Sunday 13 September 2015

Bin bagged out

Day two (or is it three?) of the Black Country Boating Festival, and I've been busy, busy, busy. Not this morning, though, when we went to the service in the beer tent, part of the Churches Together in this part of Dudley/Sandwell. The talk, loosely based on the parable of the Good Samaritan, was good but a little long.

The service included a collection for Syria; at the end everyone was given a helium-filled balloon with a message attached: "Pray for Syria" (in Twitterspeak). It was a good ruse to get everybody out of the marquee promptly so that the tables and chairs - and stage - could be reset for the next band and so that the bar could reopen.

On a countdown we all released our balloons.


I wasn't too comfortable with the prospect of littering the countryside with rubber and an invitation to pray, but I joined in with the crowd. Have I just shouted "Free Barabbas!"?

After lunch I saw the state of the ground outside the beer and food tents and got to work with a litter picker and a bin bag. I also did more replenishing of loo rolls, and assisted with clearing chairs and tables at the close of play. I think I'm probably quite tired.

The festival officially ended at 5 pm; boats began to move away.

I shifted Jubilee to a better mooring, away from the "hooting bridge". Perhaps we'll get more sleep tonight - I was woken by a car hooting at 0220 today!

David, Mary, Richard and Peter joined us for a meal on board, then I went to the beer tent where a debrief was in progress. I discovered that there would be a breakfast for volunteers/staff at 0800 tomorrow - mustn't miss that!

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