And the prize is...

a Swiss Cowbell!

I flew to Zurich, Switzerland this morning with the Cross Country team for the final Championships of the season. After a few little events at the airport and a connecting flight in Munich we were greeted with enthusiasm from our hosts. We have been made to feel so welcome and were given a late lunch after one of our flights was delayed, we were bused to the course where we walked it with our teams, we've eyed up all the medals and trophies which are very original and fab, we've been given swiss chocolate, we've attended a pasta party evening meal with all the other athletes and coaches, we've been given small souvenir cowbells and personal hand written cards thanking us for coaching the students. The main Athletics Director (an ex professional cricketer from New Zealand) addressed us all (students and coaches) and talked about our shared passion of running and more importantly he spoke about the art of conversation and encouraged the students to make new friends, to learn things about their host families, to find out about their different languages and to just engage in conversation.

I have a feeling it's going to be a good couple of days.

On a different note - a huge thank to all the comments I received for my 500th blip! I got a bit of a shock when I next logged onto Blip and saw all the yellow comments as I hadn't realised that I'd done 500 photos and most recently, they've all been back blips! So, once again thank you to this terrific community and I'm hoping to get back on track next week with commenting very soon.