It began leaving Calgary with the flight delayed 1 1/2 hours. We had paid the upgrade to premium so we went and had a few margaritas before boarding and to kill sometime. Once aboard we received the welcome champagne to begin the flight. We haven't even taken off and I'm feeling well pretty darn good! Then some red wine, more with dinner and after dinner drinks, Vodka's!!
Hmmm who was going to drive when we land in Glasgow.
Stopped drinking around 4 hrs in so I had 4 hrs to sleep and sober up before we land at 9am local time.
No problems in customs. The car was waiting and ready to go. So loaded up and off to Manchester England 3 hrs south. We received a Volkswagen diesel and was actually a great little car. As the trip progressed my left arm was feeling the effects of shifting. Guess I need to change hands once in a while. Checked into the B&B and had a nap before we set off for the opening ceremonies. After an hour in line to get our tickets and into the venue we needed to bust our ass to get to the stands to watch the teams beginning to March in.
Round Robin Games began the next day:
Lavitia 4 vs Scotland 20
New Zealand 8 vs Scotland 18
France 2 vs Scotland 19
They then advanced to the eights and took on Czechs beating them 17-14. Was a close game all the way till the last 5 or 10 mins.
Next they moved on to a final 4 qualifier Scotland 15 vs Ireland 9.
Scotland has now done better then they ever have before. They now would move on to play a one game elimination game against Australia with the winner moving into the medal round with the USA and Canada.
Panic what do we do now we aren't suppose to be here! We now needed to find a place to stay as we had only booked the B & B for five nights. With the victory we now need two more nights. The girls at the Heatherley B&B have a deal set with a local Premier Hotel. What a nice place, we get a king size room and premier breaky for the same price.
These ladies are way above awesome for client service so anyone going to Manchester let me know as I would let you know the address and contact numbers.
For special note an English Breakfast gives you the choice of eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, fried tomato and mushrooms or all of it :) Worked out well. The Pub had great tea(supper) and a great selection of beers, all in crawling distance of my bed.
Scotland 11 vs Australia 20
Was a mixed game Australia came out hard and built up a 9-2 lead when the game was postponed for lightning for 30 min. They came back finished the first half and after a quick break started the 3rd quarter. The break benefited Scotland as the started moving the ball the way they can and making good decisions on offence rather then playing like individuals. 11-9 at the end of the quarter and the Aussie fans were getting a little worried as we began to control the ball and take it to them. Unfortunately a few bad penalties and some breakdown on d allowed the Aussies to exploded with 4 or 5 straight goals so the dream ended. The boys had mixed emotions. Happy they did so well but still to get this far and one step away from getting to play the Canadians and Americans was huge. A few teary eyes but that went away when the team ran across the field to come see the fans and family's. After some sweaty hugs and cheers it was off to regroup as they still need to play their placement games.
They then played The Old Enemy(England) losing 23-9 and finishing in 7th out of 29 teams by beating the Dutch in what I have been told was one of the games of the tourney 11-10.
Awesome showing and the excitement will carry heading to the Europeans in 2012 as everyone wants to return to get the Old Enemy!!!
After the Aussie loss Elaine and I headed north for Scotland in the morning. Delayed on the highway because of a flipped Lorre for about an hour. Driving in Britain actually isn't that hard. Three lanes 70 mph. The trucks can only go 60 so passing is easy. Traffic circles are actually a great way of getting around no lights minimal stopping slow up, give way and floor it. Simple! It is a five hour trip to Kerriemuir from Manchester. On the way I see a sign for lunch, Burger King! I now have a mission I need Burger King. So we exit to the road side pull out. Get my burger and its horrible. Worst meal I've had. Tasted stale and like crap. Next exit was a Starbucks and another restaurant so much for urges.
So we arrive at Jill & Johns in Scotland and crack the duty free gin and poured some G&T's
More to come from Scotland!
