Birmingham - The Return
So the ride I was hoping for back to Ljubljana never came to fruition so I had to book a taxi . That taxi cost me 80€ to get to the airport , now I can justify it since my ride from Zagreb could have been a flight and could have been a bus which wouldn’t have been free but since I got a free ride from Dado then it is justifiable that I spent that much even though when I first signed up to come to Jesenice the original plan was that I did have a ride back . I’m not gonna be upset or anything but the Balkans is what it is and that’s the way it is …. So going to Birmingham is going to my happy place right now . Adios Slovenia , it was a slice !
Absolutely zero drama on the flight to England aside from both my Lufthansa flights being delayed which seems to be the norm with that airline . They should reconsider their name maybe something like Latehansa would be more appropriate? I was a bit nervous that I’d miss my connecting flight but I would have just caught it if it were not also delayed . Damn do I stink though , something about flying that makes me stinky and my clothes were getting pretty ripe from travelling .
Once I arrived in BHX airport I shat myself abit since my AirTags were showing my sticks were still in Munich which is where my connecting flight was . Not sure if these AirTags make me more comfortable or nervous every time I check and don’t see the bags nearby it makes me antsy . Where are my bags , why are they taking so long aaaaahhhhh !!!! Maybe I should get a luggage cart ? Oh they aren’t free here ? Mamma Mia ! Alright I pay what other choice do I have . My phone is blowing up with messages asking me where I am what I’m doing and how long will I take ….I need some space . My bags arrive and I head out and Paul Harris is there to give me a big hug and that just made everything go away . Felt like I was having an anxiety attack but Paul is one of the calmest people I’ve met and once I saw him I knew everything would be just fine . Paul’s giving me a ride to my hotel which is the Staybridge Suites down near the Bull Ring in Birmingham city Center . He doesn’t live anywhere near there but goes above and way beyond to help his friends . One of the absolute best people to know if you ask me ! Love you mate !
Paul gets me close enough to my hotel and we make plans for meeting the next day and I hobble over with my gear the 5 minute walk to hotel , get checked in and finally get to see my wife Kathleen who I have not seen in a few weeks . Can’t express how happy I am to be back in Birmingham with my friends and wife . Truly one of my happy places on this planet . Now I’ve gotta do some laundry , grab a quick bite and get ready to go to play hockey in Solihull .
Kassum Samms has sorted me for ice time tonight at Planet Ice and his mate Mihail is picking me up to get there . Mihail is from Belarus and is playing hockey with the guys here the last few years , first time we’ve met since my last visit here was 2017 and he moved here in 2020 I think . That’s what I gathered on the drive . When we got to the rink I only saw one familiar face in the room so I sat down beside Mark Palmer who fills me in on what’s happened since I’ve last been here . The whole group has changed and most of the players I knew don’t seem to be as involved as they used to be . Life does these things , people have kids , some pick-up injuries and some just move on .
I forgot how dark this rink was . Shadows everywhere but not as bad as Sarajevo . I have skated here before so it was easy to adjust and I thought I had my best ice time thus far on this trip . Warmups felt great and the puck seemed to come to me . Too bad the teams were not colour coordinated so well and the first goal I gave up was a pass that I gave to the other team . I thought the red jersey was on my team ? There were players in blue on both teams , whites , blacks and a red . Two female players were there also and one of them sniped me with actually the nicest goal on me that night . We had three goalies and we switched every ten minutes so we had our fair share and got a good sweat on so after the ice time I was thirsty for a beer …. Hold on , wait ! What ? No beer ???? Lordy Lordy what’s going on . Beer league without beer is just not right but you know what …. Things happen for a reason sometimes and this was probably a good time to not get on the beers . Tomorrow is a big day at Villa Park and that means the suds will be flowing .
Thanks to Kass and the gang for letting me on the ice and special thanks to Mihail for getting me there and back to hotel … oh and Mark SOTC mate hahaha ! Nice goal by the way :)