Location: Perth, Scotland

Sav: I woke up with a lot of energy, knowing today was finally the day I was going to see Meag! I walked downtown to grab breakfast at a little bistro called ‘Coffee and Things’ where the Italian owner shared a bunch of old stories with me, and convinced me to have a lot more espresso than I had initially planned.

Next I ran some errands for Land, who was injured in his morning Sword and Shield duels and needed some ice packs and pain meds. All I can say is that Scottish pharmacy’s might as well be in another language because the words ‘ice-pack’ and ‘tylenol’ are not words that Scottish people know. I finally ended up with ‘freeze-compresses’ and ‘paracetamol.’ Jesus.

Errands complete, Sky picked me up downtown and took me to Scone Palace to meet up with the group. We watched Land fight the rest of his fights, eventually losing out to a really fast fighter. Aurora made it through the first few rounds and did really well. I spent a lot of the day watching men’s 5 vs 5’s and women’s 3 vs 3’s with Ryan, the only Ontarian on the team. We cheered and chatted and agreed that one of the best things about this sport is the mentality: everyone is supportive, everyone takes care of each other, everyone is polite and above all, it’s a gentlemen’s game.

Since it’s a Saturday, it seemed like all of Perth showed up. There must have been a few thousand people on the grounds, a huge change from the last few days. We all gathered up once the days fights were over and went out for dinner to a place called ‘Paco’s’ (not Mexican, as I embarrassingly found out). Just as we ordered I got the text from Meaghan- CUE FREAK OUT. Land and I ran out of the restaurant after ordering to pick up Meaghan and I was just totally buzzing.

Meaghan: I went to the B&B to drop my stuff and hung out watching Eurovision for a few minutes waiting for S to arrive. Then I heard this sound coming from down the hallway and I just knew it was her – there may or may not have been a few squeals and happy tears when we saw each other. It has been 10 months since we last saw each other, and more than a year since we have spent more than a few hours together. Suffice it to say that I am ecstatic to have my short friend back by my side.

But tummies were growling and food had been ordered at the (not Mexican) restaurant so we rushed back to the team. Over dinner I met most of the team and learned quite a bit about Medieval Combat…and also saw a few of the bruises. Ouch! Tomorrow they’ll be fighting in the 5 vs 5’s so I get to see it all in action, and of course cheer on Team Canada!

Sav: we told stories and had a wonderful dinner. While the rest of the team went on to do some video analysis from the day, Meags and I came back to the B&B to catch up on everything we’ve missed over the past couple weeks and freak out about the fact that we’re finally together again.

We couldn’t be happier.

S&M (!)

#YXYGirlsgohereandthere

P.S. DID YOU KNOW WHITE PEACOCKS ARE A THING? BECAUSE I VERY MUCH DID NOT KNOW THAT.