Instalment 5

Picnic at Ripley Castle

We actually slept until 7 this morning which made a nice change.

One of the team leaders came to our room this morning and got me to send a scripted email back to the XXX Ceicketers Club to keep them informed of the progress of the touring party. His email was nothing like my emails!

We left Cedar Court with the sky looking dark grey and ominous. We arrived at Ripley Castle to blue sky and bright sunshine. Four seasons in one day. 

The picnic hampers were excellent. They were presented in a black chiffon drawstring bag; one bloke, who's obviously missing his wife back home, suggested they could later be used as lingerie. A couple of the girls stuck them on their heads and looked quite stylish. The meal consisted of three cold meats, salad, mustard dressing, potato salad, boiled egg and cous cous as well as a bread roll and cheesecake dessert. We all sat at two long tables and enjoyed each others' company. 

Gibbo bought a festival t-shirt and a tankard to drink warm beer and wine from. I went to the toilet and ended up in the mens. Didn't realize until I heard all these male voices and farting.

We had the official team photo taken all together then players only. The WAGs went off to the side and had their own unofficial photo. We numbered 11, enough to make our own cricket team.

Gibbo had a go at the welly wangling competition but his boot ended up on top of the tent. His technique was all wrong. Then he tried the horseshoe throwing; then the longbow and crossbow. I missed all that as I was watching the jousting show and having my photo taken with a falcon.

The jousting show was excellent; the Black Knight got boo-ed of course. The Green Knight (a girl) was a trick rider and would fall to the side and almost drag on the ground when she was hit by the lance. There was fighting with flaming chain balls and sword fighting as well. The Blue Knight was the victor and carried off the Gold Cup.

The Falconry Display was good but I didn't stay long. I went up to have a look at the Castle; it would be tough having to wake up to that view every day. I bought a drawing at the gift shop; a picture of a beautiful, fat mallard duck. I wandered back to the crew and proudly pulled it out to show Gibbo....and after a moment of silence, everyone burst out laughing...and then it suddenly dawned on me. How could I be so stupid...it's a DUCK...we're at a cricket tournament...he hasn't been out yet in the three games he's played.....i bought a picture of a DUCK...when I was choosing which picture to buy it didn't occur to me that it was a DUCK; to me it was just the nicest one there! He was horrified but everyone else thought it was hilarious. They keep going "quack, quack, quack" at him in a nasally voice. 

We arrived home about 5pm, checked emails then four of us headed off into town and had dinner at a chinese restaurant...and guess what the second course was....it was bloody Peking DUCK....I kid you not. Then on the way home, we walked past a gift shop and in the window was a row of....DUCKS...and not just one or two...there would have been 20 of them, all different colours and sizes. Gibbo wouldn't look at them. He reckons he's not superstitious but he is. Won't it be terrible if he does get a duck tomorrow hey? At least I won't be there to see it - I'm off on a steam train trip to see where parts of Heartbeat and Harry Potter 1 are/were filmed.

It's 11.20pm and I'm tired; off to bed to read for 5 minutes then hopefully to sleep.

Take care all and I'll let you know if there's a DUCK tomorrow (and if I'm still married),

Love

M