Posted by Mike on February 18, 2010 under Uncategorized | 
Michelle has asked me (Mike) to update her blog as she doesn’t have an internet connection at this time, so here goes…………
Well the day started with everyone packing for a move to another hotel and for some Pre-event training – but things didn’t quite go to plan.
When at the range (which is somewhat of a building site) collecting rifles from the armoury Aaron Heading said, of the obstacle that was in the way, “Someone is going to have a nasty accident climbing over that” and sure enough only 30 seconds later someone did……………Yep you guessed it – Michelle – Ouch!!!!
She has managed to badly sprain her ankle so unfortunately she willl not be competing in the first pairs competition tomorrow. The England Medical Team will be assessing the injury on a daily basis to see if she will be able to compete in any of the 3 Positional or Air Rifle competitions over the next few days.
As you can imagine this is a big blow for Michelle and the England Team coming after putting in so many hours of hard work and seeing some extremely good training results during the England Training Camp and back at Havant Rifle Club.
Please check back for further updates and join me in wishing her well for a very quick recovery.
Mike
Posted by Mike on February 16, 2010 under Uncategorized |
Well i had a short lie in this morning – missed breakfast!!!!
Spent the morning playing Mini Ping Pong with Arron Heading from the shotgun team – what a laugh that was – he got really into it and it soon became more of an extreme game – it went from playing on the glass coffee table to playing all round the table and the surrounding floor!!! Boy did he get a sweat on!!!!
The rest of the morning was spent playing cards with some of the shotgunners and the girls from the Pistol team – good fun and it is noce to get to talk with people from other disciplines and get on so well.
The afternoon was interesting to say the least – we decided to go to the local shopping centre as a group (you have to go as a group – no one goes anywhere alone). So we gathered together and after a head count off we went preceeded by armed police and followed by hotel staff – what a wierd experience that was. When we got the mall tthere were metal detectors on all entrances and exits and you were not allowed to take any bags into any shop (had to leave bags at a counter and get a ticket to collect it when you left). Anyway after a successful trip to the shopping centre – things are cheap here (might get Mike some new shirts) – we headed back with the same armed guard. At the hotal the guards outside inspected the armed gaurds vehicle with mirrors on poles so they could see under the vehicle before letting it into the hotel compound. More metal detectors for us to go through before feeling safe again in the hotel.
That is about it for today apart from speaking to Mikey later tonight and getting him to upload this for me as the internet connection here is so poor.
More tomorrow!!!!!
Byeeeeee
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 February 8, 2010 under Uncategorized |
Chill out day for us here today! we’ve done nothing and its been great! well by nothing i mean we’ve done nothing except utilise the sauna here Giggity!
More updates have gone on and i’ve had a little browse on the t’internet and seen that blogging is becoming more popular with shooters!
I’ll have to make sure that i keep uptodate now ,)
Night Y’all
Posted by batty on February 7, 2010 under Others |
Apologies for the delay in blogging, I’ve gotten a bit lazy and busy with training and trips. Tom sent me the monthly statistics for the blog which looked promising from the people reading and a little nagging from Mike. I’m currently out in Sweden for a long weekend with Mike having a bit of rest and relaxation before I fly out to India on the 14th for 2 weeks of training and competition. Although we are visiting Mikes dad and his wife who live in a nice city called Orebro I’ve also got time for me to chill and type up my blog ready for uploading to the internet when I get online
I’ve added some posts and back dated them, please check back later for more posts!
Posted by batty on under Others |
So as I’m typing up my blog entries ready for a big upload, I’ve been calling Mikey by my favourite name for him….. Mikey…. To which he has just turned around to me and asked if I would do him a favour so if you are Mikey reading this, just take of the “Y” and everyones happy!
Love you babes!!
Posted by batty on February 6, 2010 under Uncategorized |
Trip number 3 this year is actually a holiday for me! Mikeys dad and his wife live in a nice city called Orebro. I’m looking forward to a good bit of relaxation and quality time with Mikey, and of course it will be nice to see Brian and Marta again!
We arrived yesterday evening via Ryanair… not the most fun to fly with but it was easy enough.. Big thanks to Piers who is car sitting for the week and dropped us off at the airport. We arrived and proceeded through security without any issues, I even saw Danny Dyer getting re-dressed after going through security himself.
We’ve had a wander around town this morning. The town looks fantastic with all the snow. It amazes me that some countries just accept the snow and get on with life, unlike Britain which comes to a total stand still!
Posted by batty on February 5, 2010 under Uncategorized |
So back home and yet more training this week and back in the gym as well, something I’ve missed last week as the facilities were not available.
I think I’ve got my kneeling at a compromise using the sling further down the arm and using a couple more buttons on my jacket, but I’ll have a more thorough check it when I’m back from Sweden. That’s if I can after having a little accident with a Stanley knife which resulted in 11 stitches in my right thigh
Again air rifle has gotten a bit sloppy with the visualisations however I did manage to help Mikey with a little of his air pistol shooting, which both of us were pleased at. Will be working on addressing my air rifle visualisations and getting my position a little more solid
Still off to Sweden tonight for a long weekend with Mike and no shooting!
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!!!
