Derbyshire Centre of the Caravan Club
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Derbyshire Centre of the Caravan Club |
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Web Masters Blog Updated April 22, 2010
April 22nd........ I start this blog with a health warning…….staying at home and not going out in the caravan may seriously damage your health, not to mention your pride, ego and idolisation of your children! And this is why……… Staying at home for yet another weekend due to cancellations, weather or the ash cloud (oh no that might not be an excuse for us hardy caravaners) spring had sprung. Mrs and Miss Webmaster were out doing what ever girls do on a Saturday afternoon leaving myself and young Master Webmaster at home alone. This would prove to become some well deserved “man” time and what better way to share this time than with manual labour and power tools!......Gardening to the uneducated among us! There comes a time in every young boys life that his father must pass the mantel of mowing the lawn down to the next generation, and initiation in manhood….this weekend was his turn…… Long gone are the days when he followed me up and down the garden with his own lawn mower, blowing bubbles and clattering behind me think he was doing the job, no today was the day, the day to introduce him to the hover mower, the flymo was a coming! For the first time this year the flymo was removed from its wintery slumber in the corner of the shed dusted down and plugged in ready for Master W’s first lesson, the first piece of advice is something I had only the day before been proud of announcing to a friend of mine, that something I had never done (can you guess where this is going now?) “whatever you do don’t mow the power cable”………….and sure enough I promptly mowed over it! The irony of this was not lost on my 11 year old son. I feel this is a cross I will have to bear for at least the next 10 years because last week after he earned himself yet another £1 extra pocket money for mowing the lawn he came in and proudly announced “I have cut the grass Dad…..without mowing the power cable”….will I ever live it down??? So consider this a warning……..do not stay at home this spring or summer go out in the caravan its safer in so many ways! Feb 12th ..... Never has so much decorting been done by so many unwilling hands, or so im told..... That's the cry in homes up and down the county as the winter season passes with snow, frost, and err more snow..... Whatever the reason for the weather and the enforced caravanning holiday, the time away from our friends and those weekends away, it seems that is good news for B&Q (other DIY stores are available). Paint, wallpaper and err kitchens must be literally flying off the shevles as otherwise occupied caravners are forced to find new and "exciting" pass times to satisfy their craving to be active. How many families out there are living without hot food, wallpaper or bedroom doors whilst frantic decorating happens, here, there and everywhere.....each one a weekend project not finished in the allowed time, and consigned to the sidelines until the following weekend....(maybe ?) Well here is your wake up call - Its time to get it finished - caravanning will start again and soon. You can almost smell the spring round the corner, anything not finished will get left, you know that. So the count down has begun, the weather will improve, get those doors back on, those walls papered and get ready......but please dont get caught out, we all know what happens when decorting gets left.... January 12th ...... Whatever happened to summer, where did winter come from....... My caravan has now been snowed in for a fortnight, ok its on my drive so its not that bad, but look at what the weather is doing - doesnt it know these are post millenium,. warm winters, and should be nothing like those of my youth, ok so they were only the 80's but were told that its as cold as the 80's. When i was growing up, the big fear was that there was going to be an ice age, year after year of cold snowy winters, ideal for sledging, snow ball fights and messing about ... Anyway i was talking about the bbq summer a while back, well.....i saw something on the tv the other night about a village in Yorkshire holding a bbq in the snow - big news it appeared on the tv - if only they sent their reporters out to any caravan site or rally field they would see hardy caravaners bbq'ing day in day out - i saw this spectacle over christmas on the club site at Chatsworth, and while being hardy myself, i'm not that hardy........ July 30th ..... The eve of the summer, errrr or not. I remember there was a man on the telly a while back, said he was from the Met Office, he was promising a hot BBQ summer I believe ?? Well that was back in the day (as kids would say). He was back on the tv one night this week, saying that he was only promising the prospect of a BBQ summer and we may not have understood what he said. I seem to recall he was saying this whilst the sky was leaking quite badly flooding the street outside - in July, oh well, as caravanners we know how to make the best of the weather, but we do like to BBQ. I have to think of those redundant Cadac's sitting there all summer, or worse, like i was last weekend stood out in the pouring rain cooking steak, whilst the rest of the Webmaster family looked out of the window laughing !!!! That brings me onto the summer, or winter as its now been re-named. Its that time of year when we say goodbye to our friends, neighbours, work mates, the bloke