With all the rain that came from our version of Hurricane Frances, or as we like to call it, 'Frances Light', many people were wondering if everything went off without any headaches on Thursday, which was the day that all of the rugby athletes and staff left for Athens, after gathering in Montreal for the main flight.

In the National Capital, a new single-day record was set for rainfall, with 129mm (slightly over 5" for our American friends) draining out of dark and ominous clouds.

After some digging, it seemed that all the blustery wind and rain couldn't do much aside from delay our domestic flights by up to 10 minutes, although those who were connecting in from the States (Joe and Whitey) experienced some flight delays out of Boston and Philadelphia respectively, but both with enough of a safety factor to make it in to Montreal for the Olympic Airways flight to Greece.

I've now heard from our Team Leader, Cathy Cadieux, and aside from some ATHOC snafus with the training venue and transportation, all is well with our people in the ancient city of Athens.

Day Two in Athens - by Cathy Cadieux

Well, it was a wild day for the Canadians in Athens. Having arrived late yesterday and waiting for bags and equipment (what else is new on that front?), I walked to the Sport Information Centre to get the latest information from the Rugby Officer, George! It's all down hill from there.

First, I was informed by George, that our training session scheduled from 10:30am to 1:30pm the following day, had been cancelled. In fact, ALL training sessions at ALL venues, scheduled prior to 2:00pm on Friday were cancelled. The reason given was "internal ATHOC process." I think that means 'please go away and don't ask anymore questions'.

But all was not lost. I managed to snag us a 1½ hour slot at 6:00pm today. I was also told that both our training times AND transportation had to be confirmed daily, for the following day. So I confirmed both the transportation of our chairs AND our players for 6:00pm this evening. We all motored over to the transportation mall, as told, at 5:00pm for our 5:20 pick-up. We were told we were in the wrong place, had to leave the transportation mall, go outside the village and back through security to get to our buses that were on the other side of the fence.

I had been pretty calm with everything to this point, but I was becoming "disturbed." So I headed off to talk to George and found that our chairs hadn't been transported either. After much "discussion," which seems to be the ONLY thing the Greeks respond to, it was finally resolved, but too late to really salvage today's practice. The good news is that we now have a three-hour slot tomorrow, so all is well in the end. The boys are all doing well. We have a GREAT physio who is already doing wonderful things for the boys. They all send their love to family and friends and are looking forward to a great practice tomorrow.

That's all for now. More tomorrow from the ancient city!

- Cath