(The aforementioned placement post will come later as I've been asked back for next Tuesday through Thursday.)
Needless to say, my first proper trip with Spinners basketball was unreal and brought me back to my Junior Hockey days with Springfield Jr Pics. Sidetrack moment: most vivid story that year would be when my roommate left the room to stay in his dad's room in Maine and he had the alarm on his phone meaning I didn't wake up... until Coach Tim Noonan was banging against my door like a madman.
I digress.
6.45am - My second alarm went off. But what follows means I could've at least gotten another half hour of sleep, which would've been nice as I didn't get to bed until around 3am. And I likely would've been awake longer had Eleanor not told me off for being awake when I had to be up early.
8.20am - I finally get picked up by Yomi "Ty" Taiwo who lives around the corner and who I rode with to Birmingham. This morning it's Kendrick Lamar and Drake that we're listening to. On our way to B'ham we connected through music and our love of Young Jeezy amongst others.
8.20 was 20 minutes past the said pickup time and we had to be at the pickup point for half eight and with the detour we took [information withheld] we clearly weren't going to arrive by then.
All the calls from player-coach Ste Gayle... the horror.
9.07am - Ty and I arrive at the pick up point 47 minutes late. FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES. I'm hauling a** down the road with him following behind -- probably the only time I'll ever outrun someone 6ft 5in plus because I was scootin' as they'd say.
The look on Ste's face when Ty got into the mini bus was fantastic. Words can't describe it but it was that "you're 47 minutes late" face.
Now, I'm not the most punctual individual myself as I find a way to be late after I was early, but I would've felt terrible had we been late even though it wasn't me driving.
The drive included serious banter between the players, namely involving Conor Porter, Mark Rangeley, Anthony Kuczaj and Ty and Ty Ogunneye.
12.00pm - Our first takeaway of the day is McDonalds somewhere along the extensive M1. I'm going to say somewhere near Luton. Just picture a 5ft 4in -- I'm being generous -- walking into a service station with a bunch of folks over 6ft. I hardly looked out of place standing in queue with the team.
1.56pm - The mini bus arrived into the East London borough of Newham and NewVic College where London Lituanica play out of. After some technical difficulties getting through the main gate, we bustled out of the van and were into the gym.
3.00pm - Game time. Or so everyone thought as only one referee was present.
3.56pm - The second referee strolls in after being stuck in traffic but #cmonman, what else do you expect in London? Tip off, 56 minutes late.
6.00pm - Not really the result Spinners were looking for but still plenty of positives came out of the team's regular season including a 19-3 record, Patrons Cup triumph, a second-seed and promotion.
Back in the mini bus and it's back to the north.
8.00pm - Time for the second takeaway of the day which is KFC. All I could think about was how great the gym was going to feel on Monday and about all those ab exercises.
I think I fell asleep pretty much when my butt hit the seat. I was crushed when I found out the services we stopped at were only in Milton Keynes - home to many roundabouts.
11.20pm - Back at the pickup point 14 hours later and all I could taste was my bed...
12.00am - ... to write two articles for the Bury Times.
It was a long, long day but so enjoyable. That's what it's meant to be right? Because that's what I've signed up for.
