Drowned Rats

I took my head up from the computer at around 15h and the heavens were spilling everything it had down on top of Brussels. Of course rain is never a reason to call off training but the danger is that when it falls on hard ground, it can just sit on top making things very dangerous. Anyway, Martin was going to be first out with the Hurlers at 7, with the Footballers out at 8. That gave me a bit of time to assess the situation.

Conditions were unreal. Traffic was at a complete gridlock and there were flash floods everywhere. The thunder crackled overhead and the lightning was prodding the city for fun. I was fairly unconcerned until Ciaran started telling me that it can strike groups of people huddled together. I argued that it would get the hurlers first as they had more metal attached to their playing gear! Anyway, on we went.

My back is flaring up (I know, always moaning about something) so I sat out hurling training. I went down equiped with the umbrella but such was the power of the rain, I returned to the car to take shelter until football started. As expected, the phone was lively. The lads have changed their approach though, knowing i would get cranky if they rang or texted to ask if training was cancelled. Instead, they adjusted and said things like 'I assume training is still on' or 'I'm in traffic, I might be a few minutes late'. Of course what they were really fishing for was whether training was cancelled but they are getting cuter in fairness!

Johnny and Alec were hoofing ball up and down the pitch when I re-entered the pitch. I met Olof on his way out and he was on the way home. Such was the power of the rain, I didn't catch what he said! There were 4 lads just before 8 o'clock but then they started appearing out of cars, from under bushes and i'm sure a few hitched a ride on the back of some of the giant rain drops.

We had a good lively session, utilising whatever bit of grass wasn't totally underwater. A bit of tackling, kicking, sprinting and blocking down preceeded two games which were played aggressively and at a good tempo. After about and hour an a quarter we called a halt to proceedings.

The great thing about our pitch is that its possibly the most centrally located pitch you could find in any city. However, there are absolutely no changing facilities! No-one complains though and tonight everyone got into cars or walked to metros totally drowned. The locals never know what to make of it!

We welcomed back Marc, Alec and Pat tonight. All have played with us before so it will be good to have them on board for the summer. I hope we see more of Pat this year as he's a good man to have around the place. Numbers are good enough that we can have a meanful session on Saturday despite the hurlers being away and Conan will lead the troops in my absence. We are making good progress thanks to the lads attitude so hopefully we can keep the momentum in the coming weeks.