all athletic ability gone

Before I document the embarassment that was today's beach volleyball I have a muse. If I get up early I have a decision to make; do I wake Sally and risk her wrath for waking her, or do I get up, head out to get coffee and read my paper and risk Sally's wrath for abandong her? The decision is between two options with the best outcome being me being in the least trouble I can be in...but in trouble irregardless (hah! I love that non-word.)

So I did not wake Sal, I got up and a little while later I got in trouble for asking what Sal - bleary eyed and still in her PJs - wanted to do. We got over that marital hurdle (same time, same place next Saturday we'll do the same) and went up the road for a coffee and an argument about when and how we would extend the house we haven't bought. Mara - god love her - popped out to the RTA to register her car and on her return bought half a cheesecake. So I forgave her choice of movie - Spaceballs, a movie proof that Mel Brooks had lost or abandoned his talent by the time in his career that he made it.

Our beach volleyball games today - hold on, "our"? I'm a ring-in, so Mara and Sal's beach games were 14:00 and 14:45. The weather was, by local standards, bloody awful. We'd had showers, it was overcast and around 17 degrees and there was a gusty SSE wind. So a bad summer day in London. To match the weather we were also awful and lost both games 2-0, went on to play the third in each so ended the day 3-0 and 3-0. Oh dear. To be fair we were not that bad (well, in one game we were and got thumped 21-2, to the ammusement of the girls and my frustration) but our oposition were practicers and we're not. Yet. Still no real game plan, no idea of how each other is going to move; basic stuff. Once Mara get some stability in her team (Serves Up, geddit?) there is potential, but I think that is for next season, which is only January away.

After the slaughter - sorry, games - I had and took the opportunity to confuse and be confused by our Canadian ring-in player 4, Amber. After the game we typically go fo a swim but today, what with the weather being piss poor we were not keen. One lass went and tested the water and reckoned it was pretty warm. No takers. So amber went to the water as well and came back agreeing it was warm. But she's Canadian. So I wanted to know if it was warm by local or by Vancouver standards. Clearly a sarcastic gag, a gentle dig at her expense. But oh no, a swing and a miss. I went into reverse as the confused Canadian explained that the water around Vancouver was always cold because of an ocean current and...reverse...beep, beep, beep.

So to the evening and it was up to The Spot in Randwick and the Ritz cinema to see The Children of Men, a quite relentlessly depressing but good movie. Suitably depressed we left the cinema and looked for a coffee shop in which to shelter from the rain. What we found was Sugarplum Cafe and Ice Cream Bar where we had a stab at eating ourselves to death. None of that green shit, no vitamins or minerals but a damn fine plate of fat and sugar that should sit real well on the stomach overnight. Mmmmm...