A Welshman travelled 4,000 miles from Canada to his home country for a friend's wedding last week, only to realise that he was 12 months too early.
Thirty four-year-old teacher Dave Barclay received an email at the start of the year from a friend detailing plans for a wedding in Wales on July 6th 2008. He has been teaching in Toronto for the past three years
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After deleting the email, Mr Barclay mistakenly assumed that his friend, David Best, was planning to tie the knot in 2007 and made plans to return to Cardiff.
He forked out £500 for a ticket and made the 4,000-mile trip to Wenvoe, near the Welsh capital. It was only when he called the groom-to-be to confirm plans that he realised his mistake.
"So I booked my ticket, paid £500 to fly into Cardiff, got the old suit cleaned, the goatee trimmed, the head shaved - I was going to be the belle of the ball," the teacher said.
"He just said July the 6th and I assumed it was this year because if you tell the guy July 6th, they're going to think it's this year," he explained.
Ashamed by his blooper, Mr Barclay admitted the misunderstanding, but couldn't face up to telling his namesake about flying a year early.
