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‘It’s a Casino!’ Mid Lancs cross country, Saturday,
10th February 2007 |
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I know, it’s
been a while getting this report to you all. In fact before I sat down to write.
Brenda was half way though her
cruise!
We met as
usual at the Fairfield Arms and
despite his orange hat, (which he later admitted was Levon’s), I agreed to take Martin.
John Collier also joined me. Capt’n Young took responsibility for
the safe transportation of some of the ladies and, just as importantly, the
marquee.
Now those who
have seen our marquee will know what a great addition to our team it has
become. It’s also proved to be very useful for strength training because it’s
rather heavy!
When we got
to
Graham
decided not to wear the harlequin trousers today. He said
As soon as
we’d parked, out came the wellies. It seems there’s a bit of a competition
going on with wellies at the moment. Plain wellies are out, (unless they are
blue of course). Pink patterned wellies are very much the order of the day and
green is just sooooooo last year!
We took a slow walk to the
start/finish area in a, (as it turned out,) futile attempt to avoid putting the
tent up. During the stroll we got an offer: the ladies would erect the marquee
at the last fixture of the season. There was something about some conditions
like, if it’s a nice day, if there’s no wind and if they get some help, but
we’ll ignore all of that. (Has that cost me some more points Yvonne??)
We
put the marquee where everyone could see it. Actually our marquee is a bit like
the
Once we’d got
it up, that’s when the questions started:
“Have
you got planning permission for that?”
And
“Is
it a Casino?”
After
watching the ladies for a bit it was time to get changed and pretend to
athletic.
When I’d got changed I couldn’t see
my spikes in the marquee. “Ah well”, I thought, “they
must be in the car”. I jogged back to the car in my wellies and then
discovered ……………………… no spikes!
So I needed
to make a decision. Do I run in my wellies or do I run barefoot, (after all it
was good enough for Ron Hill a few
years ago). All was well when Alex
stepped forward and offered me a pair of his studs. So long as he didn’t expect
me to run at the speed they normally go at!!
I thought I
was having a decent run. I felt strong and I was enjoying myself. I got lots of
encouragement from my club mates who were congregated at the river crossing (OK it’s a stream, and they were only
really there to see people fall in the water!) George Kennedy even said I should make Alex an ‘off’ on those shoes!
It therefore
came as something of a shock for Capt’n
Young to cruelly, (even if it was accurate), point out that he had passed
my TWICE on the same lap and he was WALKING!!
While we were
packing the marquee away Capt’n Russell
complained, (sorry, but it’s the only word for it), that the ground sheet was
all muddy. Well, there’s a surprise! We’ve run around in mud all day and now
there’s some on the groundsheet! Apparently I got a few more points docked for
pointing that out too.
I don’t think
I did very well in terms of accruing points today, only losing them! In fact Capt’n Young told me that I’d lost so
many points today that I was likely to finish the season with a negative score!
I don’t suppose being passed twice by him helped either!
In
an attempt to redeem myself I took charge of folding the marquee up.
I was doing
well until Capt’n Russell cost me
even more points.
“Will you be
able to squeeze it all in?”
I didn’t say
anything, I just looked at her, and it was enough to cost me more points!
Anyway,
because I’d folded it properly I was able to fit it all in very comfortably!?!?
So
that was
I’ll email
this to Boss Wrinkly to see how much
he was listening when Brenda left
him in charge. Damn you Boss. That’s
another cross country you haven’t run, yet still got mentioned!
Next
up it’s back to
Written by: Brian Porter
Submitted: 11th March 2007
Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor