This is one we have done for some number of years. However this time the numbers were well down and only due to military commitments. The set was in the usual place and we scheduled to arrive at 6.00 am with the hog roast in Badshot Lea. Fortunately the traffic was fine other than the fact that overnight roadworks had overrun. This meant that a stretch of the M4 was closed or at least seemed to be. We later discovered that the work had probably just finished a little after 5 and so would have been ok. The detour wasn’t too bad and probably added 5 to 10 minutes. We still arrived on time. Also, the security gates were all open and indeed the Stadium, we were therefore straight in and set up quickly.
We were originally catering for 400 but this had reduced to 250 and so a relative stroll in the park. We quickly set up the hog roast in Badshot Lea and got breakfast on and by about 7 we were chilling, literally. It was a bit bizarre to be quite so cold at this time of year and unfortunately we were in the shade for what would be a couple of hours. Serve time was scheduled for 12.30 when all the Rugby players would be wanting to be fed. In the meantime we watched Personnel carriers trundle up and down, and various other sophisticated desert carriers. It all seemed a little strange as they were mixed with local traffic and buses. Hover this was Aldershot, the home of the British Army.
Service was steady although the lads told us that there were several teams that had had to pull out at the last minute. This meant that they would be fewer that booked. It meant that there would be plenty over. As we got to the end of service we were frequented by groups of Fijians. It seemed sensible to load them up and asked them if they wanted more than one roll. It soon became the fashion to have at least 5 or 6 rolls together with a ‘scoop’ of meat for later. After about twenty minutes we managed to offload the meat and rolls to about 20 or 30 Fijians. It made them very happy and indeed us. For a change the weather stayed fine and the load back up was nice and easy and we were soon queuing on the M25 near Heathrow (favourite place to park !!). As soon as we got to High Wycombe it was an hour to go ….