On Saturday we dragged ourselves out of bed to head out to HOPE Volleyball 2009! Only my favourite event of the year…it may actually be bigger than Christmas in my opinion. Beach, beer and bands…heck, I’m sure you can fill in some other ‘b’ words there and realize it’s a good time had by all.
We picked up Rob and headed down the highway to encounter a lot of rain. Let’s be honest…we knew it was going to rain. They were calling for severe thunderstorms for the entire day. Grrrreat. I came prepared by wearing a bathing suit and some sandals and a t-shirt. If the rain hit, the t-shirt was coming off. No use in getting a shirt wet all day!
We arrived at Carrie’s to find everyone up and about. Seeing Melissa, Casey and Katie again was good times had by all and we cracked our first beer and headed off to Mooney’s Bay. Only about a twenty minute walk from Carrie’s place.
When we arrived, we found the most amazing court waiting for us…Court #42, on the sand, next to the water! We’ve never had a court that nice before! Of course, we all know it couldn’t have lasted. We lost our first game and headed over to the grass area to see Court #82 where the other group of us was playing. It started pouring rain on us so we hung out underneath a tree for awhile until their first game which was ridiculous because playing volleyball on wet grass is a recipe for disaster. Case in point, Marie-Eve somehow sprained her foot and we had to hunt down a First Aid booth afterwards. Note: First Aid Booths do not carry Tylenol nor do they carry Tensor bandages. Keep that in mind for HOPE 2010!
We played our second game in which I personally played one of my better games AND I noticed that the pains in my ribs were slowly evaporating (did I ever post that story about myself falling off the Sea-Doo? I think not! More to come later…) so all in all, it was fun.
Of course, we knew the beer gardens were opening at 11 so off we went. It was raining on us quite heavily by that point and we lost a few people along the way (most importantly, Rob who had my wallet) but we found him hanging out at the beer tents wondering where the heck we were! Armed with a few beers, we hung around the stage and wondered where the heck Carrie was with our food! Each team gets an alloted burger and the team captain has to pick it up. She did eventually show up but sans food which didn’t do my stomach any wonders! Mike eased my pain and made me realize that we can pick up the food at any time.
Then, it started to rain. Hard. Like…REALLY hard. We are talking my skin was getting peeled off by hail. There was lightning all over the place. The darkest clouds man has ever seen. The Apocalypse had arrived on our favourite day of the year. I hightailed it for the porta-potty and hung out there while watching the show. There was a girl outside wanting to use the washroom so I caved in (being the gentleman that I am) and realized I got screwed over as the rain was too much for the tarp she lent me. I stood there waiting for her to exit to give her back the tarp and found the rest of the group marvelling at the bunch of people who decided to slip-and-slide down the hill! It was quite hilarious although I felt bad for the guy who went a little too fast and proceeded to hit a patch of gravel at the bottom of the hill. Ouch!
It was close to noon so we headed out to our third game. I can only describe the grounds in a profane manner…it was a shitshow. It was chaos…it was like Woodstock outside the beer gardens. The sand on the beach had become a mud pit. There was water everywhere. We literally had to walk through pools of water up to our ankles to get to our game. This was not a good scene. Then we heard that all games were postponed for 30 minutes. We arrived at our court thinking we could have a little game for fun but the other team had the same idea and hung out there. We hung out in the water for a bit, proceeded to try and surf on a makeshift surfboard and then we left a few people playing volleyball while we realized the best part of the day would be back at the beer garden.
I recognized the music upon entering and sure enough, it was Bluesfest’s own Amanda Rheaume up on stage! Alright! We grabbed a few beer and hung out in front of the stage for awhile until others showed up and told us the volleyball tournament had been cancelled completely. Argh! No way! We were slightly disappointed, but I’m going to be honest with you. While I love playing volleyball, I hate leaving a good band in the afternoon to play a game. So it was a blessing in disguise.
The rest of the afternoon was a mixture of torrential downpours, naps, beer, bands and all around tomfoolery. I had proceeded to wear a ripped t-shirt of Carrie’s with a headband which prompted the strangest looks for everyone. I just told them it was my bachelor party and all was forgiven. Amanda Rheaume, Ill Scarlett (were they the ones in the short bicycle shorts?), LoudLOVE and the Watchmen graced the stage. Mike and I were really excited to see the Watchmen as they have been out of sight for quite a few years. They put on an excellent show…all this hits, top form, having fun on the stage catching footballs thrown from the crowd. Near the end of their set the sun had finally come out to dry us off.
We definitely needed to be dried off…there were a few times during the afternoon where I had a chill going on. Marie-Eve had to leave for home as her lips were blue. It was crazy out.
I don’t know what else to write about HOPE Volleyball 2009…I read in the paper that it was the first time in 27 years that they had to shut down the tournament. Too bad considering we had the best spot on the beach!
After The Watchmen finished up, we headed back to Carrie’s to take a few naps and have some pizza. We headed home around 8PM and quickly proceeded to bed afterwards.
Once again, a great time with great friends…friends are what makes a rained-out event worthwhile.