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"Why I have thorns all over my hands"

It all started yesterday morning, when I received a phone call from an old friend...

Enough of that.

Every two years or so, there's this thing organised where we all go on a nearby beach in the pitch black of night, and play capture the flag. It's really, really great fun, but tiring, because it's hard not to get really, really scared, and end up running for your life.

But running up and down a beach would be boring? Oh yeah, you live in England... you don't know what beaches are. :0)

The beach we use have sand dunes a good thirty metres high, and the biggest one, well, it's huge. The idea is, we split into two teams. One team runs off over the sand dunes, finds somewhere to put the flag, [and a few flashing red lights, to mark where it is], and after a while, the second team, remember, pitch black, sets off to get the flag. Each game lasts 20 mins, so it's really an avoid getting caught, and get as close as you can until the very last few minutes.

So, it comes along, we've just finished defending for the first game, and I'm tired already. Instead of wearing my bright fleece [people see me walking around, run away from me and straight into the dark clothed defenders on the other side], I strip off into black clothes. I don't really take it that seriously, but it's great fun, and you want to be out there as much as possible. If you get caught, you lose your arm band, and have to go back to the camp thing.

So we're attacking now. Me and a few boys set off up the first big sand dune, and there's a bunch of defenders lying right at the bottom on the other side. Unfortunatly, we're seen, and we split up. I run like a dog over the right hand side, collapsing under another dune, out of sight, out of breath.

Heart starts beating again, as another attacker appears. It's so hard to tell who's on which team, all we can look for is a green armband. And you've got to be within touching range to see the damn thing.

So we sit around for a while, and find out we've been cornered. If we go to the right, near to where the flag is, we're caught. There are about five defenders lining the top of a VERY steep bank. No way are we running up there.

But then we look to the left, and there are two defenders coming down. Torches are shone directly onto our faces, so we run for it.

The other guy runs straight up to the right, across the bank, the defenders give chase. I run up to the right, leap backwards and pull myself over the ledge we were hiding behind, clamber to the left, fall to the floor and run up the left side.

And then I run out of breath again. I'm so unfit it's pathetic.

So I lie under another bank, waiting for my breath to come back... and another defender appears about twenty seconds later, and shines a torch straight into my eyes.

I smile, get up, and run up and towards where the flag is.

Now I get scared. There are about ten defenders all shouting, loads of torches pointed at me... and I can't see I thing. It's really, really dark now, and I can just about see my feet, anywhere else and I'm blinded by torches.

So I just keep running, with the bloke that found me still behind... I clamber up the side of a dune, hoping that the flag is just behind it.

But it's not. It's completly dark, and I can just about see my feet.

I run as fast as I can... and I reach the end of the bank. In a small moment of rushed judgement, I decide to jump off the bank, and down the other side.

And I land smack in the middle in a huge section of thorn bushes. I notice a large very solid spike sticking out of the ground next to me. The pain is emmense, but it's not that bad after I hear the defender swearing like anything as he realises there isn't any ground beneath his feet.

So I get up again, run for it. I swing myself around, hoping to get behind them, and hide again... but it's too late. Somebody dives off the top of a dune, and smacks me to the ground... on sand this time, thank God.

A minute later, and it's all over. We lose. Damn.

But I'm as tired as anything. I don't do things like that. So I end up puking up into a small bramble patch, lying on my back, half heartedly crying for help, then getting annoyed and getting up and walking back to camp.

No more energy for today, so I pack it in, have a drink, and sit back as the other team captures our flag in the last game. Damn.

But it's the most fun I've had in ages.

Heh sounds damn fun, we went on a school trip to stay in this windmill place, and on the first night we were there, we all decided to go to nearby Holkum (spelling wrong) Beach. So we left the teachers getting pished up in the windmill itself and started the short walk. We got there and then decided to play a game of bulldog on the sand. That rocked. Then we played a game of it. By this time it was pitch black so you located and tagged people by listening to their footsteps, and, more often than not, being run into by them :-)
That was excellent excellent excellent fun.

Oh, and the best sunset I ever saw was in Australia, on a very small island called Lizard Island. I went down to the beautfiul beach at half one, with a cloudless sky, stars all over it, accompanied only by my brother and a couple of bottles of wine. No lights to pollute the air, bioluminesence going on in the sea not 2 metres below us, and from 0ne thirty until 8 am, we sat and talked, and star gazed and watched the sun come up. Words can't describe how amazingly utterly beautfiul it was there...

Beaches are good to watch the sunset/sunrise, but for the best places to watch it, sail a boat to the middle of the ocean, so you can't see land at all. Beautiful.

I sat on Miami Beach at 3am once and watched the sun come up.

