Tea in Kensington, Mud in Wimbledon

My intent is to accelerate the process of documenting my trip to Europe by providing vignettes accompanied by photographs. Here is my first attempt.

I stayed in London with a Hook teammate from Paganello 2007. My gracious host was Alexander Dunnett, more commonly known as Stylish. This peerless fellow studies Energy Systems Engineering at Imperial College in London, obsesses over music (his own and that of others), and plays (to steal from his lexicon) bangin’ Ultimate with Clapham.

I am lacking in photographs of Stylish in his natural environs but have a brilliant one from Italy that I will feature later. Regardless, I had an amazing time hanging around with him while we ate and drank and discussed music, Ultimate, energy, technology and any random bit of this beautiful life. Stylish fixed some delicious lamb, vegetables and potatoes one night, capped excellently with tea and then whiskey. I responded on my final night in London with a bottle of Malbec, chicken enchiladas, and a chopped fresh salad halfway to salsa-ville. I have no end of appreciation for Stylish’s hospitality, and for this time with him.

Stylish brought me out to Tour 0 at Wimbledon on Saturday and Sunday to pick-up with Flump, playing with Hook teammates and friends (Manny! Sam! Kaleigh!). Stylish suited up with Clapham, Ham and Harry with Brighton, and Dirk with Fire of London. Playing with Flump was a great time, despite a few difficult losses, and I quite enjoyed the athleticism and enthusiasm of the team’s younger players.

The other, and perhaps primary, goal of my Tour 0 attendance was a reunion with the inimitable Paul Robustelli. Paul and I ate brains together in Claremont but he now works at a PhD, computationally identifying protein structure, at Cambridge and captains Strange Blue, the institution’s Ultimate team.

Paul is pictured above at Stylish’s flat, drinking morning tea before we headed back out to the English wind, rain and mud. On the night before, Paul accompanied Stylish, Flembo and me for a pint at a dirty weatherspoon, along with the rest of Flump, and then for some amazing fish and chips (and whirled peas).

I quite enjoyed my opportunity to reunite with Ultimate teammates, old and older, and meet new friends in the London disc community. I said my goodbyes to Flump and to Paul on Sunday but I will surely return to visit them all again.