In Bulgaria

'When you are at your deepest, there is always good luck on the roads in Bulgaria'.  

An old proverb (perhaps) that we were told two years ago now, somewhere on the road between Sofia and Plovdiv. 

Two years ago, after the conclusion of the Grand Prix event in Plovdiv, the British team, a couple of Germans, including world number one Nicholas Limbach, the Belgian team and a couple of Poles were squeezed onto a rather old bus to make the journey to the airport in Sofia, approximately a two hour drive.  The problem was in this instance that the bus was not very reliable and the driver did not speak a word of any language other than Bulgarian. The first half hour as we navigated out of the city and onto the motorway was fine, but then the bus began to break down with increasing regularity and every couple of kilometers we were cruising onto the hard shoulder with the engine having cut out.  The bus consumed all the available water the passengers possessed and a roll of duck tape that the Belgian fencer had but the problems still continued.  Soon we managed to stop at a petrol station, where driver fed the engine a couple of litres of coolant and we discovered that the nearest taxi station was approximately 50-60km away.  After another couple of stops it became apparent that making our flight was in real jeopardy as the bus pulled into a rest stop at the roadside.  It was at this point that, led by the German coach, we started making alternative travel arrangements.  The Poles managed to jump into a lorry cab, one of them spoke Russian, and the British managed to fit into two cars, one a taxi with only one passenger heading to a flat in Sofia and thereafter the airport, and the other a family who had been visiting their son and were driving near to Sofia.  Somehow, crammed into the back of these cars, with our fencing bags on our laps we made it to the airport in time to make our flight and we were told the above proverb, whatever it may mean!

This season our first tournament was in the town of Plovdiv, somewhere in central Bulgaria, and fortunately our transportation was much more reliable.  The same German coach commented last year that Plovdiv was 'the best Grand Prix', something we initially laughed at but perhaps have come to agree with.  The venue is spacious and light, the hotel is good and only a 200m walk, including facilities such as a swimming pool (not that I've ever used it) and everything you might need is close by including Happy.  Happy is a restaurant chain I have only found in Bulgaria.  The waitresses uniforms are 'interesting' and the menus of the picture variety. Culinary delights include Grandma's Meatballs, and Happy Bits with processed cheese.  Having said that the food all tastes fine and everything is quite cheap, although rather like a Wagamamas the food seems to arrive when its ready, so salad arrives with potatoes and once you have finished, the meat comes, or as happened to one of my teammates his starter arrived after his main-course.

In the competition I sadly did not enjoy the same good luck as we might have found on the road.  My poule was tough, described by a couple of my teammates as the 'poule of death' and unfortunately I was only able to win one fight and was thus eliminated before the direct elimination.  Having said that, there are no easy fights at this level and in my mind no poule that is harder than another; the simple fact is you must compete for each point with the same effort and the fights are there to be won.  Being critical I probably rushed a little and was a little nervous, however in parts I fenced very well.  Despite the disappointment of not performing how I expected I would, the competition was still good and certainly encouraging for the next World Cup event in Italy, in two weeks time.  There I hope to hit top form after another couple of weeks training and start achieving the goals I have set myself this year, setting up my bid to compete in London, next year.