One Eventful Night

As far as Thursday nights go, last night was pretty hectic. Generally, they're reasonably quite and only the most hardened drinkers go to the pub. The hardened drinkers and those on their holidays.

With both blocks locked down, without any German's obstructing my course for the evening, and the gates firmly clasped shut. I began walking around the site. There were a few people still milling around and the occasional raised voice from under the canvas. All of whom were told to quieten down.

As I walked round the back of one of the blocks, I had been told by Alex that there were two males who had been spoken to on numerous occasions by the day warden and if I had any issues with them, I was to call him out. When I walked towards them, they didn't seem to notice me. With a hi-vis jacket on, it's pretty much impossible to not notice someone. I asked them to turn the music off and reminded them that they shouldn't have it on after eleven o'clock. They apologised and turned it down. Yes, down. . . but not off. As I stood there being talked to by the two males, I was beginning to wish I hadn't, as I knew at that point that I would have to be on the receiving end of an ear-bashing every time I went to speak to them.

After about ten minutes, I made my excuses and left. The site is quite large and there was a crowd in the next field making a noise. When I got into the field, I could tell by the tone of voice that they were teenagers, possibly around the ages of 16-17 and under the influence of alcohol. 99% of the time I am polite and courteous to our noisy patrons, but whenever I have to deal with teenagers, I find that the best solution is to be direct. If they put up an argument, they automatically lose their right to the "three strikes and you're out" rule. It's usually a case of, if I have to come back here again tonight you will be leaving the site.

As the night passed, I wandered around the site and back over to visit the two males again. Surprise, surprise. They hadn't seen me coming and had their music back up at an unacceptable volume. I reminded them again that I had asked them to turn it off. They were being faux-polite and as I walked off, I decided to call Alex out to have words in their ear.

Unfortunately for Alex, he had just got into a relaxing bubble bath, after having a stressful day on the site. Fifteen minutes later, he appeared. I explained the situation to him and told him who the perpetrators were. Needless to say, he wasn't surprised. He walked up to them and had words in their direction (I say this, because I doubt any of those words were being taken in) and told me to keep my eyes and ears on them.

Fast-forward half an hour, and I'm back at the tent. Only this time, they've managed to start a little party of their own with some of the stragglers from the pubs. I walked over and advised the pub-goers to retire to their tents and remain in complete silence until the morning. They were, surprisingly, compliant. I give the two males ten minutes to pack up and head for bed. They agree to this.

Half an hour later, I head round to ensure that they are in bed. When I noticed that they weren't at the bench, I was fairly happy. That was until I realised that they were in their tent, talking louder than ever and they had turned the music back on. Enough is enough. I called Alex out, again, and he was there within five minutes.

Due to the heated debate which took place, including; the two males attempting to fight Alex, Alex giving them one chance to dismantle the tent, Alex starting to dismantle the tent and Alex finally phoning the Police, three seconds before one of the males had decided to call them, but subsequently realised that it wasn't worth it.

I was dispatched to the main gate to escort the Police onto the site, so I missed all (if any) action which took place. The Police turned up and were briefed by myself as to the current events, just as Alex walked round and briefed them a second time confirming every precise point I had made. Alex and one of the officers made their way to the tent, while I waited for the other officer to retrieve a breath kit from the van. Unfortunately, that van didn't come with the optional breath kit, if need be a FIT test would be carried out.

The two males were formally cautioned and after giving the Police the same story I had been given earlier in the evening, told to go in their tent and remain quiet. If the Police were to be called out again, then the two males would be arrested.

For the rest of the evening, the only noise emitting from the tent was the sound of one of the male occupants snoring, unaware that he would be getting a rather rude awakening at eight o'clock and told to leave the park immediately.

From thereon in, it was a very quiet night. Although I have yet to find out if there were any complaints about those males. I'll undoubtedly find out tonight and I'll update the blog tomorrow with my findings.

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.