Return to Oxford

Day 21 Friday

Got up at a reasonable hour [9ish], got all our stuff together, & started off on the journey back. However, I managed to forget all my sugar – not good for a 170 miles trip lol! So re-started the journey, & got stuck in horrible traffic lol! Got back to Oxford around 2.30, got all my stuff out of the car [w00t] & got some washing done [w00t w00t!], then had a ‘conversation’ with my Brother – oh the joys lol! This took a little while, then had to drop off some more stuff to Hobbit & Jennie then eventually had some chillin’ time! Still got to chat to Ian, so I can secure some funds for the next few weeks! Also not going to pack till the morning – too tired lol!

Day 20 Thursday

Day 20 Thursday

Got up early[ish] & had received an anonymous text asking about what I thought about someone, so I gave it to them as straightforwardly as us guys can do!! i.e. we’re friends & no more & don’t misinterpret warmth & affection with love & fancying someone!! Then after getting beach-ready, me & Jen got beach-bound! Taking in the wonderful shops of Paignton [hmmm not convinced lol] before picking up a copy of Youthwork magazine & hitting the beach [yaaay red sand lol!].

We headed to subway for luncheon, before disappearing to the pier again for amusements [again] this time Jennie was playing the weirdest 2p machine I’ve ever seen – you play it whilst playing Pacman – dude whaaaat?! Then wandered through the surf again, then headed up the dreaded Doom Steps [there’s lots of them & they’re very steep, so don’t ask lol!] to go back to Jen’s.

Am currently sat writing my blog after polishing off my September edition of the youthwork report for the local newspaper thing [Nor Lye News w00t w00t!!]. Tonight gonna actually watch Shooter & get my stuff together – need to head off fairly early tomorrow, as Jen needs to be in Oxford earlyish & as I now need to talk to my Grandfather [Ian] about my sibling & he possibility of my 3rd road trip….or I ain’t going nowhere lol!!!

Also had a couple of phone calls from a panicking parent [Mother!] about my little brother – I think I’m going to need all my powers of persuasion, to get him out of his problems methinks! Oh & Hobbit rang, missing all the crew [presumably a post-camp blues] & so I advised him [as his attorney to take a hit from the little brown bottle…oh wait that Fear & Loathing lol] to shut up & go to Soul Survivor lol!! A friend of ours had offered him a free trip, transport both ways & to stay with his crew. So get on with it…any questions? No? Gooooood!!!

Had some beef stroganoff – yummy & watching some drama [kind of a Morse knock-off by BBC1] on the box.

To the beach!!!

Day 19 - Wednesday

OK got up real late [I think my Ami is playing tricks with my sleeping patterns...again!] – i.e. just before 12, now planning to head on down to the beach/into town. Spoke to Vicky & as she only lives about 10 miles away suggested we all [Tuckett also lives near her] meet up at a pub somewhere in Paynton this afternoon. Also, did some more blogging [about the Scuba Diving day] & Facebook messaging to young Jules [we’re still praying my dear!], then grabbed my boardies & headed into town!

Got a lift in with Jen’s mum, & walked along the beach & dipped [kind of] in the wash of the sea, then it started tipping it down, so went to a pub [The Spinning Wheel] for a Guiness lol. When we were sat, we chatted a bit more about us & how I think our relationship could work, both for this year & in the years to come – was cool, but I’m still going to have to wait & see! We then went looking around the shops, which were very um seaside-towny lol! But we did find a narly surf-shop called 360 degrees – they had some real rad stuff, but a little expensive & my wallet was not full enough to indulge lol!!

Next we met up with the Tuckett & the Vickster for another Guiness & some chips [yaaay chips!] in the pub [this time the Inn on the Green], then headed off to the pier for some fun on the arcades – a very good use of time & resources – Jennie & Tuckett hit the dance machines & me & the Vickster blew stuff up!! It was a very narly game called Ghost Force [or something like that] with what I think were MP5 assault rifles – very narly!! Finally we tried to kill a load of vombies on the ridiculous House of the Dead 4 [very silly – you had to shake your Uzi to reload it & shake it more if a zombie thing clung on to you – dude whaaaaat?!].

When the other 2 had gone, me & Jennie met up with Jennie’s mum [Sue] for some fish & chips, from some award-winning place [not sure what awards they won though – suspect lol!!] then came back & watched some more TV & then my new movie Shooter [but I felled asleep….again – there’s a total surprise!!]

Day 18 Tuesday

Mad-eye & Rosie joined Facebook, so convo’s beginning via that medium, also rubbish weather & mostly spent time on the interweeb updating my blog with about a week’s worth of posts…including this one lol!!

Then had luncheon, & headed off to Morrison’s for some munchies & a couple of DVD’s & came back home & started watchin’ Shallow Hall & eating popcorn – basically – ‘Chillin’ like a Villain’. Also, around 9 there was some really rad choreographed fireworks. Finally, fell asleep [on the floor] watching Life on Mars, so went to sleep properly lol!

