What a way to kick off the Anniversary celebrations! It’s so apt that we start the celebrations with a team weekend away considering without this amazing team of individuals, AHC would be nothing. We try to make sure we spend some time socially as well as professionally, because we actually do like each other! A couple hours every few months and a Christmas Do isn’t quite enough though I’d say (who knows, others may think that’s too much 😂). So lets have a mini road trip to Hampshire and put everyone in a large house, lock the doors for a weekend and see what happens! The result was a weekend filled with laughter, games, plenty of food and a lot of brilliant memories!
Having arrived in this wonderful Hampshire house, Reka got straight to work and organised everyones sleeping arrangements. This can be a make or break right? Who am I sharing with? Does he snore (or worse)? I’m coming away from a house with 3 young boys in it, the last thing I need is a roomie who keeps me up all night. I lucked out, Jay was a top roomie, he even let me be big spoon for a short while…
With a mixed cultured clinic, our arrangement to contribute some home cooking didn’t leave our taste buds dissatisfied. This is the only place where you’d have a carbonara for starter, chicken curry, dal and rice for main and lasagna and salad as a side. It was all so amazing though, not just the phenomenal cuisine but the effort everyone had gone to to share. With our bellies full, it was time to get the team to share their most memorable moments from their time at the clinic…and this didn’t disappoint. Some stories had me in fits of laughter, others had me welling up (with tears of steel!). Surely no other clinic has these sorts of stories. Surely there’s no other practitioner that can say they were massaging the wrong person for 15 mins before both parties realised they were receiving the wrong treatment with the wrong person, of the opposite sex. This stuff can only happen to us, surely.
Despite having the whole weekend we all still felt we wanted to fit everything in. Eating and talking till late resulted in a late night game of poker. Poker went on until 3am when most people were going All-in more for the opportunity to go to bed than bluff or force a hand. Alen and Cristina split the pot to everyone’s relief!
The amazing thing about the space we had was the opportunity for different groups taking part in different activities throughout the day. Rosie and I went for a lovely cycle ride through the country; a mixed doubles tournament very closely mimicking Wimbledon in quality of tennis played and the amount of alcohol being consumed around the courts, ended up with Alen and Dan being reigned champions.
The activities were coming thick and fast. Dan introduced some of the team to the outdoor game ‘cornhole’, in which we saw some top competitiveness come from even the most unlikely of ‘athletes’. Followed up with a game of headers and volleys, the game would have continued until it was dark. However, whilst Dan was in goal, George received a volley opportunity he could not shy away from and he kicked this ball so hard I thought it was travelling back to Maidenhead, if it wasn’t for a phenomenal, gloveless save from our number 1 American, leaving us questioning whether Dan will need a few more days off work. For proof, ask if you can see the Nike tick on Dan’s right hand.
Following a BBQ and a ‘leftovers’ dinner, a game of Articulate brought the weekend to a close. A team-building clean up of the house left us all a little deflated that it was all coming to a close but we were all left closer with a load more amazing memories to share.
What did we learn from this weekend
- Carbonara followed by Chicken curry works
- I definitely can’t have caffeine after 2pm
- Kiran is an amazing cook but she throws like a…actually she’s incomparable (definitely the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time)
- Alen gets very competitive
- Crissy is a Poker shark
- Reka’s approach to Articulate is passive and contribution is limited to types of fruit
- Describing what the word ‘Phwoa’ means is difficult without just saying it over and over again but hopefully Dan feels educated now.
- Jay can have a massive breakfast and go straight for a 5 mile run.
- George picks up a sport far too easily, going from just about hitting a tennis ball to smashing winners within an hour of playing
- Kiran isn’t a fan of European History
- Alen isn’t Italian or Croatian, he doesn’t know what he is
- Reka only eats jacket potatoes
- It takes me as long to get ready for a bike ride in the morning as it does to cycle the actual bike ride
- Rosie makes the best flapjacks
- Don’t eat Reka’s ripe bananas
- Stu drinks Port like a large glass of vino
- A room filled with 4 fellas is funky in the morning
- Flavio has really bendy thumbs
- George needs to start his own cocktail company
- Krish is a petrolhead
- We have the best team, ever, period!
