Working at the Festival 1

14th & 15th August

Sheila writes:

Bruce is still working on site so I shall have to do the blog today.

We had a very lazy start yesterday as we had promised to wait for Amber Moon so we could share the lock down onto the river. They wanted to get a last pump out before being on a Festival mooring for three weeks. It was a lovely morning with a fair amount of sun and not too much wind. When we eventually set off the locks were very busy but fortunately there was a lock keeper on duty. He was working both locks at once with a narrow boat and a cruiser in one and Amber Moon and ourselves in the other. This of course resulted in a little flotilla of boats all going down the river together.

Once heading up the Soar, this was one of the occasions when the GPS came in handy for boating. We knew that our mooring was in a little backwater on the left above the flood lock but we hadn't spotted the backwater when we came down in June. However Bruce who was steering said not to worry as he had it on the GPS. It's a very good mooring in a backwater that is big enough to have boats moored two abreast on one side and three abreast on the other with just nice room down the middle to get in and out.

We had been told that although the plan showed us moored with the bow into the backwater things had been changed and we should go in stern first. This makes sense because in an emergency it would be much easier to clear the boats out if they have their bows outermost. It just gave Bruce an interesting challenge to turn the boat in the river then back up the middle of the moorings. He was lucky that there were not too many boats in at that stage.

We got in to discover that Fair Fa' the boat on the pontoon inside us was already in place but Slow Gin who was to be between us had not yet arrived. The only problem was that Fair Fa' was moored bows in. Someone had told Pat and Sheila on Fair Fa' that we could only access our boat from the bow and so they had gone in bows first to allow us to come in stern first. Since we can of course access our boat from either end Pat decided to go out and turn. He was only just in time, by the time he got back in Slow Gin arrived and came in beside him. Then we could move into our position and we were in the right place and all facing the right way.

There followed a busy time saying hello to as many people as possible. There is so much catching up to do when we only see people once a year. It's all chaotic for the first few days as you start a conversation with someone then someone new comes along and you stop to greet them then the first person gets called away and you talk to the new arrival then someone new comes along and ... round it all goes again. Then you have to finish all the part conversations and remember what you have told to who and who has told you where they've been this year etc.

We returned briefly to the boat for lunch then reported to Sandy in Admin (well actually in her boat as the Admin office wasn't set up). We read the Health & Safety brief and were issued with our wristbands. Until you've got your wristband you can't go on site. Duly processed we joined the fencing team and in the course of the afternoon half a dozen stalwarts erected a fence round the wrg site and the Tardis compound so that all the equipment that has arrived already would be secure overnight. The grass in the Festival field and the wrg/Tardis compound had been cut the day before. The camping field is still being mown, a big job as the camping field and the car parks are very large this year.

Today has been great weather for our purpose. The wind has been drying the ground well and although there have been nice sunny spells it has not been too hot. An enlarged fencing team has in one day put a fence round the entire perimeter of the festival site and fenced in a special compound for the security team. They like their compound well fenced to make them feel safe!