Let's do a road trip!!

Day 17 Monday

Got up at a reasonable hour, pack & began Road Tip Part 2!! Using the joy’s of TomTom, I programmed in my destination postcode & started my journey. It was really quite useful, but the voices were quite irritating, so changed it to Australian guy – brilliant, but I think I want to [ahem] borrow some more from Mexico lol!

Anyways, drove down to Jennie’s – it’s actually quite far – over 170 miles each way, so by the time I got down to Jens, I’d clocked over 1000 miles [yaaay!!] this summer!! On the way down gave the Global Soundsystem CD another bash [or should that be bosh lol – oh, you don’t understand do you! Well…oh nevermind!!]. Anyways, it is real good – the 1st disc is a bit of Electro House, but with trancier elements, the 2nd disc is [jaw drops, pulls face of ecstasy] REALLY good, right from the beginning all the way through – there’s reversions of classics & trance mixes of electro, & it just OWNS!! The 3rd disc didn’t really get a list to, but there’s always the journey home lol!!

So arrived, chilled out & had some dinner, then disappeared off to the cinema to watch Simpsons the movie – which was really funny [even if we did arrive a few minutes late lol] & used a mix of slapstick & less obvious humor, like reference & political – win!! Finally came home & chilled the hell out lol!

sleepy day off!!

Day 16 - Sunday

Oh snap! Got up around 1, chillaxed & unpacked/sorted stuff, then had 4 bud's & went to bed lol! Between those 2 momentous events [yes, getting up & going back to sleep!] managed to do my mountain of washing, catch up with my Mum & Ian & then spend a lot of time on Facebook, mostly adding new crew & photo’s & textin the Madders & Vickster. Also watched some Robot Chicken, etc. just for giggles [“Well what the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?!”, “Martiniiiiii’s”, etc.]

MWCC Last Day!

Day 15 - Saturday

Well it’s official, it’s the last day of Junior week of Mid Wessex Christian Camp 2007 – yaaay & nooooo all at the same time!! Feeling stoked about going back home to get a bath & a beer, but real sad that I’m not going to see all the campers for another year. I’m even sadder about the leaders – they’ve been an awesome crew & I’m going to miss those who I developed the beginnings of brilliant friendships with, naming no names [What? I wouldn’t want people to get too big an ego lol, plus I wouldn’t want to create anything like the girls’ Fit List lol!!]

Anyways, it was Shani’s turn for leading the leaders prayer & bible session & was great, then for prayer, we made a circle outside, & we prayed for our brothers & sisters on our left & right [mine were Wrighty & Geoffers], then for the whole camp & back-up crew & the following weeks of MWCC [of which I’m also doing the seniors week – sounds like an OAP camp, but I don’t think it is lol!!].

I decided we should try to wake up the campers ‘properly’, so did a repeat of last years wake-up call [In Your Honor, by the Foo Fighters], but this time with the great Muse lol. I drove my little purple bubble round to the back of the oldest boys’ tent, cranked up all the amps & sub to maximum levels, then selected a track called Stockholm Syndrome [yes hobbit, I know you know it well!] by the Muse & blasted it out at 25 [that’s REALLY loud, normally 21 is ear-shattering, so 25 is bad lol!!]. I think it’s fair to say that I managed to wake everyone up with that lol!! However, I was getting approached by someone on camp who obviously didn’t approve of my taste in music & I’m sure that if I’d let it blast on for a few more tracks I would have got my wrists [or somewhere else] slapped lol!! Come on people this is camp lol!!

After a hearty [but colored-porridge-less] breakfast, me & Wrighty distributed the photo’s of our tent crew. We all wrote encouraging notes, verses, etc. in each others [the photos were in like a card layout thingy, so there was a blank space next to the photo itself]. Then in my infinite [or some might say questionable] wisdom, I decided to go pegging [for those uninitiated it’s where you get a clothes-peg & peg it on unassuming victims for giggles lol!] but with a twist, on the peg I put ‘pegged by Pikachu Ind. lol’, so the culprit could be identified – me lol! I started off with a couple of easy ones, but was challenged to do someone difficult – the Tizzmeister – hmmmm!! Was not really a challenge, but hey, what can you do lol!!

Next it was the clear-up & pack-away mission. For this, because I was loading up my car, I decided now was the appropriate moment to see what my new Global Soundsystem CD would be like – yaaay! Not a bad choice – starting with some Chemical Brothers , then moving on to some rock & Ibiza beats – a good start, will have to give that a real good listen to when I’m next on a road trip…so Monday then lol!!

