the weekend at last

Well it's here. The Bank Holiday is about to start. The roads since first thing have been full of swaying caravans & road hogging motor homes heading to the coast for the BIG ONE. Our CL site is full, & believe it or not, people are still ringing up at this late hour asking 'having ye go' u pitch dear?' NO, been full for months!

l think that we are now as ready as we are ever going to be. The ice cream is made, today, mint choc chip [white mint with chocolate mint crisp], the cakes baked, hams, roast beef & pork [for sarnis] are all cooked in anticipation of the Grand Rush. Only 1 hiccup. A big one. Little Ed can't work Sunday or Monday. *******. We are now l man down for Castle Howard on the Sunday & the same on Monday at Sewerby Hall, though, & it is a big THOUGH, if the forecast is as bad as the Beeb are saying Monday wont be a problem.

It's going to be an early start tomorrow with the 'tardis' having to be pitched at the Young Farmers Rally site by 7 am, why so early l have no idea. anyway, Harry & myself have just loaded it up with loads of chocolate ice cream, white & milk, plus a few other special requests, together with a large supply of double chocolate waffle cones. l know from experience that YFC members go for anything chocolaty in a big way. l have drawn the short straw . Muggins here will have to man the scoops until Kendal arrives at 11.30 after her driving lesson which means l will be somewhat late for lunchtime service. l'll need to get Masoud in a bit earlier to help P prep up the salads.

The caravan rally people are now all in place. This lot are really organised. They have a very large marquee running down the centre of the field, plus generator for the all night parties, then the vans are parked in a regimental fashion in long, very straight lines. Above the caravans on long bendy poles are brightly coloured billowing pennants displaying among others the white rose of Yorkshire, a royal standard and a scull & crossbones [?].

Ah, stop press...Sunday is saved LW has volunteered.

LW is the same age as Harry and headed off to uni in Leeds last autumn. l think she has really enjoyes being in the city & uni life, anyway she absolutely loves shows and James Martin in that order, so Sunday is saved.

Something always turns up, never any need to panic unless you see an iceberg heading your way!

hot & sweaty

What a sweaty, manky day its been. l've been in the kitchen most of the day & whilst punters have been enjoying their ice cream & Greek salads outside, l've been sweating like a pig prepping their food. The newly installed air con wasn't much of a help, [l'm not much when it comes to setting air con temps], the only way to cool down was a -25 in one of the freezers!

Um, the weather doesn't look too good for the coming holiday does it? Sunday it's rain showers then Monday east winds & rain. They may have got it wrong, it has been known. Oh well, take it as it comes that's all you can do really.

The week's to do list is now getting progressively shorter & covered in ticks. Harry has got 200ltrs of banoffee & the same in apple crumble. The gastroporn bit is as follows, avert your eyes if you are of a nervous disposition. The banoffee is a banana based ice cream [yuk] with an upmarket toffee sauce swirled through it plus mini maltesers, toffee pieces & fudge, whilst the apple crumble is apple bits plus crumble, [not bad]. Tomorrow it's the complicated ones apparently!

Not only has Harry been making ice cream all week he has been out every night making & preparing stuff for this Saturday's young farmers rally @ Burton Agnes, he's going to be well knackered me thinks! Masoud, the other glutton for punishment, has been on Day 1 of his CIEH Intermediate Food Hygiene course, so he''ll have had fun learning about E Coli 157, clostridium proffingens, [sorry my spelling,] & ratus ratus. never a dull moment here you know!

The caravan rally organisers have been trickling in today, setting up the rally field for their members, little pegs to make pitches, a big tent to hold evening 'jollies', a whole mini village in the making & their here for the week! Keep smiling.

As the weekend progresses l don't know how much time or more like how much energy l will have. l think that l have written somewhere before that l find blogging a way to 'switch off' after a busy day, l will try to keep in touch!