Harps's play by play of the weekend;

AOTW41 was a well-attended event with Chairman Scott M., Guy, Mowbs, John, Cruiser., Gary, Freud, Leo, Rob, Beaups, Daryl, and your scribe (Harper).

The Chair did an admirable job planning and executing this year’s event.  Regular correspondence throughout the months leading up to the event demonstrated leadership and organizational skills, showing us all why Scott was a successful senior marketing executive.  There was even, for the first time I believe, an Outlook calendar invite with all the necessary details, and revised start and end times.  So breaking down how the weekend went, starting with location...

St. Luke’s Lodge, Grande Pointe, just north west of Chatham on Lake Saint Clair.  For this, a big thumbs up all around: great accommodation (big lodge, rustic feel, with lots of bedrooms, washrooms), isolated setting (allowing for immature acts and loud voices), fire pit, and gas BBQ.  There was a lot of talk about this being the template for future weekends.  Good thing it had two refrigerators, as Scott and Beaups both did an admirable job of shopping for the weekend, ensuring that the kitchen was well stocked with all the goodies necessary. 

As is often the case, prior to the official start time, some guys played golf earlier in the day, others met for dinner in Chatham.  Most had arrived by 8pm.  One of the last to show was John, who came bearing an enormous amount of snacks.  Was this a foreshadowing of how the Sunday vote would play out?  Was it his way of saying, “I’d like to organize next year’s event...look the cool stuff I can get my hands on, thereby delivering great value at a reduced cost to the group!” 

Typical of the Friday night, there were a number of break-out groups with two/three guys catching each other up on the past 12 months.   It’s been interesting to see how the conversation has evolved over four decades:  stared with work career launches, then marriage, fathering children, rising health concerns, and then this year, it was retirement and whether to take CPP now or roll the dice and wait. 

The love of words continues to be a perennial topic.  This year’s newest member of the AOTW glossary of terms is “Cock cave,” which joins other perennial favourites such as “cum guzzling slut”, “a hole is a hole”, in ya or on ya” “if you find a hole fuck it”, “axe wound”, and “pink canoe.” 

The bonfire got going around 10pm. The owner had ensured plenty of dry wood, and in no time we were all set up beside the canal with a raging fire.  Some time later, after a few more pops, it was time for the other mandatory:  sausage.  After which, some of us started to slink off to bed, while a few returned to the bonfire, with things winding down around 2:30am

Saturday morning the feedbags were tied on, with breakfast sandwiches the feature menu item.  This set us up well for the mid-morning event of Disc Golf.  For this, we went into Chatham where one of its parks had a nine-hole course layout.   There were three different disks depending on whether the shot was a “drive”, “fairway shot”, or in close “putt”.   Don’t know about the rest of the teams, but Leo and I pretty much gave up on that and went with the prettiest coloured disk.  Which may be why we were among the losers, while Beaups and Rob were the winners (despite fact that Beaups was complaining loudly about needing to “drop a deuce”).  So congrats to them.   From there it was across the street for lunch at a nice little place called Centro.    Meg our server knew exactly how to handle a randy bunch of old men and made for a nice experience, although not so nice was the CSL handle attributed to her larger than life (quite probably enhanced) lips.  Ok maybe true, but it did not detract from any fantasizing around the tables about throwing one into her (with permission of course). 

At this point, Beaups said his goodbyes, as he was met at the restaurant by the high achieving and classy wife Renee,  and headed to KW for his mom’s 90th.  

From there it was back to the Airbnb for a lazy afternoon of boozing, reminiscing, some napping, and in a few cases I believe some attempted fly fishing.  Nothing was caught, but no worries there, as there was a verifiable feast on deck for dinner that night.   Cooking the giant steaks from Costco (apparently they get the best quality) was entrusted to Mowbs who is unchallenged in the world of culinary skills, with the Chair overseeing the rest of the meal prep.  The hungry man’s meal was greedily hoovered up by all, and washed down with some obscenely expensive wine generously donated by Paul.  Following dessert, it was all that most could do to move the thickened bellies over to the couches to let things settle before another stellar bon fire got going.  In addition to the usual nonsensical babbling and insults, a rather intense discussion ensued about the golf teams for the next morning.  A new idea was floated, debated and eventually passed wherein the three best golfers – Cruiser (13 wins to his name), Leo (9 ) and Paul (6) – were to form a team and give the rest of us hacks a stroke per hole.  Such was their confidence in being able to dominate.  Suffice it to say, it was a highly motivated group of duffers hoping to put the boots to the cocky smooth operators.

As is usually the case, Saturday night turn in time came much earlier, although Rob was having nothing of it and continued to imbibe until a systems shutdown saw him slumped upright and alone at the fire, well into the wee hours.  But a true friend and as it turns our next Chair (see below) got out of bed and went to down to the fire pit to check for breathing, and to make sure the disoriented pilot hadn’t woken up, gone off course and find himself drowning in the river.

Sunday morning saw a repeat of the breakfast of champions, providing the base for the upcoming game of golf.  After a commendable clean-up effort, it was off to Hidden hills golf & Country Club.   While the Dream Team did manage to finish one under at 35, it was the clutch shots made by Freud, Daryl, Rob and myself that got the job done...a 28 once the handicap was applied, a comfortable lead over the 33 posted by The Chair, Guy, John, and Gary.  Back at the club house, the vote got underway.  It was a see saw battle between two assholes, with John (6) eventually moving in front of  Cruiser (5),  with Guy receiving one vote as I think he usually does every year.   So there you have it boys, with a final thanks to Scott for a well executed AOTW’41.