We went to what was likely to be our last meet of the year this weekend, the Bonfire and FIrework meet.
It was held at the Walesby Scout camp in Nottinghamshire. Keeping with tradition it was wet and cold but as true Brits we had a great time nether the less.
This was the first time we have used the gas heater in the ‘van which is no big deal but it turned out to be the first time we changed the gas bottle. We knew the bottle was getting low, we have a 2nd so its no problem or so we thought. As expected it we ran out of gas on the Friday night, at 10pm.
Out we go to change the bottles to find that out of all the tools we had, not one spanner, wrench or any other thing we had fitted (teach us not to double check). I have no problems asking others for help but at 10pm you don’t know who will still be about and have tools to hand. I asked Julian to run down to the Stewards and see if there was any life there and ask them. They did have a set of quick grip pliers but we just could not get the bloody hose disconnected.
Bonfire with the Guy Fawkes' made by kids at the meet
We decided to leave it, so back into the van we got, with no heating and no gas for hot drinks. After a couple of beers we wrapped up and went to bed. It was cold night and a cold morning and we couldn’t even have a cuppa until I had sorted the Gas. Fortunately as I went outside someone was off to fill their water barrels and I asked if he had a suitable spanner. Yes he did, an engineering spanner that he had ground down slightly to make it a perfect fit. With a bit if elbow greese and a lot of huffing and puffing we managed to get the bloody thing off, switch the bottles and reconnect. The whole job takes seconds once you get it undone, Oh the fun of it all:)
Bonfire has been lit and burns nicely
Saturday evening saw the bonfire and fireworks, followed by a ’social evening’. This was great, normally it is a ‘take your own drink’ evening but this was evening was a ‘take your own drink, table and chairs’ evening as there was nothing in the hall. We met some new faces and some that we had previously met and got slowly (with the help of a drop of some slow gin) drunk.
All in All we have had a great few weekends away this year and plan to do an awfull lot more next year. We would like to thank the Camping and Caravan clubs Notts District Association and their members for making us newbies so welcome this year and giving us some great advice and tips.
By the way, there are some good photo’s of last weeks Halloween meet here.
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