nichimyo

Here are two documents with information that you could take into account when planning adventurous activities (I have got my elf n safety hat on at the moment). In my view it's terribly important to take very seriously the duty of care especially to young and inexperienced people. http://www.aala.org/pdf/02_06_10_GPinES_Version_Two.pdf (The inspection document used by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority which inspects activity centres and other activity providers on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills (DfES).) http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/47809552-4...draftforDPC.pdf (a consultation document whose time has now passed and I expect will be finalised before too long). But good luck with your trips and I hope a fun time is had by all!!

I read the email today, and not having been around much lately (too busy), I think I've probably missed all the aggro, anyway I have always found the forum a great place to get info or just have a jolly good laugh, I know there are sometimes people who go off on one but I pretty much ignore it. It's too easy to type the first thing that comes into your head and press Add reply, but surely we could pretty much self-moderate by taking a couple of seconds to think about how things are going to sound when read on the forum. I've decided against posting a number of times, because I thought someone could take it the wrong way, or if it sounds a bit sharp I add a smiley or something to indicate it's tongue in cheek or a joke (we still need a T-i-C emoticon LOL). That said, this is the only forum I've been on that I've stayed on for any significant period of time, due to the friendly and helpful attitude of most people. Let's stay

I use cup washers in the same way I use dish washers ... I couldn't have a cup of tea otherwise (lost the laughing smiley here and can't see how to add him back in) whatever,..... We've got maple ply with cherry trim in panels that miraculously hang there with only a couple of screws, and I wish we didn't. It's the devil's own job to get shelving onto the walls. Also one of them (the panels) shrunk and fell off the wall, breaking things as it went.

I have nearly all my shoes and boots under the back step, which has a lift-up tread to make a shoe box. The other 2 pairs (my office shoes) are in their original boxes on a shelf in the wardrobe. Under the back step I have: a pair of canvas shoes, 2 pairs of sandals (one posh, one workish), a pair of wellies with the tops of the legs cut off (easy to step into in an emergency, when it's guaranteed to be raining as well, keeps most of the mud off even if I inevitable get wet feet), a pair of posh shoes, a pair of walking-type shoes, (that's 6 pairs) and a couple of pairs of the OH's shoes (he has only 2 fewer pairs of shoes than I do - the rest are strewn around the "utility area" AKA the back of the boat.) I make that a total of 14 pairs of shoes between us. Oh, 15 - I've got a pair of serious walking boots for geology trips, but they're kept in the lock-up with the rest of my field gear. So I've got 9, OH has 6.

I don't like it when people just wander up and help without saying "Would you like some help?"; sometimes you don't even get a "good morning" just the windlass jammed on and winding started at (often) full speed. Sometimes I like to do the winding myself, sometimes it's nice to have help. It depends. I'd like to have the choice each time. I'm sure no-one could be offended by me saying "No, it's ok, I'm fine thanks " if I don't want them to help, but I sure get offended if someone forces me to be helped even when I don't want to be (if you see what I mean).

You only have to watch children in the school dinner queue to realise that no-one gets taught manners at school any more, push and shove and me-first seem to be the way it's going. Thank goodness there are still some people who learn it from their parents.

signed