17. Harry Kane's desire to leave has rocked the club to the core in recent days, only weeks after Jose Mourinho's sacking and the Super League debacle. Oh, and there's been a pandemic ongoing for the last 14 months.
Daniel Levy's end-of-season message to supporters documented the many failings that he has personally overseen in the last few years. He spoke of the club losing sight of their priorities and what's in their DNA (not that he took the blame for any of these things, mind). How he handles the upcoming Kane transfer saga could well determine his long-term legacy.
The majority of Spurs' problems - which were exposed greatly in their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa - come back to Levy. He failed to reinvest and reinvigorate the playing squad. He set the club back at least 18 months by appointing a vanity project in Jose Mourinho. He led Spurs into the doomed Super League. Every little decision he's made in the last three years culminated with the large cloud hanging over the club ahead of what should have been a night of celebration, a return to normality.
The only normal thing was Spurs ruining their fans' days. Nature is healing.
Steven Bergwijn's opener - his first goal since scoring Spurs' opener post-lockdown last June - made everything seem rosy, a sign that Tottenham could coast to victory as they did on Sunday against Wolves.
But that was as happy as the evening got for Spurs fans. Sergio Reguilon's genuinely incredible own goal was followed by what may as well have been a whole-team own goal.
The home side were booed off at half time and full-time (nature is healing) after 90 minutes of failing to do the basics - the passing was sloppy, the defending was unorganised and everything was static.
Ryan Mason has already had a lot of flack to take in his short time as interim boss - his first press conference was about the club's handling of the Super League, his most recent about Kane's future. He didn't make life any easier for himself with his team selection or lack of game management on Wednesday, but it's hard to put so much blame at the door of a 29-year-old caretaker.
The time between Mauricio Pochettino's departure and Mourinho's appointment in 2019 was 11 hours. More than a month after the Portuguese's sacking, Spurs still look no closer to appointing a successor. Mason is merely the fresh face keeping the hot seat warm, but the 2021 version of Levy can't even plan accordingly. When he stops being even as astute businessman, then the real question marks appear over his suitability.
Levy wanted entry to the European Super League. His team may not even qualify for Europe, or worse still, will enter the inaugural Europa Conference League. They can still somehow finish below the worst Arsenal team in a generation. That's all down to him, and he now faces his biggest challenge as Spurs chairman - digging himself out of this mess.
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Source: 90min
