Exhaust holes

Another reasonably quiet night on the western front. As I walked around the site to see who had radios/TVs on, who was talking too loudly, etc. I noticed a crowd of people playing poker in the back of a minibus. They were pretty quiet about it, so I let them carry on their game.

There are two blocks on site which are locked down every night, except the toilets, so I thought I would have no problems. I went to the first block and all was quiet, until I got to the showers. I walked into the gents shower room and said the usual:

"Showers are closing in two minutes."

and then checked on the female shower room, which was empty. As I came back out of the female shower room, I met a male coming out of the showers,

"I think I'll be a bit longer than two minutes!"

So I pointed him in the direction of the adjacent toilet block which has a shower in it. I then went back in and one of the cubicles was still locked.

"Shower's closed."

No response. I could hear discreet shuffling behind the door, so I knew that there was someone in there. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that they were getting dressed. I waited two minutes, outside the shower room to stop anyone else from entering. I went back in to check that all was OK. It was at that point that I heard that the shower had been switched on. I knocked on the cubicle door,

"Shower's are closed now mate."
"Sorry?" came the reply.
"I said, the showers are closed now mate."
"I'll be two minutes."

I let out a fairly audible sigh and walked outside. After two minutes, I checked on the guy again. No sound of water running, a good sign there. So as I stood there waiting (bearing in mind that there is still another block to lock up and the main gate to close, two vehicles (although possibly more) had come onto the site while I was waiting) I was running behind schedule by this point and when I am, I am not a happy camper. The male then decided that, instead of going next door to the toilets to brush his teeth, he would do it in the sink in the shower room instead. Eventually, he left.

"Thank you, goodnight."

I could tell by his accentuated tone that he was either of Dutch or German origin. I'm more inclined to say the latter, as most Dutch people I've met, so far, are very co-operative and friendly.

My next task was to close the gate, which I did and no more vehicles arrived back the entire night, with the exception of taxi's bringing the drunkards back from their watering holes.

I then walked briskly over to the second block and locked it up, and again someone had decided to take advantage of the fact that the showers, which should have been locked at eleven o'clock, were still open, so I had to wait for them. The only difference was, it was a female this time who was genuinely apologetic (and rather attractive too).

As I came out of the block, I walked around looking for noisy patrons. I couldn't find any. I think during the course of the night, I spoke to one male in a tent. I was warned by Alex that there was a group of approximately six persons, who were arrogant and lippy with him the previous evening. If I had any problem with them, I was to call him straight away and he'd personally remove them from the park. One of them had exceptionally long hair, and Alex informed me that he'd take great pleasure in dragging him from his tent to the main gate by it. I guess they must have been very lippy to him the previous evening.

As the gates don't open until six, I wasn't surprised to hear a vehicle, with an exhaust which would put the eruption of Mount Etna to shame, driving through the stillness of the park. I managed to stop the vehicle outside the reception and informed the female driver that she had another half hour or so before the gates opened. Normally, when I have to stop an early departure, I'm usually given a mouthful of abuse and expletives. This time was very different. She apologised and agreed to park up and wait for the gates to open. The sound which came from seventeen year-old Renault, would have undoubtedly awoken patrons in the vicinity of it as she drove slowly through the site.

I had to report it, simply because that if there were any complaints about noise disruption at 0530am, then there would have been a reason for it. It also saves Alex arguing with unhappy people telling them that they're talking a load of rubbish.

At 0600hours, I opened the gate and wished the driver good luck with her journey, I figured she'd need it. After she had pulled onto the main road, I could hear the 17 year-old Renault struggling as she changed gear. As I stood there, I wondered how long it would be before I would see the owner again, this time asking to use the telephone as her motor home had broken down. Thankfully though, I didn't see her again for the remainder of my shift and I didn't pass her on the journey homeward to my bed.

Apart from that, it was a very quiet night despite the site being fairly busy.