Sunday, August 15, 2004
My New Wine Experience 2004
Day one
It took me about an hour and three quarters to get here this morning...here being the Royal Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet. Incidentally, for those people who think caravans inevitably cause traffic hold-ups (are you reading, Rob TV?), the only times I had more than one car behind me were when I was being slowed down by traffic in front of me. Most of the day was spent in getting the caravan sorted out, then a team of us moved into the Medical Centre to sort that out...we don't know who last used it before us, but they could take good housekeeping lessons from SimonG.
With the day's activities complete, I decided to take advantage of having a sign in the windscreen saying "Event Medical Team" to have a drive round the site (it's generally a car-free site). I stopped at the fast-food wagon for a bacon roll, and the guy serving said "Oh, I've only got one slice of bacon, I'll stick a burger in there for you as well". Nice man. He's my friend.
Day two
Having spent yesterday scrubbing and polishing the Med. Centre until it was at least fit to keep livestock in, today we turned it into a medical centre. My task for the morning was to go into the nearest town and collect supplies - mainly cleaning materials as we'd used a week's worth yesterday. This is how I came to be in the weirdest shop I've ever seen: It has about ten million departments, and I went in the front door by the car park in Shepton Mallet, and came out of the back door in Narnia.
Anyway, the Medical Team opened officially for business this afternoon, I worked the late shift on the ambulance with Colin the Paramedic, and now it's bedtime.
Heather (driving) and Anne manning the Rover vehicle.
Day three
Today was my day off from being a Medical Team person, so I spent the morning reading "Do Not Pass Go" (thanks to Stu and Sarah), and listening to the cricket on the radio. The afternoon was spent in a similar fashion, interspersed with giving familiarisation sessions on the Nissan Terrano we're using as the team vehicle.
In the cool of the evening (relatively speaking) I decided to go to Glastonbury to do the geocache "Glastonbury Tor": Unfortunately there was an open air concert in Glastonbury this evening, and nary a parking space to be found, so I came back to the site and visited the chip wagon instead.
Day four
I was on late shift today, so after the morning team meeting I saddled up the Gruntmobile and set off geocaching. I failed to find "Ham Woods Choo Choo", but I came back to the site all sweaty and covered in mud so it wasn't a wasted trip. A bite of lunch and a shower (and ten minutes in the SimonG chatroom, courtesy of the on-site internet cafe) and it was time to go on duty, nine hectic hours of saving lives, interspersed with some mind-numbingly tedious paperwork. And now it's bedtime.
Although I complain about the paperwork, it would have been much worse without Marianne to help us.
Day five
The day started horribly early, with a crashing thunderstorm at four o'clock, and of course once that was clear I couldn't get back to sleep until just before it was time to get up at seven. Today is the site day off, when most of the delegates go out for the day, and in theory there's no early shift for the Medical Team: In practice there was a stream of things needing to be dealt with, and such things are traditionally done by those of us on-site without families etc, enabling the others to get away. In the end, we finished the morning list just in time to have lunch and a shower just before it was time to come on for the late shift. Ah well...then another busy shift, which finished two hours later than it was supposed to (because of a gig by the Christian rock band Delirious?), then bed. Got to be up in time for early shift tomorrow!
Enjoying the facilities of Staff Catering.
Day six
I'm sure that being on holiday isn't supposed to be this tiring. I managed to be up in time for the team meeting followed by early shift, but by the end of it Teresa, one of my team colleagues, was expressing much concern over my all too apparent tired state, and indeed I planned to do a couple of jobs and head straight back to my caravan for a nap. But I had to queue for the internet cafe to blog, and then there was some grocery shopping without which I wouldn't have been able to have breakfast tomorrow. Then I met Gill and Geoff so walked back with them, so I ended up outside their caravan (which, to be fair, is next to mine) having tea and chatting. Then it was time for a shower, so it's now six hours since I came off duty. I think I'll have that nap now.
