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Sunday September 25th 2005 - Morning
Clint Eastwood day. Certainly the most talked about and planned for event of the whole trip. The rules stated we had to be in costume all day, right up until we'd been judged in the evening. If we were spotted at any time not in Clint Eastwood attire, we would be docked points. To be safe, we got changed straight away into the gear. I can't begin to think what the owner of the B&B thought when he met us for the first time this morning yielding water pistols and dressed in our finest ponchos. We headed off into Tirano to meet up with the other Clint's and pick up the challenge pack for the day. The good people of Tirano must've thought they were being invaded. Clint Eastwoods of every shape, size and sex where everwhere to be seen. Locals were getting caught up in the water-pistol cross fire, but seemingly finding the whole thing highly amusing. Today's challenge is fairly straighfoward. We have a set route to follow and have to stop a 5 Esso petrol stations en-route. At each of them we need to collect a team photograph infront of pump three.
Once again I find myself sitting in the back of the Volvo updating the diary as we speed down the Italian motorways. So far we've managed to stop at 3 Esso stations, so have 2 more to collect. At our second stop we were slightly concerned to see 2 teams, already at the petrol station, being questioned by the police. As we watched from the safety of our parked car we saw the policemen line up with the Client Eastwoods for a group photograph. Evidently they thought the whole thing was completely hillarous and were keen to join in. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, one of the Italian police hopped into his patrol car and played the classic western theme through the cars in-built pa system. Quite why the Italian police have this tune pre-programmed into their patrol cars remains a mystery to me. The police then took an interest in everyone who'd gathered's airhorns before demonstrating the impressive array of tunes theirs were capable of. Hillarious.
I've just realised it's not that my laptop screen is so dark it's almost impossible to read what I'm writing, but that it's because I'm wearing sunglasses. Doh! The weather's glorious and the sun is beating down, cooking us slowly inside our sheepskin wastecoats. So, I shall attempt to conserve laptop battery life incase I need to watch "A fistful of dollars" *AGAIN* today and attempt to find a way of getting a bit of shade into the back of the Volvo. Will update later this evening.
Sunday September 25th 2005 - Evening
By the end of the drive to Viterbo, we'd managed to picture ourselves infront of the required 5 different Esso pumps. Having parked up in the center of Viterbo, first order of the evening was to get ourselves marked for the Clint Eastwood component. We seemed to satisfy the judges on the costume front, although they wouldn't let on what we'd actually scored. Following the judging was a series of Clint Eastwood trivia questions which thankfully Simon seems to know or be able to hazard an educated guess to each of. Again, however, our total score was not revealed. Well, at least we know we managed full marks on the photograph component of the day! After the judging it was straight for the hotel and a much needed shower. The heat combined with the sheepskin wastecoats meant I probably smelled quite genuine for an olde wilde west cowboy too! The hotel we were staying in boasted WiFi Internet Access in the Foyer, but having chatted to the receptionist, it transpired that, much like many of the things in our room, it was out of order. Rats. So close, yet so far. Hopefully I'll manage to get all this work uploaded to the web before I return to the Uk! Anyway, With a clean change of clothes and feeling much fresher, a good evening was had by all in the local pizzeria.
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