Also had to persuade Tizzy it was a really good idea that she gave me back all my monkeys’ lol! Generously donated my big chimp to Tizzy [well she is the monkey pimp lol] & the little grey possum-thingy to Mad-Eye lol, so only had my snoring monkey left to give to Jennie – awwww [I hope she like it lol]!! Also we’d received the leaders photographs from Loz, so I thought I’d try to get mine signed…a little bit…by all the tent crew officers – yaaay! Then I got what are know as Rosie Cheeks – yeah as Rosie attacked me with an orange felt tip lol [it wasn’t until later on that I noticed my nose was the same color – double-lol!!].

Next it was time for the final morning session – which was a look back at what we had learned this week & finished with the famous MWCC song…ummm which I’ve kinda forgotten [what is it Jules?!]. After the last session finished, I drove the Tizzy back into New Milton, so she could repay me for the Medieval Fair thingy, back to the Tesco’s, where she popped in to grab a bottle of water & spotted a Leffe beer which was “calling to her” lol, so I told her I never go anywhere without a bottle opener – so go get the mofo lol!! Chilling out, with a beer, with a new friend, like naughty kids – win, win, WIN!!

When all the campers had gone & the leaders were ready to go, we were all going to go to the pub in a convoy – yaaay!! I was taking Hobbit back, & so as a tribute to the week, we left to the sounds of the Knights of Cydonia [come on Mid Wessex – “No one’s gonna take me alive, you & I must fight for our riiiiiiights, etc. COME ON!!!]

All the way to the pub, in for a quick Guinness [or 2 for Hobbit] & a sacrificial Magner’s – on behalf of Tizzy [who was going with Captain Beaky & couldn’t join us – d’oh], before heading back with some quality rock! The final act of craziness was to go for a quick burn, listening to those Knights again, & New Born [both by Muse for the uninitiated lol] at a blistering volume of 22-23 & belting it out [I think we’re going to have to learn & perform the Knights for the next MWCC wethinks lol!!].

After dropping off all my stuff at my house [thanks Hobbit], I dropped him back, & got a bath on the go, & a bottle of Magner’s lol! The washing of necessity lol!!

After being made clean [oh so clean!], I decided to drop in to see Jeanie [me Gran] to check about switching the gift of a camera to a SatNav. She was 100% cool about me changing it [well it was a gift after all!] – so now stoked & will get the monies from me Mum & go straight down to Sainsbury’s…if it’s open lol!

So yeah, did just that, & [eventually] got a TomTom one – win, win, WIN!! It was supposed £160, but I used my Nectar points, oh & the people in Sainsbury’s can’t count, so I got it for £160 minus £12.50 minus £10, so like £137.50 [I think!] wicked! Then finally, had another Magner’s & stayed up real late & watched some of the TV I had recordified [The Bill – yaaay!] lol!

Penultimate nite

Day 14 - Friday

Ahhh another day, another early morning, only one more day till the end of MWCC Junior Week 2 & definitely feeling the strain lol!! Today was Dave Wright's early morning session, was good & inspirational - everyone can struggle, no one can be perfect all the time!

After breakfast, me & the Tizzy, went shopping in New Milton, officially to get some beads, but also to find some form of outfit for the medieval fair. OK, here’s where we went to; Party Spot for outfits [knight & gypsy wench lol], a toy store for cowboy hat & crown & wear it down the road lol, Woolworths for 2 mahoosive guns, beads, more beads, & some beads, choons, & sweets! A haberdashery (dude what?!) for hair wrap stuffs, Help the Aged (help the mofo aged lol) for an outfit for Rosie. Was all good fun lol!

The afternoon’s activity was the Medieval Fair, with knockout-joust-things, a bouncy castle, stocks [for pelting leaders with sponges], a doughnut eating competition, face-painting, splat-a-rat & finally me & Tizzy’s stall – with temporary tattoos, hair braiding, & beads. Was really busy, enough for us to need a break to re-setup the stall lol!! After a couple of hours [I think] a mass water-fight erupted lol! I believe that young Tim & George [those crazy Ministry of Fun kids] may possibly have started it a water pistol [with my own super-soaker no less] & water bombs! The challenge was accepted by the guns of the mighty water-warriors of; me, Tizzy & Rosie, to be joined by Mad-Eye [when Tim relinquished my super-soaker lol]. When a halt had been called i.e. every single leader [apart from Captain Beaky & a few others who ‘might not approve’] had been drenched, everyone sorted themselves out & got ready for the evening’s BBQ.

There were a few issues I had about the course of the conversation [I got a little irritated with mes amies], but a chat with Hobbit & some good QOTSA & Arcade Fire sorted me out! The night’s activity was Line Dancing [eeek] – led by the Tiz, during which I actually took part, until I started getting my feets trod on by Nate & Wrighty [ouch]. After this was cocoa & then PJ's - encore was the pie sketch – legendary! It was a real late night chatting & stuffs & then get into bed & hear the pitter-patter of silly feet - Madders & Rosie - them crazy kidz lol!