Things you'll only understand if you live and work on an outdoor centre..

Like myself, if you have ever worked or lived on an outdoor activity centre, you would agree that there are some odd little things that are totally normal for folk like us, but totally barmy to the big wide world outside the bubble...

Weather

When we look out the window and see that the heavens have opened up you try and see how many waterproof layers you can fit under your uniform. Even if we cram about 4 jackets of our own clothes underneath a tiny little tshirt that it part of our uniform.

Uniform Colour

If your uniform is pretty much one solid colour and every single item from rash vest to wooly hat is that colour, you refuse to purchase or wear anything of the same.

When you visit home for the first time in a loooong time

Most people probably think we'll be mega busy catching up with friends and family and going on days out when really we are just cooped up eating our body weight in cheese and eggs, sat in the bath for hours at a time, four times a day or watching endless amounts of reality tv or Jeremy Kyle with their pet snake. Atleast, I do anyway. 

The Bubble

When we are living on site we are living in what we call a bubble. Something like on The Simpsons Movie where you have to burst out of when you drive off centre for your 17th time to the spa that day. 

 

How many ways can you describe a chicken nugget

Whether the menu for that day says chicken nugget, chicken goujon, chicken chunks, breaded chicken chunks, chicken squares, battered chicken chunks, chicken esaclopes ; lets face it, you're bloody over the moon.

Pay day takeaways

That beautiful day of the month. The 7th. What a glorious day when every single person ventures off centre and buys every single possible takeaway and then after that buys the whole contents of Tescos and Spa and then tops it off with a cheese burger from maccies.
The other 29 odd days of the month we're living the high life on Tesco Value noodle pots, or the canteen. 

How to act around kids out in the real world

When we do actually venture off site and have a day out somewhere in civilisation on a day off we have to remember that when we see a child playing with a football, or running around, it is not ok to just join in or start chatting to them like we would at work. You get a lot of strange looks from their parents and other members of the public.
(But teaching taxi drivers repeat after me songs on nights out is still OK)

Strange wifi spots

When you see someone sat behind a tree in the dark or standing dead still in the middle of the road or perched up by a bin, they're not mentally ill they're just trying to get to wifi. 

Thin walls

Oh my lordy do not get me started on thin walls. You could hear a fly fart from 4 doors down. Having a soundtrack to every movie you watch can be quite amusing unless its something like old school classics when you're trying to be serious watching a dark and scary movie. And I'm sure you can imagine other odd sounds you can hear through the walls which can be amusing if you dont turn your music up. I'm not sure why it was a good idea to build the bedroom part of the room directly next to someone elses loo but lets face it, everyone can hear whats going on in there, theres nothing left for the imagination. Ew.

Days off on Sundays

Its a heartbreaking moment when you see on the rota that your day off is on a Sunday. By the time you drag yourself out of bed, shower and get to town you have approximately 4 minutes to shop til you drop.

Hidden treasure in BA's

You're on a water session, its freezing cold and the rain is pouring and you're head to toe is everything remotely waterproof that you can find. You tuck your hands in your BA to warm them up and BAM someone has left some goodies in there. Whether its a sweet, half eaten bar of Tesco Value choccy or even a paperclip you know your day has just got a little better.





Enjoy, Laurie.

 

 

Living With Grief

 A glance at the past

Eight years ago today I lost someone who was meant to be there a lot longer than he was.
I was 14, that odd age when you think you've got the whole world sorted and when you think you know everything you need to know, when really you have no idea whats about to happen to you.
I lost my dad through illness that first started out from alcohol abuse. A strange subject that left a lot of strange weird feelings after he died. Feelings that I wasn't worth sticking around for, that I wasn't as important as a habbit was. But you don't understand things like that when you're a kid.
Me and my Dad were really close when I was young, he totally doted on me as a kid and we did so much together, holidays, days out, skiing, boating. We were like the pictures you see on fathers day cards. I had no idea that some day soon I'd loose this person that litterally thought the world of me.
I'm not going to go into too much detail but things soon got dark with new relationships on his side that was close to ruining this relationship that we once had. I was at that difficult age where I wanted to hang out with friends rather than go to my dads for the weekend but this was a lot more than that and In the end I ended up not speaking to him or seeing him for about 4 months or so before he died.

Mum got a phone call one day to come straight away to the hospital and that it was urgent. I remember her running across my school playground (I say running, she was in her work heels so it was more of a weird hobble and scuff) shouting my name and telling me we had to go. I was so embaressed infront of all my friends as it was at break time. She told me in the school office that it was Dad and we had to go quickly. Anyway when we got there he had already been sedated so he wasn't awake or anything, but apparently the last thing to go is your hearing and the doctors said that he should be able to hear me. It was so strange to see him with tubes all over his face and body and all these machines beeping so loud, to me it was deafening. I had no idea what was going on or what was wrong with him all I knew was it was something to do with alcohol and his liver not working. But I sat next to him, kinda freaked out because this was me dad, and he wasnt right. I didn't really know what to do or say so I just stared talking to him about school and what I had been doing in outdoor ed classes and telling him about this school trip to Africa and how I wanted to go travelling.

