BRUGES, FRANCE CHAPTER 11

I believe that Brett and Peter had devised a playing schedule before they even left Perth to head to London for the purchase of the travelling vehicle. I had no real plan, story of my life, but I was aware that a travelling player could gain a calendar of events from most tournaments, there were no shortage. The idea of talking to foreign players and asking their advice on what events to play was the most appealing way to me of tackling the circuit.
 It was such a shame that the Combi Wagon blew up not far out of London as the comfort factor would have been far greater than what was in store for particularly myself in the days and weeks to follow. 'Le Car' was a car for sure but only just, it was tiny and we struggled to fit all of our bags into it plus ourselves, at times it was almost claustrophobic yet it was a way to travel. It was also with two fellow Australians who spoke English, a huge factor whilst in a foreign country.
I remember while we were at Saumur trying to organize something and trying to explain what it was that we were after was a real drama. The language barrier even at our first tournament was evident and our lack of ability to speak French was a problem. It was simply a case of asking around until we found a player or official who knew English, a process of elimination so to speak.
I am still uncertain as to why Brett and Peter found a tournament over three hours away for our next event but they apparently did their homework and I obviously had not so I simply went with it. The trip in Le Car was a 'bonding' trip where we got to know each other as best we could. Being three years older than Brett and Pete was not really an issue at the beginning however I will always stick with my theory that they didn't show me enough respect. Placing the old bloke in the back of a very small vehicle over the course of a long road trip through Europe definitely had lack of respect written all over it.
From memory we didn't have any arguments on the way to the small town of Bruges in the South West of France less than 15 minutes from Bordeaux. The arguments were to start later when the sense of humour was lost for numerous reasons that will be explained later in this book. The population of Bruges back in 1991 was around ten thousand but just like Saumur the scenery in France no matter how big the town was invigorating. There was something appealing about playing tennis in France that can only be justified by being there and experiencing the culture of it all.
BRUGES RESULTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TO FOLLOW ONCE BRETT SENDS ME INFO>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>