Picture the scene. Three burley men (okay, two and me!), fighting our way through Readings May Bank Holiday traffic to get to a duck race in Henley. This is normal behaviour apparently!!
After stopping off at McDonalds we soon realised that we had cut it a bit fine and may not make the start of the race. The plastic ducks would not be happy. We consoled ourselves by texting a local radio station and demanding they play 'Rock The Boat' in our honour.
As we pulled into the Henley car park we could hear the race officials starting the race. We only had the one thing to do that day and we managed to miss the 2pm start of that. We even watched Mighty Ducks as motivation. Maybe next year eh guys!
After a go on the coconut shires (I won - everyone else missed), Doyle had a game of 'chip a golf ball into a net' and when handed the teddy he'd won he announced loudly that it was all for Swaff - bless. Swaff then managed to 'win' a toy of his own by throwing a golf ball into a tin bucket from 2 foot away - apparently it took a lot more skill than I've given him credit.
After the obligatory ice cream (I wonder if Swaff will demand ice cream when its raining on the boat?) we decided to have a look around the rowing museum for inspiration. We found some inspirational outfits (this is canal clobber though so wont match our straw boaters) and had a game of giant snakes and ladders whilst all the children and their parents looked on in complete bemusement and a hint of fear. The photo below is meant to be me celebrating my win although I'm clearly not looking convinced. Truth is this was the fourth attempt and shortly prior to Swaffs fat fingers hitting the shutters my arms were in the air along with the giant die. Some images are best left alone.
We then found the ultimate training tool - check out this video and try not to snigger in a pre-pubescent child like manner... go on, I challenge you...
Here's some random pics taken on the day:
