33-21 & the Adventures of Hooterman.

Another dicking.

This week, I was the official timekeeper for all 3 courts at our venue. We were given a list of instructions (easy) and a gas powered hooter thing that makes a very loud FWAAARRRPPP!! sound. The girls tested it at 7.30am outside home & must have impressed the neighbours.

I was up at a brutal hour to walk Wilma so we could be at the game by 8am

And we arrived – first game at 8.30am. Got myself all sorted, my phone’s stop watch ready to go (they did supply a timer, but thought I’d use what I know) by 8.20am.

Then a lady turned up and asked “Have you unlocked the toilets, put the protectors around the poles on all 3 courts & hung the signs up?”

“Um… no? Those aren’t on my list.”

And all hands to the pump to get all that done! Then at 8.30 sharp, the lady suddenly said “You have to toot that from down the drive so Court 3 can hear it.”

And so I dropped what I was doing & sprinted 100 yards down the drive with the hooter, held it up high & it went “pffffffftttttttt”.

Oh shit. Testing must have used up the gas. So I went sprinting back up the drive, grabbed the spare canister, sprinted back down & “pfffffffsnarpfffttt”.

Bugger. The lady turned up then & blew her whistle till she was blue in the face. Then she said “Have you started the timer?”

And I realised then that somehow in the frantic rush, I’d lost my phone. So I sprinted back up the drive, started the timer (subtracted a minute) & had 19 minutes then to get the hooter going & find my phone.

Luckily, all fell into place after that. And the hooter must have needed to settle down, because it worked a dream from there on in. I didn’t get to see much of the first half, but parents told me that within the first 5 minutes, we were down 7-0… The opponents were dark horses, we hadn’t played them before, they’d had some losses, but our canny analysis of their previous form & that of whom they’d played suggested they might prove a challenge. Luckily, after a bad start our girls made an amazing recovery & by the time I was organised & in a position to catch up with what was going on, we were 6 goals ahead, winning the game ultimately, 33-21.

The Rep tournament on Sunday was at Paraparumu, so we went up to Sunny O on Saturday afternoon to save travelling time in the morning.

The tournament did not go so well though, as last week. Ah well, you have days like that. I didn’t actually attend, I stayed at Sunny O to keep Wilma company & patched up my stock pen – extended the fence & started to hang a new (recycled) gate. Sadly, I broke my only 15mm drill bit & so it won’t get completed till next week. No worries though.

Next week, the tournament is at Palmerston North, so we’ll stay up the coast again & I’ll have the chance to finish it up then. The beasts probably need crutching. Which isn’t actually as disgusting a job as you’d imagine. Once you catch them. And so long as you’re wearing gloves… Hence the need for a secure pen.

But while I’m on the subject – anyone watch the final between the Sting & the Magic on Friday? If you were only listening to the commentary & didn’t know the score, would you have thought that the Magic was being completely outplayed? I dunno about those commentators sometimes, particularly Brendan Telfer. They’d obviously decided at the outset that the Sting were going to whip the Magic, and it wasn’t till well into the third quarter that they seemed to adjust their mindset to match the scoreboard. In the first play of the game, the Sting had the centre pass, it was immediately intercepted by the Magic, who scored. During & after this play, Brendan & Julie Townsend told us how wonderful the Sting’s defense was looking. Hello, hello? The Magic then scored from their own centre pass, while the commentators reiterated how well the Sting were playing. Good one guys.