Critique
30-05-2005, 11:59 AM
Well that was a bit of "excitment" (not the right word really).
We were just sitting here Saturday evening and it was a lovely evening. Grandson Tom had been on about going up to Billericay but Mr. C said he didn't really fancy it and that he was going to a flying club Gala today.
Because I know how much Tom (and all the kids) love it just running wild, swinging from trees, shooting air pistols at targets (under supervision of course) and just generally sitting round the permanent camp fire, I suggested to Mr. C that we could set off early Sunday morning, be there in a couple of hours and then come home in the evening. A day there is enough for me, to be honest because, as Mazz explained, there are no facilities whatsoever. Just a great big 5 berth caravan.
It was nearly 6 o'clock and Mr. C looked at his watch and said, "let's just go now, we can be away by 7 and up there by 9!". I knew what he was thinking, the Carboot Sale at Billericay is huge so if we went Saturday we could be up and round the booty on Sunday morning ;)
I kept thinking that the 2 brothers already up there might not be best pleased having to put us up too but Mr. C always says "you worry too much, Arthur loves people up there and always says the more the merrier" so I managed a quick shower (knowing I wouldn't get anything more than a wipe over with a wet-wipe til we got home) threw a couple of changes of underwear and some deodorant into a bag along with change of clothes for Tom (in case he fell is something nasty) clothes for Mr. C etc.
We threw sleeping bags, pillows, and stuff like that into the car and just took off. We had a brilliant journey up there, hardly any traffic on the M25 at that time of evening and Tom slept til we got to the Dartford Tunnel.
We pulled into the woods at Billericay at 8.35 pm which was good going. Imagine our shock horror, though, when we saw that Arthur had his 2 sons with him (not sure how old they are but Mazza probably knows. I'm sure Paul is in his 20s but not sure about Lee, but the point is, they are not little kids!)
Considering we had arrived totally unexpectedly they gave us a warm welcome and soon we were sitting round the old camp fire tucking into barbecued pork, steak, chicken etc., while the men including the other brother who lives up there and the next door neighbour, poured booze down their throats and got mellow.
To be honest, I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful evening and we had some music filtering through the woods from our car CD player and it was real chill out time. The older lads played "frisby" with tom and kept an eye on him while they gathered up more logs for the bonfire. I just had this niggling feeling about where we were all going to sleep.
I did volunteer to sleep in the car - it wouldn't have bothered me but the men were very chivalrous and insisted I had the little bedroom with the single bed in it and Tom slept in a sleeping bag on the floor by the side of me.
The other 5 men slept 2 on the convertible sofa bed, 2 in the pulldown bed and one on the floor! Crowded or what?
Next morning we were up and about early. We had a good wander round the bootsale and then agreed to meet up at Tesco's for more supplies. Unforunately, Mr. C has no sense of direction and took a wrong turn so we ended up on a dual carriageway with no way of turning round until we were practically at Southend (well slight exaggeration but it felt like it!). After taking 2 more wrong turnings and getting hopelessly lost we finally found the right Tesco just in time to pass the others on their way back to the Caravan. Yes, I had my mobile but only one of the older boys had one and I didn't have his number!
Anyway, we had another pleasant afternoon and evening in the sunshine and round the camp fire but woke this morning to pouring rain. There's nothing worse than Billericay in the rain, it's just mud, mud, mud. Good job we had all planned to come home this morning anyway.
So here we are back home again and I have cooked eggs and bacon for Tom and Mr. C and they have gone off to the flying gala and I am now going to have a lovely hot shower, put some TCP on my Mozzie bites and catch up with the messages. The sleeping bags and stuff have all been dropped in a heap in the spare room but I'll get round to sorting them out later.
Isn't running water great? Aren't proper flushing toilets wonderful? Doesn't your own tea taste "special"?
By the way, thanks for all the good wishes on my "going away" thread :thumbsup:
We were just sitting here Saturday evening and it was a lovely evening. Grandson Tom had been on about going up to Billericay but Mr. C said he didn't really fancy it and that he was going to a flying club Gala today.
Because I know how much Tom (and all the kids) love it just running wild, swinging from trees, shooting air pistols at targets (under supervision of course) and just generally sitting round the permanent camp fire, I suggested to Mr. C that we could set off early Sunday morning, be there in a couple of hours and then come home in the evening. A day there is enough for me, to be honest because, as Mazz explained, there are no facilities whatsoever. Just a great big 5 berth caravan.
It was nearly 6 o'clock and Mr. C looked at his watch and said, "let's just go now, we can be away by 7 and up there by 9!". I knew what he was thinking, the Carboot Sale at Billericay is huge so if we went Saturday we could be up and round the booty on Sunday morning ;)
I kept thinking that the 2 brothers already up there might not be best pleased having to put us up too but Mr. C always says "you worry too much, Arthur loves people up there and always says the more the merrier" so I managed a quick shower (knowing I wouldn't get anything more than a wipe over with a wet-wipe til we got home) threw a couple of changes of underwear and some deodorant into a bag along with change of clothes for Tom (in case he fell is something nasty) clothes for Mr. C etc.
We threw sleeping bags, pillows, and stuff like that into the car and just took off. We had a brilliant journey up there, hardly any traffic on the M25 at that time of evening and Tom slept til we got to the Dartford Tunnel.
We pulled into the woods at Billericay at 8.35 pm which was good going. Imagine our shock horror, though, when we saw that Arthur had his 2 sons with him (not sure how old they are but Mazza probably knows. I'm sure Paul is in his 20s but not sure about Lee, but the point is, they are not little kids!)
Considering we had arrived totally unexpectedly they gave us a warm welcome and soon we were sitting round the old camp fire tucking into barbecued pork, steak, chicken etc., while the men including the other brother who lives up there and the next door neighbour, poured booze down their throats and got mellow.
To be honest, I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful evening and we had some music filtering through the woods from our car CD player and it was real chill out time. The older lads played "frisby" with tom and kept an eye on him while they gathered up more logs for the bonfire. I just had this niggling feeling about where we were all going to sleep.
I did volunteer to sleep in the car - it wouldn't have bothered me but the men were very chivalrous and insisted I had the little bedroom with the single bed in it and Tom slept in a sleeping bag on the floor by the side of me.
The other 5 men slept 2 on the convertible sofa bed, 2 in the pulldown bed and one on the floor! Crowded or what?
Next morning we were up and about early. We had a good wander round the bootsale and then agreed to meet up at Tesco's for more supplies. Unforunately, Mr. C has no sense of direction and took a wrong turn so we ended up on a dual carriageway with no way of turning round until we were practically at Southend (well slight exaggeration but it felt like it!). After taking 2 more wrong turnings and getting hopelessly lost we finally found the right Tesco just in time to pass the others on their way back to the Caravan. Yes, I had my mobile but only one of the older boys had one and I didn't have his number!
Anyway, we had another pleasant afternoon and evening in the sunshine and round the camp fire but woke this morning to pouring rain. There's nothing worse than Billericay in the rain, it's just mud, mud, mud. Good job we had all planned to come home this morning anyway.
So here we are back home again and I have cooked eggs and bacon for Tom and Mr. C and they have gone off to the flying gala and I am now going to have a lovely hot shower, put some TCP on my Mozzie bites and catch up with the messages. The sleeping bags and stuff have all been dropped in a heap in the spare room but I'll get round to sorting them out later.
Isn't running water great? Aren't proper flushing toilets wonderful? Doesn't your own tea taste "special"?
By the way, thanks for all the good wishes on my "going away" thread :thumbsup: