Saturday 20th November 1999

Kobi: "The bit of grabbed sleep on the bus meant that when I arrived in Krusty Nordend Brussels station, the kitsch music playing on the platform did not annoy me as much as it could have, nor did the biting cold at 5 in the morning (neither of which factors an Australian student is made to take)."

Martin: "The alarm went off at seven - uurghhh! One and three quarter hours sleep really did feel like I hadn't had any at all, and maybe it would have been better if I hadn't. Struggled into an upright position to avoid the overwhelming urge to take the easy way out and just roll over and go back to sleep. Damn, need something from the car. Whoa, it's cold! Oh well, I'm awake now.

Set off into the town to pick up Kobi from Turnhout railway station. It's seven-thirty now, it only took us ten minutes to get from the town to Danny's and the train's not due in until 07:44: no problem. However, despite the early-morning cold, the brain really wasn't having any of this "getting into gear" malarky, and faced with the choices of "Antwerp" or "Eindhoven and Turnhout" as directions onto the dual-carriageway, I chose Antwerp. Don't ask me why . . .

Anyway, it was off at the next junction (what seemed like a really long way down the road - very reminiscent of the night before), a swift about-turn (not even one toll this time: nice people, the Belgians) and then 110mph back in the right direction in an attempt to recover lost time. Hope there aren't any over-vigilant traffic police around . . .

Into the town, round the Grote Markt, but could not take the short cut through, as the Grote Markt now actually was a market, and the way through the car park was now a whole load of stalls. Followed nose and other cars and arrived at the station at 07:54 to find nobody waiting expectantly. Doh!

Asked the guy in the ticket desk if anyone had been expecting to be met off the 07:44 from Brussels, to which he replied "A girl? With a rucksack?". Yes! So she made it, now I just have to find her. He had given her directions to the Kursaal, the cinema/swimming pool, and off she had set. I hared to the corner of the station to see a jaunty figure with a rucksack disappearing into the distance. The chase was on!

Back to the car, and off in pursuit. Arrived at a five-way crossroad: Kobi was nowhere to be seen. Followed nose again and eventually caught up with her a hundred or so yards further on. Hurrah! Two of the five parts of the team united!

Kobi: "A certain somebody who had promised to pick me up out of the dark and unfriendly morning wasn't there when I arrived in Turnhout, and so I trundled off in the direction of the swimming pool (which I knew - if worst came to the worst - was at least heated). Warming to my backpack waddle, Martin managed to find me and convince me that he was Martin, upon which we proceeded to have an in-depth conversation on the merits of Rovers (not a brand ever seen in Australia)."

Martin: "The brain was still not operating as we set off back to Danny's and given the same choice as before of Antwerp or Eindhoven, I again went the wrong way. Off at the next junction, about-turn and back again. Still no tolls, and still no sign of any traffic police, even though this time I wasn't speeding. Still like the Belgians . . ."

Martin: "We got back to Danny's to find the whole family up, but not surprisingly no sign of the other house guests. Danny's twin sons were dashing in and out of the kitchen accompanied by a slightly older friend, and we couldn't help noticing that one of Danny's sons had obviously had a recent disagreement with some tarmac, or something. It turned out that an attempt to jump a ramp had gone wrong, and he had had to be rushed off to hospital for some emergency surgery. "But he didn't cry", said Danny with such obvious fatherly pride that I'm sure it was Spike the Dog I could see in front of me. "Dat's ma boy . . ."

Just as we were finishing our breakfast, Ralph and Toby appeared, looking bright and breezy, obviously having slept really soundly. That must have been a signal for my battery to finally go flat, so I crawled off to bed, leaving Kobi, Danny, Ralph and Toby nattering away happily.

Back in Turnhout . . .

George: "Saturday morning saw several slow-moving figures at breakfast. The morning was spent going round Turnhout market and the outside of the convent. What had been a car park in the main square the day before became filled with stalls, and what was even more surreal was that by early afternoon the market had completely disappeared."

Saturday afternoon was basically a chill-out time before the evening's battle: some went bowling, others were still arriving, while others just caught up on their sleep . . .

Jan: "Again, German underwater hockey "reinforcements" were recruited by Martin to fill another Chesham team. But even one day before the tournament in Belgium it was not clear in which form - Jan Carmanns and Johannes Grote (two WC'98 - San Jose veterans) were first included in Martin's plans but Johannes unfortunately had to cancel and Jan had to find some kind of replacement. He brought Alexander Möller (who had also played in San Jose), Tobias Wronka (played in Reims EC'97) and Silke Janssen (her first tournament ever - after only two practice sessions!).

This quartet arrived in Turnhout quite early, because they expected snow and traffic on their 360km way from Gießen, but nothing slowed their journey and when they arrived there was enough time to enjoy a fine cup of Belgium hot chocolate in a cafè next to the swimming bath. Philip Fearnhead found us there and joined us. After a while the cafè was overcrowded with Octopush players. Because Jan forgot his gear and gloves (they were hanging nicely at home to dry) some equipment had to be organized first."

Martin: "4:30 came, and it was time to get ready for the tournament. Kobi had also crashed out shortly after me, but was also up and about, so we packed the car, thanked Rit (Danny's wife) for looking after us so well, and headed off to the Hotel Terminus, where we had arranged to meet Ralph and Toby.

We put our heads around the door of the Terminus, only to find that we had just missed everyone, so we headed over to the other side of the Grote Markt, to the pool, where we were finally united as a team.

Before long, the tournament got underway . . ."

Kobi: "Met fellow team members and attempted to look as though I remembered where the puck was supposed to go. Really enjoyed being in the pool..."

After the final games of the tournament had been played, we all got changed and congregated in a covered area out the back of the swimming pool, where the presentations were made. As the newest recruit to the game, Silke went up to receive our trophy.

Tobias, Alex & Silke chill out by the pool

Martin, Alex, Silke & Tobias with our trophy

Kobi: "The evening spent drinking was an eye-opener to Ralph's fetish for pre-pubescent women (I *may* be wrong on this one) and Toby's inability to chat up incredibly sexy Belgian women. Perhaps next time, Toby . . ." The evening continued as it started: beer all round . . . Martin: "Eventually Saturday turned into Sunday and by the time one o'clock and two o'clock came along, only the hardened party animals - all Belgian with the exception of four members of the TDC - were still standing. I went for a last look at the pool, now calm after all the activity of earlier, and found Kobi also staring into the waters.

Kobi Leins, party animal

At that hour of the morning, after that much beer, and now standing in front of that much water, it didn't take two aquaholics very long to decide that skinnydipping was the thing to do. Sue Coles eat your heart out! Ralph and Toby poked their heads around the corner from the bar, but decided that staying dry and unchlorinated with beer in hand was much the preferable option.

The diving board, that had been up and unnoticed during the Octopush tournament, was now down, and it was not long before the desire to get up and hurl myself off it got the better of me. Old habits die hard . . . Kobi, however, had spotted something I hadn't, and stayed firmly in the water while I proceeded to reel off a couple of dives in the buff, much to the amusement of a posse of fellow partygoers who were crowding round the window of the first-aid room. That news didn't take long to spread . . .

Eventually, Danny appeared, and said that he would get into trouble if we didn't get out now, so it was quickly on with the clothes, one last beer, and out to "The Big Room". Danny's colleague, who had been working behind the bar, was all agitated about what had obviously been a breakage of rules, but Danny managed to convince him that he hadn't seen anything and that nothing had taken place. Ah, my kingdom for a diplomat . . .

Being wet and getting quickly cold, the tiredness soon followed: I don't think Kobi and Danny stayed awake any longer than I did . . ."