Rain, rain and more rain

I'm back in the real world once more after eleven days of camping in a very wet South West Wales on the annual 'weeklong' Ascendancy LRP event. It rained every day, varying from light showers, to heavy persistent rain, to torrential downpour. We did get occasional breaks in the weather and even saw the sun every now and then, but mostly the theme of the week was rain.

This led to a reduction in biting insects, but saw our tents and cooking area become a shelter for wasps looking to get out of the rain, while we were inundated by invading slugs. It became standard practice to check for slugs before sitting down, putting anything down, picking anything up, climbing into bed, or eating anything. Slugs got into everything, included sealed storage boxes and zipped up tents!

One poor unfortunate who arrived for the last weekend hadn't learnt to keep his eyes open for invading slugs and discovered the need for caution the hard way when he made himself a nice cup of slug tea. Yuk!!!

We did consider warding food boxes with salt, but another camper tried it before us and discovered the salt doesn't keep the slugs out. They crawl over the salt and then explode in the least convenient of places.

Enough said methinks!

As usual we were well equipped and prepared for rain, with a shelter for cooking in and decent sized tents, so coped well enough. Lots of hot drinks and good food saw us through, and I'm happy to report that the newly installed dutch lacing on my bell tent worked well. While there was a reluctance to go outside, play continued, plot got out there and there was even stuff I'd written along with Richard out there for players to get involved with. It was fun, but tiring with the gloomy weather seeming to draw all of the oomph out of us.

I'm back home now, still in a sort of brain fog and trying to cope with a mountain of laundry. Everything I took with me is damp, although fortunately the rain held off (except for a few spots) while we took down the camp. The showers did arrive as we left site though, so we timed it just right I guess.

I collected the cats yesterday and was relieved to see that Charlie was OK. We started the 'weeklong' with an unexpected trip to the vets as the great lump got into a fight the night before. Dave witnessed it and said it was a serious set to which started when the other cat surprised Missy, forcing her to take refuge in a tree.

Charlie waded in in her defence and took a serious beating. He appeared to have been either kicked or bitten in the jaw, and had a bite on his right front leg as well as numerous scratches/bruises to the rest of his body. All of which meant he was feeling very sorry for himself by the next morning and needed antibiotics, pain relief and anti-inflamatories for the duration of his stay in the cattery.

Now the swelling has gone down, I can see definite puncture wounds along his jaw and he's still limping slightly on that front leg even after eleven days of rest, but other than that is in good spirits. In fact both cats are happy to be home and are being very attentive. It was very comforting to sit on the sofa last night, knitting a sock with a snoring cat draped over my lap.