A not-very-good picture of the evening celebration.
Day seven
Well, that was a long nap...I overslept and missed the team meeting this morning. Breakfast took most of the morning: One of the food wagons does a toasted breakfast sandwich, consisting of bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. I discovered a different shower block today, much better than the ones I've been using (although still not exactly world class), then after my shower it was time to head for the Worker's Celebration, where those of us who are working on the various event teams get (in theory) an uninterrupted time to worship and pray. I came on shift on the rover vehicle as soon as the celebration ended, and after another busy shift saving lives, I think it's bedtime. Early shift tomorrow!
Day eight
It's hard to believe we've been here a week, and today is the last day of week one. We had our last meeting of the week one Medical Team this morning, and then there was a communion service which nearly everyone on site - all eleven thousand - attended. Today's shift wasn't that busy in terms of seeing patients so I was helping Jo, our team leader, with some of the paperwork involved. After getting off shift I bought some books in the site bookstall (including one by John Robinson who used to be our church's youth worker) and used the internet cafe to blog, then had a toffee waffle in the food court and rang my Mum to see she was getting on OK. The evening celebration was a big "last night of New Wine" event, then I bought some chips to take back to my caravan to share with Gill.
Day nine
The lack of a morning meeting today meant that I enjoyed a lazy lay in, although I was still up and about earlier than on a normal Saturday. Team Leader Jo commented that I was very brightly dressed this morning - I was wearing my Pompey shirt. Geoff commented that that was one prayer for deliverance that hasn't worked yet...but he's a Man Utd supporter so what does he know?
A fairly quiet day was had by all, today is the changeover day when week one people leave, and most week two people don't arrive until tomorrow. Much laying around in the glorious sunshine was done, followed by a team eating-of-chinese-takeaway in the evening.
Day ten
Oh dear...I left my PDA in the Med. Centre yesterday, and now I have to try to do two days worth of diary in one hit. Sunday was a fairly quiet day, with only a few errands needing to be done before the Week Two Team Meeting in the afternoon. I spent a fair amount of the time posing around the site in the Gruntmobile, as the contingent from my church - plus my friend Debbie and her church - arrived during the day and I kept dashing off to visit them. Oh, and I had much fun helping our new neighbours, Geoff and Caroline, work out how to put their gazebo up. After the afternoon meeting, Colin the Paramedic and I were running radio- and vehicle-familiarisation sessions for the new team members; then it was time for the evening celebration, and then it was bed.
Day eleven
Back on early shift today, and I was partnered on the Rover vehicle with Christine, a new team member at her first New Wine. We did some site familiarisation (i.e. we drove around a lot), then after lunch were kept pretty busy assisting the Med. Centre team with a stream of customers. Once I was off duty, I went to Tesco and shopped (and bought diesel at 3p a litre more than at home), then came back and sat with Gill, watching Geoff and the girls, and some of our new neighbours, playing a rather odd game of rounders. Then after the evening celebration I met up with Tony and Lin, Derek and Maureen, and Graham and Joan from our church, and was invited back to their encampment to drink whisky. I hope I manage to get up in time for the morning meeting tomorrow.
The traditional picture of someone (in this case James) mopping the Med. Centre floor.
Day twelve
I made it to the meeting...just. Once the meeting was over, today was my day off, so I headed to Bath for some geocaching. There are a number of caches - virtual, micro and traditional - in Bath, and I managed five if them, although whether I can log the first virtual depends on whether the picture I took of the plaque is legible on the big screen when I get home. Anyway, I did:
The First King of England
Eyes Looking Up
Great Pulteney Street
Sham Castle
Royal Crescent
Then I went back to the site, chatted with Gill and Geoff for a while, and went to the evening celebration. Didn't see the late shift crew at all - apparently they had a really busy shift. I blogged via the internet cafe, some wine was drunk, and now it's bedtime.
