Everyone here safe, well and happy and remarkably free of homesickness! Flight was uneventful apart from the entertainment provided by Ettienne who read the in flight material in the seat pocket and announced, “If you pack the air hostesses a compliment, you get a free drink!” Not quite what the aairline had in mind when offering complimentary drinks!. So he turned his charm dial to maximum and gazed intently at the air hostesses eyes, she told him that if he was quiet through the flight she’d give him an extra drink. As he sat back satisfied, job done, Theo LT piped up,”They’re here for your safety, not dating!!!”
Sidney had obviously been impressed by the length of time we’d been in flight and the size of Gatwick and wanted to know if we were on a continent. I’m glad my Geography lesson had some impact. Getting luggage and transfer to the coach was smooth and the first art of the coach journey was a mere 40mins before we arrived at Chessington.
Miss Hughes and Mr Fyfe tackled every ride and because there were no queues many of the children got the chance to have more than one go on a ride. Brandon, Joe E, Ettienne and Ben jabbered so much each time they were on the Cobra that the man in the box who couldn’t see them knew them each by name and was commenting on them as they rode. Harriet and Emily R drew the short straw on the Dragon’s Breath: Mr Fyfe. The ride is a roller coaster which also spins at the same time. Harriet quickly sussed out a clear problem and said: “We’ll have to distribute the weight because if it’s too heavy on one side we’ll spin round even faster.” At that she looked pointedly over the top of her glasses fixing Mr Fyfe with a meaningful stare, as only she can!
Miss Hughes’ geographical skills have definitely improved since last year when she was trying to identify the Irish Sea off the coast of Norfolk! She map read her way round between rides with ease, however, Mr Fyfe thinks more work is needed on her positional skills: when told teachers needed to sit in the middle on Ramses’Revenge, she sat at the back leaving Mr Fyfe and Harrison to fill the middle slot. Needless to say they were absolutely drenched during the ride!
Those of us who chose the Zoo over the rides were not disappointed: we loved the long tailed monkeys and the way they loves cuddling each other and decided we wanted to take the baby home as a pet because when we came back from school it would leap on us and want cuddling. Sophie and I know exactly what we want to do if we become multi millionaires. Our bedrooms will be high up in a house among the trees and will be entirely surrounded by the ceiling and walls will be a glass aquarium containing iridescent jellyfish and sea anemones; manta rays and will drift around to the accompaniement of the soothing sounds of surf and sea animals. The house will be set in a tree on different levels with rope ladders and swings for gorillas and monkeys. Below in a beautifully landscaped park there will be nosy meerkats; zebras roaming free (and occasionally giving up market riding lessons) and ostriches which would keep out unwanted visitors! Joe H thinks we must also include a pool and island for otters and also the sea lions. We saw a panther, tiger and lions but my favourite were the gorillas particularly the two baby gorillas and the incredibly impressive huge Silverback male who came over to the viewing glass inches from us and reared up to his full height. Before we left there was a presentation of animals doing skills and Sophie ended up with a Coati sitting in her lap!
Another short ride and we arrived at Marchant Hill around 5:20 in time to unpack, have a short introduction to our team leader, Dave, and join the dinner queue. Baps, sauasage and mash with various veg and arctic roll were the most popular choices. After supper there was a campfire which they all enjoyed (Liam came back looking like he was a chimney sweep for some unknown reason. Mr Fyfe took his guitar down to the campfire to accompany the songs. As usual with the first night they took time to settle: the slippers and dressing gown gang a.k.a. were parading about; people were falling over abandoned suitcases on their way to the loo, Zac’s teddy mysteriously disappeared and then was found sitting on the loo seat courtesy of Joe H and co, but by 10.30 we teachers felt that there was no need to be sitting in the corridor.
First up next morning at 5:30am (but not tomorrow on pain of death) were Joe E, Ben, Brandon. Hannah and I both fell out of bed on waking up: must have sounded like a minor earthquake!!! When Natalie leaned down from the top bunk to lend Hannah a helping hand she found herself on the floor too. Football on the basketball court after breakfast ended up more like head ball as Nathan hit the backboard from Brandon’s throw in, only for it to rebound and hit him on the head; whereas Brandon got clocked by a rebound of the roof tiles.
First activity for mine was quad bikes in which Ella demonstrated a hypnotic affinity for crashing into the tyres: four times in four minutes. We decided the one who crashed the most would have a forfeit: I would choose one item on their lunch tray! This encouraged such chants as:” Come on Kate, accelerate“ and ”Put the pedal to the metal, Charlie Joe…. AND CRASH.” Which he obligingly did 6 times!
So did Bradley whose forfeit chosen by me was a black olive and Branston pickle added to his lunch; Charlie Joe had a tomato and and olive which nearly caused him to vomit!!
Am off to download pictures, so check back tonight for instalment 2.
Recent Comments