the world according to kmuki: Spoons

This past week I've been on our annual music camp to the Bowles Outdoor Education Centre.

The week was just fab, with a few exceptions. I have to say we will never ever again use that coach company. First of all, the guy couldn't find the school - he was just using a regular A-Z after all - but hey, its marked very clearly on the map so why he couldn't find it, I just don't know. I guess some men just don't know how to read maps, do they?

Anyway, the pick up time came, and went - and still no coach. Finally we made contact on the phone, and found out he was parked outside the church about a 15 minute walk away from the school. What a dope! So I had to send June down to find him, and then direct him to the school - which then presented problem number 2 - the luggage.

You see, Erik had asked for a trailer, and had been told by the company, no, it wasn't necessary. He checked several times, pointing out it was a music camp, the kids would have instruments - but they reassured us that we didn't need it - and that the drivers don't like towing one anyway. So the bus eventually turns up (we'd booked a 79-seater so they sent us a double decker bus - but from the outset it was clear it was not designed for 79 passengers and their luggage, let alone 79 passengers, luggage, and musical instruments...! So we had a devil of a time getting everything on the coach. We ended up with instruments stored in the toilet, kids sitting on top of instruments, tubas on kids' laps and so on... for a 2 hour or so journey to Tunbridge Wells... how ridiculous is that? And then 20 minutes into the journey I get a phone call from the head honcho at the coach company complaining that the driver feels unsafe with all this luggage stored as it was, and requesting I book a trailer for the return journey. I soon set her straight, we should've had one from the word go. Then she tried to tell me it would cost £60 extra for the trailer - but because I wasn't in the office and couldn't pay in advance, she wasn't sure if they could do it. I mean, come on? We're away for 4 days - how on earth can I arrange payment in advance, and even if I could, why is that necessary? Its a school, its not going anywhere, if we default on the payment you could look up the address very easily - and seeing as we'd already paid some £1000 for the coach, why can't they just assume they'll get their money? So, she said she'd phone me back if there was a problem, and seeing as she didn't call back, I assumed all was good.

We arrived then at Bowles and the kids quickly got into the swing of the routine. Food, music / activities, more food, music / activities, more music / activites, free time, more food, more music / activites, then evening activity. I have to say I was a little apprehensive at first as we had more kids on this year's camp than ever - but my fears were most certainly unfounded and everyone threw themselves into all the activities with such willingness and gusto, that an absolutely fab time was had by all.

In fact, this year it was so stress-free from the point of view of the kids' behaviour, but yet so labour intensive for the staff (as there were many more rehearsal slots and often several staff had to run two bands, so when the kids were doing outdoor activities, you often didn't get to be with your band but were running sectionals with another band or something) - that we decided to 'spice it up' a little. This meant that at the start of the day, someone would come up with a word or phrase for the day, which you had to somehow get into your rehearsals or announcements in public. So, the first day, the word was 'spoons'. I have to say, I think I won that day, although Andy did come a close second with his singing of Mary Poppin's "Spoonful of Sugar" during one rehearsal, where he accused a girl of 'spooning the note' before telling another girl that she would get better if ... and then he sang the song. My spoon mentions came more during the dinner time announcements, where I outlined suitable acts for our "CEBS Factor" evening - including, of course, playing the spoons - or when I told the girls they needed to get an early night's sleep to stop getting ill, as we didn't have any medicine jugs or spoons for them... I'm sure the kids must've thought all the staff had suddenly flipped out with all these mentions of 'spoons'!

The next day the saying was something like "I've never heard it called that before" which actually I think Jim and Andy won - to be fair, by default, as I didn't really have the energy having been up til 3am the night supervising our little treasure's bedtime...

The final day I just gave up on completely. The phrase was something like "hot and cold" - and I just didn't have the creativity anymore to wangle that one into everyday conversation. But the game "Spoons" sure made for many laughs at the staff table!

The talent evening on the Thursday night was just fab. So many kids got up and did acts, and they were really good too - and then the staff did a few numbers. Ruth and Jim decided to play the 'Trello' - which consisted of Ruth, the cellist, pressing down the valves on the trumpet whilst Jim blew the notes, and bowing the strings whilst Jim pressed the strings in the right position. Very funny!

And then Erik got up and did a soppy number, 'You Raise Me Up', which had some kids in tears (and to be fair, me too - but probably not just because of leaving CEBS but also because it was played at Grandpa's funeral).

Anyway, it was a top night, and a totally fab camp, and I will keep it and my girls in my heart forever...