Gently down the stream
May. 3rd, 2007 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaTomorrow evening, after work, I shall be driving up the M1 to Whitby for a festival. Why yes, thank you, I have noticed that I only came from there on Monday. Bit of a calendar failure when I organised May. This time it's a folk festival. I've ironed some shirts and polished my boots so I can turn up without disgracing Mabel.
We got an email telling us that there was going to be a race. For all the attending dance teams. Did we want to join in ? It was a rowing race, in the harbour.
By the time this question reached me, two people had agreed to play. We needed a team of four. I did a quick mental check, decided no one else would be willing, and agreed to be the third.
Shows how much I know.
Still, I figured that it'd be a bit of a laugh. And if the worst came to the worst, I can swim and know how to get to the nearest place with an A&E department.
Yesterday we got another email from the organiser, giving various details on how to get hold of tickets, where we were dancing, etc. At the bottom it said:
The Endeavour Cup Rowing Race
Mabel Gubbins will challenge
the Champions Black Swan Rapper
To be raced in Whitby Harbour over a 200m course
Now, a bit of background here:
Mabel Gubbins is a dance team made up of cake-eating, gin-drinking ladies of whom I'm the youngest by a clear ten, possibly fifteen years. Black Swan are the darlings of the folk world, a team of blokes in their mid-twenties noted for their athleticism.
A swift flurry of emails followed:
Me, to our social sec. "WTF? What have you agreed to?"
Her, back to me. "No idea, I haven't even confirmed we'd enter"
Me, to festival organiser: "You bastard"
Him, to me: "There's only two boats"
Apparently, however, we are stuck with it. The rest of Mabel feel that to withdraw after it was published would make us appear (a) wet (b) cowards (c) girlies and (d) southerners. Naturally, (d) is the one to be most worried about.
So, er, at some point at the weekend I shall be involved in the rather fearsome task of getting into a sea-going rowing four and racing against a team which has already won such a race. Hell, at least they've done it before. I have never rowed anything other than a kid's inflatable dinghy.
The sole good to come out of this so far was that I got there in time to veto someone else's suggestion that we wear white t-shirts for the race. I do not expect to come out of this without ending up in the harbour.
We got an email telling us that there was going to be a race. For all the attending dance teams. Did we want to join in ? It was a rowing race, in the harbour.
By the time this question reached me, two people had agreed to play. We needed a team of four. I did a quick mental check, decided no one else would be willing, and agreed to be the third.
Shows how much I know.
Still, I figured that it'd be a bit of a laugh. And if the worst came to the worst, I can swim and know how to get to the nearest place with an A&E department.
Yesterday we got another email from the organiser, giving various details on how to get hold of tickets, where we were dancing, etc. At the bottom it said:
Mabel Gubbins will challenge
the Champions Black Swan Rapper
To be raced in Whitby Harbour over a 200m course
Now, a bit of background here:
Mabel Gubbins is a dance team made up of cake-eating, gin-drinking ladies of whom I'm the youngest by a clear ten, possibly fifteen years. Black Swan are the darlings of the folk world, a team of blokes in their mid-twenties noted for their athleticism.
A swift flurry of emails followed:
Me, to our social sec. "WTF? What have you agreed to?"
Her, back to me. "No idea, I haven't even confirmed we'd enter"
Me, to festival organiser: "You bastard"
Him, to me: "There's only two boats"
Apparently, however, we are stuck with it. The rest of Mabel feel that to withdraw after it was published would make us appear (a) wet (b) cowards (c) girlies and (d) southerners. Naturally, (d) is the one to be most worried about.
So, er, at some point at the weekend I shall be involved in the rather fearsome task of getting into a sea-going rowing four and racing against a team which has already won such a race. Hell, at least they've done it before. I have never rowed anything other than a kid's inflatable dinghy.
The sole good to come out of this so far was that I got there in time to veto someone else's suggestion that we wear white t-shirts for the race. I do not expect to come out of this without ending up in the harbour.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 11:12 pm (UTC)