Yes! Thank god I remember
thinking. It was four o'clock and I could finally finish up for the
day. Work was gruellingly slow and all I could think about was the ocean.
I hurried on home and jumped in a shower, Beth had organised all of
our camping equipment in the hallway ready for loading into the car
and was busy currently making her delicious spag bol to heat up once
we got to the campsite. James and Matt turned up a 4.30 just as I was
finishing loading the car. At least they were ready to go. Pan jumped
into James boot, he's beginning to make that position his, as I finished
stocking the car. Our destination was Fistral Beach in Newquay, one
of the finest surf spots in the UK. The weather looked miserable, it
had been cold and raining all day but it didn't matter, all we wanted
to do was kayak surf. I finished packing the remaining items; gas cooker,
ground sheets and more importantly, the tent, and we got on our way.
The rain hammered down and didn't stop until we were about 15 miles
from Newquay. We arrived at about 8 o'clock and started driving around
for a campsite but the first one we found was deserted. It didn't look
good and even though it had brightened up we were losing daylight so
I decided the Trevelgue campsite was the best bet. We got there at 8.30
and it was the same thing, no one around, until a big security guard
spotted us suspiciously loitering around the reception.
He started shouting. 'Are you looking for reservation?'
He was a big Polished guy, built like an Iron Man. We told him we wanted
to stay for one night. I told him we needed two pitches and we had my
dog with us. He was cool with that and kept hold of my debit card as
a deposit. He told us to pitch up in D sector, which he proceeded to
show us on the map. It was a good spot he said, well away from the noisy
parties he had in C sector. We got back in our cars and drove up to
the little secluded spot and started unpacking immediately as we didn't
have much light left. James and Matt cracked on like a couple of boy
scouts and erected their tent in record time and Beth began a one-woman
mission with ours while I fed Pan. We finally got everything up before
night fall and I got the tables and chairs set up and cracked open a
couple of beers. Beth began boiling up water for pasta and heating up
the bolognaise sauce. We all agreed after a massive amount of dinner
that camping overnight with less travel in the morning is the way to
do it. Matt pulled the top off another round of beers and we began laughing
about the last surfing trip down to Woolacombe and the heavy amount
of booze that we had drunk the night before. He showed me his bowie
knife and told me that he knew how to skin and cook a wild rabbit if
he had to. He told me that he should demonstrate some of his bush craft
skills to me sometime. I agreed.
Pan started barking at everything that moved so I put him to bed and
when I came back Matt was rolling a joint. Everyone seemed to be in
high spirits and talking about potentially crawling down to the Cabaret
club for more booze. Matt passed the joint around and it began circling
the table a few times. Everything was going fine and a suddenly a huge
amount of hysterical laughter erupted but something suddenly felt wrong.
All of a sudden I stopped. Everybody was still laughing but I couldn't
figure out what it was about, this continued for what felt like ten
minutes or so, until I remember saying something like, 'Guys, seriously.'
The laughter continued but it all seemed to get more and more out of
control with every revolution of the table, they wouldn't stop and I
started to get worried and paranoid that they had done something to
me or that I had wet my pants or something. I just couldn't figure out
what the hell they were laughing at. I said to them very slowly that
I was going to get up and walk away. I got up and my legs almost buckled
from under me, my knees were shaking like a babies first steps, I was
walking in slow motion. I got about ten feet from the tent and the others
ran over to me.
'What's up?' They all said, Beth with a terrified look on her face held
me by my arm.
'I don't feel right.' The two other figures, Matt and James became darker
and loitered viciously on the edge of my bubble.
'Dude what was in that joint because I feel kinda weird too?' said Beth.
'It's fine.' Said man.
I sensed he was lying!
By know I was paralysed with fear. I thought that maybe I was dead,
I thought that I had lost my mind, I though that everybody thought I
was going to kill them. I thought they were going to kill me! All I
could think about was what Matt had put in my joint. Had he poisoned
me? Were they all going to kill me now that they had me out in the wild?
Was Matt going to skin me alive now that I was all lucid and unable
to defend myself in any respectable way? I began to talk really fast
because from what I was saying it seemed to be going too slow for them,
like I was under water, and they couldn't hear me.
'Ambulance' and '999' and 'doctor'. I said really fast but calmly.
I focused on Beth to help me and I told her to talk to me. She held
me still and started to tell me a nursery rhyme. It seemed to work and
I began to snap out of it like I was stepping off a carousel, spinning
around and around in her arms until my legs gave way and I knelt down
in the mud. Back to reality but mentally and physically exhausted I
came too and Matt and James came back in from the edge of the bubble
and everything was good again and normal. I could breath again and feel
the soft breeze on my damp skin. But that wasn't then end of the night
it went on and on until I'd convinced myself that I was dead and that
if I didn't get out of the camp's gate the demons would keep me there
for eternity and I would be stuck in this terrible circle of horror
for the rest of my life. I'd settle now and then and try and calm down
and convince myself if I had in fact lost my mind then at least I would
have the memory of Beth to keep me company but when I started worrying
that I might even lose that I became more and more paranoid. In then
end she got me back to the tent and road out the night with me babbling
like a frightened child shivering in the cold. During the night I was
plagued with images of bears outside the tent marking the territory,
Matt running around in the night with a 17-inch bowie knife between
his teeth and shouts and screams from the opposite campsite where human
sacrifices were taking place in fields full of culled burning animals.
