
We leave from Westminster Lodge in a coach, eating Pistachio Nuts and filling Nick’s hat with the shells. Arthur and Becky argue about who has more Haribo, and amass over 2 kilograms between them. The coach grinds to a halt about a mile down the road in Chiswell Green. On the coach, Rosanne admits that although she did meet Owen and Evan in Brighton, she didn’t ask Owen if he slept with a priest. An old man comes onto the bus looking for Rosanne.
We eventually arrive on the campsite, with everyone trying to work out what the nearest shops and pubs are. We spot a supermarket called the Pioneer (Pioneer! Pioneer!) which will later become our wine retailer of choice. Arriving at the campsite, Simon, Arthur, Becky, Rosanne, Martha, Louise, and other pupils of Sandringham School are surprised to see a Sandringham minibus parked next to our campsite, but reason that it must be one of their teachers (Mr Feldman) who is with the New Barnet Group.
We all get off the bus and unpack everything, and meet the Sheffield group. They all seem very nice, and we try to remember their names. They offer to help us put up our tents, but we don’t accept their offer.. then we get them to put up the Marquee. We then eat lunch, and Emilia finds a fallopian tube in her pasta.
We have a circle and everything, and are introduced to the Sheffield group as the group from St. Ives, and then we go off to the Opening Ceremony. Thousands of Woodcraft people abound, and a whole host of unusual things which have been constructed are carried across the stage. Having not made anything ourselves, we cheer for some of the more unusual looking ones. We are then introduced to the song “Sust ‘n Able”. Rosanne suddenly realises that it’s meant to be “sust’n’able”, and mentions that she’s been correcting everyone all day thinking that they just couldn’t pronounce “sustainable”. Throughout the opening ceremony, we see many old friends from a wide range of Woodcraft events, including Boo, Fido 2, Emilia’s Fancy Boy Felix, and Evan. Simon and Arthur, meanwhile, keep running off to network with various Dfs they see around the place.
After the ceremony, we all wander off to the central area, where Simon and Arthur run into all sorts of Dfs they recognise from events in the past. Arthur, Alan and Nick produce their own version of Sust’n’Able, involving dancing, human-beatboxing, and rapping respectively.
We go to the Disco, where Arthur and Alan show their unique approaches to dancing, but are put to shame by the efforts of the Disco King. (no, not Chris!). We run into a lot of old friends, including Drunk Mel, who seems to be dressed up in PVC for some reason, Adam from Lockerbrook, who remembered us putting sticks in his sleeping bag, but couldn’t remember the carpet tiles.
We are around the "Activity Barn" for a while, and Arthur asks Owen about sleeping with priests. The food place is alas unable to keep up with Kentish Town, not having a single can of Lychee Juice. We all wander around the central area for ages, losing Emily and Arthur to a big gang of Cambridge Dfs. We then wander up to the crowds outside the DF tent, shouting “Caity Roe!”, and Rosanne meets a very scared Caity Roe. Rosanne and Robert run into Stonehenge, and Robert knocks Stonehenge down. It is a scattered selection of people who find their way to the Juice Bar. Emily seems to have gone off with some guy, and Arthur tells a load of Dfs that Simon has gone off to play with some girls.
We eventually all converge outside the juice bar, where we realise it’s about half past two in the morning, and we walk back to Village 37. We all go to sleep in our own tents, except that Joe bivvies on the floor between the two ‘complex’ tents.
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