The view of Bath from near the geocache "Sham Castle"
Day thirteen
The site day off, and I was on the early shift. Everything went barmy during morning opening, and we dealt with thirty patients - only a few of whom really needed to be seen, although I DID see my first insect-sting-inside-the-mouth in thirty years of being a first aider. Once we'd cleared that lot away, we locked up and pretended not to be in while we plodded through a mountain of paperwork.
After lunch we did some more "site familiarisation" (posing around in the ambulance), then back to the Medical Centre for tea and biscuits. A few days before New Wine, my Mum presented me with vast quantities of the kind of food you only ever eat on holiday - last week I shared a tinned Double Chocolate and Orange Cake with the rest of the team, and I've got a tinned Lemon Drizzle Cake which will be the offering for tomorrow or the next day. This afternoon I scarfed down ludicrous amounts of calories in the form of Speciality Biscuits and Orange Preserve.
Gill didn't feel well this evening, so rather than go to the evening celebration we stayed in her caravan and listened to it on the radio. Then I plodded through the pouring rain for a shower.
Morning meeting: Sally and Mike discuss, while Jo supplies us with coffee.
Day fourteen
Today, it rained. In fact it didn't just rain, it lobstered down excessively. One of the seminar venues was closed down due to being waterlogged, and apparently the Big Top - where the evening and morning celebrations happen - has a major leak as well. My caravan had some minor rain intake through the skylight, and I keep having to knock the lake off the top of the awning, but other than that I've been OK so far. I should have been on earlies today, but there had been some foul-up with the rota and I was asked to swap onto lates. It meant I missed the "All hands on deck" when there was a car crash outside the main gate, but you can't have everything. And now I've just been for a shower and discovered them all out of order. Ah well, all part of the rich New Wine experience.
Like I said, it rained. A lot.
Day fifteen
Seems like we only arrived yesterday, and here we are, tomorrow is the last full day. Actually, since I'm writing this after midnight I suppose technically today is the last full day and tomorrow we go home. Anyway, today (technically yesterday etc.) I was on the early shift rovering with Paramedic Paul. He's a great guy whom I love working with 'cos I've always learned a lot from him. Access to the Big Top (main celebration venue) was severely restricted because of mud and rain, and in fact much of the site was tricky to access. Not too busy a shift, although I was late getting off because Something Dramatic happened and I stayed to see how it finished. Then the party from my church had invited me to a bring-and-eat: it's like a bring-and-buy, only not as pointless and without the doddery elderly ladies. The idea was to have a party with everyone bringing what they would have eaten for that meal anyway: since what I would have eaten was half a lettuce leaf (portion size hasn't been too good in staff catering this year), Derek and Maureen had kindly offered to cater for me, so I enjoyed an excellent meal. After the evening celebration I was back on duty, covering the end of shift for Paramedic Colin who was doing a supplementary duty (a bit complex isn't it?), I finished at eleven, and now it's bedtime.
What's the collective noun for doctors? Anyway, Jo, Mike and Gary discuss things while Sally keeps them in order.
Day sixteen
Today started - the same as every other day - with the team prayer meeting at eight o'clock. It finished with a session of individual prayer and words of knowledge. Mike had a word that I was "Dangerous because I'm not what it says on the tin, I can get into places I shouldn't be able to." Sounds exciting but also scary! Anyway, after communion, the morning was spent rather prosaically packing the awning while it was dry, other bits of caravan packing, and listening to the Test match on the radio. Then my shift started...
Things wot I learned today:
1) A new way to remember how to spell "diarrhoea" (thanks Jacqui)
2) When you're on your own in the rover vehicle and carrying a delicate cargo (five plated meals from staff catering) phrases you don't want to hear on the radio include "Rover, have you got the defibrillator on board?"
3) Don't eat the Coronation Chicken from staff catering.
4) Don't make jokes with the duty doctor about how it's been really quiet this year and we haven’t needed an Air Ambulance
It was a busy old shift.
