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Kent and East Sussex Canal Restoration Group |
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A dog’s life… Hello my name is Cam, I am a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and this year Loz and Rosie are helping me to write the camp report…
Sunday dawned warm and
sunny, after chasing my tail for a while I tucked into a hearty
breakfast (thank you Eddie for volunteering to get up, we’d have
gone rather hungry without you). On site I entertained everyone with
my curious staffy noises, keeping their morale up whilst they got on
with fascinating things like…
Work continued on Monday
(fancy that), more blocks were made
It’s fortunate that I’m here to help Loz and Rosie writing this, as their only recollection of Tuesday was ‘Shepherds Pie’. I however, could tell you a plethora of technical information for this day, but I don’t want to bore you, so… I made a new friend at the pub called George, sadly George wasn’t allowed friends so I was whisked away, while everyone else got to continue downing their pints of Tanglefoot and Badger. Wednesday saw Rowena and
Steve continue their dangerous The next morning I
discovered myself and Rosie were the only ones to have slept
peacefully through the arrival of Jem (“the nasty yappy little dog”
– Loz, “sweet adorable thing” – Rosie) during a thunderstorm that
night. Disappointed as I was not to make another friend I suppose I
must be content with George. On site I sat on my chair (aren’t I a
clever boy?) and posed for pictures, whilst I surveyed the multitude
of work going on; su doku, crosswords…
‘The level on the wall is
straight, straight, straight, Oh dear, and people thought
my staffy noises were strange! There were many more verses, but
don’t worry, they shan’t be inflicted upon you. The last day ended
with the traditional water and mud fight, with orange squash being
replaced by vegetable oil as the weapon of choice.
A cooked breakfast, with
the choice of an accompanying salad, provided a good start to the
final day, though obviously not as good as pedigree chum would have
done. More kit was sorted and goodbyes were said before handing over
guardianship of the canal to the next camp group. And now I will bid you
adieu until next year, there is a cat that needs chasing so I must
leave you.
Cam
A very big Thank You to Rosie and Lauren once again for a brill camp report!
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Well
where to start, I arrived at Kirdford Village Hall on Saturday and
to my joy discovered about 30 beds laid out for me; so much more
comfortable than a basket. Everyone asked my name first, ahead of
the human I own, Nic; and indeed before that of anyone else on the
camp.
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After
a delicious dinner of chicken and rice (ha-ha, yes I managed to
sneak some!) we visited the site where the humans would be working
all week under my excellent supervision. I was delighted to discover
vast quantities of mud to roll in, everyone else strangely was less
so and seemed relieved to reach the wonderful dryness of the Onslow
Arms..jpg)
block
making under the direction of the Queen of Blocks (Loz) with Claire
and Sam; the return of Mk II’s comedy carpentry making shuttering,
Jenny and Rosie learning the art of mortar mixing from Kaz (whilst
poor folk like Andrew, Gerallt, Nick and Alex got to barrow it all
away). During lunch break people were occasionally distracted away
from fussing over me to eat vast quantities of food and listen to
Claire’s philosophical views: ‘To a giant you’d seem tiny, but to us
you’re normal’. Later on my circle of admirers was sadly diminished
by the departure of Gaz and Kaz and Mark, but it meant more roast
pork for me at dinner. At the Forresters that evening some were
dismayed by there now only being one swing on the children’s
playground, but fortunately it didn’t distress me too much..jpg)
and
large quantities of concrete was mixed to go in ‘the hole’. Eddie
began his arduous task of teaching all the girlies to use the stihl
saw beginning with Jenny and Rosie; whilst the DofEers, Jess and Roz
were put to work breaking under Nic’s tutorage. The planned evenings
entertainment was swimming; foolishly the DofEers declined to go,
failing to realise that the alternative was to stay slaving away on
site. As the merry band departed poolward bound, I watched in
bewilderment as Nic walked away leaving me tied underneath the
portacabin. I couldn’t believe it when they drove away, the
traumatic feeling of abandonment overwhelmed me. Didn’t he want me
anymore? Fortunately my kind uncle Ian had not forgotten me and took
me back to the accommodation, where food helped me to numb my pain.
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When
they returned, marginally cleaner than before (sadly the same cannot
be said for the pool water) all was forgiven over a dinner of steak
and ale pie..jpg)
vehicles training, on the small excavator and landies, and the
dumper respectively. Perhaps due to this Steve forgot the flight
case yet again, leading to the creation of the post ‘flight case
attendant’. This distinguished honour was bestowed upon Rosie; who
was going to hide the case the next day but was reminded by Richard
that it was highly unlikely Steve would notice it was gone. Jess,
the ‘breaking bitch’ continued her fine work along with Roz, now
known as the ‘saw whore’ after a lesson from Eddie. The beautiful
blocks made earlier in the week, having got the Queen’s seal of
approval were laid in
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‘the
hole’ by Roy, Chris, Lew and Phill for paddle culverts (I think…).
Despite having an early start to avoid the midday sun, Loz cracked
her whip and made her block team work through lunch (mwahahahahaha).
Attention was rudely diverted from me in the evening by the arrival
of the youngest WRGie, Samuel (sadly not resplendent in a KESCRG
baby grow) accompanied by Ruth and Steve. They had joined us for a
journey aboard the Zachariah Keppel and a scrumptious picnic tea..jpg)
Construction
began on the second Great Wall of China (see last years camp
report),.jpg)
Loz having finally torn herself away from her beloved blocks,
leaving them in the safe hands of Roz, Jess and Graham. Comedy
carpentry continued apace, producing fabulous shuttering for the
insitu casting of coping stones. At dinner that evening some were
disappointed that Maureen and Brian had left early, as it meant
going without Maureen’s famous ‘lightly breaded garlic’. However Dr
Liz did not disappoint and everyone tucked in happily to a delicious
meal of lasagne and garlic bread, before abandoning me at the
accommodation for an evening of bowling..jpg)
To
everyone’s amazement it was suddenly Friday without even Andrew
being broken, despite Steve’s best attempts. To her delight Jenny
managed to find a new job that was neither barrowing nor mixing,
helping Mk II lay the coping stone. Alice and Andrew kept up a
steady stream of concrete and mortar to ‘the hole’, ably barrowed by
Amy (newly returned), Alex, Nick, Richard and Mark (taking a rest
from breaking). Ian taught Jess and Roz surveying, whilst Loz and
Rosie invented a new song, which is included below for your
pleasure..jpg)
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Somehow
the kit ended up clean in the trailer, if only the same could be
said for the humans… After showers and a beer run the end of camp
party began with a barbeque courtesy of Ian. Dr Busker provided the
evenings soundtrack,
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while
awards were given out to Gerallt, Jenny, Roz, Jess, Nick, Alex,
Andrew, Eddie, Loz and Rowena (apologies if I missed anyone, I was
enjoying a rather tasty bone at the time). Giant Jenga returned,
along with the cereal box game; honestly I don’t know why they think
it’s so hard, for a dog it’s terribly easy to eat from the floor.
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