11/9/2016 – Cold and Sore Debadgery

A huge turnout for the winter badge ceremony!

After all the effort getting those winter badges, winter without wetsuit badges and the most coveted nude badges, today was always going to be huge! And there was irrefutable evidence that it was also a super dirty ceremony. I tried my best to document the most court-worthy incidences…

Exhibit A – Dave and Sterlo turning up is always clear sign!

 

 

Exhibit B – the ‘flashing’back of Jake and Elwood, who stated the following:
“We got 3 badges, 10 newbies, 300 swimmers, its 16.9 degrees and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
The question you should be asking is not which one is John Belushi, it is which one is Dan Aykroyd then and which one is Dan Aykroyd now?

Exhibit C – Salmon Rushdie

 

But despite all the above and what you see below, spirits were in the sky on the way out

 

 

Matt was particularly happy – even though he was not getting a badge

 

 

And spirits remained high at Shelley too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even those who came late enjoyed themselves

 

The return swim was also glorious

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just look at the smiles in the shower queue!

 

 

These two advised me to save water by showering with a friend

 

 

As above, it appeared that the sausages were the drawcard

 

 

 

 

Before I jump to the ceremony and the real gritty bits, we should thank our amazing B&B team who front up day in day out to record our progress and make us aware of our achievements.

 

 

Exhibit D – Speaking of achievements, Rainer made it into the Blog…again

 

Now for the badge giving…

It was my first badge ceremony so I did not understand the process completely but I soon worked out that it was normal for all recipients to get a kiss from Ian. He is such a generous guy, even with reports of a cold sore, he really did make the effort! Thanks Ian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if they were really lucky, they got a kiss from Pauline too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed Ian and Pauline are a very contemporary couple that we could all learn a lot from!

 

Everyone was excited for a smooch

 

 

But this troublemaker had much more sinister things on her mind!

Exhibit E-I

 

 

 

For most of us, ‘dakking’ went out in the 4^th grade but…

 

 

They later claimed it was a fashion assessment of the new linen trousers – but it looked more like an audition for the new Bridget Jones movie.

 

 

But it did not stop others enjoying themselves. Several were proud as punch as they came up to collect their hard earned badge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And anyone who got one of these should be proud!

 

 

Some one made a big entrance

 

 

But later just went for the kiss

 

 

Lainey’s finish was well received by all

 

 

 

Some people had more propriety

 

 

 

 

 

Some thought the badge team were slightly disappointed by such a display

 

 

But cheered up when Don Juan appeared

 

 

But evidently Ian was not happy with what else was on offer

 

 

The raffle also produced a lot of pride and all for a good cause too!

 

 

 

And now for the dirtiest, most sinister and ego inflating part of my whole blog…

The real winner of the day was Bruce Baird, the first B&B member to come along to one of my free walking tours Old Sydney Walks. It was great to have him along but he did not need to dress up so much – we try to keep things pretty casual on the walks.

 

Look forward to showing you and any visiting friends around town when they visit. We depart every day at 2:00p.m. from Wharf 2 Circular Quay. No bookings required! Check us out at www.oldsydneywalks.com

(I promise I will never use the blog for advertising again…during this month)

Have a great week ahead

Gino

p.s. Ian’s cold sore was not confirmed by anyone and could be completely made up…