Marianne, surrounded by bits and pieces as we pack the Medical Centre kit away until next year
It took me about an hour and three quarters to get here this morning...here being the Royal Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet. Incidentally, for those people who think caravans inevitably cause traffic hold-ups (are you reading, Rob TV?), the only times I had more than one car behind me were when I was being slowed down by traffic in front of me. Most of the day was spent in getting the caravan sorted out, then a team of us moved into the Medical Centre to sort that out...we don't know who last used it before us, but they could take good housekeeping lessons from SimonG.
With the day's activities complete, I decided to take advantage of having a sign in the windscreen saying "Event Medical Team" to have a drive round the site (it's generally a car-free site). I stopped at the fast-food wagon for a bacon roll, and the guy serving said "Oh, I've only got one slice of bacon, I'll stick a burger in there for you as well". Nice man. He's my friend.
Day two
Having spent yesterday scrubbing and polishing the Med. Centre until it was at least fit to keep livestock in, today we turned it into a medical centre. My task for the morning was to go into the nearest town and collect supplies - mainly cleaning materials as we'd used a week's worth yesterday. This is how I came to be in the weirdest shop I've ever seen: It has about ten million departments, and I went in the front door by the car park in Shepton Mallet, and came out of the back door in Narnia.
Anyway, the Medical Team opened officially for business this afternoon, I worked the late shift on the ambulance with Colin the Paramedic, and now it's bedtime.
Heather (driving) and Anne manning the Rover vehicle.
Day three
Today was my day off from being a Medical Team person, so I spent the morning reading "Do Not Pass Go" (thanks to Stu and Sarah), and listening to the cricket on the radio. The afternoon was spent in a similar fashion, interspersed with giving familiarisation sessions on the Nissan Terrano we're using as the team vehicle.
In the cool of the evening (relatively speaking) I decided to go to Glastonbury to do the geocache "Glastonbury Tor": Unfortunately there was an open air concert in Glastonbury this evening, and nary a parking space to be found, so I came back to the site and visited the chip wagon instead.
Day four
I was on late shift today, so after the morning team meeting I saddled up the Gruntmobile and set off geocaching. I failed to find "Ham Woods Choo Choo", but I came back to the site all sweaty and covered in mud so it wasn't a wasted trip. A bite of lunch and a shower (and ten minutes in the SimonG chatroom, courtesy of the on-site internet cafe) and it was time to go on duty, nine hectic hours of saving lives, interspersed with some mind-numbingly tedious paperwork. And now it's bedtime.
Although I complain about the paperwork, it would have been much worse without Marianne to help us.
Day five
The day started horribly early, with a crashing thunderstorm at four o'clock, and of course once that was clear I couldn't get back to sleep until just before it was time to get up at seven. Today is the site day off, when most of the delegates go out for the day, and in theory there's no early shift for the Medical Team: In practice there was a stream of things needing to be dealt with, and such things are traditionally done by those of us on-site without families etc, enabling the others to get away. In the end, we finished the morning list just in time to have lunch and a shower just before it was time to come on for the late shift. Ah well...then another busy shift, which finished two hours later than it was supposed to (because of a gig by the Christian rock band Delirious?), then bed. Got to be up in time for early shift tomorrow!
Enjoying the facilities of Staff Catering.
Day six
I'm sure that being on holiday isn't supposed to be this tiring. I managed to be up in time for the team meeting followed by early shift, but by the end of it Teresa, one of my team colleagues, was expressing much concern over my all too apparent tired state, and indeed I planned to do a couple of jobs and head straight back to my caravan for a nap. But I had to queue for the internet cafe to blog, and then there was some grocery shopping without which I wouldn't have been able to have breakfast tomorrow. Then I met Gill and Geoff so walked back with them, so I ended up outside their caravan (which, to be fair, is next to mine) having tea and chatting. Then it was time for a shower, so it's now six hours since I came off duty. I think I'll have that nap now.
A not-very-good picture of the evening celebration.
