Hi Everybody,
Apologies again for the lack of a blog last week. As per usual things have been pretty busy and I just didn't get round to writing anything!
The one word I would use to describe the last 2 weeks is... wet! I can't think of a day that it hasn't rained hard at one point or another.
Contributing to the lack of blogging last week was the fact that both Vicky and I had come down with very bad colds, and most nights after work we were fit for little else than watching wildlife documentaries under a rug with a mug of hot chocolate. No real time for studying or writing blogs.
On the days that we were feeling well enough to work a combination of large school groups and preparing for our "Spooktacular Halloween Trail" left us feeling more that a little jaded come clocking off time!
Before we succumbed to our illnesses however, we did get the opportunity to have an afternoon out "on the moors" as we went up to Hey Tor in the Dartmoor National Park. In a slight gap between the rain we managed to scale our way to the top and look out all the way across the countryside to the coast.
Feeling a little better this week we've been trying to play catch up with all the things that didn't get done last week. Extra studying has been on the menu in the evenings to make sure that we continue our progress in that regard!
The largest group of the week came in the form of 90 reception class children who came to do a range of activities over the course of the day. We did bread making (or in this case it was more like bread shaping), gardening (including planting and weeding) as well as fun tasks on the woodland nature trail that taught the children about trees, birds and insects.
We're now nearly ready for our Halloween trail to start, and I'm looking forward to having 3 days dressed as a skeleton trying to scare all of the kids.
Friday brought a hastily arranged visit to London with the sad news that a good friend of ours is very seriously ill. It was also one of those days where if something could go wrong it would go wrong! We set off very early from home as our bus would be leaving Exeter at 6.15am. In the rainy darkness of the early hours we ended up taking a wrong turn. Normally this would be no big deal, but it becomes one when the road you have taken is a dual carriageway with no places to turn back in the other direction for nearly 20 minutes!
We got to Exeter and found ourselves with only 20 minutes to complete the 30 minute walk from where we had parked to where the bus was leaving from. Expecting it to be a cold day we had a number of layers on, as well as backpacks carrying our supplies for the day. This made the run across the city even less pleasurable than it would have been anyway. The bus was just pulling away as we came around the final corner. One last all out sprint and some frantic arm waving caught the driver's attention, and he stopped to let us on (it must have been through pity as by this stage I probably looked like a sleep deprived homeless man drenched in his own sweat). I felt even sorrier for the lady who I sat next to for most of the 4 hour journey, as the sweat ran down my forehead, off my nose and tapped repeatedly against the material of my waterproof jacket!
Slightly more relaxed we arrived in London, and promptly caught the underground in the wrong direction in regard to our destination! We decided to take a break, and enjoyed a couple of incident free hours as we sat in St James' Park trying to identify all of the birds that we could see while we ate some lunch. We were even in prime position to see the changing of the guard which was an extra bonus!
The day's normal service was then resumed however, as upon exiting the tube station near the hospice we turned left instead of right, and needed the google maps app on my phone to get us back on track.
That evening we were able to arrange a last minute dinner with Danii, another of our friends who lives in London, and it was great to have a good catch up and a chat.
The long bus journey back saw us arrive at the car just before midnight, or when it comes to bad luck I should say just in time for one last kick in the teeth. For while it was dark, it was not too dark to notice the little yellow ticket sitting on my windscreen courtesy of the local traffic warden. In our haste and the darkness of the morning we had obviously not read the road signs close enough, and parked in the wrong place. It is between us the first parking ticket we have had in our collective 18 years of driving! I was so tired I don't think I even swore. All I remember is giving a wry smile and just reminding myself that tomorrow would be another day!
As I'm "working" in the visitor centre while I write this, the week effectively finished for us yesterday. We had agreed to volunteer for an "extreme beach clean" with the Trust, which involved kayaking and coasteering to collect litter from areas of the shoreline that are inaccessible by foot. Considering the time of year and the temperature I made the brave decision to stay on dry land and classify all of the rubbish that was brought back, while I let Vicky do what she does best and jump in the sea!
This weeks news story comes from Orkney, and as a wildilfe cameraman you wouldn't expect what you were trying to film quite this close....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-24637627
See you next time!
