Andy Vincett's Letter from America 4 - 30th May 2007
Hello all
I thought
it was about time for another postcard from New York at least to say hi
and to let you know what I've been up to. Well, it's the Nationals this
week and, unfortunately, I'll be missing it. The Nationals is a huge event
over 2 weeks with about 100 courts
in a convention centre somewhere in the US (Austin, TX this year). Al
told me if there's one thing I do volleyball-wise over here it should
be go to the tournament so it's really disappointing we're not on our
way there this year. My team 'The Brick City' (pronounced 'Brick Cidy')
did get it's collect ass in order to get there but which is really disappointing
but my hopes weren't high. Since the setter, captain and founder of the
team left to go back home to Baffalo, training has got irregular and indifferent
so it was no surprise now we find ourselves sitting at home this week.
Nevermind though.
To be honest it would have been a bit of a problem taking 3 days off to go as I've just been given a new client to manage while someone is on maternity and this long weekend I have been working on it hoping to get to grips with it but instead slowly realising what an absolute mess it has been left in. I get the feeling it'll be like busy season again for a few weeks while I get it on the straight and narrow. It's good that I've actually got a team to manage and in a way it will be impossible for me to fail but it'll take a lot of work to do anything more than scratch the surface it's in that much of a mess.
I've been
travelling a little recently. I took 2 weeks off in April and went to
Memphis and New Orleans both of which I hugely recommend. Memphis is not
a beautiful city but has some great places to visit - National Civil Rights
museum, Soul music studios Beale Street (where ever bar plays blues, soul
and rock and roll all day and all night!) and then, of course, Graceland
which is where I was when mum rang me to let me listen to Albrecht ace
Alex B to win the double for Docklands!!!!! I was very restrained not
to announce the fact to everyone I could find who would listen (which
wouldn't have been
anyone anyway!) One last congratulations to everyone involved and if you
want to do it again, stick aroundl!!!
New Orleans,
other than a really good World War II museum, has less to do in a touristy
way but is a much more pituresque place and I pretty much just spent my
days walking around and my evenings eating incredible Cajun food and drinking
the local water. I'll be home in a couple of weeks for my friend, Anna's,
wedding and then to see some friends in Manchester and go to Howard's
30th. Watch out! The weekend after I'm going to Miami for my buddy, Davan's
birthday. It's going to be HOT down there and Mr Vinsweat is expecting
to need some shade! After that I'm going to Vegas for the Ricky Hatton
fight; The Grand Canyon by helicopter and to raft down the Colorado with
a friends dad;
LA to visit an old friend from London; San Diego; Death Valley, Sequia
and Yosemite National Parks; Napa Valley for wine tastin; Lake Tahoe;
and finally San Francisco where I want to go to Alkatraz island. We'll
see if I get to do it all.
By that time
the work should have sufficiently built up on my desk for me to not see
the light of day until about Novemeber!!! But I'm really looking forward
to it as spending a couple off weeks in California was one of the things
that was really high on my list of things to do while I was here. I met
a writer for the Rough Guide in the lauderette
the other weekend and she said I should just drop her an email whenever
I need a guide for somewhere and she'll send it through to me for free
- RESULT!
You may have guessed by now that I'm not doing the marathon this year. A combination of wanting to travel this summer, still having a sore knee that I need to look after and wanting to get in the gym and play volleyball as much as possible meant that I regretfully decided not to try to better my time. One day though I really want to go under 3.30 so maybe that'll be in London which would be pretty cool.
Glad to see my apolgies were added to the AGM notes - I tried to get over but, sorry guys... I'll be doing the pre-season stuff with you though. I'm all booked up for Whitefield and cannot wait to give that a go again. Really looking forward to playing with you guys again and the team looks pretty good for number 5 (as long as I get some game time before then)!
Well, that's pretty much the shape of things over here. Take care Champs(!), stay healthy and see you in a few weeks.
Read Andy's other postcards here.
