Wow, what an exhausting day it has been. Whose silly idea was it to come on a fitness weekend? Hmm, yes that would have been me. Fool!
After breakfast, the outdoor activities began, starting with stretching exercises, team activities and the grand finale of the day which was an assault course. I did not catch another glimpse of the man from the night before until queuing up for this. We were to tackle the course in pairs, and I was randomly paired with him.
Once again, I felt myself blush when recalling the evening before. Did he know? Had he been awake? Just the feel of him standing next to me was making me feel a little 'hot under the collar'. When it was nearly our turn to run the course, he turned to me.
"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Michael," he said.
"Mutual," I returned. "My name is Anna."
We set off on the assault course which involved crawling through tunnels, climbing over walls, balancing on a beam and other delights. I was exhausted after the earlier events of the day and my legs felt like two pieces of jelly. I could not keep up with Michael and felt ashamed of being such a wimp! He had finished the course by the time I approached the final obstacle which was a simple rope swing. I made a lunge for the rope, but missed it probably due to physical fatigue and humiliatingly ended up landing face down in a mud bath. My non-elegant flop into the mud probably had all the grace and finesse of an old pair of socks, thrown carelessly onto the floor!
I didn't dare look properly at Michael as I picked myself up. I could see him in the distance coming over perhaps to help me, but now humiliated, I found I could actually move quite swiftly!
"I am going in for a shower," I shouted, and exited the premises!
I decided after a shower that I would just go to my room rather than join in with evening activities. I had had enough, had heard people laughing at my muddy bog-monster appearance earlier on, and my arms and legs ached. I read for a while and then decided to go to sleep.
During the night...
I am rudely awoken from my sleep by noise – lots of it! What is going on? I sit-up groggily. There is an alarm, footsteps in the hallway. Someone knocks at my door and shouts,
"Fire! Everyone out!"
I quickly grab a T-shirt, pull on a pair of knickers and leave the room, following other people to the fire exit. We congregate in the car park and have to wait whilst a fire crew arrive and check the building. There does not seem to be any sign of a fire. I stand beginning to shiver until we are told we can return to our rooms.
It would seem it was a false alarm. Marvellous.
I return to my room, close and lock the door behind me, decide to keep my knickers and T-shirt on as I am cold and turn to get into bed. I stop with a jolt. Michael is sitting up in my bed! We stare at each other.
"Oh dear, did I let myself into the wrong room?" he asks innocently.
"Did you set-off the fire alarm?" I ask.
