Day 1, Tuesday: Settling in...

We begin our story proper in Jersey...and it's not raining. Take note, because that detail may become important as the week goes on...

We all met at the airport for 2pm as Captain Sean had requested....hang on....where's JP? At least he's consistent I guess - late again! In the end he turns up, but the penance the team decide he must serve is severe - to have to look after Hedley, the teams teddy mascot. So for the rest of the day he gets....."I think Hedley wants to meet the plane pilot John"...."Hedley needs the toilet John."......"John, Hedley's glass is empty." It's going to be a long week for John I think!

So, onto the plane, and the first real mischief of the trip. G puts her passport in her back pocket, ID appears to have very light fingers, and in no time at all the passport is no longer in her possession. As Sean said many times - no passport, no play - so this could turn fairly serious...and very funny. By the time we'd collected our bags G was in full fluster and not happy. She went to check in the toilets that it had not just dropped out of her pocket and by the time she was back it had magically re-appeared in her bag again. After being shopped immediately by Andy, Id now walks at the back of the gang for fear of reprisal!

From airport we were taken straight to the Sports centre, for a recce and an hours training. The session goes well with no injuries or issues and everyone loosens up nicely. A biiiig mistake was made though: Somehow, whilst going for a ball, Id managed to call it as "Dave's". Now anyone who knows Id knows he's called Id for a reason - namely because despises being called 'Dave'. The guys immediately picked up on it, so that's it now, a week of ridicule!

When we got back into the sports centre, nicely damp as it had just started to rain yet again, we went up to the bar to unwind and wait for the transport to the hotel. While we were up there Spotlight was on the telly and they had a feature on the Championchips - cool! Then the weather report - hot and sunny....unfortunately that's sarcasm and the biggest band of rain we've seen for weeks is approaching fast. Great!
We sorted out our anthem too. We're using the new Jersey anthem, so we got a special delivery from ESC of a copy of it, just for us, that doesn't have the singing on it. Privileged!

Next thing was to get to the hotel and find out what home for the next 5 days is like. It's the Etap hotel and it's pretty basic, which is fine by me, as all we're basically going to be doing is sleeping and washing in it. Each room sleeps 3, although we're only 2 to a room, with a double bed and a single bunk across and above it. Luckily for me, Andy is a bit shorter than me and wanted the bunk, otherwise I'd have been uncomfortable as the bunk has a wall at one end and a nasty looking footboard and would no way accomodate my height without feet dangling out. As we're getting ready to go out and eat, I almost poke my eye out on a coat hanger that I'd put in my rain jacket and forgotten about, and then when I pull the jacket back over my head I've got coat hanger in my face. Oh, how Andy laughed!

We scramble over to TGI Fridays to eat. This is where the quotes board is born, with plenty of people saying stuff that they might come to regret later. We'll be posting as many of these as we can over the week in a separate post which will grow and grow, so look out for that.
Sean and Tels returned from the team registration meeting just then, and one of the bats was disallowed (Garry's) and we heard we might have an issue with a couple of the team wearing long pants whilst the rest wear shorts. Teams get a fine if they don't all wear identical kit. The fine is a hefty 1 Euro - I think we can ride that one out!
And here's where the first 'Dave' jibe kicked in for me. Anyone who's familiar with TGI Fridays will know what a pallava they make if someone has a birthday - and how embarrasing it is for the victim! Apparently though it was my birthday last night and, of course, I'm called Dave! Clean words failed me at that moment!

After eats, it's back to the hotel where we bump into one of the umpires who helps us find a way of being allowed long and short pants. A game of scrabble then ensued with Sean apparently cheating like there was no tomorrow. Has anyone else heard of 'QI' or 'Apol' - well everyone else thought Sean was cheating as well. No such problem with Andy though with classic English literature such as 'Fist' and 'Lube'!

Meanwhile back at the room I was cooking up my own pre emptive strike to counter Andy's famous rear end offensives. To prepare this dish, just take one pair of well used softball boots which have got a bit wet during the day and a portable hairdryer. Put the hair dryer on full blast and toast the boots for about 5 minutes each side to dry them off and release the 'distinctive' aroma. I've never seen such a sight before. Andy returned from Scrabble, opened the door, took two steps inside, looked like he'd been physically hit in the face and cowered back out into the corridor!! Obviously I'd got immune to the aroma as it built up, but poor Andy got the full recipe and nostril overload. So funny!