Ruby in the Sky

The past weekend, I went to the beautiful city of Ghent for The League of Extraordinary Ghentlemen, a quidditch merc-tournament hosted by the lovely Ghent Gargoyles. It was so amazing, that I had to write a post about it. All pictures in this post are by Dirk de Lobel, unless stated otherwise.

The fun started on friday, when after a 3-4 hour drive and a bit of wandering around, we joined the rest of the quidkids that were already there for friday night’s social: a walk around the town. We took a tram from St. Pieters Station, and not too long after we arrived in the city’s centre. The walk took us past the bar where the social of the next day would be happening, castle Gravesteen, and some architecturally exciting (according to some) and beautiful buildings. During the tour, I met the first few of my team mates who I’d be playing with the next day, and had some chats with old and new friends.

After the tour, some of us went to de Dulle Griet, a bar famous for serving 250 different types of beer, where we sat and chatted some more. As the busses to Blaarmeersen (our camping) stopped at 11, we went back to the bus departure not too long after sitting down and drove back to the camping, where I first saw our hut. The place was tiny but lovely and had room for four – I roomed with some of my fellow Nargles, which is always great. We hit the pillow at a decent hour in preparation for the day ahead.

Saturday morning, 7.30 a.m. we got up and ready to go to the pitch. There, I met the rest of my team and played my first match. After playing (and losing) two matches, I found out that I was also supposed to ref two others, so I went back to my hut to get my homemade lunch (pasta, the ultimate tournament food), ate and then went on to ref. After reffing, winning one game (!) and reffing some more, it was time to go back to base, freshen up and get changed for the second social: dinner and drinks.

The saturday social was held at Patrick Foley’s, and their food was just stunning. I wasn’t sure whether or not there would be vegan options beforehand, and if there were I didn’t know if I’d like them. I needn’t have worried, because they did, and it was amazing. The vegan menu consisted of two bowls: one with barley, and one with chickpeas, lentils, sweet potatoes and broccoli in a coconut sauce. It was food porn to say the least.

After dinner, it was time for drinks. There were all sorts of things happening around me (quidditch people know how to have fun), but most of the night for me was actually spent on the same spot, just sitting and talking – and it felt good. As I said multiple times throughout that weekend: I was content, calmly satisfied in a weirdly wonderful way. Maybe the food just got me all poetic.

Of course we needed to catch a bus back in time again, so we were back in Blaarmeersen around 11.30 again. Except this night, we were way too buzzing, and as my team had lost I had no reason to wake up early, so we stayed up a couple more hours playing games and talking some more. In the end, we went to bed at 1.30 and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep with a big smile on my face.

Sunday was the lazy day for me. As my muscles were sore from playing without stretching the day before, and I was tired from the late night (I do not handle too few hours of sleep very well), I decided not to participate in the friendlies that my team was playing against the blue team, instead opting for watching games alternated with napping in the artificial grass.

After a thrilling small and big final, the tournament was over. We placed 6th out of 8, and I am honestly proud of us. Luckily, the fun didn’t stop there. Because of the great weather and the lake at our disposal (also part of the Blaarmeersen complex), a lot of us decided to go and have a swim, or play another friendly. We hung out another 3 hours in the sun on the beach, and at 6 we finally left, tired but, again, very satisfied. On our way home we made our common stop at Hazeldonk, an all-time roady favorite if you will. We ate our food (I had a green curry with veggies) in the setting sun on a grass patch in the parking lot, then it was time to say goodbye to the other dutchies. About an hour later, we arrived back in Amsterdam, and in no time, I was back home again, and the weekend was officially over. It’s like that silence outside after you go out: it’s like the world has stopped turning while you were having the time of your life, and now you’re back facing reality. A void that’ll stay empty until the next tournament. I’m getting a bit carried away, but it was a weird sensation being alone again, and I don’t think this weekend will be one I’ll be quick to forget.

Thank you Gargoyles for an extraordinary event!

Love, Ruby