I realise I’ve missed a couple of days, but in all honesty, even with my best BS hat on, I simply could not turn the events of those days into anything that resembled a blog post and not simply a Tweet/X/Whatever
So I’ve made the executive decision that when there are uneventful days, and I’m sure there will be a few, that I’ll combine a few days together until there is enough story to warrant a blog post.
Cool? Cool.
Wednesday 22nd May 2024
Day 2 of training at the new campsite. Today was about cleaning. And paperwork. But mostly cleaning. The part of the job most who have worked on a campsite dislike most, cleaning toilets.
I’m not sure if I’m odd, or if its because I’m South African, or I just don’t care, but I don’t have a major dislike for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be the first to volunteer for the job if there was a choice, but at the same time I don’t hate my life when its time to get stuck in. Its not glamorous of course.
It was a rather miserable, wet day so when my shift ended at 2pm I got stuck into some client website design work and editing my massive backlog of photographs taken so far on my travels.
The end.
Thursday 23rd May 2024
My day off but a rather miserable one, with rain and moderate winds. So the day consisted of working on my businesses including the marketing aspect of social media posts, doing some work on a website design project and editing images from my travels.
Friday 24th May 2024
Was asked if I could spare an hour or two to help out on the campsite in the morning despite being on the late afternoon shift (4 – 8pm). As I had nothing planned, I obliged.
The help needed was to sort out the bins. I am now officially Director of Waste Management. This involved driving the little mower tractor and its trailer and carting the bins from around the site to the main bins at the entrance. I then packed bags of wood (they are sold to the campers if needed as campfires are permitted on the site) into the storage room. And finished off with moving some pitches in preparation for a full house for the bank holiday weekend.
I then retired to Star, made some lunch. Took Shaka for a short walk (all he can manage these days) and did some more client work and editing.
At 4pm my afternoon shift began, which on a Friday involves working in the cafe/kitchen!
I’ve never worked in a commercial kitchen before. But I’m always open to new experiences so embraced the opportunity. I prepped (pizza bases were ordered in) 13 pizzas whilst the boss baked and cut them. That was after cleaning the cafe/bar area (sweep and vacuum), Assembling 25 pizza boxes. Making a coffee for a customer and serving clients at the bar (campsite has a license).
I was actually hoping people would order other items off the menu as making just 1 item (pizza) wasn’t really much training as there are several other items on the menu. I was aided by the boss.
As we finished the customer food orders, the boss offered me a pizza if I wanted to make myself one. Anyone who knows me knows I simply cannot refuse pizza. Ever. She took me up on my offer of making her one also. So I prepped and cooked our pizzas also.
It was washed down with a can of cider that I was also very kindly offered.
So far (and its only been 3 shifts) this experience has been so different to the companies I’ve worked for before. This is the first family run campsite I’ve worked for and I doubt very much I’d ever work for one of the clubs or businesses with multiple sites.
It is very laid back. To the point where they will forfeit pitch income to benefit their customers by providing more space to a group booking! Unheard of in the two companies I’ve worked for before where its all about how much they can get away with charging for a pitch.
Tonight, being a bank holiday weekend in the UK means the campsite is fully booked (besides those aforementioned pitches which the owners sacrificed for customer service) which means there are loads of little people around. Little people whose parents seemingly have no issue allowing to go feral on the site. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the sound of kids playing. But kids shouting at 12am in the evening will soon get old if this is what is to be expected for the summer holiday period.
Saturday 25th May 2024
I was rudely woken at 6:30am by kids playing football and shouting like it was midday!
Seriously, what is wrong with parents that they think its okay for their kids to be shouting and playing football at that time in the morning!?
Selfishness is the only conclusion I can reach really. People who have zero concern for others on the campsite as long as they are not being bothered themselves.
As a result of unsupervised kids running wild, I had about 5 hours of sleep and woke feeling ready to nut anyone who looked at me funny, which isn’t a great mindset to be in as a warden.
The morning was spent in the cafe/kitchen serving breakfasts followed by facility cleaning before having 4 hours to kill before the afternoon shift which again involved taking orders and serving drinks at the bar in the cafe.
The boss once again offered both myself and the other warden some food and we both opted for a burger.
I consumed a few alcoholic beverages with the owners and a few customers before retiring to Star for the evening.
I’m now off for the next 3 days. The weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t great with rain all day along with thunderstorms so I’m guessing I won’t be getting up to much tomorrow!
Until next time….
