Posted by Mike on February 15, 2010 under Commonwealth Games, Competitons, Preparations | 
We are finally in the hotel room, its 19:20(Indian time) 13:40gmt on monday, I’ve been awake since 8:30ish on Sunday! My eyes really are starting to go to the extent I’ve now got my glasses on which is a rare occasion for me
So managed to get all packed yesterday without any issues as our manager had the common sense to book us 2 hold bags plus rifle, plus ammo, plus hand luggage… I don’t think my hand luggage has been so empty!
Mikey drove me to the airport, I cannot believe it is going to be 2 weeks until I see him again. It will be the longest time we have been apart
We arrived at LHR at 18:30 I said my goodbyes and headed on into the terminal with Richard Wilson who we had collected on the way.
People were already there and it was easy to identify our group with the vivid England Tracksuit tops. Virgin Atlantic did a fantastic job of booking us all in with no arguing about baggage allowance unlike BA!!
We were stood in our queue waiting to get our bags booked in (Me Richard and Pickle) when some guy came and joined us carrying a surfboard in a giant sock… it was very funny as he had written on the sock “please don’t hurt my board” polite, funny and says the point!
Anyhow through the usual palavers with customs and the rifles were checked in and we could proceed through passport control.
This was a different experience as was queuing to board and boarding the plane. Because we were travelling as a team and were wearing our tracksuits everyone was “ooh who are you, what are you doing, where are you going” really good PR and press for the good side of shooting that lots of people seem to miss
So as the flight was a long one I came prepared 
iphone with music and films, laptop with all of Two and a Half Men, and my DS! That should last me the 8 hour flight!
The last time I was on a plane like ours was when I was about 12 and on our family holiday somewhere… we had tv monitors in front of us, our own controller so we could watch or listen to what we wanted to as well as…
Pillow, blanket, socks, pen, toothbrush, toothpaste & eye mask! The service was excellent from Virgin as well, it was great to be able to ask for a drink and get just what you wanted and whenever you wanted it too!
I was sat next to a nice lady on the plane, she was off out to India to teach English (one of those life long ambition things) on planes I do like the window seat however I am also up and down so can be a bit of a pain… fortunately this lady didn’t mind.
I had planned to stay up all night as my way of combating the time difference… once we got on the plane I changed my phone and watch to Indian time I really think it had fooled my body combined with staying up.
I watched Cloudy with a chance of meatballs; I was tempted to watch paranormal activity but didn’t want to scare the living daylights out of me!
Being a flight to India the food choices were either meat curry or veggy curry! Ah well!
I did start to struggle staying awake at about 7-8am(india) but plodded on watching films, playing on the DS looking for lights of cities etc daylight broke very shortly after I started to struggle and it was fantastic to look out and see the snowy mountains of the middle east and the little settlements in the middle of nowhere
We landed just after midday after flying under the clouds and letting the smog dissipate before seeing our first views of India and New Delhi!
Well after our team meeting tonight we are to give positive views! I cannot think of any positive views on our first Delhi sights. Getting through the airport was a breeze as the organising committee actually met us coming off the plane! We were taken to passport control, we had a queue of our own which really annoyed one bloke in the long normal queue, muhahhahahahahahha, and collected our things, showed our rifles and off we went in an escorted bus convoy, and the escorts had AK47s with them!!!!
The bus journey took some time as we went beyond our planned hotels and arrived at the Quality Hotel in New Delhi.
Now that bus drive. I don’t think that 3 minutes went past where the driver of our bus didn’t honk his horn and nearly take someone out. It was so unbelievably scary, they are all mental for driving over here. People just merge into other lanes without looking or indicating! It is an experience I will never forget.
So our guns were on one bus and that bus delivered those rifles to the range, were some of the England team arranged them in the armoury. The most I have seen of the range so far is the machine gun patrolled gate!
We were all told that we would be staying at the Atrium hotel. As we passed it we thought wow that’s nice and close, but the bus kept on going
Some 45 minutes later we arrive at a different hotel, the Quality Hotel. After some confusion and pondering at why the hotel staff were taking our kit out of the buses it turns out that there was a security issue at the Atrium which is why we, along with the Indian team and the Scottish team, are now staying.
We finally got into our room after a good 13 hours of airports, airplanes, and buses. I’m sharing with Sharon Lee this time… we opened our door and…. Double room again!
Straight off to reception this time and Peter was there already sorting out some other double rooms. Within 30 minutes we were finally in a twin room
I’m going to leave things at that as that’s about all which has happened up until now and I’m about to fall asleep
Night yall
Oh and I LOVE YOU MIKEY!!!!!
Posted by batty on January 31, 2010 under Competitons |
Home at last after a long ish morning in Munich airport sorting out the check in
Its amazing how different parts of one company can interpret things totally differently than the rest of the world… it’s a bit like Hampshire and west Yorkshire firearms licensing departments!
So on the way out we had 2 hold bags plus we had to pay the £50 charge for the rifle cases. On the way back and the German interpretation of the booking was that our rifle cases counted as one of the hold bags and we had to pay the €56 charge as well!
