Honkopoly – The Real Thing

Honkopoly – The Real Thing

I did not sleep much the night before Honkopoly.

Images of top hats, onesies, numerous google docs, and my 40-year old bladder kept me awake for most of it.

The house was still.  Quiet.  I was not being asked for food, drinks or electrical devices.

My phone was not flashing with unread text messages or twitter alerts.

In the room next to mine, a 4-year old boy was sleeping soundly; and it would be a couple of hours before the Greek God(zilla) flung his arm across my body and mumbled something about bringing him a cup of tea in bed.

Knowing an opportunity when it poked me in the eye, I decided to forgo sleep and use the time to have a proper catch-up instead.

So, I reached down and retrieved my laptop from its sleeping place beside me, fired her up, and watched two episodes of Private Practice online.

By the time dawn broke, I had finished the season finale and was happy to have the show out of my life forever more.

It was time to don the onesie.

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I can assure you that it does not look any more flattering when it is on.

There were over 20 of us wearing them on the day, winding our way through the busy streets of London on a real-life tour of the Monopoly board.  We crossed two bridges, visited The Tower of London, used the toilet facilities at 5 stations, handed out leaflets, waved to the Queen, and posed for photos at every location.

We were rained on, windswept and cold, but spirits remained high as we honked from one place on the board to the next.

We covered over 15-miles, mostly on foot, with very few breaks.  8-hours later, the baton reached Waterloo and boarded the train to Fleet in Hampshire.

It was a long day but one I will remember for a long time.  The spirit of Team Honk carried us all the way, as the blogging community sent us virtual cheers and tweets of encouragement.  We all felt a part of something incredibly special, proving once again that good friends can achieve great things together.

There was no low point of the day, but particular highlights have to be:

Meeting Mr Monopoly himself at Marylebone station.

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The Spice Girls tribute on the steps of the St. Pancras hotel.

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The moment we found out that Honkopoly was TRENDING ON TWITTER!

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Smashing our target and being top of the Sport Relief fundraising leader board.

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Visiting the Comic Relief offices, where they were gearing up for the Davina challenge, and then hearing about all the amazing work they do.

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You can read my full round-up of the day’s events over on Around Dulwich, or just watch this fab video that Alex Robinson at Victory Media Productions put together for us.

See, nothing flattering about a onesie!

But, it’s not over yet… the baton still has a few more weeks to travel before it reaches it final destination of John O’Groats in March and Team Honk still need all your support to reach their overall target of £20,000.

So please, please, please do visit the Just Giving page to sponsor Team Honk, or you can Text HONK to 70005 and donate £5 directly to Sport Relief.

Click HERE to view the relay route from Lands End to John O’Groats.

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The first ever Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games take place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March. The public can join in the fun and games and the money-raising by running, swimming or cycling at over a thousand venues around the country, including the landmark events at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

As one of the biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active raise cash and change lives. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help transform the lives of disadvantaged people both at home and around the world.

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You can follow Team Honk’s progress on Twitter @team_honk

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You can also follow me on TwitterInstagramFacebook and Pinterest

11 Comments

  1. February 11, 2014 / 2:40 PM

    Thank you for co-organising such an amazing day! It was good to meet you in the morning. I’m not surprised you couldn’t sleep – it was a monumental occasion. Such a big achievement, raising all that money for Sport Relief.

    • Grenglish
      Author
      February 11, 2014 / 3:01 PM

      It was such great fun! Lovely to meet you too. So pleased with how much we raised. Looking forward to next year already x

  2. February 11, 2014 / 8:14 PM

    Love the photos, it looked like you had a fabulous day! Well done 🙂 x

  3. February 12, 2014 / 1:32 PM

    Well done you on doing all that on such little sleep. What a fab day, perfectly summed up here 🙂 xx

  4. February 13, 2014 / 9:46 AM

    Well done you (and the rest of the Team). What a day, you must be feeling so proud of yourselves. And well done for smashing your targets. X !!!!

  5. February 15, 2014 / 8:33 PM

    Such a fantastic idea and sounds like lots of fun – wish I lived in London at times like this!!

  6. February 16, 2014 / 4:38 PM

    I will never get tired of looking that pic of you on the stairs.

    What a brilliant day this was.

  7. February 18, 2014 / 9:38 PM

    I adore the Spice Girls tribute! Well done to you all- it looks like it was so much fun!

  8. March 23, 2014 / 10:51 AM

    You all did such an amazing job, it is no wonder it trended on Twitter. Very well done all.

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