Day 4 of tour life saw the team leave the hotel at 7am with some team members a bit bleary eyed from the day before. Breakfast was had on the range in the team hut and was a veritable feast of cereals, nuts, fruits, seeds and toast. After a few slices of toast were created someone noticed there was a distinct burning smell coming from the plug and it was discovered that we had overpowered the plug and melted it slightly. The toast was still edible none-the-less, if a little less appetising because of the lingering smell of burning plastic, and there was a murmur of disquiet that there was no Marmite.
First shot down the range for some of the team was 8am for a practice at 300yds but then there was a 3 hour break before the next practice shoot at 600yds just before lunchtime. A lucky coincidence, as it happened, because Al had forgotten his shooting jumper and needed to nip back to the hotel to collect it. Still – that’s what warm-up shoots are for!
The 600yd practice was fairly uneventful until a range officer went to tell DC that he only had a few minutes left. A somewhat surprised DC responded “I’ve still got 7 shots to go on my no.4 gun”. Needless to say, the range officer didn’t argue, and let him carry on for as long as he needed!
Lunch was a very healthy affair in the hut, but there was a distinct lack of plates meaning some of the team had to be quite inventive with their food. Eating methods devised by the team include using flat pitta bread as a plate, creating wraps and piling as much food as possible into a bowl and using bread as a scoop. There was a fair amount of mess created, much to the dismay of the duty bus, who were left to clean up the mess. There were a few discussions about what was missing from breakfast and lunch and Marmite came out on top (diarist agrees, others don’t) and it is hoped that because this is now down in writing we will be allowed to get some. There was, again, a break between lunch and the next shoot at 900m and either the heat or the pressure of the job rendered the Vice Captain unconscious underneath a table in the hut. Luckily he surfaced fully rested from his slumber.
During the practice matches it seemed as though GB were squadded together with quite a lot of the team shooting in pairs with each other. One such pair was Dom and Nick. After a fairly successful shoot Dom got up and started to put his kit away when Nick pitched in saying “why are you getting up?” Dom still had one shot left but was clearly excited about the possibility of tea and snacks back in the hut.
Unfortunately there was another long break between the last 900m shoot and the next 800m shoot so that the butt markers could have some dinner. This just meant that the team could have more tea, biscuits, and cake, whilst absent mindedly considering whether they should be eating something a bit more healthy.
At 800m – The Ottawa Regiment match – two members of the team (Roo and Dom again) each had a miss for the two lowest scores on the team…70.9 and 70.10. Clearly the Captain was thrilled on hearing this news. Roo has since been educated on the difference between yards and metres, (and the difference between 800 and 900) and the commensurate effects of distance on elevation. Dom has been reminded how to read numbers…
After a very long day at the office, at around 7:30pm it was time to head back to the team hotel for dinner and showers – both of which were sorely needed after such an extended day on the range. The brave and intrepid decided a beer in town was in order, but for most of the team, an early night after a very long day was much more appealing.