From around the world we came! Trains, planes, automobiles, carts pulled by yoked oxen! By the evening of July 31, 2013, all had arrived in the wonderful city of Turino. Many adventures on the road to Turin were met by all. Some taking the road less traveled, some, not so much! These are all stories best told by those who experienced them!
Today begins the chronicles of the CanAussies' adventures!
Our first official day as a team was August 1st. Unofficially Johnny becomes the navigator / scribe for the events. The "Red Book" comes into existence. The phrase "its going in the book" is coined. And thus begins the recording of the good and bad or as officially known, the plus or minus each CanAussie gets for acts or in-actions they may be caught doing!
First in the book, Phil and Trevor both earn a "-" for late arrival at the designated muster point for our journey to the practice/training venue. This also brings about a fine of 1st shout.
Our trek to the venue begins with a march to the bus stop and a hop onto bus #58. 23 stops and 32 minutes later (10:15am) we are at the Modigliani gym for our pre-booked practice time of 10:00am! (late as per the "-" awarded to Phil and Trevor!) Phil and Trevor seek a ruling on their book entry as the venue was not open! Unfortunately the ink was dry so the entry stood!
Our ten am practice began at eleven am! It was hot and humid, the practice was so intense that after over an hour of grueling effort, we journeyed across the road to a fine little cafe that served beer! Phil and Trevor again made the next entries into the book, Trevor for a spill over pour on Phil's glass, and Phil for letting him! Phil then gets a strike for asking about the rules! Phil was able to gain a "+" shortly after by a catch up chug before the next shout. Geoff makes it into the book, a "-" for admitting to a sub-standard pour, but it was pointed out that he did give a shirtless performance at the gym that earned him a "+" bringing him back to even for the day. Johnny has add his own name to the book due to tripping on apparently thin air, but is given a "+" as Al pointed out his daring move of stepping in front of a Brit rugby team to get beer and survived, Al gets a "+" for noting this for the benefit of another!
Our host at the wonderful little cafe, Maria, make many unofficial points with the team for her constant attention to our needs (beer) as well as the complimentary treats she kept bringing. It was also noted that she had to make a couple of supply runs as our 7 cleaned them out on the second shout! Al earned a "-" for dropping a free cheese bread onto the floor, but is able to nulify it with a "+" for getting Dave to eat it! Dave is awarded a "+" for eating the bread! Johnny earns another "-" for spilling a beer, but a "+" for catching the glass! Al gets a "+" for being spilled on! Todd gets a "+" for a perfect pour (authorized by Phil the unofficial judge!) Geoff is given a "+" for unofficially finding the bar, this was voted on and carried 6 to 1 (Phil the dissenting vote) Phil then earns a "+" for being able to keep track of what shout we were at. Geoff is given a "+" for being the last to "break the seal"! Todd keeps with his winning ways and makes a second perfect pour, but unfortunately a spill on the way to his lips nullifies the point! Geoff also earns a "-" for a spill. Todd discovers he has an opener on the sole of his flipflop, why he has it off....? Phil reckons that he should not be penalized for not knowing about the opener as we didn't need it, but should a time come when we do and he doesn't present the opener, then he goes in the book! Al gets another entry in the book for breaking a glass, not so much for the glass but because there was still beer in it! Al, who is our environmentalist because of his constant attention to the local scenery and wildlife earns a "+" for 3 times trying to alert Trevor to a beautiful example of the local fauna that went by, Trevor gets a "-"! Our journey back to the rooms was not remarkable and no entries were made into the book!
Friday August 2st, 2013. Game day! Our first scheduled game, which we discover is not at the venue we practiced at. Johnny googles the venue and route we will need to take and once everyone arrives at the muster point, we (14 strong) set out on our march to the bus and 30 minute ride to the gym. Upon arrival at the gym we get to see a team in our pool, they looked like an olympic team! We are in for a challenge with Mother Russia!
We end up victorious for our first game! Unfortunately the Venezuela team did not show! So the W is by forfeit. So no turnovers, no missed shots, no mistakes, a perfect game!
We retired to the La Ferrazza Cafe upstairs for an afternoon of fantastic pasta, cold beer, tasty wine and tremendous service! Our young server, Iradina, originally from Bulgaria, whose english was perfect, took awesome care of us. Marco, the owner and his wife Christina, the chef, were the consummate hosts. We spent most of the day there enjoying the food and drink! We also received an invitation from Marco and Christina to come back Monday evening for an authentic and exlusive Italian pasta meal as their guests. While there Todd is given a bottle of vino as a gift by Marco, this earns him a "+" in the book! Geoff wandered off and sat alone, "with all his friends" this was not only a "-" in the book, but was captured by photo! The memories of 2009 Sydney WMG were tested with Dave getting a "+" for remembering the Choir Boys song Run to Paradise that they played at the closing ceremonies. Todd gets a "+" for remembering to use the flipflop opener! Phil earns a negative mark in the book for not recognizing a bloke from the Kiwi team who he knew years ago, he recognized Phil!
Geoff ends up having a run in with a couple of bottles of vino, causing him to miss his glass pouring water, then miss his mouth trying to drink it! Geoff was able to gain a plus though as he was able to keep his eyes open while watching Kerry's game, and most notably when she looked his way!
Our trek home that night was long and everyone was ready for and needed a shower once we got back. We still managed to go out for a walk with the street festival going on, well most of us, Geoff fell down on the sofa and sprained his consciousness so had to remain prone and keeping track of the inside of his eyelids, Al went MIA, probably suffering a similar ailment to Geoff's! Phil, Trevor, Johnny, Dave, Todd and Kerry stopped for a pizza and a beer. Others did some shop walking. At nearly 1:30am the scribe turned in for a nights rest!
Our adventure to continue tomorrow/today?!
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