Tristan - enter the madness...

Friday, August 26

So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish

It’s weird…because I’ve handed over pretty much everything, I’ve got nothing to do!  So I’ve decided to blog.  I was chatting on MSN, but most people are busy :(

I’ve got the youth holiday tomorrow which I’m looking forward to.  I think this will be the…*counts*…7th one I’ve been on (there have been 8 and I missed one).  Wow, lots of youth holidays.  Ooooh, idea…lets see if I can remember them all

1998 – Nr Tenby, Wales
I was 17, I’d been a Christian for about 3 months and I knew nobody.  We took over a little country youth hostel that had about 3 rooms.  A big girls room, a big boys room, and a small room with 2 bunks in it for the leaders.  I ended up in the bunk room with the leaders.  At the start of the holiday I was absolutely petrified…I didn’t do well with new people, and they all seemed to be from a different ‘crowd’ (I was more of a grungy type person, and nobody else was; they all liked completely different music and wore completely different clothes).  I had a brilliant time there.  I made some friends that have become really strong friendships over the years, and I met some great people.  I’ll recall one thing that sticks in my mind the most…

Youth Pastor: “You’d better stop that…it’s not good”
Annoying Kid: “Why should I; what you gonna do?!?”
Youth Pastor: “If you don’t stop, I’ll pour this milk down your back!”
Annoying Kid: “Yeah Right”  
Annoying Kid carries on doing Annoying Thing
Youth Pastor: “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you”
     Youth Pastor pours glass of milk down Annoying Kid’s back!

That was one of the highlights.  And before you ask; No, the Annoying Kid wasn’t me.

Anyone remember Trev’s nice yellow minibus…?

1999 – Pendennis Castle, Falmouth
18 – Just finished A-Levels.  Recently passed my test and bought a lovely, beautiful car…her name was Bayb (I name all my cars..they’re about the only thing I name…sorry VJ :-S) I think this was the year we stayed in Flamouth Castle (there is, for some reason, a youth hostel built-in to the castle).  I think ‘J’ was driving a metro, and for some reason I remember Richy R driving too..though I think I’m wrong cuz he hadn’t passed his test at that point!
I remember playing football (Soccer) in the castle grounds.  This is hazardous, as there was only a low wall;  if you kicked the ball over, there was a 20-30 foot drop into the (empty) moat….this meant a long run around to get the ball.

Quote of the holiday:
C: “Oooh, that’s a nice watch!”
T: “Thanks” *smile*
C: “Was it expensive, or dear?”

Heh heh (for non-english readers…not sure if you have this definition, but ‘dear’ can be used to mean ‘expensive’)

2000 – Brixham, Devon
Bayb had died a horrible death by this point, so I drove Nige’s car – which was just like Bayb, only silver!!  We went to an activity-centre, but only did a few activities.  The best word to describe this holiday is naughty.  We got up to some terrible mischief on this holiday…so much so that the leaders got told off by the owners.  To summarise – a lot of food got thrown about, and sun-cream & spaghetti sauce were cleaned off of walls.  Lozza was naughty too…she put cling-film over a toilet *shock*

2001 – Isle of Wight
Unfortunately I didn’t make it this year – I had just started work in my placement year and couldn’t get the time off!  I hear it was a really good holiday.

2002 – Hayle, Cornwall (nr. St Ives)
On this year we had a number of 6-berth caravans at a family caravan site.  Why they let us on there I’ll never know.  The great thing was that there were loads of on-site facilities to keep the youngsters entertained in the evening.
For anybody that’s played the game ‘Mafia’, this was the year we had our famous Week-Long game of Mafia…it was soooo much fun.  I was one of the mafia, and I’ve never enjoyed it as much before, or since.  Mwaaa ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa.

I think this was the year I drove Gadget – well done Gadget!!

I also learned how to use a ‘Dance Machine’ on this holiday…the most exercise I’d had in a loooooooooooong time!  There were a pair of brothers on the holiday – we’ll call them Barry & Brawn.  Barry liked a girl – we’ll call her Mungo.  Brawn liked a different girl – we’ll call her RedHead.  Barry & Brawn are interesting chaps – hearts of gold, but they come up with some very funny things.  They weren’t always popular with the ladies (although, I think Barry is getting married soon!).  Anyways, one other chap (I’ll call him ‘Lightbulb’) was always winding up Barry & Brawn.  This year he took it too far…he snogged Mungo!  Brawn was a little luckier..he managed to go out with RedHead for a v.short period of time before she broke up with him.  Not to fear!!!  Lightbulb, who was always full of ideas, decided that he’d go out with RedHead too!  It was very funny (if a little unfortunate for Barry & Brawn).  Lightbulb…you should know better!

2003 – Hayle, Cornwall (nr. St Ives)
This is the one (and only) time that we’ve been to the same resort twice.  We stick to a general rule that we’ll go to a different place each time…simply because no two holidays are the same, and if you have a great time in a particular place, you’re not guaranteed to have a great time by going again.  This year was still good, but in an entirely different way.  The location was the same, a lot of the people were the same, but the holiday was just…different.The first change, was that I was driving Missy!!    I remember that we set up a small dinghy and propped it up with an oar.  Rope was attached to the oar, and bits of bread spread liberally underneath the dinghy.  We hid, clasping the rope in our hands while we waited for seagulls to arrive.  We never caught one, but it was fun trying…mwaa ha ha ha haaaaaaaa.
I believe this was also the year of Brawn’s infamous pink ‘Pulling Shirt’, his retirement from the lifeguard fleet, and Norm’s amazing ‘strip dance’!!  I may be wrong…events from 2003 and 2002 often get confused – that’s the disadvantage of going to the same place 2 years running.

2004 – Nr Tenby, Wales
Now I know what you’re thinking – you’ve been to Tenby before!!  Well, this is sort-of true.  This year, we stayed in a completely different place – it was like a caravan site, had all the same facilities, only we stayed in Chalets (small, one-floor houses).  We had a fantastic time.  One day we went dry-slope skiing, which was amazing!  For the rest of the day I drove half-way around Wales being referred from hospital to hospital because somebody had fractured their wrist by banging into the barrier at the bottom of the slope – ouch!  We also went to an activity centre (which we went to in ’98) which had go-karts, baseball cages, water-bumper-cars, archery, pistol shooting and laser clay-pigeon shooting.  FUN!

Right, that’s enough from me.  Loads of you new bloggers out there have been on the youth holidays….share your best moments!

4 Comments:

  • lol - Who was the annoying kid?

    By Blogger TommyDB, at 26/8/05 12:33  

  • I can't remember!! LoL - didn't know anybody back then, so really don't know. Just some kid was cheeking him, he threatened to pour milk down his back, kid didn't believe him and so he did it!

    By Blogger T, at 26/8/05 14:00  

  • Loz and Pete... *smoochies*

    By Blogger TommyDB, at 26/8/05 18:56  

  • Where have all the bloggers gone?

    By Blogger Jenny, at 20/9/05 10:59  

Post a Comment

<< Home