Ruined only by little Mexican gangsta kids shooting each other about 400yrds away.

That sounds like a really great game, unfortunately most of the beaches around here are raw sewage areas. :(

Why did I read that? :)

Done it before in a woods, it is actually excellent fun.

Although I ran right into a tree when I was getting chased... I saw it one second before I hit it... it hurt a lot.

Ah well

Beaches at night time are totally different to beaches duing the day, not just because of the lack of the sun.

Lisa and I always used to visit the beach and night when on holidays before we had children. And no, not for sex you dirty buggers, we just liked being on the beach, at night.

Mind you, had we have seen a group of young hoon trying to capture each other we might not have enjoyed it so much.

That sounds like excellent fun.

We used to do stuff like that when I was in the ATC. We'd have weekend excercies where you'd just go to some big old bit of countryside in two teams. Each of you would have to carry everything for the weekend - food, drink, sleeping bag, waterproofs etc.

We'd have a compass and a map and be given loads of objectsives. Usually it just degenerated into "find the other team and bundle them" within a few hours.

It was great fun.

Normally by the end of it we were knackered, soaked, thirsty and hungry, but it was damn good fun.

It all started yesterday morning, when I received a phone call from an old friend...

Enough of that.

Every two years or so, there's this thing organised where we all go on a nearby beach in the pitch black of night, and play capture the flag. It's really, really great fun, but tiring, because it's hard not to get really, really scared, and end up running for your life.

But running up and down a beach would be boring? Oh yeah, you live in England... you don't know what beaches are. :0)

The beach we use have sand dunes a good thirty metres high, and the biggest one, well, it's huge. The idea is, we split into two teams. One team runs off over the sand dunes, finds somewhere to put the flag, [and a few flashing red lights, to mark where it is], and after a while, the second team, remember, pitch black, sets off to get the flag. Each game lasts 20 mins, so it's really an avoid getting caught, and get as close as you can until the very last few minutes.

So, it comes along, we've just finished defending for the first game, and I'm tired already. Instead of wearing my bright fleece [people see me walking around, run away from me and straight into the dark clothed defenders on the other side], I strip off into black clothes. I don't really take it that seriously, but it's great fun, and you want to be out there as much as possible. If you get caught, you lose your arm band, and have to go back to the camp thing.

So we're attacking now. Me and a few boys set off up the first big sand dune, and there's a bunch of defenders lying right at the bottom on the other side. Unfortunatly, we're seen, and we split up. I run like a dog over the right hand side, collapsing under another dune, out of sight, out of breath.

Heart starts beating again, as another attacker appears. It's so hard to tell who's on which team, all we can look for is a green armband. And you've got to be within touching range to see the damn thing.

So we sit around for a while, and find out we've been cornered. If we go to the right, near to where the flag is, we're caught. There are about five defenders lining the top of a VERY steep bank. No way are we running up there.

But then we look to the left, and there are two defenders coming down. Torches are shone directly onto our faces, so we run for it.

The other guy runs straight up to the right, across the bank, the defenders give chase. I run up to the right, leap backwards and pull myself over the ledge we were hiding behind, clamber to the left, fall to the floor and run up the left side.

And then I run out of breath again. I'm so unfit it's pathetic.

So I lie under another bank, waiting for my breath to come back... and another defender appears about twenty seconds later, and shines a torch straight into my eyes.

I smile, get up, and run up and towards where the flag is.

Now I get scared. There are about ten defenders all shouting, loads of torches pointed at me... and I can't see I thing. It's really, really dark now, and I can just about see my feet, anywhere else and I'm blinded by torches.

So I just keep running, with the bloke that found me still behind... I clamber up the side of a dune, hoping that the flag is just behind it.

But it's not. It's completly dark, and I can just about see my feet.

I run as fast as I can... and I reach the end of the bank. In a small moment of rushed judgement, I decide to jump off the bank, and down the other side.

And I land smack in the middle in a huge section of thorn bushes. I notice a large very solid spike sticking out of the ground next to me. The pain is emmense, but it's not that bad after I hear the defender swearing like anything as he realises there isn't any ground beneath his feet.

So I get up again, run for it. I swing myself around, hoping to get behind them, and hide again... but it's too late. Somebody dives off the top of a dune, and smacks me to the ground... on sand this time, thank God.

A minute later, and it's all over. We lose. Damn.

But I'm as tired as anything. I don't do things like that. So I end up puking up into a small bramble patch, lying on my back, half heartedly crying for help, then getting annoyed and getting up and walking back to camp.

No more energy for today, so I pack it in, have a drink, and sit back as the other team captures our flag in the last game. Damn.

But it's the most fun I've had in ages.