Center Parcs 2004
Thursday February 12, 2004 - Permanent link to this post -
A slightly overdue post on this year's venture into Sherwood Forest. If you'd been reading the site before the hosting disaster you'll I'm sure be aware of the level of excitement leading up to this, the 17th annual takeover of the Nottinghamshire paradise. It was nothing short of fervoured.
On Friday lunchtime we arrived at the forest, parked the car and headed to the Jardin Des Sports where our drinks had already been ordered by those who arrived before us (that's what mobile phones are really intended for). After sinking a few pints of Kronenberg and losing badly over a couple of frames of snooker (this is supposed to be an activity-based weekend after all), we moved into our villas (our party filled six of the things) and continued with the drinking.
Nicki and I had stayed up until the wee hours the night before making chili for 16. It came courtesy of Dan Cederhome's SimpleChili Recipe and, as always was delicious. When you're cooking for that number of people though, you never quite feel comfortable with the multiplication of ingredients. Four beers and 12tbsp of chilli powder just doesn't seem right somehow.
Saturday was a quiet one. Tennis, badminton, swimming, more drinking, drunken swimming, squirrel spotting and a great big Les Brearton curry. Couldn't overdo it though. We all knew what was coming the next day and that we needed to be on top form for it. The Center Parcs five-a-side football tournament. We'd entered two teams and on paper we should have ended up in the final together. There was some tasty competition, and some not so, but it looked destined to be a great tournament.
We were a Lambert All-stars team. Cat-like Chris Schoey between the sticks, the Ernster and JC keeping guard and feeding myself and Jamie Nestor (our ringer - he wasn't even staying at Center Parcs. He's semi-pro you know) up front. I'm not going to go into the details of how our team overcame all the odds that were stacked in our favour to finish last and second to last overall, it would hurt too much. But then so did my body for the week afterwards after I tried to hack somebody down who was clear on goal. He moved, I hit the ground. I hit the ground big style, over and over again in the way that Speedway riders hit the ground when they come off on a corner. I got straight up and winced through the pain though. Anything else would be soft.
Sunday night saw the party to end all Center Parcs parties. Again, we had been drinking all day and that didn't change as the evening drew on. There was a large contingent of teenage girls amongst our number, who although I'm sure loved revelling amongst oldies such as myself and their parents, wanted something a bit more exciting. The disco beckoned. We followed them of course. Why let them have all the fun?
The Center Parcs discotheque is not renowned amongst the great club nights of the North of England, but it was certainly the best night out I've had in a while. No hip-hop or house music. No euro-pop either. This was a proper disco. “Oops up side your head” and “Can't touch this” were at the front of this guy's record box. Apparently our teenage counterparts had never seen the Hammer Dance.
The holiday and hangover were brought to a close in what it seems is now the last-day tradition for us at Center Parcs. A few hours in the Spa. Thirteen different saunas and steam rooms to ease those aching muscles and heads. It doesn't make staying awake on the drive home an easy task though.
Roll on January 2005. It's already booked.
