Checking Out The New Ring

I couldn't find Jilberto when I got to the field house, so I waited near the front entrance to watch for Alan.  Renee walked in, and told me she turned her her enclosed porch into a workout area.  "But I need the extra cardio, so I signed up for the gym session that starts in January," she said.  While we were talking, we were interrupted several times by Igor.  No matter how many times I plan to be nicer to Igor, my irritation shows.  I assumed he had been waiting down at the gym door.  "The gym closed," he told Renee and I.  "You don't work here, Igor, so you don't know that," I replied, not bothering to explain that Alan hadn't said anything about not being at the gym.  Igor's impatience got the better of him, and he left.

Alan came down the hall not long after Igor went home.  The coach had been in the gym changing his clothes.  When Renee and I walked in, we were surprised to see the new ring was up (see the photo above).  There are a few more pieces to be installed, but for the most part, the ring is up and ready.  Renee left after awhile, promising to be in the gym in early January.

I got into the ring and walked around.  It seemed to be very sturdy.  I had to watch it walking up and down the stairs to the ring.  It would be nice if there was a rail to hold on to, but that's not how ring stairs are made.

This a view of the rest of the gym from the middle of the new ring.  Alan spent a good bit of time sweeping and moving things around enough so he, myself, Bean, and Matthew could get a workout in (Colonel and Kenny stopped in, but they didn't stay long). "Matt doesn't know one end of a broom from another," Alan said, referring to his son, who's home on holiday break from college.  I commented that it appears that Alan knows how to do housework.  "It's relaxing to me.  I can just zone out while I do it," he said.  His wife is a lucky woman to be married to a man who will actually clean the house.

There's not much room behind the new ring.  The workers pulled up the mat located below the uppercut bag, and moved the large white storage locker in that spot.  It took awhile for me to notice that the old radio had been put on the coach's desk up front.  Alan rolled the big tire out of the gym to make more room.  I didn't see the smaller tire, but it might be elsewhere.  I figured there are probably a lot more items that could be removed.  That will need to be done after the ring is completely installed, and it would probably be a good idea for Barry to weigh-in on what needs to go.

Alan pointed out that the raised ring makes it a little difficult to give sparring boxers a drink of water.  Now someone will have to stand on the ring apron with a bottle of water while people are sparring.  I suggested that since there are two spit buckets in the gym, one could be placed at opposite corners of the ring.

Since the ring is now raised off the floor, we all are going to have to be careful about the ropes.  In the past, there wasn't that much of a drop if someone was sent sailing through the ropes.

No, this picture doesn't have anything to do with boxing, but I just had to put it up here.  My niece received a proposal of marriage from the young man she's been seeing for some time earlier this week.  She accepted, so I'll have a nephew-in-law soon, and my younger sister, who while unfortunately no longer with us, will gain a son-in-law.  As you can see, he got on his knees and proposed in the old fashioned way, which I think is romantic.  They make a cute couple, don't they?