Day 7

The work goes on, the weather holds. Site 1 (Moose) said to me (and I quote exactly) "I don't like it, it's too quiet". Think he's been watching too many old Westerns again...

The main activity has been on the part of the marquee guys, steadily putting up canvas all over the show ground. Late in the day, Moose's concerns were partly justified when the genny supplying Admin village and the Tardis compound hiccuped for a while, and then died. Emergency supplies were sorted to get us through the night, and a repair or replacement should be happening as I type this.

I also had a chat with Moose about the use of wrg forestry, or non-use rather. He said that he did look at getting a wrg team in, but the timing just wasn't right. There's a narrow window for this sort of work (before the birdies start nesting) and a wrg camp just couldn't be done.

I guess that's the other side of the volunteering coin; unlike contractors, you can't just summon a volunteer team when you want them.

This blog continues to attract positive tweets and the like; my thanks to those who do so. Meanwhile, Towpath Talk has drawn attention to a reshowing of the BBC2 programme, The Golden Age of Canals, tonight at 9pm.

Now for a few more photos:

Two thirds of the IWA marquee

 The biggest marquee will be that occupied by the IWA, as you'd expect. It will be visible as you come in through the main entrance.

Wrg eating marquee ready for action

 30 trestles are now installed, so we should be able to accommodate everyone.

Driving a peg

Anyone who's ever struggled to put a mooring pin in will look at this machine with envy. It drives the 30" long marquee pegs with little effort, but a lot of noise. At knock down, the beast can even be used in reverse to pull them out again.

Blacking out the sleeping marquee glass

 Every year, they fit the sleeping marquee with glazed doors. Last year, I did manage to get them to change them for solid ones, but this year it was decided just to fix black out material over the glass.

Commercial cabin

 Here it stands, all sad and alone, by the exhibitors' vehicle entrance. Come the day, there will be a marquee front to it, and it will be heaving with activity.

Plumbers' Fire Service

Seems a long time since the plumbing team got a mention, so here they are collecting the biggest step ladder on site, preparatory to climbing another tree.

Many thanks to all who sent us good wishes for our anniversary yesterday. In the end, we went to the Albion on Shobnall Road, an easy walk from the site. It's a Marston's chain pub, but the food was good, though only Pedigree was available from the cask, no guest beer that I could see.

Service was average; our starters came in good time, but then I think they forgot about us, and we had a long wait for our mains.

Day 6 and the work goes on

Today is our Ruby Wedding Anniversary. We're not planning any wild celebrations, just a trip out to the pub tonight. We'll maybe have a fancier meal later in the year, when we're somewhere a bit better supplied with fancy restaurants than Burton (it really is a pub town still).

Meantime, all I can say is that my life divides into two parts, the first 18 years before Sheila and I were together, and the last 43, including a long engagement at Uni, when we've been inseparable. I don't know what I did in the first 18 to deserve the last 43...

;)

There are no dramas to report from yesterday, just a satisfying level of progress, so I guess I'll let the photos do the talking again:

Motorised marking

This photo is a bit blurry, as it was taken from some distance by a phone camera; my thanks to Judy Hanchet for it. It shows Chris marking out the campsite with the aid of his wife's mobility scooter. That's not a moustache, by the way, it's a pen in his mouth.

Premier skeleton

The marquees are again being supplied by what's now Northern Event Structures. They are very good, and have a fast erection team. This is the skeleton of the Premier Marquee in place. By the end of the day it was covered and floored.

A lot of stuff happened in the wrg compound, getting it ready for the weekend's incursion of the main wrg camp.

Eating marquee

 The eating marquee is nearly ready, with all the trestle tables installed and covered in poly.

Adding the fridge annex

The kitchen cabin has an annex attached to the back, to hold the fridges and freezers. It's stored in flat pack form in the Tardis; here the guys are roofing it in heavy poly canvas.

Activity outside the eating marquee

 For many years, Moose was a leading red shirt. Quite rightly, he plays down the distinction between red shirts (wrgies) and blue (Festival volunteers) but strictly speaking he's a blue shirt these days, as Site Director. Some might say,therefore, that this is a typical picture, the red shirts in the background are working, and the blue shirt disguised as a red shirt in front is having a sit down.

Sleeping marquee

I can't remember another camp (and this is our eighth) where the sleeping marquee has been ready in such good time. It's been floored and carpeted, and all it needs now is the blown hot air heater installed.

Veg team take a break

They worked through to Horninglow yesterday. Here they are taking a break, well deserved in view of their efforts.

An example of the work

The householder whose garden is behind this tree has been asking BW to trim it back for him for years. They quoted him £800 to do it; it took the veg team maybe half an hour.

This raises an interesting question. In the early spring, the heavy scrub along the embankment where the workers' boats are tied had to be cleared off before the birds started nesting. BW gave IWA £600 towards the cost, and IWA then hired contractors at a cost of £1600 to do the work.

Wrg has a skilled forestry team, for whom this would have been a couple of weekends' work. Why weren't they used? That way, IWA could have kept the £600. I'll try and find out the answer (there may well be one, I just don't know it).

Horninglow basin

 This is where the Friday night Illuminated Parade will turn round, and good luck to 'em, say I. I could just about wind Sanity here, (she is 60'), but I wouldn't like to try the same with Sanity Again at 70.

Granny Buttons

This is the boat which has starred in so many blog posts by Andrew Denny. That space alongside is technically the winding hole and access to the service block. What you can't see is the bridge hole behind the camera that makes it amazingly difficult to swing into or out of the slot.

That's it for today; more tomorrow when I sober up ;).

Second Tuesday

Yesterday was another day given over to working on the Newsletters, though we took opportunities to get out and about when we could. The good news was that the latest strategy for printing the thing worked; I took a memory stick with the copy on it as a PDF of two A3 sides, and Kevin the Comms genius printed it on the duplex printer, resulting in a perfect reproduction.

Sighs of relief all round.

More pictures were taken, and information slowly acquired to fill in the articles we’ve already drafted.

The site team were cheered by the weather, which was dry and windy, and the ground has returned to a useable state. By being firm about not allowing wheeled traffic on site, it’s remained grass covered and good looking.

Elanor has been working hard as WRG administrator, though her job will, hopefully, get easier from now, as most folk have arrived Much of her work now consists of generating lists and numbers from her spreadsheets, such as those needed by the cook for food purchasing, and the list of those staying in the compound, which goes over to Admin every afternoon in case of fire overnight.

Yesterday evening was the Cheese and Wine party, when the Blue Shirts from the various Festival teams get together with the Red Shirts of the wrgies. As usual, it went very well, and even the obligatory talk by the ECO (Emergency Control Officer) about emergency procedures didn’t take too long.

The site is now becoming recognisable as a show Ground, with most of the marquees up, and the electrical contractors positioning generators and stringing cable. The WRG teams will be kept busy burying them (the cables, that is) for the next couple of days.

Fastening down the gazebo outside the WRG eating marquee, to stop it blowing away

WRG Admin takes a break from the laptop to help peel onions

Conferences on the go

The Show Field fills up