Why did I let train take the strain?

THERE’S no such thing as a quiet week as a darts player – even when there’s no tournaments.

It is on weeks off that our sponsor commitments kick in and this past week has been all about that for me... even if it has got off to a horrible start.

Fix Radio were due to welcome me as their guest of honour, playing darts against their advertising partners, but instead I ended up stranded on a train for three hours due to a cracked line.

Apparently the food was great. Not that I’d know, I was left with a stale flapjack and a lukewarm coffee.

I’ve also been filming with Sky this week and that allowed me to talk about my absolute favourite thing away from darts – cars!

I was invited to the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire and was even able to drive some of their cars on the test track.

Back to the darts and this week’s Premier League edition in Belfast looks intriguing. It’s a tale of two Lukes and two Michaels.

Luke Littler has won every single meeting with Luke Humphries since the World Championship final but will have his hands full in this one, as Cool Hand looks to put that right and continue his hot streak after three consecutive night victories. In fact bookies even make Humphries favourite at 8-13.

I think Michael Smith (top) will fancy himself against Michael van Gerwen with worries about MVG’S shoulder remaining. Nathan Aspinall is making finals for fun at the moment so will fancy beating 8-13 favourite Gerwyn Price, and things don’t get any easier for Peter Wright – Rob Cross (circle) is bang in form.

Our Easter weekend is going to be spent in Munich. While you’re opening your eggs, I’ll hopefully be polishing a new European Tour trophy.

Or that’s the plan, at least!

James Wade’s column is sponsored by elitecompetitions.co.uk – use code Wade25 for 25% off tickets