“One moment of patience may ward off a great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.”

The Whites did it!! They came from a long way back (and after losing the Sing last night) and won the Relay. They were behind in that, too. The Greens reached the fire first, and their fire roared. The water boiled and the White fire still would not do what they wanted it to. Eventually, with a slight change in the wind, their water bubbled over and it was time to play catch up with the Greens as they conveyed their balloon up the hill. But, for whatever reason, neither balloon would get more than halfway up the hill. Time and again both teams either dropped it or it broke. We were fast running out of filled balloons. I’ve never seen so many break as they did this afternoon. An executive decision was made to make some smaller balloons, if only to get them past the younger, smaller boys at the bottom of the hill. This then enabled both teams to really ‘throw’ the balloons up the hill. Then, disaster: the Greens dropped their balloon again, and this gave the Whites some real impetus. If they took it easy, they would be able to make it to the flagpole first. But the Greens came fighting back, and both balloons made it to the top of the hill at around the same time. With only four White team members left to go, it looked odds on that they would get to the pole first. The Green balloon was simply flying now, but it was no match in the end as the Whites smashed their balloon on the pole, the water erupted and the Whites had won for the ninth year in a row. The Greens pushed them hard all the way, and it looked at one point of the competition that that this could be the year in which they broke the streak. But you cannot (and should not) underestimate this White team. What a competition: what a Sing: what a Relay. What great fun. When things are this good, you know that all is well, so safely rest. I will.

Goodnight everybody.

As ever…WOODY!