Day seven
Well, that was a long nap...I overslept and missed the team meeting this morning. Breakfast took most of the morning: One of the food wagons does a toasted breakfast sandwich, consisting of bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. I discovered a different shower block today, much better than the ones I've been using (although still not exactly world class), then after my shower it was time to head for the Worker's Celebration, where those of us who are working on the various event teams get (in theory) an uninterrupted time to worship and pray. I came on shift on the rover vehicle as soon as the celebration ended, and after another busy shift saving lives, I think it's bedtime. Early shift tomorrow!
Day eight
It's hard to believe we've been here a week, and today is the last day of week one. We had our last meeting of the week one Medical Team this morning, and then there was a communion service which nearly everyone on site - all eleven thousand - attended. Today's shift wasn't that busy in terms of seeing patients so I was helping Jo, our team leader, with some of the paperwork involved. After getting off shift I bought some books in the site bookstall (including one by John Robinson who used to be our church's youth worker) and used the internet cafe to blog, then had a toffee waffle in the food court and rang my Mum to see she was getting on OK. The evening celebration was a big "last night of New Wine" event, then I bought some chips to take back to my caravan to share with Gill.
Day nine
The lack of a morning meeting today meant that I enjoyed a lazy lay in, although I was still up and about earlier than on a normal Saturday. Team Leader Jo commented that I was very brightly dressed this morning - I was wearing my Pompey shirt. Geoff commented that that was one prayer for deliverance that hasn't worked yet...but he's a Man Utd supporter so what does he know?
A fairly quiet day was had by all, today is the changeover day when week one people leave, and most week two people don't arrive until tomorrow. Much laying around in the glorious sunshine was done, followed by a team eating-of-chinese-takeaway in the evening.
Day ten
Oh dear...I left my PDA in the Med. Centre yesterday, and now I have to try to do two days worth of diary in one hit. Sunday was a fairly quiet day, with only a few errands needing to be done before the Week Two Team Meeting in the afternoon. I spent a fair amount of the time posing around the site in the Gruntmobile, as the contingent from my church - plus my friend Debbie and her church - arrived during the day and I kept dashing off to visit them. Oh, and I had much fun helping our new neighbours, Geoff and Caroline, work out how to put their gazebo up. After the afternoon meeting, Colin the Paramedic and I were running radio- and vehicle-familiarisation sessions for the new team members; then it was time for the evening celebration, and then it was bed.
Day eleven
Back on early shift today, and I was partnered on the Rover vehicle with Christine, a new team member at her first New Wine. We did some site familiarisation (i.e. we drove around a lot), then after lunch were kept pretty busy assisting the Med. Centre team with a stream of customers. Once I was off duty, I went to Tesco and shopped (and bought diesel at 3p a litre more than at home), then came back and sat with Gill, watching Geoff and the girls, and some of our new neighbours, playing a rather odd game of rounders. Then after the evening celebration I met up with Tony and Lin, Derek and Maureen, and Graham and Joan from our church, and was invited back to their encampment to drink whisky. I hope I manage to get up in time for the morning meeting tomorrow.
The traditional picture of someone (in this case James) mopping the Med. Centre floor.
Day twelve
I made it to the meeting...just. Once the meeting was over, today was my day off, so I headed to Bath for some geocaching. There are a number of caches - virtual, micro and traditional - in Bath, and I managed five if them, although whether I can log the first virtual depends on whether the picture I took of the plaque is legible on the big screen when I get home. Anyway, I did:
The First King of England
Eyes Looking Up
Great Pulteney Street
Sham Castle
Royal Crescent
Then I went back to the site, chatted with Gill and Geoff for a while, and went to the evening celebration. Didn't see the late shift crew at all - apparently they had a really busy shift. I blogged via the internet cafe, some wine was drunk, and now it's bedtime.
