So, back to the upside down Pontoon......................

The weather is milder, the ice has defrosted, the wind has picked up which automatically makes it a great day for flipping over the 'upside down Pontoon'

So Mark rallied the troops and we all got to the centre with no slipping and sliding.

Much to my amusement, Mark informed me that one of the local Mountain Rescue Teams were basing themselves out of our centre for the day and they had an RAF Helicopter coming during the day to enable them to practice rescue manouvers. No offense to the ladies in the MRT, but the thought of lots of nice young men was already making the thoughts, of a possibly, very wet and cold day, much better.

Then, to my utter delight, as we pulled into the car park we spotted not 1, but 2 HUGE RED FIRE ENGINES..... O yes, this day was getting MUCH better. Firemen and Mountain Rescue Team, how could it get any better?????

Well not much after that made much sense to me as I was far to busy amusing myself with Firemen and MRT...... that was until a certain man of mine appeared in his dry suit and then the vision was complete, just a shame i didn't have a few spare eyes as they were popping out my head lol.

As you can see from the pictures, thanx to Jo DR for the pictures, the water had frozen and thanks to the whole team and the MRT we managed to seperate the Pontoon into two pieces and managed to flip them over.

then once we got it flipped over the Helipcopter came in so Gary, Jo and I went for a walk around to the landing place and saw a working RAF helicopter actually picking people up and disappearing, at great spead over the hills, it was a fantastic end to a brill day.

Well done everyone and thanx from Mark for all your help :)

For anyone that hasn't heard............. the pontoon is upside down and it needs to be turned over before the season starts.

Mark had been watching the weather all week and kept us all updated and as the weekend approached we all pre-paired to walk into the Sailing Centre as we were pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to drive up there!!!!

I had driven past on the motorway the previous day and there were visable tyre tracks up the drive, so I was really hoping we would be able to drive up as I just knew that Mark would pack everything bar the kicthen sink.

So the morning arrived, the car was packed, we picked up BIL Steve and we were off into the unknown.

As we pulled up at the gate we met the rest of the team, with Tina at the wheel of the Landrover it was a 'lets give it a go' moment, now lets be honest if Tina could make it in the landrover then we all know Mark would give it a go in the Mondeo with it's new Winter Tyres...........................

The Winter Tyres paid off as it meant I didn't have to walk :)

So we got to the Centre and then the realisation of the issue hit us.................................

The whole pond was frozen, totally and utterly frozen. Breeze blocks were literally bouncing on the ice off the bridge.....

Needless to say the turning of the Pontoon was going to be difficult enough, never mind having to chip it free of 4 inch thick ice first. So after a nice warming cup of tea/coffee/chocolate and a bit of trolley moving we called it a day and went home.

It was still an amazing day and seeing the pond frozen was an experience as it was ice like i had never seen before, we had a fab time and a great laugh, mainly at the expense of anyone that ended up on their bottoms :)

Wow what a night.......... will it go on? will it not? will it snow? will it not?

So our Boss took the line of "suit up and go out" when have our team ever not turned out.

As you may have guessed I am writing of local event, Inbolc. It is a Pagan Festival celebrating the beginning of life and culmanating in a fire war between Winter and Spring where Spring beats Winter into submission and then releases a huge Firework display.

We were there assisting with the Car parking and general marshalling of the general public on the roads. The snow was falling but that never stops us.

Even with the snow, the slippery roads and freezing cold there were still a turnout of around 1,500 people

Excellent night, excellent pasties (thanx Jo), fab snow fight ala Sue & Janet styleeeee and amazing fireworks. Great night followed by the usual after event get together and this time I got to play Bingo, for the very first time in a public place and I even won £1 :)

Pictures courtesy of Steve Bentley

What can be better than an evening where you get to:

Play with LOTS of Duplo

Play with a small child that laughs at everything you do

Get to eat the most amazing homemade curry

Try to influence the small child to eat his tea properly

Have a popodom eating war with the small child

Get rid of husband to the pub

Have girly gossip about everyone else

Play with more Duplo

Get husband back

Take husband back to pub and leave him there

Go home

Put on Charlie Sheeen in Two and a Half Men

Curl up on the sofa with Frozen Christmas Yogurt

Cheers Jo for a fab tea, it was amazing x x x