Life on camp IV

6th & 7th July

First thing yesterday we took down the night fence in pouring rain – the outlook really did not look good for the show, as lots of people decide their weekend plans over breakfast, and if it's tipping it down first thing, they may well decide not to go out.

In fact the weather improved steadily during the day, but parts of the site are now soaked and muddy. This caused a problem for vehicles trying to leave site, and Sheila, Elanor and I, together with Dave Worthington (aka Daddy Cool), spent a good chunk of the day at the main exit, first off helping to push vehicles which got stuck, and then operating the set of traffic lights controlling the one way passage over a little bridge over the River Frome at the entrance.

This was good fun in its way, as it involved the use of radios, and there was a definite sense of achievement in keeping things moving smoothly.

In a break from this we did have time to get round the show before Elanor had to leave to drive home and Sheila and I went back on bridge duty. By the time Sheila had to go off site to run the engine, things had dried up enough to allow us to turn the lights back to automatic working.

Dinner last night was a great laugh – a distinct sense of end of the event, relaxation that it had all gone reasonably well, although there's still lots of work to do taking it all down, of course. The weather, however, had turned very wet again, and continued so during the night.

When we turned up for breakfast this morning, it was to find that some of our colleagues had been up until three o'clock, monitoring the levels of water in the Frome, which had come up quite dramatically, and threatened to overflow into part of the site.

It went down by morning, then came up again during today – it's a case of the impact of the tide in the Severn at the confluence of the Frome causing it to back up. Accordingly, Adrian and Nick, as those responsible for the management of the work programme, decided to try to get as much as possible done today, rather than spreading it over two days.

Sheila and I have been on the fencing team all day, pulling down and stacking the Heras fencing. It's one of those jobs which is quite easy at first, but the panels and blocks get heavier and heavier as the day goes on.

There'll be a fair bit more to do after dinner tonight, so I'm keeping this short again – apart from anything else, my back is complaining a bit at all the abuse, so typing is not too comfortable just now.