Every day, as I walk through Clare, I look at the punters and think, “before I leave, I should go punting.” Then, one Thursday evening, I was invited to go after work. The plan went as follows: wish for sun, buy a picnic, pray for sun, then punt. Things were looking well as Liz and I left the UL to meet the rest of the punting party (Salim and Will). Things continued to look well as Salim, Liz, and I enjoyed some gin and tonic and a couple of packets of potato chips at the Granta while we waited for Will. We were feeling reasonably confident as we headed over to Darwin College to pick up the keys for our punt. Things started to look dodgy as we went in search of picnic food. In fact, it was looking dodgy enough that we decided that, in an effort to save time, we would divide and conquer—Liz and I went in search of something bubbly, while Salim and Will went in search of something savoury. Armed with raincoats and umbrellas, we braved the drizzle back to Darwin with our punting picnic and headed towards the river. Sadly, just as we were unlocking our punt, there was a huge clap of thunder. Salim, holding the big metal pole (used to steer the punt), agreed that maybe we shouldn’t be on the water with a big metal pole during a thunderstorm. This photo, with Will and Liz carrying punting cushions, was the moment before the rain. Thinking perhaps we could wait out the rain, we headed into Darwin and decided to have our picnic there.
Our picnic was delicious. Our punting men have EXCELLENT taste in picnic food. After eating yummy food, we gave up on the punting plan and instead embraced the idea of beer, figuring we would wait for the bar to open. Sadly, the bar never did open. Never without a plan B, our Liz suggested we could go to the games room and play Foosball. So, off we went to the games room.
Normally I am a big supporter of Liz’s plan Bs, but this one failed to have its usual appeal. As most of you know, I am not terribly sporty, unless you count tearoom cake eating or speed reading a sport. My only encounter with Foosball was via the TV, watching “Friends.” To make matters worse, judging from the happy faces of both Will and Salim, the guys had some Foosball experience. Although Liz claimed she had never played Foosball, she is a pretty sporty sort of girl. That leaves me, the amazing unsporty wonder, the person you do not want to have on your team. The problem with Foosball is that you need four people to play, so it isn’t as though I could bail out of this game and everyone else could still play. Deciding not to be a party pooper, I scoured my brain for some attractive feature of this game. Foosball doesn’t require running, which counts as a virtue in my books. I decided to be a good sport and embrace new sporty things.
Liz and Salim were on one team and Will and I were on the other. Thankfully, Will played defense (including goal). I can say from experience that Will is a very good goaltender, because it was not uncommon for me to stupidly try to score on my own goal. As it turned out, my biggest Foosball challenge turned out not be scoring goals (I did manage to score a few proper goals), but
managing my little men in the middle of the table. I referred to these men as my “flailing middles” since under my charge they basically flailed about, often getting in the way of Will’s shot. I am very happy to report that Team Will and Charissa did win the great Darwin Foosball game, but I am honest enough to reveal that our win was about 95% Will and 5% me. Tired from three high-octane rounds, we headed back to the Granta for a pint. And no, Salim isn't singing to Liz in this picture, although he will likely be mad when he discovers that I posted such a silly picture of him.
Perhaps we will punt another day.
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