Humble Beginnings

The weekend did NOT get off to a very good start…I couldn’t fall asleep on Thursday night and at 02h15 a very frustrated me got out of bed and dressed for the day in my new white hoodie and tracksuit (not white!) pants. I often marvel at ladies dressed to the nines for flying – comfort is king for me. I made a bee line for the kettle and passed the time chatting to Malcolm, he had been out with work mates and had not made it to bed.
I collected a few people and headed to the airport and arrived on time at 04h00. It was actually really cool because Malcolm had booked the car into the parking opposite the terminal and as you drive up it registers the number plate and the fact that parking has been paid for online and the boom opens automatically, perfect for such an early start. All the kids had been instructed to wear their white hoodies so it was easy to keep the group together and Aer Lingus saw us all and herded us off in small groups and got us checked in quickly which was fabulous.
Security was a piece of cake - I had checked my hand luggage size bag so liquids were not a problem for once.
I tried to sleep on the plane but it was impossible and it is only a 90 minute flight. We were greeted by the U16 Holland coach who had hired a bus for our trip up to the club and on the way we stopped at a hockey shop called Hockey Republic where we drank coffee while the kids played around, called their parents begging for some or other fancy stick etcetera!
After that it was off to the club where all the kids had a two hour fun training session and I finally had a couple of zzz’s on the couch, well actually old train seats – pretty funky.
The weather was fabulous and I made the most of the rays by donning shorts and T-shirt for maximum ray absorption.
All the meals were organised by the club, so we had sandwiches and fruit for lunch and pasta bolognaise for dinner. By 21h30 we finally left the club and made our way on foot to our hotel (about 2km's away) trailing our bags behind us. We were all exhausted but decided that we HAD to go out and have a drink together and so we dashed upstairs freshened up and met in the lobby 10 minutes later. We went to a pub and had a couple of rounds of drinks before admitting defeat and sleep walking back to the hotel to our very comfortable beds.