you met down the pub one night (only joking there) for maybe two, three or four weeks (depending how your holidays fall with theirs, not implying that many of us caranners have 4 weeks off). Time we have to live without all external influences and head off to the sun, eerrr sorry rain. For some it maybe the sun drenched beaches of the Med, very nice in a caravan, but a long tow (why not try it yourself, see the Las Dunas rally on next years programme - blatent plug over - sorry) for others it may be Scotland, Wales, Cornwall or just good old Derbyshire, who needs more that what we have in our home county, for we are truely fortunate to have such wonders on our doorstep. Where ever and what ever you are doing over this holiday season (sounds a bit like Christmas that) have fun and we hope to see you all back after the summer break May 19th.... National here we come.... This next week is going to be interesting here at web master towers, 4 things
are going to happen... Secondly due to the wonderful work of work I have to work over the weekend too. Now this could be interesting, not only will I be tied to the phone all weekend, but have to travel to Kettering and miss a day of the aforementioned National Rally. This announcement has not gone down well at webmaster towers - as you may gather nothing in this paragraph makes Mrs Webmaster at all happy...... Thirdly, I'm supposed to be on holiday too, off to the Lake District... However, having performed my duties to the National and work, what do i get - only 4 days climbing hills. Of course it could be worse, the Lake District is blessed with, in my opinion, one of the best breweries in the country. So how will it be - 4 days of rain, quaint local pubs, rain, fabulous beer, rain and yes of course more rain. That's just the recipe for a relaxing time, so bring on the Jennings and the local food counter at Booths, probably the best supermarket in the world...... Then finally, I have to manage without work, at least for some of the week....how will i cope away from the place, the stresses, strains, the people and the worry of what's happening behind my back. As for the people a funny thing occurred to me the other day, we spend more time with our work colleagues than we do with our family and friends.....what a crazy world some say.... Feb 5th.... Its Snow Good....... I was stood outside at Conkers last weekend, packing away, the snow was swirling round me, wondering why more and more caravans were arriving on the site. Then I cast my mind back to childhood, and remembered that sitting watching the snow fall is the one of the best things in the world. That may not be completely true as an adult, but watching snow fall can be relaxing - relaxing that is if you have nowhere to go, and nothing to do. Sitting inside, watching the flaky white stuff fall from the sky, glass of wine (mulled maybe??), watching it turn the world into a winter wonderland is just so good, if you can stifle that instinct to dash out and build the worlds biggest snowman. And that's the problem with today's world, we just have no time to sit at watch it go round. In some way I envied those arriving last Sunday, for they had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. That said, when we are out at the weekend there is no pressure (other than not being fashionably late for the evening social). We can do what we like, time is an illusion, we don't need to listen to the world news to find out where the latest trouble spots are, we don't need to think about world recession or credit crunches, not for a couple of days a week at least. So there you are, we are the lucky ones, we can escape away from the worries of the world, back to a place where the most important thing is how big your snowman is compared to your friends next door. If I could have stayed last weekend I would - if only to watch the snow fall. January 4th.... Its a new term, or at least it feels like that. Yes its a new year, the one I talked about in my last blog, and its finally here....for some its starts next weekend at the traditional season opener-the National Stone Centre, moved this year to Alderwasley for technical and availability reasons, but to many it will still be the Stone Centre Rally, I'm sure. However there is a major benefit to this move of location as it gives more people the opportunity to attend. The season follows on with the again traditional Amber Inn rally, where all comers can whiteness, or indeed take part in a spectacle so bizarre there could be a Sky 1 or Channel 5 documentary about it - the "special" karaoke night they run, not for the young at heart this one though - this is full on old fashioned sing along territory, updated for the 21st century, or maybe not?? I guess the point I'm making is that in our centre we have traditions, traditional rallies, traditional venues. These are things that have grown over time, events that you the ralliers love, enjoy and take to your heart. But the centre cannot live by tradition alone, cannot always do the same mix of rallies, things must change and move on, we need to find new fields, new events to capture peoples imagination (fancy every rally having the book shop at Brielow Bar as its main feature - no, thought you didn't) and find new experiences. New experiences are not just new places, its new marshals as well - everyone who marshals has a different take on how to entertain and delight. So as I look forward to this new year of new ideas and of tradition, I thank myself that at least I, and you don't have to stay at home and wash the car every weekend like my neighbours - what an empty life they lead, how does that make a weekend....... December 24th.... Ooops is it that long since the last one ... It is the night before Christmas and all through the house, nothing was stirring
