Lunchtime in Columbia

Nothing prepares you for the heat of America's South. As you climb out of the car it doesn't just hit you, it full on mugs you- a heat that's dry in the air but makes your clothes and hands permanently clammy.

 

Breakfast at the hotel was a disappointment- an "eat all you can" buffet- I took the injunction literally, and ate all there was, which wasn't much- I had both the danish pastries, and that was that. Semi-breakfasted, I pointed "The Bugle" in the direction of Columbia, South Carolina, and set off on the Interstate.

 

Halfway to Columbia I was hungry- I'd been awake for about 18 hours yesterday, and only eaten a tin-foil wrapped aeroplane meal, and so I pulled into a roadside Waffle House for a proper American breakfast with egg, toast and hash browns, which, along with unlimited coffee refills, cost less than $6. The waitress, a matronly lady of African American origin purred around me enjoying my English accent, not knowing that I was equally enjoying hers. I don't know if it's the heat that leads to the languid, slow, drawn out drawl, but a vowel seems to last a day, a word a week, and a sentance a month. It's a lovely patois that suits the people, all of whom want to say "hi" or "good day" as you walk down the street.

 

Jimmy John's Sandwich Bar ("a tradition since 1983")  in Columbia's downtown, was where I met Patrick Tyndall from Ironman Outdoors.

 

 

A word on the name: "Ironman Outdoors" sounds like it could be a bunch of body builders who meet al fresco, but it's drawn from the metaphor of "iron sharpening iron." Patrick was tremendous company, insisted on paying for lunch, and spending time with him was a pleasure. From its humble beginnings as an offshoot of the adult Sunday School he teaches at his church, Ironman Outdoors now runs about 40 retreats a year for men, mostly with a hunting or fishing theme. Retreats typically have a mixture of Christians and those from the fringe of church activity, and along with the hunting or fishing are a series of discussion groups, usually beginning with subjects of general interest: "How to be a good dad/husband etc" (the answer to this, and every other question, of course, being an answer that involves Jesus), before culminating in some form of Gospel appeal. Patrick has a number of e-mails of thanks from grateful wives who've contacted him to say that their husbands came back better than they went, which sounds like a pretty ringing endorsement. The organisation has a central steering team of 7, an e-mail newsletter membership of two and a half thousand and a team of pro-staffers. Patrick's positivism, sound good sense, passion for the gospel and the growth of the ministry he oversees (in his spare time- he's got a "day job", too!) were a real encouragement with some good tips for me, and a few others, to chew over in the Autumn as we look to launch our UK based fishing ministry........... and he gave me a neat "Ironman Outdoors"baseball cap too, which will get its first outing tomorrow when I go fishing for the first time in Charlston, South Carolina.
 Nice one Patrick, thanks