The next day was the same, but on the way to the hospital, mum had told me that today would probably be the last day for my dad and to hear that was very numbing. I don't think it ever did sink in after hearing that, even eight years on. At 2:22pm he slipped away holding my hand. The whole time I was in autopilot, didn't really cry much just starred. I got a chance to sit with him after it all happened behind the curtin with a nurse waiting outside. Its a very surreal thing, watching someone die, let alone someone so close to you and someone whos meant to be there to look after you. I said goodbyes to my family on my dads side that was there and went home. I was in a weird place for a good couple of weeks after it all happened. I had no time off school and didn't do anything different just carried on. I remember in french on the monday after it happend on the friday and my french teacher went around the class what everyone had got up to on the weekend. She got to me and I said that I had watched my dad die and everyone was horrified. I was totally normal about it which I think freaked everyone out a little bit.

Few weeks went passed and it started to hit home. I started getting upset and all the feeling came out in all different ways which was normal I guess. I rebelled  by dying my hair blue and wearing all sorts of vile clothes, and I mean horrible, bright green skinnies with one converse and one vans slip-on, four studded belts, bandanas and all sorts. ofcourse I thought I was cool. And it went on from there really. I was involved with an amazing charity called Winstons Wish who help bereaved children and teenagers. I met some great friends that I still talk to now and then and keep in touch with. Its amazing how something so simple as knowing someone else that has been through the same thing as a kid could have such a positive impact on how to deal with these odd feelings.


Loosing someone young is a difficult thing as it is when you're older aswell, but loosing a parent when you still need them is a hard thing to live with. You go through so many weird emotions, even years on. You get angry, sad, lonely, jealous of other families and your friends with their families, but you learn to live with it. I always say you never get over it, you just learn to live with it and you do. It forced me to grow up and for the better. Its also made me very weary of drinking which has done wonders im sure for my liver and bank account. Grief is a sad thing but its also has a positive effect on my relationship with my mum and sister. We now have all lost our dads (me and my sister have different dads) and their have all passed in sudden surcumstances which has brought us together as such a strong unit. This may all sound very sad and gloomy but its made me how I am. Its made my little family how we are and we wouldn't change it for the world.

Family is a really special thing, and life is very fragile.
Appriciate everything and everyone and do only what makes you happy :)



Laurie

Five expectations of Australia

These are just a few snipets of expectations that pop into my head when someone asks me what do I expect Australia to be like when we pack our rucksack and head there for hopefully a couple of years in just 13 days time..

1) HOT, HOT, HOT!

 Its going to be hot. That I know. Apparently the hottest summer recorded in the last 25 years! I'm one of those people who are freakishly cold all the time. I rekon I wore shorts maybe twice this summer and thats not just because my pins are so white they pretty much reflect any sun rays that hit their surface. I'm not a huge fan of wearing vests and shorts anyway which has come in my favour living in England which is pretty much the Artic for me. As soon as the sun even makes a glimpse in the skies over Britain the whole population are wacking out their bodies and the factor 50 even if the temperature just about reaches 14 degrees. 

2) Deadly, bitey, stingy critters

I've heard that Australia has I think 7 of the top 10 deadliest spiders, 5 out of the top 10 deadliest snakes, the most poisonous jellyfish and odd fish that like to disguise themselves as rocks which apparently also try and kill you. Not to mention the salt water crocodile and the great white shark. I've been warned about little buggers underneath toilet seats and hiding in your boots ready to strike so you have to check the loo seat everytime before you spring a leak and also to shake out your boots before stepping into them.
So bassically don't use toilets, don't wear anything but flip-flops, never step foot in the sea or ever venture out of an air-tight room and you'll be alright. Ish. 
I think i'll be using bugspray instead of purfume on my travels.

3) Aussie hotties VS Alright-looking poms

Its known that Australia is full of drop dead gorgeous supermodels lying about on the beaches and hot surfer guys. I mean thats all you see being advertised all over the web and thats pretty much what I expect when I think what Aussies look like. When I think stereotypically about what English people look like I straight away imagine big bushy beards and farmer looking folk which is totally not true most of the time obviously. So i'll turn up in the land of OZ and go from being an average looking girl to looking like a potato.

4) BBQs for every meal

Everyone bangs on about chilling on stunning beaches with the sun going down, around a big open fire with some dude on a guitar (which sounds totally perfect to me) and all they seem to eat out there is something on a barbie. Like the saying "put a shrimp on the barbie" which according to the aussies ive met on my previous travels, they don't actually do/say. I guess its kinda like every other country thinking us Brits just sit around drinking tea all day, eating scones and talking about the royal family and which posh bird they're going to have for dinner whether it being a pheasant or a partridge. Anyway, the BBQs on the beach part sounds perfect to me so I'm totally down with that.

5) Sydneys Opera House is actually a spaceship..

