Chapter Fourteen - "The First Week"

Tuesday, 6th July 2010 at around 6pm:

The first week back at home has finally passed, but it's been very eventful!

What with the exciting conclusion of Wimbledon, visits to my old school with Mark, and a hog roast, there's been plenty to keep me occupied. Incidentally, I'm off to a pub quiz tonight which should be great fun.


Wednesday, 7th July 2010 (today)

After trying to figure out what exactly I did with my time during my first week at home, things got ahead of me (supper, TV and the quiz night) which prevented me from continuing with my post. Appologies.

On Wednesday of last week I headed into town to do some shopping and meet up with Mark for pizza. It has become somewhat of a tradition, I feel, to visit Pizza Hut and have our large margherita with cheesy bites, while discussing a mixture of oddities and irrelevancies; anyone listening in on our conversations would be none the wiser as to what we were talking about. Actually, sometimes I can't be sure myself. After we'd had our fill of pizza, we made for West Buckland where we planned to attend the Biology Club. We parked up and walked into school.

On arriving in the biology lab we were told that the club had been rescheduled to Monday evenings, so you would think we'd had a wasted journey. But you'd be wrong. (Why, however, do all good clubs have to clash with the Christian Union meetings?)

As is normally the case we had some good conversations and got some entertaining photos. I also attempted to find my engraved tile in the courtyard of the new 150 Building. The tile was engraved with my name and years at school, for free, as a way of making up for the typo on the brick in the new Sports Centre; however, I couldn’t find it.

The building was designed to commemmorate the school's 150th Anniversary, and to blend in with the school's beautiful surroundings it has a largely wooden exterior. However, we think it looked too 'instant' and slightly out of place, and so named it 'The Ikea Building'. It also looks like a villain's lair out of a James Bond movie, but that might just be me.

Shortly afterwards I had to get my bus back home, so Mark drove me to Bideford. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, and seeing as it was a lovely day, we decided to get ice-creams. The less said about what followed, the better. If you really must know though, it’s all down in Mark’s blog.

Time skips forward a couple of days, and I'm invited to a Hog Roast Triple Birthday Party on Saturday evening. (In actual fact, the birthdays concerned are not necessarily at this time; one is actually in December, but any excuse for a party!) Some girls from the village offered to give me a ride to the farm, so once I managed to squeeze into the car (amidst their camping gear) we were on our way. On arriving I was faced with a crowd of people, almost innumerable in my opinion. Everywhere I looked I saw unfamiliar face after unfamiliar face, making me realise just how long I must've been away! So I was glad when, after the girls had finished pitching their tent, they came to join me. By this time I'd found the queue for the food, and was rapidly in the process of going nowhere.

I was determined not to be phased by this turn of events, however, and soon settled myself, aided by a large plate of meat. I also began to find people I recognised and had many good conversations, though I occassionally found myself shouting a bit, to be heard over the DJ mixing the disco tracks! In all it was fun, and a welcome change of scene.

On Monday I met with Mark again, following a similar routine to Wednesday. After we'd had pizza we made our way to the school, this time for Christian Union, and a chance to catch up with the staff and pupils there. Chris, Alan and Kathy were so happy to see me again, and I was pleased to be back. It felt familiar and uplifting to sing the same old classic worship songs, and take Communion together. And I found my tile! You can see my photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=445039&id=777915320&l=1f048bd413

Last night's Pub Quiz was a success, raising around £200 for the North Devon Hospice. I joined my usual teammates and we had a great time. One of the rounds was right up my street, as it involved solving numerous riddles! I also discovered who first developed the rabies vaccine, albeit the hard way! We came fifth out of about eight or so teams, being second at one point, by only half a mark! But, win or lose, I was glad to have been there and it was good to feel a part of the team, and the community.

The observant among you will notice that I haven't shared much in the way of sports results here. That's simply because I realise I've gone on writing more than I intended - basically, Nadal won Wimbledon, and some team is playing some other team at football, and hopefully scoring some goals. (The Pub Quiz proved that my knowledge of the World Cup was lacking somewhat!)

Tomorrow is the school Sports Day, and as usual Mark and I are going in together. Can Grenville win? Will Felix ever learn not to walk across the javelin range? Will rain strike again? All these questions and moor, will be answered tomorrow.

Till then, goodbye.