The fact that I've managed to get my fitness sort of together and your challenge, I don't even know if I'd have been able to do that.

Walking is great for the mind.

It's great for the body.

They say it's great for the soul.

That's not the soles of the feet, though, as we've found out through it.

I wanted to do something when the email, I wanted to scream, first of all, when the email came out way back months ago saying we're doing up summit climb hills.

And I thought, well, there's lots of hills in Edinburgh.

I really like what Mark Ormrod was saying there about remember your why, like that digging deep moment, especially when it was getting challenging.

that.

Yes, so Friday past there saw drums beating, colours flying, bayonets fixed as over 250 of the ship's company of HMS Queen Elizabeth exercised their freedom of the city of Edinburgh by marching up from Holyrood House, the palace of Holyrood House, which is where the king stays when he's in Edinburgh.

Thankfully it was out that day because it might have disturbed them slightly, although I'm sure they'd embraced it as well.

And they marched up the Royal Mile, which is never an easy challenge at the best of times, but doing that in uniform, in boots, on cobbles, is a bigger challenge.

I mean, it's nowhere near the up-summit challenge that I'm doing for the BRPS Big Salute, but we can maybe mention that towards the end.

But just a fantastic day full of everything you would expect and including fascinated onlookers from around the world.

But the ones that I love most were the family and friends who turned out to go,

So what was happening? How was the parade?

So Mark, for you, what has the fringe been like this year?

Oh, it's really difficult to kind of... cherry pick.

It has been full on.

And I always come away from the Fringe thinking I've got quite a lot there, but there's so much more to get.

And, you know, there's a good representation, Project Comedy, for example, but also Warriors, a Scottish musical which was written by veterans.

And this is a musical that goes back to when these guys were serving and they used to sit in camp at night, one of them with a guitar, and write and sing songs and from that they've developed it and they've now taken it so it's been on every evening and these guys have great aspirations and they've now got a producer involved they've got professional actors and singers involved as well and if they're not at the West End in a few years time they'll be absolutely they'll be gutted because that's certainly where they're aiming

So, Mark, now that sort of the fringe is coming to an end, what has been some of your highlights from the fringe from like a personal level?

Sure.

You've been coaching baseball for more than 50 years, okay? When you think back to the young coach when you first started, how different is the coach sitting here today than he was back then?

Well, I hope he's different.

I started when I was 15, and so it's – I was coaching nine-year-olds with a buddy of mine.

I mean, I don't know where he – Where do you want me to start? I went to a small Catholic school through eighth grade.

And in eighth grade, that was the last class that you graduated.

I had 14 kids in my eighth grade class.

And my mom wanted me to go to a private Catholic school called Benilde, St. Margaret's.

ever.

Oh, Mark, don't we all wish we had a magic genie to help us out?

You don't? I've got one wish left and I'm keeping it.

That genie is staying in the bottle until I really, really need it.

He's a great guy.

Do you know, I spoke to him, that was at the working rehearsal, the day that the Princess Royal was there.

So he was preoccupied.

He had lots of things going on.

Because the icon that is Princess Anne was there, did she seem fairly impressed with the rehearsal? Did she seem fairly happy with everything that was going on?

What is Salamanca Day?

It is a fantastic day where the battalion comes together with their families and everybody celebrates.

But that's what it's based on.

It's all based around this.

You were at Sinaloa and the Garrison Family Day at the weekend there.

You know what it's like when people get together, they're able to let their hair down, have a bit of fun, and that's that community spirit.

And what they do here is, they've brought it forward, by the way, because the battalion's about to stand down for summer leave, and it would have been a bit mean to get them all back on the 22nd of July to do that.

Has it been a very busy week at Dragon Barracks?

Oh, that sounds quite interesting.

If you want to see it, it's up on the BFBS Scotland Instagram page now.

And also Facebook.

Give us a follow on the BFBS Scotland Instagram because we're new to it.

And, you know, numbers are growing slowly.

We have a lot of fun there.

Lots of Armed Forces Day thing.

Tell me about that.

It's like, it's like rollercoaster seem fun until you're at the top and then the adrenaline kicks in and then you're like, what's, what's going on, you know?

yeah honestly like the build up of the day because we left in the morning we got to the the hotel up in manhattan beach um we had our team meeting just before we left uh for for manhattan beach and just to go over a few things but one of the biggest things was marisa kept kept kept kind of going back to remember who's playing and it's that little kid who always dreamt of being in this position like that's the little kid who you're now playing for, and that's the little kid who's going to go out there and play.

He's going out there to enjoy, to compete.

Again, that's all you need to be focused on.

So I think for everybody hearing that message before we had even kind of set foot or started the journey up to Manhattan Beach and to SoFi, it kind of set the tone, set the precedence.

And then from there, everyone's got their own individual routines, whatever it is, before the game.

But we had a pregame huddle, and again, it's just going back to that, what are we here for, right? We're here to compete, and we're going to get stuck in on our first tackle.

What was the conversation, I guess, throughout the week from the staff? Was there a lot of like – was Poach and the crew kind of like – heavily monitoring the group to see the vibe and make sure that like yeah it's one thing to enjoy it this is a once in a lifetime opportunity but also like let's not forget like this is just the beginning of the journey

Do you feel that in camp? Are you guys pretty far from sort of the larger narrative? Maybe the narrative is just in my bubble, but generally I feel like it is 100% we are behind you guys going into this tournament.

It's hard to explain it because I think every individual is different within this team.

You have so many different personalities.

You have guys who are more in tune with what's going on in the media and guys who aren't.

Some guys can flush it out.

Some guys, you know, like I took that person, like that Michael Jordan meme.

So I think you have that wide range of guys, but the overall feeling has been, I'd say you are making proud those who ultimately want to see you do well.

Has it been a quick shift after Chicago into game prep mode for Paraguay? Or has it sort of been, I guess, more of the status quo of training intensity? Because I know Pochettino likes that high intensity type of training.

Oh!

I think in my career, I've always pushed so hard.

I've been so self-critical.

Oh, what a block! Wow, McKenzie! I've always been somebody who wants to do things perfectly.

Mark McKenzie! Defending is easy for him.

And I think that conviction is what's gotten me to where I am.

My dad's an immigrant from Jamaica, came to America with little to nothing, and my mother worked for everything she ever had in her life.

come from two parents who put their head down and make it happen, but ultimately understand that our source is in the Lord himself.

What was your comment?

I mean, we were like, "Hey," you know, "what's going on? If you need any help, any kinda situation, we know, you know, a few people that could help you out." Meaning that I have a friend of mine in the police station nearby I always call for any reason whatsoever.

One step closer, you understand?

No. [laughs] One step closer would be, "McKenzie, okay, here is the deposit.

Hold on to it.

Let me get you the A-okay next week, or let me get you the A-okay in two days." There's nothing serious to it until I see money in my hand.

Is this true?

It really depends, Shari, on what happens from here.

So the fuel supply chain is a bit like a sushi train.

You've got to keep putting fuel on the sushi train to make sure it actually arrives at port.

We have seen all the vessels that were contracted in February have arrived in country.

The real challenge is, are we going to see the same in April? And I have to say to you that the betting money is probably no.

We will see a reduction in the vessels that are landing with finished product.

So do we need to be preparing for that now by rationing supply, urging motorists to start to cut down on non-essential travel to carpool?