Every advert about visiting Australia has a picture of Sydneys Opera House and as you may have gathered by now im not exactly Einstien but to me it looks like a futuristic spaceship. I've only just found out writing this post by my boyfriend that it is actually used for what it says in its name (funnily ennough) which is for people to sing opera in. You'd think the name would give it away to me really but I was totally convinced it was just some big piece of art with a fancy name. Like the London Eye having a name that isn't actually what its called which is a massive eyeball. Although that would be pretty memorable and also pretty awesome.




Adios. Laurie.

Home is only a feeling

Home is only a feeling

One of my favourite lyrical lines is by a band called Stornoway (amazing band, check them out) and it goes "Home is only a feeling you get in your mind, from the people you love and travel beside."

Home doesnt have to be the house you grew up in, the town you lived in. For me, I feel that home is a state of mind. My childhood house with my family will always be classed as a home or somwhere I would call home as a kid but these days, I feel like I left home when I got on that plane back to England a few years ago, and I feel like I only really found home for me when I was 17, my 2010 summer in a safari paradise.

Here is why my home is a feeling..

I never really felt at home untill I visited South Africa for the first time when I was 17 back in 2010 where I did a project through a company called The Leap. I lived on a game reserve just outside of Melalane in Mpumalanga called Kwa Madwala, not far from the Kruger Naional Park.
It was an incredible place and had 4 of the big 5 African animals living freely inside their reserve. I was lucky enough to wake up each morning to Hippos wallowing in the dam in our front garden, the sound of the wild elephant heard moving through the bush, crushing small trees in their path. It was so full of life and at night the place came to life with the crickets song that echoed over the reserve. The smell of the blood red mud underneath my feet being heated up in the sun.
I was heartbroken when I had to leave and I swore that I would never let it leave my heart and I never did. I found myself going back out there when I tunred 19 to go and work with a friend I met at the game reserve, working with her and her horses, getting them ready for being trail horses where we could take guests out on safari on horse back. It was an incredible experience to mix my love for working with horses and in Africa. I was in heaven for a short while. I went out to South Africa again the next Febuary for a few months and I really felt at home when I made a great circle of friends but then there was some issues where I was working so I ending up making my own way to the Game Reserve where I did my first project. I had the pleasure of working with some amazing people, I was involved in minor Lion operations, working with the two tame elephants and taking trails all over the reserve on their 17 beautiful horses. I had the interesting experience of rounding up a fully grown white rhino whilst on horse back one day and also had a run in with 3 fully grown lions. THAT is definately an experience I will be sharing with my future children and granchildren.

Since leaving South Africa the last time, there's always been a hole inside where something is missing. I hope that one day (If I dont find my place in Australia) that I end  up back in my safari paradise.

Where's your "home"?



Laurie.


 

Who is featherhead?

Laurie..

I'm 22, a girl (i'd hope that bit was obvious but my name is also a guys name too), Currently an Outdoor Activity Instructor. I am a complete example of a Leo (passionate, drama queen, edgy, stubborn, WILD, crazy), OBSESSED with Africa. I'm terrified of the dark, like its ridiculous. I could eat corn on the cob everyday for a year and still love it and Im known for wearing feathers in my locks, hense the name.

I also have a little snake at home called Captain Tarquinious, Tarquin for short. I'm pathetically overly maternal over him considering hes a snake but hes my little dude. I would love to have him here with me but hes a little venemous and its a good job my mums a reptile freak so she has him when I'm not at home. If only he could come to Australia with me.


I'm from a small (apparently sunny) seaside town called Bognor Regis which everyone knows for the famous Butlins which is the only reason anyone has ever heard of Bognor. Its a cute little town full of old people whizzing along the prom on their scooters and scarily sized seagulls that shouldve been filmed in 'Walking With Dinosaurs'. It was a cute place to grow up. I share my little quirky home with my crazy, young hearted mum, whos more like a best friend and my home-bird 17 year old younger sister who is the complete opposite to me. I think our only simularity is having odd-ish names.

I now work on an activities centre further up the country in Shropshire. I like to say "up north" but apparenty its not classed as up north but when you're from somewhere like Bognor, anything above the South Downs is north to us sourthern jessies.
I teach cool things like kayaking, canoeing, abseiling, climbing, quad biking, archery and all that jazz to children and teenagers. It's my third season and its been a fun few years. I did  some work in South Africa over the past few years where I used to work with horses taking people on horse back safaris, trying not to get eaten and liveed and worked on a few game reserves in the heart of the African bush. It was pretty bloody amazing, despite being charged at by rhino, hippo and having a run in with three lions (but we'll talk about that another time).
 I also did a summer working in the USA on a summer camp teaching horse riding, archery, being a head highropes instructor and doing survival and tracking sessions in the woods where we would come across the odd black bear here and there.

I have a bloody awesome boyfriend, Callum who puts up with all my crazy girlie crap and is my complete best friend. We both live and work together and he's become my right arm. He's the ying to my yang, different but put together and we just click. We are both escaping this cornor of the world for Australia on Novemeber 20th which is INSANE. Simply cannot wait!


I've decided to write a blog about the everyday things that pop into my little head, you know, the type of crap any young girl trying to find her place in the world would want to read about. Also I will be sharing my great Aussie adventure on here too.

Ciao. Laurie.