except for the hamster.... Which brings me round to think that for many, the season of goodwill can be a trauma for us caravanners, as it is the only major bank holiday when we are expected to be at home, and not only at home, but at home with our families. Trapped not within the familiar 4 walls of our caravans, but trapped within the larger walls of our houses which we have (probably) successfully neglected all year. A whole holiday season to look at the peeling wallpaper, the tatty paintwork and review that (ever) long list of "to-do's". How can we possibly relax under these conditions. Well fear not, because I have seen the answer, or maybe not. I was going to say, very unwisely that DIY, even decorating, can be dangerous and should not be attempted when there is mulled wine, and rich food on offer. But that excuse may wear a bit thin over the course of the holiday, and of course, Mrs Webmaster knows of some sneaky hiding places for my seasonal collection of bottled distractions. I suspect the real answer to holiday happiness lies not in a visit to Tesco's(*), or the nearest caravan dealers for a new van, although I'm sure that the nice Mr Brown would be happy if we all did, but certainly here at Webmaster towers we'll be thinking about next year, the weekends away, the rallies that we fancy from the 2009 programme and where we plan to go on holiday. Its a time to look back too, get out the photos taken during the year, even those ill advised ones taken at centre socials, remember the fun we've had, over the year and the times we have spent with friends on the rally field. So maybe a few days at home isn't all that bad after all, its a time to reflect on the good times, and plan for more next year. That wallpapering can wait, can't it.... (*) other supermarkets are available July 5th.... Here at webmaster towers, we are certainly very happy with our weekend diet, thank you very much, and if we want to indulge in sausage, bacon, eggs, and beans (other combinations are, I am told, available), I will continue to do so. But taking this to its conclusion, what next? Armed supermarket assistants in the bacon isle instructing us to "step away from the bacon", trained ninja's at the tills swooping from the rafters to remove offending items, or sausage rationing "only 1 packet today sir". The effect could be phenomenal and could perhaps lead to the total collapse of the Cadac market, or even the creation of a black market in black pudding. The morale of the country is at stake here...... I for one will be taking no heed of this scare mongering. June 29th.... On the positive side, think of the caravan you could tow with one. Pass the me the phone book.... June 17th.... I sit here now reflecting on the major event of the weekend just passed. No, not the haul of silverware returned to the Derbyshire Centre (but that was great to see). No, the major event of the weekend was the release of the 2009 rally programme. Sad as that may sound, we here at Webmaster towers can now begin to work out just how little our long suffering non caravanning friends, relatives and family will see of us next year, and just how many weekend our neighbours will be able to park on my drive (they think I don't know.....). I know that sounds a bit like "military" planning, and yes it sounds a bit sad, but I know it's not just me. Around the field there were mutterings of "yes we'll do that, oh and that one", and "yes, that looks good" - so see its not just me. June 3rd.... Here at Webmaster towers, having scoffed previously about a wet National Rally, it appears as though some hat eating might be in order, I'll have ice cream with that please. However I realise that some of you who headed for the south and south west may not have had such a dry time over the holiday break. Safely hidden away in our secret holiday location in the dry north west of the county, the TV pictures of caravaners being mercilessly subjected to being interviewed about the rain was was a timely reminder of how cruel the national TV stations can be. We have all been there, sat in the rain that is, not on the TV, but would you really want to smile and say that you enjoy it just as much - even in the rain ?? - No thought not !!
May 23rd.... Me, I mostly like the live weather updates, try them. Updated at least daily by Metcheck, my weather provider of choice, provided that is they tell me its going to be fine and sunny, if not, then its back to the good old Met Office ...... Talking about the weather..... What a contrast eh, last year April was
fantastic. Last Spring I recall sitting out until late all though the
months of April and May. This year - rain, rain, rain. This year,
and call me nesh (but be careful) myself and Mrs Webmaster never sat out at all,
until Sports weekend, and then what a change. Back to work on the Monday
it was, looking like we had had a week in Las Dunas. Here we are now, Spring Bank holiday, or in modern terms, Late May Bank
holiday. Who needs the modern world eh?. Whilst the world may be
concerned about credit crunches, recessions and who knows what else, bring on
the weekend. Whether you are off to the National (don't blame me if it
rains - it usually does, you know), or off else where on your own or with
friends, I hope you have good break. |
