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| They look so small here, but small doesn't mean docile! |
Last Friday I picked up the group from Northern Ireland. They would be here for the weekend to play a football tournament and needed a coach (as in bus) to take them to their accommodation. I was going to stay in a hotel for three days and pick them up every morning and drive them back every evening. It was a hard job!
The driving however wasn't the hardest part, the children were. Now, in the Netherlands children are getting more and more used to seatbelts and bus-etiquette. Those boys from Northern Ireland clearly weren't! They would not sit still for more than a minute and were continually getting up to punch someone in the face. On two occasions I've even seen them wrestling in the aisle! What was all that about? Don't get me wrong, the adults did shout at them to sit down. Every two minutes in fact, but... did you read the title? They must have had some of that in their underpants...
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| The empty half of the Irish team, on the first day the goalie actually texted during the games!! |
Other than that, they were a nice enough group, I certainly had some laughs, even though I declined the offer of some craic, which probably was a very wise move, since I saw the dads the next day and they looked as if it had been a great night with a lot of alcohol (which turned out to be true, especially since the alcohol had been free at some point).
The boys actually won all of their games and of the nearly thirty teams in their age group they came first! Which was great of course. And even with my very limited knowledge of football, I know they were quite a good team.
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| The hairdo of this linesman must be the next big thing. It must be... |
The result of all this was that when I had dropped them off at the airport on Monday, the coach looked as if a herd of cows had lived in it: cola, fanta and beer all over the floor and seats, the toilet was just gross and needed a massive hose down and in general it was very dirty. How 13 boys (and 8 men) can make so much mess is a mystery to me, but they did and before I felt it was good enough for the cleaning crew to come in and clean it, it took me over an hour to get it to that state!
Next, I will be off to Paris...
Rather you than me. Just taking 60 children on an educational day out once a year was enough for me (not on my own - other adults, too!)
ReplyDeleteSome times we train our dogs better than we train our children. :}
ReplyDeleteI think they're missing a few lessons in their culture.
ReplyDeleteI knew you were going to have fun. LOL
ReplyDeleteThe Irish have always been a wild bunch. It's not all that long since they were wild Celts (the Scots were semi-civilized before the Irish) and European football players are only partly tamed, so very young Irish football players... well, it's no surprise they won all their games!
Your life is too exciting for me, I'm afraid.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
How glamorous!
ReplyDeleteParis...I wish I was still there so I could meet you. I know I would love you. Anyway I love the title. Sounds like they were pretty good at what they do but certainly not good at being neat.
ReplyDeleteDo you have to clean the bus? I am finally here today visiting with you and will try to get caught up in reading your posts. All 14 of them!