Swearing in the Rain

We have new flatmates living next door to us in our house on Stapleton Hall Road. Colleen and Melissa are another BUNAC pair from Montreal. Yay Canadians! Brianne helped them get into AYS. It's great having nice neighbours with a common activity.

The four of us worked a job together yesterday, Colleen and Melissa's second gig overall. We were driven down to the Greenwich area to help out with half-marathon called Run to the Beat.

Sound fun? It WASN'T.

It was raining from the moment we woke up that day and didn't stop once. The four of us were picked up at the house at 7am and driven down to the race site. We learned we were to be Marshalls for the race, pointing runners in the right direction and making sure the barricaded roads were maintained and the spectators kept back from the runners.

Brianne and I -- in fact, ALL the AYS staff -- sustained more verbal abuse during this shift than a soccer riot. Motorists constantly complaining of the road closures and the supposed lack of notice of the event, barking at us to let us through. I derived some satisfaction that Brianne told off one of the offending motorists something fierce.

One the flipside of the abuse, I did have a really nice thing happen to me. A little old lady strolled by while I was setting up, and we chatted briefly about the day's event. On her way back from the market, she surprised me with a box of chocolate biscuits she'd bought for me, just to brighten my day in the rain!

After the drenching slog was done, the four of us returned home to dry socks and our heated room to nibble pizza and slug back whiskey shots (purely medicinal) and commiserated over the memorable day.