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I bounded into the workshop this morning, unsure of what my plan for the day was, to find the place deserted. After further investigation I found one person had bothered to show up: Steve. Steve is probably my favourite member of staff here, he is so full of energy that he cycles the fourteen miles to work every day just so he can face a few hours in front of a computer. It puts my lack of enthusiasm on the two-wheeler to shame. Anyway, he informed me that most people had cleverly wangled the day off, much to my utter disgust. I decided to hang around the workshop for an hour as I'd arranged to meet a National Trust warden last week but couldn't remember which day she'd said, so thought it best that I was at least around in case she did turn up. She didn't. It got to 10am so I told Steve I was going to head out. "If you wait ten minutes I'll give you a lift" he generously chirped, and as it was raining I couldn't refuse. After ten minutes he grabbed the keys and said "You've got a driving license right?", which I confirmed. "You can drive then!" This to me was great news. I haven't driven in months, and the only vehicles here are Land Rovers. My first task was to reverse it out of the garage, and I was helpfully reminded to avoid the walls, which I did, and proceeded to precariously creep along the winding country roads that litter the landscape here. It was nice to be driving again, especially in such a dominating beast of a machine, I felt like I owned the road. All too quickly we arrived at my destination and Steve took his "wheels" back, shame.
As usual, after about two hours of surveying I became fairly distracted, and spied this curiosity in the distance, which I felt was my duty to pursue.
As I got closer I realised it belonged to the local RAF base, and so wouldn't be able to sit in it and pretend to fend of the "Gerries", as I'd assumed I'd be able to. I did, however, find myself in a field of cows. Now, my bovinophobia appears to be spiralling out of control, which isn't particularly useful when they're bloody everywhere.
I don't mind him actually, he has good hair. Or is that a female? If it's a cow I assume the latter. Incidentally this picture was snapped from the other side of an electric fence. I was over there for sampling purposes, not to avoid the cow before you laugh too hard. Anyway, I spent a lot of the rest of the day avoiding other cows and trying to dodge this cloud:
I thought I was being fairly pathetic and was about to embrace a field of cows when I saw this helpful sign:
So my fear doesn't seem quite so irrational now, but it is still something I'll have to face eventually. They're just so big and seemingly aggressive in this neck of the woods! I couldn't get phone reception to ring for a lift back so ended up walking it and getting absolutely soaked. I did manage to finally take a picture of this monstrosity though:
This is the "sculpture" they put outside the local art gallery to tell the public they are open, and is the sole reason I haven't ventured in yet. I've spent the evening constantly eating to replenish the numerous reserves I must have used up on my mammoth trek back.
Not a lot to report today, so after watching Gonzo, I'll leave you with a few of my favourite Hunter S. Thompson quotes.
"The edge, there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
"He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
"America...just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
I was in the middle of a film yesterday evening (The 39 Steps if you're asking) and ventured out of the caravan mid-way to turn the water on. I noticed someone was still here, and as this was about 7:00pm I thought this unusual so went investigate. It was in fact Ray, my supervisor here, who proceeded to tell me his life story whilst sorting the entire office out. About 45 minutes later, I felt we'd bonded and as I left he promised me that tomorrow I could interview him about site management, as had been promised for many weeks. Great stuff.
So today I awoke and was happy in the knowledge that today I wouldn't have to brave the outside world as it was raining and generally just a miserable day. I entered the office a little after 9:00am, and entered Ray's office:
Me: Morning Ray! Are we still okay to talk about management today?
Ray: Yeah no problem, I just have some finance stuff to get out of the way and then we'll do it. Shall we say 11?
Me: Sounds good, I'll get on with some paperwork.
Ray: Hmmm, have I got a teleconference at 11? No, that must be at 10, although...[trails off].
Great stuff, I could get on with my write up and properly wake up with a few more cups of tea and some music.
Anyway, 11:00am rolls around and I entered the office to find it completely deserted. I searched the workshop, the garage, but couldn't locate anyone. Then I heard voices and saw that yes, the teleconference was in fact at 11:00am. No problem, I thought, I'll merely give it 20 minutes and come back in. 20 minutes later...still teleconferencing. 20 minutes later than that...still teleconferencing. I was left twiddling my thumbs a bit...
A lost art.
In the end I had my lunch and went back in at about 12:20pm to find Ray sprawled out on the floor slicing up carpet:
Ray: Oh hi Joe, I've been meaning to do this for ages!
Me: ...What are you doing?
