Team Diary Friday 20th March 2009
The effects of the previous evening’s wine samplings were felt by many this morning although the whole team turned up bright and early for breakfast to be met by an outstandingly large ham and various other gastronomic choices.
A team talk of the available options for the day, and a warning from the captain about over-exposing oneself to the sun (use factor 50) took place over the elongated breakfast. Potential activities included fly fishing, canopy tours over the Karkloof area and drinking wine at the hotel.
However, before the team went their separate ways there was a general unpacking of the team bags and the captain discovered that aside from the live rounds, customs may have found and disposed of a full round of cheese from Cheshire intended as a gift to Nottingham Road Rifle Club.
Once the team arrived back at Rawdons we shared stories of our experiences of the day. These varied from the tree hugging experience of today’s correspondent to the rather less exerting falling asleep in the sun. Those who went on the treetop canopy tour at Karkloof were thoroughly briefed by the guide on how to approach the bend in the zip line through the trees. A certain member of the team collided with a tactically positioned tree then bounced into another shin splitting tree causing a moderate degree of pain for said individual which is unlikely to abate in the foreseeable future. Once the tour was over we all joined in with a slide show of action photos taken by the tour official which let’s say, were not the most flattering considering the necessary safety harnesses we had to wear.
In keeping with the pain factor a slightly naive individual planned to spend the day bathing in the glorious sunshine the Nottingham road area had to offer. This individual has previous history in the matter having exposed her body to the mid-day sun in South Africa and the Grand Canyon and swore never to get burnt again. With good intentions, she decided to revise for forthcoming International Law exams. To her shock she failed to realise the inevitability that the subject matter would sooner or later send her to sleep resulting in a most painful case of sunburn on only the second day of the trip. Tomorrow should be interesting shooting rifles from her sunburnt right shoulder at the Nottingham road range.
A few of the team members helped Tim Valentine restock the bar at the range and the trip to the butts was curtailed after the Mercedes (Mclaren) got stuck in a rather large puddle.
After another team bonding session in the bar over a few pints of Nottingham Road Pale Ale and some fantastic South African Pinotage, the team moved into the dining room for yet another steak – this time a 500g T (or J according to the menu) bone steak.
There is an early start tomorrow for the first match against various teams on the local range, so most of the team were in bed early and the correspondents are currently sitting in the closed bar on their own.
Good night!