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| Helicopter Camouflage Testing |
What to do today? Well, there were some messages to run in the city and there was a visit to a military graveyard, Vleteckem Muzeu, at Kbely. There were all kinds of corpses at the graveyard. Some had been restored to their original state so you got an idea of what it was like during that era. Years ranged from 1914-~1990s. It was interesting to see the diverse range and types of corpses on display. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering round having a look.
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| MiG 17F, 1950s |
While we were at the graveyard we got to read about a famous hero of the Soviet era crusades against the capitalist evils of the world, Capt. Pavel Vrcholkov. Personally, we thought he looked like the communist equivalent of Popeye the Sailor Man.
Oh, I haven't mentioned we had the bloody bikes. We had the bloody bikes. We headed back to town on the metro to complete some more messages before doing what could be described as an inner city cross country ride back to the valley. I'm sure this was a cunning plan by my proletariat comrade to soften me up physically before the Clash of the Titans. 12kms later he had not succeeded.
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| Capt. Pavel Vrcholkov |
Time to prepare for the Clash of the Titans. The showdown was scheduled for 4.00pm. Never before since the last time had something like this been so anticipated.
4.00pm
The arena is ready. The clay is groomed. The protagonists enter. There's the obligatory pre-match psychological games being played out. No-one gains an advantage. It's Stanislav "Kavalnikov" Kavale to serve to Pavel Mahnud. Whack, thump, groan, 1-0. Whack, dink, lob, 1-1. The pace is exhausting at such an early stage of this vital clash. 1-2, 1-3. The Kavalnikov doesn't seem to be firing. 1-4. Mahnud is making the better plays and enjoying the advantage of luck. Wait! The Kavalnikov appears to have cleared his jam. 2-4, 3-4. No, maybe it was a temporary burst. Mahnud moves to 5-3. Can he take the first set? No, 5-4. Oh, 5-5, this is getting tense. Mistakes are creeping in. 5-6. Oh God he's lost focus, he's not comfortable. Mahnud is making some gesture with his hand. Is something wrong? Is he losing his grip? Phew, 6-6. Tiebreak. This is close, no-one is leaving their boxside tables. Mahnud has an early advantage in the tie break. He's ahead at the change of ends. He's holding, he's holding, he's holding, yyyyeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss, he's taken it 7-4. first set to Mahnud 7-6.
Round 2. If things continue the same way this will be a long gruelling encounter. The second set begins. 1-0 to Mahnud. God, The Kavalnikov seems to have run out of ammo. 2-0, 3-0, 4-0. This could be over by bedtime. Wait. There's hope, 4-1, 4-2. This has added another dimension to this classic encounter. 4-3. Oh. God, say it ain't so. 5-3. Is normal service resumed? Whack, lob, thunk, drop. 5-4. This is close again, it looked like Mahnud was running away with the match. This is looki ....................
Suddenly Mahnud experienced a shaking like he hadn't experienced for years. "Paul, wake up, it's time for some dinner. Hope you enjoyed your Nana nap."
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