I remember saying; 'I'm never going to take drugs again,' and passed
out.
I felt like hell in the morning but at least my head had stopped spinning.
I woke up and turned around. I had been asleep all night in my new North
Face jacket. My long johns under my pyjamas were tucked into my socks.
Beth was still asleep. The air in the tent was stale and to my left,
covered in mud stacked in a soggy pile, were my jeans. I was desperate
for a pee so I opened the flap and stepped out. The grass was cold and
wet between my toes. It was a beautiful sunny spring morning and I although
I didn't get much sleep I felt pretty fresh and glad it was morning.
I walked over to James' car and looked in at Pan. He was awake watching
the seagulls trying to get at the rubbish in the wheelie bins. I woke
up James and Matt looking for the kettle. They both looked pretty terrible.
I guess camping in general does that to you.
'Morning.' They said one after another crawling out of the tent.
'Morning,' I said. 'Sorry about last night.'
'Don't worry about it man.' Said Matt.
'Tea?'
'Yep why not.' Said James.
I put the kettle on the gas burner and let Pan out of the car to chase
the gulls. Beth woke up and started to make her porridge. We had egg,
beans, sausage, mushrooms and bacon all cooking away on the stove and
we all had a laugh about the night before. I told Matt that I thought
he was trying to kill me and he said he wished he had come into the
tent brandishing his knife now that he knew. We finished up with breakfast
and packed up and made our way to Fistral.
The surf when we got there looked as flat as a pancake but it didn't
dampen our spirits. We geared up and made our way down to the water
and by the time we were decking in the waves had picked up. I forgot
how long a walk Fistral is at low tide especially with a bloody big
kayak on your back! James and I had our Daggers and James brought along
his Liquid Logic again. The sun was out and the water was surprisingly
pretty warm, there were lots of surfers out. The wave began to pick
up after about 20 minutes of being out there, 5-6 footers and getting
bigger. The breakers were a bit of an effort to get over but once you
were the waves were the biggest we've seen this season so far. I was
coming off some big barrels and more than once on the peak of a wave
my boat actually flew out into the air giving me the biggest kicks on
splash down. James got caught doing some washing machine tests, rolling
backwards and forwards and upside down and all that (intentionally of
course!). I believe Matt even caulked up a few more swims for the Swindon
& District Canoe Club! By the end of it I'd had a good kickin' what
with Matt's boat smashing me I the ribs in the breakers and Beth cracking
me in the hip practising her Eskimo rolls. While all this was going
on Pan was running around the beach having a ball. The waves were getting
bigger and bigger as the tide came and by 4pm we'd all had enough of
a trashing! Next week who knows, but no dope!
----
he
Girl With The Scar
I couldn’t take
my eyes off the scare running down her cheek. Although I always made
sure she didn’t see me looking it drew my complete attention. It
ran all the way from her left eye to the corner of her mouth. I was
glad I didn’t look like that. If only she didn’t have it,
I thought. She came into the shop every Wednesday and was always the
happiest customer of the day. She made me smile I got excited every
time she came through the door. I wondered if I would be as happy with
a face like that? She was beautiful don’t get e wrong, if only
I could look past the scar.
‘Her name’s Jess.’ Said Tom.
‘So what.’ I said
‘She goes to my college man.’
‘Yeah, and, who cares?’
But I did, so much. I felt weird like a sort of prying pervert. Somebody
had noticed me looking and of all people this idiot I worked with. Thank
god I hadn’t talked to anyone other than my best friend Bruce about
her. He didn’t have a clue, lived on a totally different planet,
in anyway he didn’t know anyone, and all he cared about was food,
exercise and sleeping. In any case he had his own troubles with the
opposite sex. Tom annoyed me because he was just another dumb loud mouth
dosing his way through life.
Wednesday came around again and I found myself counted down the hours
until she was due. But there was no sign, no girl and no smile. Tom
got on my back about it but I still didn’t want him to go to college
and say anything. I sat in the staff room and thought about that smile
a lot and what the absence was doing to me. I got back that night and
spoke to Bruce but he didn’t listen he just winged so I took him
for a walk. The wind whipped through the lawns and cut me like a knife
I felt empty. When she comes in next week I’ll ask her, who cares,
I thought.
Another week went by and then a month until I eventually put her to
the back of my mind. The girl was gone and I never saw her again. I
wasn’t bothered about the scar anymore I would trade it for the
one on my heart any day.
ayaking
Tripping in Newquay
he
Girl With The Scar