The 35th Movement Orienting Venice, MOV, XXXV started to -day with the opening of the registration centre in Lido Jesolo, 54 kms from Venice and over on the mainland just north of the famed Lido resort. Why? I don’t think even the organisers knew.
Ilze set seven new Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club jacket records today and really wished she had managed to raise a sweat. She left home wearing the new, showerproof light weight jacket, (currently on special, see Deb.) over a T-shirt . A brisk walk to the No. 1 at Ca D’Oro raised some early warning signs, the modest acqua alta that covered parts of the Fde San Felice, should have warned her in time to go back for another layer. But we pressed on.
The first of the new club records to be set was that of , “The coldest DROC member seen on  the No. 1  vaporetto in Venice.”
We then had to transfer to the No. 12 that set off from San Zacharia over the lagoon to the Lido and then on to Punto Saboni. We missed our connection because the No. 1 had to join a queue on the Grand Canal to pass under the Rialto, normally two lanes but now reduced to only one because the high water meant everyone had to go under the middle. We only just made it.
I knew, when we first booked this trip, that this transfer was going to be long and tedious but had allowed two hours, I mean that’s what it takes to get from our home to an event in Bendigo, more than 140 kms from home. We eventually arrived at the event centre after a 3 hour journey. Two vaporetto and one bus, on a real road, and our first sighting of cars in a week. At least one of them was a decent vintage Alfa. Ilze then set a new club record for being seen in club jacket near the singularly most useless vehicle ever to have been conceived. Where do you put your handbag? Let alone the club tents.
The event centre was open, fully staffed and laid out but closed until 2.00pm. So we left again. Whilst waiting a walk along the beach at Lido Jesolo threw some light on a recent amendment to the technical info where the event planer reported “ Along the beach there a barriers of anti sand storms. Erected in the last period these are not reported in the paper. (Which, is not specified, the Gazzetino, the Nationalle, the Herald Sun?) as you change with the weather however they are traversable”. Got it? Ilze took this opportunity to break records three and four. The coldest DROC member ever to be seen alongside a traversable sandstorm barrier and the coldest DROC member ever to be seen on the end of a pier jutting out into the Adriatic Sea.
As 2pm neared we turned back towards the event Centre we passed  long rows of Hotels and Palazzos, all shuttered up for the winter and Ilze then claimed the fifth record for being seen outside a residence once occupied by Sophia Loren.
Back at the event centre, we were second in the queue, five and a half hours after leaving our digs, just behind our new best mates (because they have a car) who had left home in Vienna Austria at the same time we did. Think about that for a while. Where can you drive to from Melbourne in five and a half hours? Mildura? Our friends Rudi and Christa then spent nearly 20 minutes being processed, just as well we were next, only another 700 to go. Rudi and Christa then offered to drive us back to Punta Sabioni where they were going to park their car for two days and join us on the No 12 back to Venice. This was the payment in kind that we Orienteers  extend to one another. A simple return of the favour for all the odd Swiss, German , French and Finnish orienteers we have driven to events over the years, including an odd Blackburnian or two. Actually the bus would have been quicker as Rudi got lost a few times, but it allowed us to chat. They were both back in Venice because they also missed the 2012 event due to the record accqua alta. They were trapped in their hotel and the concierge would not open the door. Rudi said that they were both keen Orienteers  and that this would be their 12th event for the year. When Pete mentioned the number 130ish Rudi nearly drove off the road. Rudi left his car in undercover parking for 10E for two nights and thought it was dear, I told him CBD parking was about that per hour he again nearly drove off the road except by then he had managed to park his big Renault MPV between the narrowest of posts .
By the time we arrived back in Venice the rain had set in and we scurried up the Riva degli Schivioni to get on the No 1. We eventually made it back to Carnareggio where Ilze sixth record was set as the warmest DROC member ever seen buying one banana in a supermarket.
Home at last and its Ilze’s turn to cook. Fettuccini con Pescara.
Fish and chips be buggered.
Pete.
Oh, the seventh record? The first DROC member seen posing in the MOV XXXV t-shirt. Cred with a capital K.