Barkeep's Blog - Vollsanger

14th June 2012 - Marquees up at Leek - though a little damp...

Now 9pm and the end of a long day..
Started with sunshine which was nice and unexpected  - though we lost a few hours in the day - which is another story.... which will have to be told  at another time.

Tents now up and with the gallant assistance of Benjii Gary and Bex  and others  - and also the assistance in carrying all the stuff into the tents.. Sadly the rain started this evening and the wind is up again ..
Corn beef hash for dinner and a nice bottle of red...

11pm - and the friends of the Crimson Moon have enjoyed a sit by the fire and imbibed in a drink or two and have made their way to their respective beds...
Just walked the dogs - though they were singularly unimpressed by the wind and rain as we did a quick hike around the tavern....  so all quiet .. the rain is falling and the wind sounds louder than it should, The site here has had all the Rhododendron bushes removed due to a fungus infection - spores which attack other trees ,, so instead of the usual purple splendour - we have a denuded site and the wind is whipping through with nothing to stop it... Tornado warnings for the weekend!!.

So back to the day and the reason for some minor delays!!

Late evening last night - we had a numb er of people come in to join us at the fire and we enjoyed a very good social evening.
Late night, Susie went out the back and tripped on the corner guy rope and fell ...   seen by a friend I went out to assist and as we tried to get the portable loo into the back of the tent, a stumble and trying to catch each other as  we hit the sudden incline behind the tent, Susie tripped and I fell and we managed to hit our heads as we went down!!!

Well - o- off to bed 'cos it was late and we thought we would find out the result in the morning... and I suppose it is fair to say we did...
Susie woke with terrible pain in the shoulder - not sure if she had dislocated, broken a collar bone..   but in either case - was in serious trouble. I had a large bruise on an eyebrow = and a small cut on the nose!!!
Well as I said at the beginning - the sun was shining and the day was glorious...   so a cup of tea and off we went to Macclesfield Hospital A & E ...  Well I dropped Susie off as we knew it would take a while and returned to start doing the tent on my own...

In fairness Curious Pastimes were great and 4 friends said they were there to help.  Took me a bit aback as I am used to working at the speed of two and suddenly I had 4 helping. We managed to get the 4 master tent laid out in record time... and then pulled it up ...  Of course - as we were not working to my normal schedule - I had totally neglected to tie the side ropes - the ones that stop the tent sliding to the left or right!!
The tent came up beautifully - stayed there as we admired it for about 2 minutes and then glided to its side - bending the pins at the top of the poles!!
Luckily I carry spares and we soon had it reset and lifted ...
Found myself doing all the pin placing and side managing that susie normally does - and that took me through to 2pm when she called back from the hospital..

Good news - nothing broken - only  soft tissue damage but will be very painful for a while .
Of course we are in England and the prescription for the pain killers is charged !!! Too far to head back to Wales to fill the prescription!!!.

So - back to the site and Susie is getting on with what she can - in a lot of pain but no real major injuries thank goodness..   I am about 4 hours behind schedule as I am doing all the set up that she normally does without mention..   I have help from good friends to help bring everything into the tent and we shut up for the night..

So back to the dinner and a bottle of wine.. The fire is now dwindling. Everyone has gone . Susie is in bed with two hot water bottles - one for her feet and one for her shoulder. Delft is tucked up in her basket ..  Rusty is chasing worms under the soil - being Mr Snuffalopolus and biting the grass.
 The rain is throwing it down now... The wind is high and the tent is shaking but I have double strapped the back and hope it will hold.

Found that the Warden's office has broadband and am linking from that thought it is the other end of the field

So as I sign off tonight - I will record that I am a little tired !!!
Susie is safe and well with some aches and bruises...
The weather is foul and the wind is high ...
We have everything in the tavern that we need - so we have a day of building the magic tomorrow
We will open about 5pm - I hope....

Goodnight from the Crimson Moon Tavern...