The view of Bath from near the geocache "Sham Castle"
Day thirteen
The site day off, and I was on the early shift. Everything went barmy during morning opening, and we dealt with thirty patients - only a few of whom really needed to be seen, although I DID see my first insect-sting-inside-the-mouth in thirty years of being a first aider. Once we'd cleared that lot away, we locked up and pretended not to be in while we plodded through a mountain of paperwork.
After lunch we did some more "site familiarisation" (posing around in the ambulance), then back to the Medical Centre for tea and biscuits. A few days before New Wine, my Mum presented me with vast quantities of the kind of food you only ever eat on holiday - last week I shared a tinned Double Chocolate and Orange Cake with the rest of the team, and I've got a tinned Lemon Drizzle Cake which will be the offering for tomorrow or the next day. This afternoon I scarfed down ludicrous amounts of calories in the form of Speciality Biscuits and Orange Preserve.
Gill didn't feel well this evening, so rather than go to the evening celebration we stayed in her caravan and listened to it on the radio. Then I plodded through the pouring rain for a shower.
Morning meeting: Sally and Mike discuss, while Jo supplies us with coffee.
Day fourteen
Today, it rained. In fact it didn't just rain, it lobstered down excessively. One of the seminar venues was closed down due to being waterlogged, and apparently the Big Top - where the evening and morning celebrations happen - has a major leak as well. My caravan had some minor rain intake through the skylight, and I keep having to knock the lake off the top of the awning, but other than that I've been OK so far. I should have been on earlies today, but there had been some foul-up with the rota and I was asked to swap onto lates. It meant I missed the "All hands on deck" when there was a car crash outside the main gate, but you can't have everything. And now I've just been for a shower and discovered them all out of order. Ah well, all part of the rich New Wine experience.
Like I said, it rained. A lot.
Day fifteen
Seems like we only arrived yesterday, and here we are, tomorrow is the last full day. Actually, since I'm writing this after midnight I suppose technically today is the last full day and tomorrow we go home. Anyway, today (technically yesterday etc.) I was on the early shift rovering with Paramedic Paul. He's a great guy whom I love working with 'cos I've always learned a lot from him. Access to the Big Top (main celebration venue) was severely restricted because of mud and rain, and in fact much of the site was tricky to access. Not too busy a shift, although I was late getting off because Something Dramatic happened and I stayed to see how it finished. Then the party from my church had invited me to a bring-and-eat: it's like a bring-and-buy, only not as pointless and without the doddery elderly ladies. The idea was to have a party with everyone bringing what they would have eaten for that meal anyway: since what I would have eaten was half a lettuce leaf (portion size hasn't been too good in staff catering this year), Derek and Maureen had kindly offered to cater for me, so I enjoyed an excellent meal. After the evening celebration I was back on duty, covering the end of shift for Paramedic Colin who was doing a supplementary duty (a bit complex isn't it?), I finished at eleven, and now it's bedtime.
What's the collective noun for doctors? Anyway, Jo, Mike and Gary discuss things while Sally keeps them in order.
Day sixteen
Today started - the same as every other day - with the team prayer meeting at eight o'clock. It finished with a session of individual prayer and words of knowledge. Mike had a word that I was "Dangerous because I'm not what it says on the tin, I can get into places I shouldn't be able to." Sounds exciting but also scary! Anyway, after communion, the morning was spent rather prosaically packing the awning while it was dry, other bits of caravan packing, and listening to the Test match on the radio. Then my shift started...
Things wot I learned today:
1) A new way to remember how to spell "diarrhoea" (thanks Jacqui)
2) When you're on your own in the rover vehicle and carrying a delicate cargo (five plated meals from staff catering) phrases you don't want to hear on the radio include "Rover, have you got the defibrillator on board?"
3) Don't eat the Coronation Chicken from staff catering.
4) Don't make jokes with the duty doctor about how it's been really quiet this year and we haven’t needed an Air Ambulance
It was a busy old shift.
Marianne, surrounded by bits and pieces as we pack the Medical Centre kit away until next year
