So, I've been travelling.
I went to Wales for five days last week. Flew to Manchester on Sunday, February 9th, and back on Thursday, February 13th. From Manchester, I took the train to Llandudno in Wales, to be at the Welsh Open for three days.
It was magical. Again. The only thing I'm sad about, is the fact that I could only stay for the beginning of the tournament. The whole trip happened so fast and so close to the start of the tournament that there were no tickets left for the later parts of it. And, considering that a certain Mark Selby ended up lifting the trophy in the end, it would have been amazing to be there to see him win a tournament.
BUT: The three days I had there were absolutely incredible! I saw two of Mark's matches. He defeated Haydon Pinhey by 4-2 in the morning match on Monday, and then had a really late and tough match vs Elliot Slessor on Wednesday. That match went on until past 1am, and there weren't many people left by the end. Apparently they gave me a mention on the BBC when I was in the background when Mark was taking a shot, and the commentator went: "Not many people left here at this late hour, but that lady in the Mark Selby t-shirt doesn't have a choice, really."
Needless to say, I was so, so relieved when he potted the match ball to win that match 4-3. I think I might even have been blinking away tears at that point.
Also, something nice: I shouted "Well done, Mark!" at him when they had finished the handshake and were packing up their cues and stuff. And he turned around and gave me a smile for that. That? It was so lovely, and it still makes me feel so happy.
It's not the only Mark moment I experienced during this trip, though.
The arena in Llandudno has a set of stairs that apparently go up to the players' lounge. So, typically, the fans would go to the bottom of the stairs and wait there to see if their favourite players would come by after matches. From what I heard from the stewards, there's a possibility for the players to exit via a back door and go directly to a car park behind the building instead, but most go down the stairs and are happy to meet the fans.
So, quite early in the day on Wednesday I went to wait by the stairs to look for John Higgins, who had just won his morning match quite clearly. Only, I didn't see him, but just a couple of other players I wasn't immediately familiar with or interested in. Until, suddenly, Mark was standing right behind he, having just come in the main doors.
So, I got a photo with him this time as well, and he said that he remembered me, and that we had met in Leicester. Also, when the other fans nearby also wanted a photo, he said that he was just going to go upstairs with his jacket, and then he'd come back. And, true to what he promised, he came back and made sure everyone who were waiting got their photos and autographs, and he was an absolute gentleman to everyone. I got to wish him good luck for the evening match, too, so that also felt good.
I mean... he said he remembered me?! My heart is still doing weird things when I think of that.
To be honest, I wasn't even looking for him at that point in the day, because I knew he wasn't playing until much later. So the fact that I got a few moments with him in person at this tournament as well was just so incredible to me.
I got a few photos with other players as well - Florian Nüßle was so lovely, and even tried to speak to me in German. Michael Holt was an absolute sweetheart, who said that he would like to win more. I told him that I would love to see him win more, too. Neil Robertson was nice to fans and happy to pose for photos even despite having just lost his match. And Dominic Dale was an absolute delight to be around, and stood around talking with us for quite a few minutes. I
loved listening to him, he was so cool and funny!
Also, I got the one thing I didn't manage to get in Leicester: A photo with Rob Walker, who's the Master of Ceremonies for most of the snooker in the UK. I love him to bits, he's so cute and so crazy, and even on TV you can see how lively he is. But if you're actually there, watching him at work, he's doing a lot more than you get to see on TV. He's so active, always moving around and always doing
something, so it's actually really hard to catch him for a photo because he's never in one spot for two seconds at a time.
Well, look at how sweet he is:
He even went down on one knee to be on the same height level as me. Then, afterwards, he said that "the last time I went down on one knee for a woman, I had to ask a question. Luckily she said yes." And he also commented at me that I had been in Leicester, correct? I was quite stunned that he would remember that, as I didn't even get to talk to him there. There was a moment where he was asking who had travelled the furthest to get there, and I was trying to answer that. He was giving out t-shirts with the WST logo to the fans who'd travelled the furthest. Only, the guy behind me was from California, so he obviously got the t-shirt instead of me. But really, that was the only attempt at interaction I had with him, so I was quite surprised that he'd remember me this clearly to even know exactly which event I'd been to previously.
Snooker really seems to be quite a small and tight-knit environment, though. For example, some of the stewards were the same as at the previous event, and they came over to chat, asked me how I'd been and such, making it clear that they also remembered me. At some point I was talking to one of the stewards, and explained to him that I was supposed to come to Manchester as well, but that my friend has had to cancel that trip, so I'll be going by myself again. And the steward just went: "No worries, we'll be looking after you. Because you're part of the snooker family now."
That made me so emotional.
What's more, when I posted about that episode on Twitter just after it happened, I got a lot of messages that basically said "you already were" or "of course you are" or "your inclusion was never in doubt." All of that just reinforced the emotional feelings for me.
