Workin' for Flyin'

The routine went like this- every day, I got up at 8:00-ish, and got a lift with Darren and Trevor to the gliding club (for they both live in RVs), and I'd go to the clubhouse and make myself some porridge for breakfast, before reading or browsing until Darren and Kathryn turned up. We'd then mope around until Trevor and Darren pronounced that there'd be no flying on account of bad weather- this happened 6 days in a row! Then we'd either find/be given some jobs to do on the airfield, or explore the local area (as is the natural behaviour of glider pilots who have been 'scrubbed'). Most of these jobs involved gardening...



Crazy, manic grin. Armed with a spade...

We relocated a load of trees which had been living in the old RV park, to the new RV campsite. Many hours of shovelling, grunting, levers and ropes did the trick, and we moved 3 trees which looked tiny on the top but were actually huge underneath... Then at the campsite, we cleared away the gravel from the top before using a pickaxe to clear a tree-sized hole we could then plant the b*gger in. We nearly messed everything up by placing two trees at the entrace to a drive-through in between two RVs too close together to accommodate a car, but we were lucky...

We also cut the lawn, replanted and watered some plants, weed-sprayed around every single hangar, and generally kept ourselves busy while the weather was an ominous grey above us. Every now and again, a shower would come through and we'd (usually) run for cover. But we didn't see the sun for days...



On the second day, I'd woken up in a puddle (not for the first time when camping while gliding!), so another layer of tarpaulin was needed to waterproof my tent. For means of consistency, this picture was taken a few days later when the sun had finally emerged from hibernation!



I also went for an explore round the campsite, and the river which ran very nearby (above, you can see some RVs just on the other side of the levee). My walking boots from Banff had advertised themselves as waterproof, and although many hikes though the deep snow had proved that they kept the snow and the cold out, I had yet to prove that they'd keep out actual, liquid water (which I hadn't seen for so long!). See the island in the centre of the river? I hiked out to that, over an ankle-deep 'ford' which was really jut a wider bit of river. I tried to build a bridge/dam back to the other side, but no luck there other than a large splinter from an even larger log that I was trying to manhandle over the gap... So I waded back. And yes, the shoes worked completely....