Waiting in Jacksonville

This past weekend we went to a soccer tournament in Jacksonville. Jason's team won for their age bracket (U15) and that was great... but it was a LONG weekend. Rain forced the Saturday afternoon games to be cancelled and rescheduled, which, in turn, caused the games scheduled for Sunday to be pushed back and so on and so on. As a result, we spent much of the weekend either waiting for the rain to stop or waiting for the game ahead of us to finish because it started late. It was very frustrating to say the least but there were some funny moments.


Waiting around for a game to begin.

When there is lightening, a siren sounds, games are immediately stopped, and everyone is supposed to retreat to their cars for 20 or 30 minutes. Three short sirens indicate when it is safe to resume play.

On Sunday, while waiting for the girls team playing before us to complete their game, which started late, the sky got very dark and we heard thunder in the distance. We knew what was coming and were bummed because of the rain delays that had occurred already and we hadn't even gotten to play yet. Sure enough, right at the end of the girls' game, the siren went off. We went to our cars and the boys kind of stood around in front talking. It wasn't raining, nor was there any more thunder, but we had to wait for the three sirens.

About 20 minutes into the wait a car alarm began going off. At the same time, the referees took the field and the boys followed. I overheard someone say that it was the three sirens and I said, "Isn't that a car alarm?" No one replied, so we piled onto the stands happy that we could finally watch some soccer.

About 30 seconds into the game, the siren went off. Everyone in the stands began booing and awwwing. Then another siren went off... then another. We quickly realized that it was the three "okay to come back" sirens and busted out laughing because the refs and boys had mistaken the car alarm as the siren. Note, they sound nothing alike!