Friday started with a good rest in the morning before going over to Bishops with Chigoli in the afternoon. However things did not go to plan as once again I seem to have brought the weather with me. This time rain struck before anyone had had a chance to change kits, or get a football out the bag. The session instead turned into a coaching one on tactics & formations.
Back home the power was off and I could have easily drifted off to sleep with an early night.
The plan for this evening though was to say goodbye to some of Scottys friends who are leaving to move to Albania. We went to the Golden Peacock Chinese restaurant and were eventually ushered into one of their three VIP rooms. We bumped into Mark Scott in the restaurant. The second time we had ran into each other out & about. There were 17 of us in total, the format being a self cooking hot pot in the middle of the table. This did present some challenges though due to the size of the table. After some rearranging we were able to cook and serve the plentiful food. Initially I wasn't sure there was enough to go around but by the end everyone was full to burst. Chef Lui came in personally to have a drink with us and thank us for coming. Though as we had cooked our food & moved the furniture around in the room ourselves, I'm not sure how much he contributed! Still it was a nice gesture.
After the meal Alex & Don had to nip off to see some of Don's family. So I headed with Irish continent, including Mark who I had met on my last trip out, to Bucanans to watch Ireland V Wales in the six nations. The game was close enough to keep my interest. Scotty & Don popped along later on. I chatted to an American lad that was concerned about the Duke V NCU game that didn't tip off till 2am Malawi time. A valid concern!
Post match I went down to the casino with a few people. After watching them play blackjack, Mark & I headed to the roulette table. I played the odds, sensible Hansell. I won £9 from my £10 stake. Though saying I came away with 19,000 Kwacha makes it sounds better. The equivalent of dinner out with drinks.
Mark was only going round the corner & my lift home had slyly done one.
There some of my winnings were invested in a 'taxi'. Organised very nicely by the manager. Some bloke was awoken from his bed to drop me off at home. Nice lad called Andrew, top bloke. Though standard taxi chat doesn't work when it's not really a taxi.