Also: I ended up meeting one of the ladies I had talked to in Leicester, and we were even in the same hotel, so we stayed together quite a bit. While we were both aware that we were coming to the same tournament, we didn't know that we were both flying into the same airport or going on the same trains from there, OR staying in the same hotel. All of that was just coincidence, but it was so lovely.
She's Irish, by the way. And she randomly invited me to her son's wedding, in Rome in April. Much to my amazement, she also said I should bring the best friend (I had told her about him, due to the plan we had to go to a tournament together). To my utter astonishment, she just went "well, bring him and come to my son's wedding, that would be so great!" and then went on to talk about how a few more of her snooker friends would be coming as well. When I questioned how she could just invite me along with a person she has not even met, her explanation was that "you're a lovely person, so that means he must be a lovely person as well. Because you wouldn't bother to have friends who aren't lovely."
I find this logic absolutely shocking in a good way, but it was touching to see how natural it was to her.
Definitely a cultural difference between Norway and Ireland, right there. And one where I kind of wish we could be more like them, maybe.
Also, let me squee about British people and how easy they are to talk to again. I ended up talking to quite a few lovely people, even down to spending a couple of hours with some of them, sitting around talking snooker. One mother and daughter even asked me to come to the cafeteria with them when the matches ended one night, because they wanted to talk more. So I did, and we had a really good time.
Fun fact? The daughter there was the Michael Holt fan who was so lively and was shouting encouragement for him back at the shootout in Leicester, and I was pretty sure I recognised her voice, so I asked her if she had been there. When it turned out I was right, she wanted to talk more, hence the cafe invite. When I was leaving the day after, both of them came running to catch up with me, because they wanted to hug me before I left, as that was my last day there. That was so beautiful, too.
There were also a couple of other interesting people. One day we got into a conversation with some guy who was a snooker coach with some connections to some of the young Welsh players. He mentioned some names of people who were practicing at his club. Among them, he mentioned Dylan Emery. Well, that's the Dylan Emery who had just defeated Iulian Boiko in the semifinal of the Q Tour event that had been played the day before, so I kinda half-jokingly mentioned that Dylan had broken my heart a little with that. The guy just smiled and chuckled a little... only, the next day he came over to me
with Dylan, and Dylan went: "Sorry for breaking your heart the other day, my apologies."
It was so, so sweet of him to do that. I think I got a bit too surprised to reply properly, but I'm definitely supporting Dylan a little from now on, too.
Finally, I have tried
playing snooker for the first time. I was obviously bad at it, though. But I tried it both standing up and sitting down. Unfortunately, when I try to stand, too much energy goes into focusing on standing, which means I can't focus on technique or the balls right. So, I tried a bit more while sitting down. I struggled to get the technique right, though maybe it would have been easier in the manual wheelchair, as the power one is harder to position exactly right to be on the shot. So in the end they taught me to use the rest instead, which was maybe a little bit easier for me for now. I did manage to pot a red at an angle with the rest, as well as a few reds and colours that were sitting close to the pockets during my various other attempts. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it, and I wish I could try it more.
This was in the Fanzone, by the way. There's a practice table there, with a couple of official WST coaches who show you the technique and teach you how to play depending on your level. If you're a complete beginner like me, they show you basic techniques. But if you're already a decent player, they'll show you some tips and tricks to be better, too.
Anyway, after I had finished my first tries, another guy went on the table. He was really good, though he wasn't quite satisfied with his own performance as he also missed more than he would have liked, apparently. We got into a conversation with his friend, who mentioned that "he's even played at this tournament. Played Ali Carter here two years ago." When I asked who he was, the friend wouldn't answer that, but it was easy enough to look that up. Turns out that the guy's name was Ian Martin, and that he currently plays on the Q Tour.
Well, when he had finished his snooker on the practice table, he came over and we ended up talking for quite a while. We took a few photos together, too. And I mentioned that I try to watch the Q Tour sometimes if I can find some way to do it, so I would be keeping my eyes open for him now, too. And I mentioned that I'm also a Iulian fan. To which he replied: "Very good choice, he's a beautiful young man, inside and out." Needless to say, that also made me feel a certain warmth and joy.
We added each other on Facebook, too. And he said that he also has his own snooker club, in Bury a bit outside Manchester.
Well, fast forward to the day I was flying back. At the check-in at the airport, I arrived quite early, so there was no line behind me. Hence, the check-in lady took her time checking my passport and filling out some paperwork for my wheelchair. While she was doing that, she casually asked me what I had been doing in the UK. When I replied that I had been in Wales to watch the snooker, she went: "Oh, my cousin's a snooker player! He has his own bar and all. In Bury. His name is Ian Martin."
I mean: What?! The world is such a small place, sometimes.
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hc_bingo, but sadly there's nothing to sign up for over there anymore. The list of prompts is still quite inspirational, though. 
