Turf Zone – MusselShell
The Game of Turf, or G.O.T, if you’re a fan of the other G.O.T., may require a considerable amount of time, depending of course on what your aims or gaols are in the game. When I retired, I thought I’d have plenty of time for turf, thinking I’d be able to easily go for those region or country medals. And while I do have the time, the body says otherwise. It’s bloody hard work trying to get 1,000,000 points in a single Round and I take my bicycle helmet off to those who achieve such endeavours. 500,000 points is my best to date but I will get 750,000 one day!
That assumption that I’d have plenty of time was correct but I often wonder just where that time has gone. In fact, time passes more quickly when you retire, at least in my experience. I rise around 6.00 am and suddenly it’s 10.00 am. Where has the time gone? What did I do during those 240 minutes? I thought time was supposed to pass slower when you get older but it seems quite the opposite. Perhaps there’s something called the speed of time that varies with your age or what you are doing at any given moment.
Do you recall those lazy days of summer when you were a child? Those long summer school holiday seemed to last forever. Then when you grow up and start working you have annual leave, two weeks of bliss, peacefulness and joy. Yes, the first week passes slowly but the second week passes in an instant and you’re back at work again. Same with weekends. Some days an 8-hour shift at work took an eternity, on others you barely had time for coffee or even lunch. The speed of time also varies when you are turfing. Well known fact and especially when you are turfing against the clock.
Take for example, the Ghost Minute medal. You arrive on location with plenty of time, say 10 minutes to the hour. That 10-minutes passes slowly at first. You glance at the watch, 9 minutes to go. You check again, still 8 minutes to go. Again, 7 minutes remaining. Then the speed of time increases and suddenly your ghost minute has started and you rush into the zone. Same when you are waiting for a zone block to clear, time seems to slow down and take forever. Like waiting for a kettle to boil or your partner to buy you that Sonder El Camino e-bike, medium size, teal colour, I’ve been talking about for the past year.
Time features highly in turf. You have block time, takeover time, Rounds run in 4-week or 5-week time periods, there are time bonuses for keeping your GPS on and the Region Lord bonus for holding the most zones in a region. (I prefer to call this one the Time Lord bonus). Then there’s PPH or Points Per Hour and also a bunch of medals that are time related such as the Darkest Ninja medal and the Restless medal.
Speaking to other turfers the most common comment is they never have enough time. Though I suspect some may use that as an excuse not to have to try too hard. Time also pops up in relation to turf at other times as well. How often have you thought, I’ve just got enough time to take another zone. Or has your partner said something like, you’re spending far too much time turfing! Or you think you have enough time to reach a zone but someone else gets there first. Anyway, time for coffee and a Kit-Kat!
Copyright ©2024 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.
