Michelle & Michelle preparing for the Highland Games

Isn’t it a little strange that where there is sports, there is usually beer? We ‘did‘ the Mott MacDonald Sports Day here on Saturday as part of the Sheffield team. By way of ‘did‘ I mean we attended; we cheered the football team; we supported the badminton trials – at least the first round – before we broke for a bacon sandwich; we laughed with and at (mostly with) those around us; we participated in the swap the fruit/crisps/chocolate bar exchange that was provided as lunch; we led the ‘find the nearest pub mission’ – successfully I might add; we visited the St John’s ambulance tent (Michelle was hit right in the middle of her forehead with a plastic golf ball); we stood confused and transfixed at the game of ‘dodgy ball’ in front of us – in fact, the only thing we didn’t do was actually exert any physical effort on any actual sports!

What a great sports day!

Barry was offered Michelle’s hat to keep out of the sun!

The team was from Sheffield, about 15 work colleagues who travelled up to represent their site in the corporate sports day against teams from Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brighton, Newcastle and London amongst others. Michelle and I were guests, invited along to fill in some gaps where team members had cancelled out. The weather co-operated for most of the day, except for a short period of rain which gave us the excuse to go and find the local pub for a couple of pints just after lunch…

As a reward for our services, we were invited to the awards presentation, dinner and ceilidh at the Glasgow Transport Museum that evening. We had such a lovely time. The food was quite good for a catered buffet, and despite not winning a single mention in the awards, the Sheffield team were in high spirits. The only disappointment was the lack of a prize for the wooden spoon – a great Scottish tradition which we would have won! After polishing off our wine, and a quick squiz at the dancing (which is very very similar to that done in Quebec) the team followed us up Byers Rd to experience a little of Glasgow nightlife in the west end.

We took our guests to Ashton Lane which was full of revellers nursing pints out in the street. It’s a great atmosphere, almost villagy. We parked ourselves on the strip outside Brel, and continued to drink to the great sportsmanship of the team into the wee small hours – pint after pint, interspersed with a ‘lick, sip, suck’ of tequila shots, ensuring that as the night wore on we made more and more sense to each other! At 11.30pm, to the amusement of our Sheffield guests, the Brel bouncers insisted everyone move INSIDE the pub (as opposed to being kicked out) and we continued drinking until closing around 1am.

Now as part of the Glasgow tradition, in fact a tradition found throughout the UK, a long day of sports and drinking cannot end without an obligatory kebab on the way home. It was our biggest responsibility for the day, amidst much shouting of ‘are we there yet?’ and ‘how much further?’ we led the team up over the hill, down the other side and around the corner to Chillies on Woodlands Rd – our favourite kebab house. It didn’t disappoint! At least not that I recall?

It’s just one of those things, the Sunday morning wake up to a fleeting whiff of kebab chilli sauce – then the ominous dread flashes through your mind questioning ‘I didn’t eat a kebab on the way home did I?’. Thankfully, the Chillies kebabs are so good, that even a positive response to that question isn’t frightening – there is no heavy lump of lamb sitting in your throat…. it’s just the stale taste of beer and kebab – easily fixed by a Sunday morning fry up or alternatively another pint!

We had such a good time. We want to thank the team from Sheffield and Michelle and Barry for inviting us and treating us as one of their own throughout the day. We had a fabulous day and evening and if I recall correctly, we’ve made some promises to do it all over again in Sheffield the next time we head south to the Peak District.

We met some really excellent people, a few of who joined us to watch the Greece vs Portugal final at Whistlers Mother last night. Hopefully we’ll meet up again!

Barry & Michelle left us late this morning for the drive home to Bamford. The next time we’ll see them will be July 30, for their marriage! Its going to be a blast. A nice small affair, with the reception at The Castle pub in Castleton – and if I heard correctly we may just meet up with several of Michelle’s colleagues once again as I believe I heard mention that the intention was to crash the reception a little later on…. oh what fun and games!