Adding to Sanae's disconcertment is the fact that she had told her mother the evening before that the Sports Day would be postponed until Sunday so her mother decided to arrive by bus on Saturday afternoon. At 5:45 Sanae makes a frantic phone call to her mother. She says she will drive here. Now it's my turn to mutter "Sweet mother of Jesus you've got be fecking kidding me!" I brace myself for a call from the police at some stage during the morning.
But first I have to take my sorry, still bed-warm arse up to the school to queue for a 'top spot' in the school ground from which watch to proceedings. By the time I get there the queue is already 50 people long. And it's still not 6:00.
Stereotypes be damned - this county is utterly mad.
Anyway, they open the gates, we splosh through the Somme like mud and stake our places around the track with various bits of plastic sheeting which the wind then promptly blows away as it is fairly gusting out there. I find the least water-logged spot I can find and stake our claim. I feel like a homesteader circa Wyoming in the 1870's. I'm also a hungry homesteader so I go home and have breakfast.
At 8:30 we are all back up there. Sanae's school was due to hold their Undokai on the same day but sense prevailed and they postponed it till the Sunday so she was able to take a couple of hours to watch Cian's. (Her school had scheduled classes instead of the Undokai. Like I said, this county is mad).
I'm heading back to the car to get some umbrellas when I hear a "Brian!". I look up. It's Sanae's mother. It's 8:45. She has gotten here from Obihiro in less than three hours. My jaw drops. I have made the same journey countless times and motoring along the highway at 100kms it still takes over 4 hours. She must have been driving at close to Mach 1 to get here in that time. Sanae is stunned as I am when she sees her mother.
But no time to consider the multitude of laws her mother has broken for the games have begun! To give you the highlights:
Cian won his 70 metre sprint. The Tokyo Olympics beckon as does a raging debate over which country he will represent.
To give you the lowlights:
Cian was on the white team. The white team finished last in the relay, lost the tug of war, and didn't throw nearly enough rice balls into the net in the admirably clear titled "throwing the rice balls in the net" competition.
Red team, as we say back home in GAA circles, wiped their arses.
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| "Anyone buying or selling the Undokai tickets?!" |
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| Japan: land of advanced water treatment technology |
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| Lunch time. |
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| Reminiscent of the ploughing championships. |
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| The white team - putting a collective brave face on the results. |
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| Dancing. No, really. |
A couple of questions/observations:
ReplyDeleteWhere was the sweet shop? All school sports days had sweet shops.
Where was the egg and spoon/three legged race? As above.
Great piece of out-of -competition testing methinks a few weeks ahead of sports day by the school checking for those 'worms'. (But ah, you were a step ahead of them eh Brian? wink, wink. ya cute hoor ya!)
Put in a comment yesterday about loads of stuff like steroid worms and lack of sweet shop at sports day, but can't be arsed repeating it. So I'll just ask - where is it gone? You blocking me again.......?
ReplyDeleteBarry, God no, I wouldn't be blocking your comments, not my only reader. I only wish the Clare hurlers could do a bit of blocking themselves against Cork. To answer your questions: Sweets were provided by Mammy on a non-fiduciary basis. Egg and spoon banned for fear of food poisoning, like wise three-legged race prohibited due to the adverse psychological effect it could have on our quadrupeds. Sanae, like yourself Barry, basically spent the whole day as a one woman bookie organizing wagers on everything from how many rice balls would end up in the net to what time the rain would start falling. And like you Barry, she fleeced the punters.
ReplyDeleteAh, so it was just laziness to approve me - I get it!
ReplyDeleteGood on Sanae! Maybe she and I could go into the bookmaking business together! I'll organise a pitch for the Galway races!