Piss take really but that can be BA sometimes!
The flight home was nice and easy and we were well on time for an early landing. It was quite bizarre seeing the continent as just a white sheet of snow and we crossed the channel and….. Green! No snow at all just all green!
I love snow!
At least when we landed at Heathrow G4S were timely and not lame, even if it was the same woman delivering our rifles.
Customs was funny this time as well. We told the customs officer that we were just carrying air rifles and, without even opening the cases, said “yeah that’s fine then”. Fastest time I’ve been off a plane, collected baggage and through customs! Which was great until I spoke to Mike and had to wait another 45 minutes for him to turn up… still as I’ve said a million times before, I love him to bits XXXXX
Home at last after a long ish morning in Munich airport sorting out the check in
Its amazing how different parts of one company can interpret things totally differently than the rest of the world… it’s a bit like Hampshire and west Yorkshire firearms licensing departments!
So on the way out we had 2 hold bags plus we had to pay the £50 charge for the rifle cases. On the way back and the German interpretation of the booking was that our rifle cases counted as one of the hold bags and we had to pay the €56 charge as well!
Piss take really but that can be BA sometimes!
The flight home was nice and easy and we were well on time for an early landing. It was quite bizarre seeing the continent as just a white sheet of snow and we crossed the channel and….. Green! No snow at all just all green!
I love snow!
At least when we landed at Heathrow G4S were timely and not lame, even if it was the same woman delivering our rifles.
Customs was funny this time as well. We told the customs officer that we were just carrying air rifles and, without even opening the cases, said “yeah that’s fine then”. Fastest time I’ve been off a plane, collected baggage and through customs! Which was great until I spoke to Mike and had to wait another 45 minutes for him to turn up… still as I’ve said a million times before, I love him to bits XXXXX
Posted by batty on January 30, 2010 under Competitons |
Bloody first shot nerves got me again today! First shot a cracking 8.9 up at 10 o clock. Its defiantly an area I need to work on however it will be much easier to train on this issue once my Meyton arrives 
I was on a different firing point as expected today and had a little issue with the lighting from above. Because of the way I look through my shooting glasses I have the nose piece just outside the iris of the rear sight and if I’m in the wrong lighting because of the metal work and clear plastic parts it glares in my vision and distorts it slightly and my visor just isn’t long enough to help.
Today’s match went a lot quicker than yesterdays one and the result was a bit better. Its disappointing in general as I have been shooting well in training but until I start to get competitions and training meaning the same thing inside my head. Another thing which I do need to get over is the definite “we’re not worthy” feeling (just like on Waynes World) I get when I walk down a range and see Olympic champions, world champions, world cup winners, world record holders or basically my idols and the people I only dream of being on a level playing field with
Maybe some day!!!
Posted by batty on January 29, 2010 under Competitons |
Today saw my first match of this competition which had a number of funny events for me!
Once again there was another total lack of consideration this morning from the same person!
My match was at 10:05 this morning so I took a trip down to the range at 830 after a nice light breakfast (the hotel has sugar puffs )
I was happy with the sighters on my match.. I’m still trying to get everything to be the same no matter what the shot it or where it is taking place, this is something I’ve had discussions about with our sports physiologist.
Still in the back of my head is that bloody awful first shot nerves… I know in the back of my mind that as soon as that button is pressed to start the match there is no going back and that it all counts from there… this is definitely something I do need to work on
Pop….. A 10! Good start that will do I started to settle down ok after that
After my 4-5 shot of the match I noticed that Donald, who was behind me, had got up and was speaking to the range officers I’d probably forgotten to do something or summat. I wasn’t interrupted in my shoot so I just got on with the match and put that to the back of my mind
It wasn’t until my shot 8 that I realised what the problem actually was… I had more pellets in my tray than what should be and after a little look at the monitor I realised that I had a ‘0’ I turned around to Donald and gave him a funny look to which he waved for me to come off the point.
I am so thankful that Donald was behind me plotting my shots as he was telling me that he had looked up and my screen to see shot 3, he wrote down the score and looked again to see a zero… this was why he was talking to the range officers if he hadn’t I would have lost the 10 points possible for that score.
It was quiet funny really because he commented on the fact he was wondering how long it would take me to realise but in all honesty its good in some ways that I had not seen it as that is exactly part of something I had been working on during training…. Accepting the outcome of the shot and getting on with the next one!
Back on the point and continue with the rest of the match. After my 27th shot I came off the point again and had a good natter with Donald, it is good to be able to come off the point and make the most of the facilities which are available and a coach, whether it is your own, your home country coach or the national coach, is there for you to make the most of. But not in a total take advantage way!
After getting a good whinge off my chest and in receipt of some good advice I went back onto the firing point, took a few moment to myself and shot my bloody socks off, 13 brilliant and consecutive 10s. Well happy with that
Posted by batty on January 28, 2010 under Competitons, Training |
Thursday and its my day off so a good lie in is in order… yeah right!
When on trips abroad it is important to me that I am as considerate as possible to the rest of my team.. by doing this I like to think that it sets the example and that the other people in my team will do the same for me.
