Our first full day in South Africa, and our first opportunity to recover from the mammoth, exhausting stint of travelling over the entirely of Monday (and Sunday evening, for that matter). Now safely installed at the hotel, ground floor rooms opening onto a small garden area provided\u00a0 a particularly pleasant environment for cleaning & assembling rifles, emptying team kit bags, and trying to identify the owners of each item therein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Identifying each item is one thing, but locating them in the first place can be another. Despite great care, the trigger unit for one particular rifle (removed during transit to prevent damage) did not appear as expected and despite repeated searching, this did not change. For those not in the know, this is not a matter of official concern (it\u2019s a few little levers in a metal housing and not licensable) but is certainly a pretty notable inconvenience when intending to repeatedly fire a rifle over the next 10 days. Names of those involved to protect the guilty, bit it\u2019s fair to say that the owner was by far and away the best England touring captain of the last 3.5 years\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evening dinner, and \u201cwhen in Rome\u2026\u201d etc, the choice for many was to a local steak restaurant. Having dined the South African way, a moderately early night in advance of another day\u2019s final prep was in order.<\/p>\n\n\n