snowy pottery; fireworks quiz & car crashes.

So friday the 10th i was double booked, the hotel i work at was holding a quiz night to raise funds for the bonfire display our fire brigade run every guy fawkes night. But i was also running a pottery workshop for the youth club at Applecross.
This is a village much smaller than mine, over the highest hill road in Britain, the famous Bealach na ba, a hair raiseing hairpin bendy single track road, which ive not been happy with since my son rolled his car down it, with me in, upside down.
However,Chugging along in my unfeasably small car full of clay with NIN blasting out, lifes fine. until i hit the rain, which turned to snow.



It was pretty murky up there in the gathering gloom. no Yetis though Ed. nothing like the metres of snow my parents are currently experiencing in newfoundland either.

The Pottery class was great, Applecross kids lack the mainstream general urban horridness of kids from my village, no clay being throw, no fake poo & no hoarse dispairing adults yelling. result.

road back had been ploughed, so only arrived at quiz an hour late, Being Bou-no-mates, i was happy to tag with the first team of blokes propping up the bar that asked me, hence avoiding brigade politics... ten questions in & our emergency pagers go off... to the impressed gasp of a drunken bar full.

We havent had a call out since getting big new engine & station at other end of village. Full crew turned out nice n fast, tho our sub-officer having to run back in the bar to get car keys off wife slowed us 30 seconds. It was an RTA, road traffic accident, 7 miles up the glen. we were first in line, racing to catch us were the ambulance & police. A car was on its roof 5 m down a steep bank, one incredibly lucky, LUCKY casualty was found by railway line workers who were out clearing a tree on the line nearby . No further assistance was required so we put a stop in for the other two fire vehicles making their way behind us. i had the job of crawling inside the mashed car to recover personal effects amid the blood splattered air bags & glass, we then left the scene to the hoards of polis that had arrived & left the casualty in the care of the paramedics etc. It was one of those shouts that went like clockwork, everyone acting like proffesionals instead of the trumpton idiots we sometimes feel. Nice one boys!


and then even better, we returned to the pub having missed the quiz, but gaining a well deserved (half ) pint from "ooing" and "Ahhing" people, "sorry ladies & gentlemen we cannot possibly discuss what happened, but needless to say we're all incredibly heroic, I thankyou fans "

and that was day one of my blog.
night night x