Quite an eventful day, one way + another. During the night it rained – that was the first thing – and my sleeping bag(s) got wet – that was the second. When I informed Val of the fact, she just said “oh” and went back to sleep. Great. However, being double-bagged, I didn’t get cold at all, but I didn’t get any more sleep either. No work, at least for the morning, so decided to get up + dry bags + wash clothes. I fetched the car up from its new home by the farmer’s fruit stand to Frost Road, (where the field is), to pick up Val + all the clothes, then down to the launderette. While that was doing its stuff of getting our clothes clean + dry, we sat + sorted out the photos + other things to send home, then into the PO with them. Then, into town, for the other jobs we had to do – buying some things to hold my glasses on, some more jars, some post-cards, + topped it off with coffee + hot cinnamon buns. Fabulous.
Back to the farm, by 12.30 or so, + immediately (more or less) started work. It went really well, for me at any rate, + we picked 3 bins. In the evening, after a frugal meal of spaghetti, toast + eggs, we decided to go into town – after all, it was Saturday night. The French pair had told us about a club called North 40 which had rock bands, so we thought we’d try that. We asked Rob to come along, + he agreed. When we got there, I was a bit uncertain as to whether he’d enjoy it very much – I wouldn’t have said he was a rock fan – but it turned out he knew + liked rock a lot, had even played in a band himself. We’d left quite late, but the place had only just opened when we got there. That was good really, because it enabled us to get a good seat, + to talk for a while. The band were called Damien, + were very good. They were sort of heavy metal, tho’ in appearance + style about ten years out of date. Rob + I shared 2 pitchers of beer + by the end of the evening were very drunk. We were all able to cut loose on the dance floor, since it wasn’t very crowded. I managed to drive us home at about 12 – Rob was really funny, he kept on, during the walk back to the tents from the car, lobbing a packet of Frosties that he’d bought. A really good, drunken evening.
To start at the end: yes, of course it was irresponsible, if not downright dangerous, to other people as well as us, to be driving when drunk. And it is no defence to say that we all did it then, that times have changed. (But we did, some of us anyway, and they have, and not necessarily for the better.)
As for waking Val up to tell her I was soaking, I’m not sure, even now, what I was expecting her to do. Wake up and join me in misery, I suppose. Though, notably, I don’t seem to have had any awareness of my own selfishness, even though it is blindingly obvious to any reader. Ho hum, as I might have said back then.
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