Ray: I'm just creating a bit of protective carpet for around the wood chip burner.
Me: Oh...cool. Nice job.
Ray: I thought so, when I retire here I think I'll take up carpet fitting.
Me: [Thinks] Lovely stuff.
Ray: Don't let me forget to throw away the excess...unless you want it for the caravan?
Me: Actually I will take it, it'll cover up all the damp spots.
Ray: [Laughs]
Me: [Laughs begrudgingly, takes new rug]
Nice huh?
Me: So...can we do that interview now?
Ray: Sure, I've just got to pop into Mullion for 10 minutes to get the papers, you can come along if you like?
Me: Actually I will do, I need some milk anyway.
So off we went into Mullion to quickly drop off some Natural England leaflets at the cove and pop to the shop.
Two hours later we got back to the workshop, after speaking to the majority of the village, standing on the cliff tops and, eventually, buying milk. We're sitting in the car...
Me: Thanks for that, I'll just put this in the fridge.
Ray: Okay, I'll be in shortly, I'm just going to sit in here and read the paper.
Fair enough, I thought. Technically he hasn't had a lunch break.
I sat in the office chatting with the other staff and Ray waltzed in about 20 minutes later and proceeded to log into his computer with such painstaking care that it took a good 10 minutes. He was then informed that someone had rang for him, so naturally he called them back. This turned into a 30 minute phone call so I went and sat outside. When I got back in he was still on the phone, so I just sat next to him and stared. Eventually he finished bantering with whoever he was speaking to, and then, after this long wait, we were finally ready to go! We made it about five steps out of the office when Ray said "Do you want a drink? I could do with a tea." Me bloody too. So, as always seems to happen to me in these situations, I made the tea and then we sat down in the meeting room for the all important management talk. Well, it lasted about 10 minutes and resulted in this much information:
Yep, that's all.
It took me about 30 minutes to write up, and that's because the computer crashed. To conclude, today was an annoying day, but a great lesson in the art of procrastinating.
I awoke today wanting to do anything but go out into the field. I think the post holiday blues had set in, plus it was raining outside and I'd left my walking boots out in the rain resulting in me being forced to wear a pair of wellies at least two sizes too big. However, I knew I'd have to brave the rain as I'd arranged to go out and about with a National Trust warden in search of wild asparagus. So I pulled my boots up (literally), and we set off just after 9:00am.
We arrived at the first site and headed to the coast. The first thing Rachel said was "Are you up for scrambling over some rocks?". Sure, why not. Well, lucky I didn't back out, as it turned out to be the best day in the field yet! We started by very carefully hopping over an electric fence into a fairly unexplored region of the coastline, armed only with our wits and coordinates that should take us to this very rare plant. Within about ten minutes and with a small amount of downward climbing done, we located a known population of wild asparagus. After that we decided we wanted to find an undiscovered population, so split up and headed along the very rocky coastline. We took it in turns to either take the high road (fairly easy grassland), or the low road (surprisingly dangerous cliffs and sheer drops). This took me right back to my youth when me and my brother would spend summer days climbing rocks at Beacon Hill, often pretending we were in Jurassic Park, but that's another story. Eventually we struck gold and found a lone plant which hadn't been discovered before. Success!
After a brief lunch break we headed to a second site. I was still buzzing from the morning's climbing, but this site was more than I could have hoped for. In order to access any wild asparagus here, we had to climb the unclimbable. On several occasions I was thinking to myself "Is this worth it?!", but as this was the most excitement I'd had out in the field, I decided that yes, it was. Particular dangerous highlights included attempting to cross a small valley with a sheer drop below and no footing. I had to put all of my faith into the plants and simply grip them and hope for the best. I also kept choosing particularly awkward routes back up to the top, ideally ones that involved more climbing and less walking. I had quite literally a cliffhanger moment at one point where I was pulling myself up with a rock crack and the rock I'd grabbed broke off. If I hadn't had decent footing I'd have been a goner. All very exhilarating stuff, and I think when I return to Birmingham and have some money I'd like to take up rock climbing as a hobby. Unfortunately the pictures I took don't do the sheer drops and tricky climbs justice, they just look like nice coastline, so you'll have to take my word for it, but here's a couple of slopes I conquered anyway:
We're heading out again next week for more death defying acts, all in the name of conservation.
Today I was back to work in the field after a long weekend camping just outside of Falmouth. It was a fantastic holiday, and I shall share with you now a few highlights.
