THE STATIONARY STAKES AT THE A.O.G. - DAY 10

The Snail contingent were rather relieved this morning, on what was obviously going to be another very hot day, to be told that after their rest day yesterday, the event they were entered in was "The Stationary Stakes", which would definitely challenge their balancing skills.

This might sound strange for an Alternative Olympic event, but as well as being active, everyone has to learn how to be still or stationary - and before anyone asks, I know that this is the right spelling for being in one place, because the other spelling means paper, envelopes and all that sort of stuff, and there were none of those at the A.O.G. at least only on the Judges' clipboards!!

All was going well and the snails did their bit in getting up on each other’s backs.  I was the first in line for an interview  when the event was over and as this was the first time this event had been held, I was anxious to know how they all felt.  However, I then noticed that Siegfried had obviously had enough and was crawling off the main stage - the trouble was that he still had Sammy attached to his back!  This obviously caused some consternation amongst those left because Solomon decided that he too was going to move about - and if you look carefully, you can just see him starting to poke out of his shell.  However, that then meant that the others were moved out of kilter, so the whole stack came crashing down - just after I had managed to take this shot.

I did wonder if the whole team would be disqualified because of Siegfried, but fortunately, the Judges said that they had been stationary for the requisite number of minutes, so they were still in contention for the Gold Medal.  However, we then heard an announcement over the loudspeaker to say that Team Turtle had been stationary for 20 seconds longer, so they were awarded the Gold Medal and the Snails were awarded Silver.  I think it’s fair to say that the Snail Team were rather disappointed, but now they know that they can do it, they feel they can try again some other time.

When I interviewed Sebastian after the event, on behalf of all the other snails, he told me that Sammy had had another pep talk with them last night and they were fully committed to the fact that “Together, Everyone Achieves More” and had really tried hard today.  It was just unfortunate that Siegfried had “rocked the boat” so to speak, but no doubt Sammy would be having a quiet word with him later.  

Sebastian did say to me that they all felt happier for having competed in this event and hoped their winning streak would continue because they all felt they were now “on a roll” and determined to keep thinking positive thoughts, which in turn, would help them to win medals.  In fact, Sammy had only quoted this to them last night:

“Progressing at a snail’s pace is still progress, 
     and slow progress is better than no progress; 
          never be stagnant, 
               and never give up.” 
Richelle E. Goodrich

P.S.  We went over to Waitrose to do some shopping this morning - our first time in a supermarket since early March - it was O.K. but neither of us liked wearing a mask, so think it will just be on the odd occasion that we go and will continue to have our shopping delivered.