ERTVELDE 2007 - by Mike Walters
Like a fine wine, PVC are maturing with age. A little musty around the edges, a little more mature in many ways, the Squad headed out to the Fields of Ertvelde last weekend by a variety of routes & times. The Walters took the Thursday early trek out, establish our very own basecamp in the name of PVC. The first BBQ was struck, and a warm-up Sparta Pils taken in the sports hall. And great news was on view: the return of The Beer Tent :-)
Yes, for some old timers, Ertvelde had lost a little character with the building of the Sports Hall on the site of theoriginal Beer Tent, but it's back: this time at the far end of the playing fields (past the changing block). A welcome sight indeed !
Friday dawned, and the early Cobb Arrival was naturally delayed by a necessary trip to Auchan......so armed with mucho beer & rations, Phil & Amy joined the Walters around lunchtime. Once tent and second gazebo were erected, a trip to town for more rations was called for......but first, lunch at Barts Bar, and a chance to get some practise at the Golf Billiards that has so fascinated us for years.....after Luke's efforts last year, Phil & Mike had a close 3-frame battle, with the mis-spent youth of Mike shining through to take the series 2-1.
And lo, the Train Twins texted to announce their impending arrival.....so off to the supermarket for more rations we headed, meeting Liz & Helen there afetr their exciting champagne and wine-fueled journey by Public Transport. More beer, more BBQ food and it was only right we should wander back to Bart's for a further libation: the weekend was starting well :-)
Keith, Geoff & Chris rocked up to site around 7pm, and with more tent-building taking place, the BBQ's were on.
And a bonus player: Phil had enlisted Pablo Wulkow to join us: Pablo played with Loughborough Uni during a year in the town, and was happy to drive up from Dusseldorf to join in the fun. Despite Mike being unable to stop calling him Pedro for the evening, he was welcomed into the group with a luke-warm BBQ on which to warm his meat.....
More beers, more chat, and the evening faded away.....
Saturday
So Saturday dawned, with the traditional Cobby breakfast sizzling, and PVC Tequila Slammers yawned to life......managed to drag Chris out for the opening ceremony, and then it seemed churlish not to have a pre-volleyball beer....start as we meant to carry on. The shock for the morning was that there was no flag-waving, just the acrobatic gymnastic troupe spinning themselves impressively.
Since Chris is the most successful PVC captain of all time, he was duly elected Team Captain for the weekend, and he wasted no time in splitting the nine of us into 3 groups, with the broad gameplan being to rotate the groups throughout. With the occasional tactical change, this system worked well, and there were no shocks for the day, just some hard games and 4 solid wins. Much beer was drunk, as well as the occasional juice, and by the end of the day everyone was pretty hot & tired. Some close games too - at least two sets were won by the slimmest of margins, 25-24, but the result was good: some teams had played 5 games, and so with our 4 wins, we were 5th from 27 at close of play.
The children made friends with Dutch children, and discovered a cracking tree den in the shrubbery: none of that British Health and Safety nonsense there, just logs leaning around, waiting to be fallen on. Steve turned into the Tony Blackburn of the weekend, with his own special loggy on a lead, later left hidden behind a series of trip-wires and traps.....
A quick shower & off to t'MorgonSonneke for more of Barts finest fare....a late night for Steve & Ellie, but even later for those who headed back to the beer tent for some THUMPING music (last words from Ellie in our tent were "the music's too loud", and she was later found asleep with her hands over her ears !!!). Reports confirm that the music thumped until 4am. A disturbing sound of electrocution woke Mike up at 3am, with the noise implying screaming people dying in an electrified tent, but it turned out to just be a bit of lengthy sizzzzzzzling techno that was being enjoyed....
Sunday
Day 2: with the heady position of 5th, Chris took the astonishing decision to ban tequila until later in the day: the boy was serious. And rightly so: a cloudier day, yet dry, the 3 matches were spread out, making it harder to stay focussed: tequila could have spelled disaster (actually, it spells T-E-Q-U-I-L-A), but we had Pablo's impressive firepower through 4, Christine's steady serving and solid digging & Geoff playing with the enthusiasm and energy of a 20 year old joining them at 4. Phil's experience shone though the middle with some stunning left hand hits and back hand touches, along with Mike & Helen, and the reliable setting of Chris, Keith and Liz meant that PVC made it through the group matches with no more losses. Special thanks to Amy, Steve & Ellie for being backstops on court 18 to avoid us having to wade through nettles to get the stray balls !!!
PVC:played 7, won 7. Sets for:14. Sets against: 0. What a Dream Team !!!
Three-card brag had commenced prior to the last match, and was to be an epic performance, with a large pot of money awaiting the victor. But first, and at last, the final was called: PVC versus some shoddy German team. Unfortunately, about 2.8 minutes after the game started, the sky turned, and the heavens erupted in rain, thunder & lightening. The ball was impossible to control, try as we might. Pablo was sliding everywhere, and we fell behind. Eventually we had fallen, losing 2:0 in bizarre
conditions. Rain should have stopped play !!
Back to the beer tent, nonetheless: we had fought a brave battle, coming an amazing second out of 27 teams. More beers, and the Brag Final came down to two young players: Pablo, with teutonic Germanic efficiency, and Ellie, with the card-loving spirit of an old hand (in her first ever game of brag).....of course when you get to the end, you really have little more than the cards you are dealt, and after some changing of cards, Pablo knocked, and came out tops, with Ellie only managing a pair to his flush (or was it straight).....So the young star of the tournament was able to head off home with the fuel paid for, but shared some of it in the form of an ice cream with his noble opponant :-) Special mention to Liz for losing one life with an impressive 5-high....
The trophy was taken, more showers and a final trip to Bart's, where Phil & Mike were given a history lesson by a dodgy partisan local. The lovely game of cricket and some lengthy quotes from William Blake were all part of the repertoire.....
Chris & Phil had shared preprandial drinks with our German Victors, and after Barts even more beer was had by some at the Beer Museum....Chris, leave the display alone next time you've had one too many carbolites.......& steady on the advice about love, you'll be known as Aunt Clare soon.....
Camp was quiet with the beer tent finally closed for business, but luckily Martin texted us to remind us about the meteor showers, and a pleasant hour was spent as the sky cleared, watching satellites, then a flash of a meteor and also a red/purple flash of another.....coool
Monday was the usual mixture of cleaning up the breakfasts, striking camp in the sunshine, then heading to Ghent for a couple of hours wandering and light snack. Amy was now in her 17th matching outfit of the weekend, all packed inside one tiny pack: most impressive ! We all went our various ways, with Liz & Helen just making the train connections, Phil & Amy heading back for more foodie fun at Auchan, and the other two cars heading for De Panne, where at least 3 of us had a paddle/swim in the blustery conditions......
A successful tournament. So next year we need Jordan to join Pablo and give us unstoppable power. Or perhaps a Men's team and Mixed....who knows. One thing is for sure: for us, PVC Slammin' & Lickin' for 20 years in 2008, make sure you keep the weekend of 8th-11th August 2008 clear & free, let's make it a biggie !!!