Firstly, I hadn't seen the tent before we pitched as Sam brought it down with her:
At first I was slightly apprehensive as it is somewhat feminine. However, as Sam repeatedly reminded me, I do currently spend my days picking flowers so I can't really criticise. I grew to love that tent though, it was surprisingly spacious for a two-manner and kept off the weather (which in fairness was pretty good). It didn't, however, block out the noise of the man next door who insisted on discussing the wind direction with his lift at 7:00am every morning. I let this slide though as you do tend to wake up with the sun when camping, which is no bad thing.
We managed to squeeze a lot into the weekend which was good because I think we both needed the break away from our projects. So, we hit the beach in Falmouth, and actually braved the sea despite it being the coldest water I've ever been in (I genuinely couldn't feel my own body afterwards). I won't disturb anyone with pictures of me in the sea, nor embarrass Sam with pictures of her. I thought I'd be acclimatised to coldness, what with not having hot water and all, but alas no. Remarkably I had more facilities camping than I do in the caravan. After the beach we had a sweet sweet barbecue back at the campsite, which, despite setting the grass on fire on several occasions, was a success.
We also partook in several country rambles, the most eventful of which ended with us having to hotfoot it over some barbed wire when a field full of cows kept charging every time we tried to get past. It was genuinely as if they were trying to block our exit, but we'd come too far to turn back. Needless to say we survived and rewarded ourselves with some well earned pub grub, after a trip to a very trendy little cafe with many board games on offer.
Ho ho. The evening meal was actually courtesy of my Grandma who sent me some money so we could have a nice meal out. I took this to the extreme and had a massive steak and a dessert, as you do.
We also stumbled across several odd and amusing signs on our travels, the Cornish seem to be excellent at ridiculous and stupid signs, so here's small selection.
All in all it was a great weekend, and nice to be away from the caravan. I am back now though, obviously, but am stocked to the rafters with canned goods after a tactical trip to Tesco's on the journey back, made all the more entertaining by the taxi driver exclusively discussing his last crash. Dear me.
By the way, you may notice a distinct lack of pictures of me or Sam on here, but I feel odd putting pictures of people on here, plus Sam's blog is actually read by professionals, so if they ended up here for some reason it might be weird to see soppy pictures of a possible employee. Just so you know.
That's all for now, byeeeeee!
No pictures today I'm afraid folks, due to the rain most of today has been spent cooped up in my caravan. I started out in the field with the volunteer who carts me around of a Thursday, but I think even she was finding the work tedious, once again I was stopping every few minutes to take a reading. When the first drop of rain hit her head she called it a day, much to my delight. Neither of us wanted to get drenched, and trying to write information on a recording form in the rain is neither easy nor pleasurable. This gave me an opportunity to get up to date with my work, as well as crack on with my write up. So for once at the end of the working day, 5:00pm, I'm actually finished and have a sweet four days off now. The rain does mean I can't take my usual jaunt over to Mullion for biscuits, but I'm sure I'll survive this once. The weather's meant to improve tomorrow, but even if it doesn't the prospect of a few days away from the caravan (with rather good company) is certainly an exciting one. I've even blagged a lift to the bus stop tomorrow so I'm cruising down Easy Street.
Now, what to do with the evening?
As I got closer I realised it belonged to the local RAF base, and so wouldn't be able to sit in it and pretend to fend of the "Gerries", as I'd assumed I'd be able to. I did, however, find myself in a field of cows. Now, my bovinophobia appears to be spiralling out of control, which isn't particularly useful when they're bloody everywhere.
I don't mind him actually, he has good hair. Or is that a female? If it's a cow I assume the latter. Incidentally this picture was snapped from the other side of an electric fence. I was over there for sampling purposes, not to avoid the cow before you laugh too hard. Anyway, I spent a lot of the rest of the day avoiding other cows and trying to dodge this cloud:
I thought I was being fairly pathetic and was about to embrace a field of cows when I saw this helpful sign:
So my fear doesn't seem quite so irrational now, but it is still something I'll have to face eventually. They're just so big and seemingly aggressive in this neck of the woods! I couldn't get phone reception to ring for a lift back so ended up walking it and getting absolutely soaked. I did manage to finally take a picture of this monstrosity though:
This is the "sculpture" they put outside the local art gallery to tell the public they are open, and is the sole reason I haven't ventured in yet. I've spent the evening constantly eating to replenish the numerous reserves I must have used up on my mammoth trek back.