Like that bloody worked after someone came into our room, with their mouth on the highest volume threatening to jump on me because I was still in bed…. Did they not care to consider that I was resting and that it wasn’t my day for competing?
Lessons learnt and rant over before I say too much! It may already be too late but hey this is my blog for my rantings!
I spent most of the day down the range watching people shoot and waiting to take opportunity of the pre-event training set out for senior women at 18:00
Again training was good and it was good opportunity to have a bit of feedback, a natter and to utilise the head GBR coach, Donald McIntosh.
Lets home I can transfer my training into tomorrow competition
Posted by batty on January 27, 2010 under Competitons, Training |
Today we’ve had a nice late start followed by training in the afternoon.
As the range was quiet full I decided to go through equipment control. Its always nice to see some friendly faces especially on the side of the Jury!
As I had gone down the range in my boots and left my trainers in the room it made for a little complication. As boots get tested at equipment control its easier to sling them around your neck and go with other footwear on but my boots (as its snowing here) wasn’t really the best and most comfortable thing to wear… or so I thought!
I borrowed Pickles trainers and OMG what a mistake that was as they are so uncomfortable
Thankfully I was only in the queue for 30 minutes (unlike Kennys 2 hours!) as Dave Goodfellow (a British ISSF A Licence Judge) came to say hello at first and then came back a couple of minutes later to enquire if I had brought my blue British Shooting equipment control card. As it stays in my diary, of course I had it with me This saved me the other 1h30 minute wait in equipment control and the hassle of getting all my kit tested again only to have it comfortably pass.
So back on the range and off with Pickles god damn awful trainers!
Training was good, many positive shots again even if I did manage to double load one shot! Like a numpty!
Still I manage to perform to a level which I was happy with for my training and after a break went back onto the range to shoot 10 more shots, with very positive results.
Happy Days!
Posted by batty on January 26, 2010 under Competitons |
This morning was an early start, I managed to get packed yesterday and didn’t have my usual panic with regards to weight limits, the rifle was packed in the case it came in and my kit fitted well into my bag along with most of my clothes!
Although our flight wasn’t until 12:25 I was at the airport at 8am as Mikey had to get back to work
After just over an hour of sheer boredom and texting Jen Mac who was on the other side of security (I couldn’t go through on my own as Kenny had our passports as our visas were being sorted out) Sheree turned up – at last my sanity was saved!
Kenny and Pickle turned up shortly afterwards and we could proceed to check in.
Now the plan was to eye up who we thought could be the most likely to give us the least charge for our rifles but that didn’t quiet work out.
A £50 “special baggage” charge later and we were checked in and off through security.
Security was a doddle this time, no frisking for me but it was a bit of an arse having to take my boots off, pull my laptop out of its case etc so much so that when I was though and started to walk away from security I didn’t realise that I had left something important behind!
As we are doing so much travelling so far this year Sheree, Pickle and myself went to register for the Iris recognition program to speed up getting back into the country. It was whilst in this queue I couldn’t find my mobile phone and panic started to set in.
Now you are probably thinking yeah that’s not really the end of the world but an important part of travelling for me is making sure that I am in contact with Mikey so I’m sure some of you can only imagine how much panic was starting to set in
After the short process to register for Iris recognition I dashed back to security to only hope to fine my phone (it’s an iPhone too!) A few puzzled looks from the security people and a couple of enquiries later and I was asked to describe my phone….. Thank god it had been handed in after it was found on the floor around where I had been putting my boots back on!
By this time it was time to grab some nibbles and drink and onto the plane.
Once again arrival in Germany was a breeze, the customs officers were knowledgeable and we were swiftly through and awaited our transport to the range and hotel.
We were met by Ralf Horneber and his wife Petra who took us to the range to drop kit off and then over to the hotel
The range was amazing on first views, it was great to see one of the venues where Mikey made a Prone Final and to see the ranges where he shot on when he was in his heyday!
We dropped our kit off into the armoury… Wow… individual lockers long enough for most rifle cases and plenty big enough for your kit bag!
Munich is an excellent facility and it is a great shame that Britain’s attempt doesn’t even touch the surface of what Germany has to offer.
Our hotel is the Ibis. Looked great on the outside and was going well until we opened our room doors!
Now I try not to get paranoid about things but at the best of times, I struggle to sleep unless I am tired and even then I fidget for a while… having been away a few times now I have learned that the best way for me to sleep is to do something until I am tired (usually 12am-1am) so I usually watch a film or something when I am away…. So we opened our room doors and …. Double beds!
Hmmm! Having originally been to share with Gorgs. Sheree swapped with me so I was in with Jen McIntosh. After some running around and chats with the hotel staff we had arranged to get some mattresses in our rooms so on the floor i am sleeping until i get home and can snuggle in my huge bed with my nice, warm and cuddly Mikey!
Posted by batty on January 4, 2010 under Competitons |
Tonight I was at a Shoulder to Shoulder match representing my club of Havant in the Arthur Lee Read more of this article »
