Settling into our Room

Andy and James decided to share one of the staff rooms, rather than share with strangers. I had found a new friend in Giovanni and decided to share with him.

While I went out to do some shopping in the nearby village, Giovanni settled into our room. On my return it immediately became clear that Giovanni had clearly moved in. He had spread his stuff all over.

Piles of jeans, tee-shirts and hoodies, anoraks and rain pants, sandals and boots. A few ponchos were hanging on the wall.

He was sitting on the bed, reading a surfing magazine, dressed in nothing but a soft nylon poncho. "Why do you wear a poncho indoors?" I asked.

"When I'm too lazy to get dressed, I just put a poncho on." he replied. "It's a lot more comfy than most other gear. Go on, try one."

He seems to know what is fun or feels good. I did as I was told, undressed, shoved all my clothes into the wardrobe and put on one of his ponchos, nothing else. It almost reached down to my ankles, and was made of a very breathable fabric that felt really soft and not sticky on my skin.

I huddled up inside the poncho on the bed, pulling it down over my feet, while I wondered what fun could be had with this. Giovanni said it was soft and breathable enough to be used as sleepwear on cooler days. Hmm, maybe I should try that tonight.

"You brought a lot of gear." I commented.

"Yes, I want to be prepared for any situation, so I rather bring too much than be short one day," he explained. "You're about my size. Feel free to borrow anything you like or need."

That was an offer I gladly accepted, seeing all this interesting kit lying around.

Giovanni was very much into wet clothes and ponchos, he said. I was glad I wouldn't have to hide my passion for a good soaking either.

He said he likes this adventure centre because of their laid back attitude. "You can get wet anytime and dry your kit quickly in the drying room, or run around in wet clothes. Way cool."

We decided to jump into the water whenever there was a chance, wearing a wide variety of clothes to gain more experience.

Uniformed Swim

A while later Giovanni suddenly remembered that we had to try all our uniforms in the pool. I completely forgot about that. He ordered me to get dressed: "Let's go to the pool and swim in our uniforms as they told us."

I put on the shorts and polo shirt, the jogging pants and hoodie, and then the socks and canvas shoes. This staff uniform felt soft and snug, just the right size. Giovanni reminded me to take the poncho and other rain clothes.

As we came down to the pool hall we met Andy and Steve. Alex arrived to clean the area and Leslie was just leaving. We told her that we were going for the uniformed swim. She suggested to Alex to turn the sprinklers on and make it more interesting. Great idea.

"Are you ready to get wet?" asked Alex as we sat down by the pool. We nodded and he turned on the rain. Within minutes we got soaked to the skin in our comfy jogging suits while we did our warm-up exercises.

Alex too got soaking wet in his work clothes while he got on with his tasks, like tidying the poolside, putting boats away, and collecting floats from the middle of the pool. He seemed to enjoy the refreshing rain and got in and out of the pool a lot for his work.

After a while of bliss in the downpour we jumped into the pool. Wow, the uniform felt really comfy in the water, not too tight, not too loose. Swimming in the rain is great, even more with clothes on. Next we dressed up in the anorak and rain pants, put the hoods up and went back into the pool.

We climbed into an inflatable boat and capsized it, rolled a kayak and climbed across some ropes over the pool. With all this action, our uniforms stayed the course. Great.

Ponchos in the Rain

Finally we put on the ponchos and rain capes. We sat down in the rain for a while to watch the water run off. Then we slowly walked into the shallow end.

None of us had worn a hiking cape in the pool before, except Giovanni who does it quite often. Unusual fun that. It was interesting how easy it is to swim in ponchos and hiking capes.

My hiking cape had long sleeves, a bit like oversized cagoules, just longer. When sitting still, the cape just floats around, covering me from head to toe. When swimming, it hugged me in a streamlined way, I could swim easily in it. Since it felt very cosy, I decided to wear a cape more often.

We chatted for a good while about many exciting things, like what clothes work best for which water activities. Then it was time join the others for dinner. Alex turned off the sprinkler and after a shower we got dressed for the Welcome Party in the pool hall.