Apologies again for the lack of a blog last week. As per usual things have been pretty busy and I just didn't get round to writing anything!
The one word I would use to describe the last 2 weeks is... wet! I can't think of a day that it hasn't rained hard at one point or another.
Contributing to the lack of blogging last week was the fact that both Vicky and I had come down with very bad colds, and most nights after work we were fit for little else than watching wildlife documentaries under a rug with a mug of hot chocolate. No real time for studying or writing blogs.
On the days that we were feeling well enough to work a combination of large school groups and preparing for our "Spooktacular Halloween Trail" left us feeling more that a little jaded come clocking off time!
Before we succumbed to our illnesses however, we did get the opportunity to have an afternoon out "on the moors" as we went up to Hey Tor in the Dartmoor National Park. In a slight gap between the rain we managed to scale our way to the top and look out all the way across the countryside to the coast.
Feeding some of the famous Dartmoor ponies
Feeling a little better this week we've been trying to play catch up with all the things that didn't get done last week. Extra studying has been on the menu in the evenings to make sure that we continue our progress in that regard!
The largest group of the week came in the form of 90 reception class children who came to do a range of activities over the course of the day. We did bread making (or in this case it was more like bread shaping), gardening (including planting and weeding) as well as fun tasks on the woodland nature trail that taught the children about trees, birds and insects.
We're now nearly ready for our Halloween trail to start, and I'm looking forward to having 3 days dressed as a skeleton trying to scare all of the kids.
Friday brought a hastily arranged visit to London with the sad news that a good friend of ours is very seriously ill. It was also one of those days where if something could go wrong it would go wrong! We set off very early from home as our bus would be leaving Exeter at 6.15am. In the rainy darkness of the early hours we ended up taking a wrong turn. Normally this would be no big deal, but it becomes one when the road you have taken is a dual carriageway with no places to turn back in the other direction for nearly 20 minutes!
We got to Exeter and found ourselves with only 20 minutes to complete the 30 minute walk from where we had parked to where the bus was leaving from. Expecting it to be a cold day we had a number of layers on, as well as backpacks carrying our supplies for the day. This made the run across the city even less pleasurable than it would have been anyway. The bus was just pulling away as we came around the final corner. One last all out sprint and some frantic arm waving caught the driver's attention, and he stopped to let us on (it must have been through pity as by this stage I probably looked like a sleep deprived homeless man drenched in his own sweat). I felt even sorrier for the lady who I sat next to for most of the 4 hour journey, as the sweat ran down my forehead, off my nose and tapped repeatedly against the material of my waterproof jacket!
Slightly more relaxed we arrived in London, and promptly caught the underground in the wrong direction in regard to our destination! We decided to take a break, and enjoyed a couple of incident free hours as we sat in St James' Park trying to identify all of the birds that we could see while we ate some lunch. We were even in prime position to see the changing of the guard which was an extra bonus!
Changing of the guard
The day's normal service was then resumed however, as upon exiting the tube station near the hospice we turned left instead of right, and needed the google maps app on my phone to get us back on track.
That evening we were able to arrange a last minute dinner with Danii, another of our friends who lives in London, and it was great to have a good catch up and a chat.
The long bus journey back saw us arrive at the car just before midnight, or when it comes to bad luck I should say just in time for one last kick in the teeth. For while it was dark, it was not too dark to notice the little yellow ticket sitting on my windscreen courtesy of the local traffic warden. In our haste and the darkness of the morning we had obviously not read the road signs close enough, and parked in the wrong place. It is between us the first parking ticket we have had in our collective 18 years of driving! I was so tired I don't think I even swore. All I remember is giving a wry smile and just reminding myself that tomorrow would be another day!
As I'm "working" in the visitor centre while I write this, the week effectively finished for us yesterday. We had agreed to volunteer for an "extreme beach clean" with the Trust, which involved kayaking and coasteering to collect litter from areas of the shoreline that are inaccessible by foot. Considering the time of year and the temperature I made the brave decision to stay on dry land and classify all of the rubbish that was brought back, while I let Vicky do what she does best and jump in the sea!
Extreme Beach Clean at Anstey's Cove
This weeks news story comes from Orkney, and as a wildilfe cameraman you wouldn't expect what you were trying to film quite this close....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-24637627
See you next time!
