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so much colder...
...Mrs Carrot Cake has reminded me of our more intrepid past. I used to be a Venture Scout, I never meant to be, but when I realised it was a drinking club for people who wanted to do outdoorsy stuff I just had to join up. I even got Mrs Carrot Cake to come along as well, no mean achievement to get her to swap her stilletto's for walking boots.
Anyway, we used to have several expeditions a year. New Year was always very good, and in the late 80's we went to stay in Derbyshire. We stayed in a practically derelict building halfway up a mountain. It had walls, a roof and cold running water, but not much else. There was a vile chemical toilet outside, and it got so cold that the toilet froze. In the girl's room we used to go to bed wearing as many thermal layers as possible and snuggle into our 5 season sleeping bags. The moisture in our breath would freeze on the ceiling overnight, and as the sun rose, and the temperature in the room rose above freezing it would then rain down on us.
By day we would go mountain climbing, rock climbing and a whole host of other rufty tufty type activities. By night we learned to drink massive amounts of alcohol and contemplate the cold night ahead. I am amazed that we did this for fun.
Last year we had a reunion on the day of the big anti war march, and I rushed back to attend. It was incredible how we all seemed so bonded by our shared experiences and memories, and really touching that we all still liked each other so much. One year on, and I haven't been in touch with any of them, except the lovely Mrs Carrot Cake, and Gypsy Tart! As you may recall, Gypsy Tart is my sister, so it would be hard to shake her off. Ah, memories, memories.
mr mcmuffin on 24 Mar 2004 @ 11:44 PM ✲ Permalink
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Comments
Sounds like it was fun!
So did you all have to snuggle up in the girls' room due to the cold? ;-)
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 25 Mar 2004 01:11:28
David...these are sweet innocent girls you are talking about...with not a sexual thought between them I am sure, so less of the smut.
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 07:06:32
No, they were all mingers! The boys were too!
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 08:52:54
That was me, not him! But I stand by my comment, mingers one and all except for MRS CC and GT!
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 09:21:59
Hey, I resent that last comment. One of those 'mingers' was my fiance. OK, so I didn't marry him and 'love is blind', but even so!
Didn't you have a fling with a 'minger' too?
Posted by: Mrs Carrot Cake | 25 Mar 2004 10:12:48
Gosh, I feel so guilty. It was all because of the word 'we' in this entry, written by Mr McMuffin: "In the girl's room we ...".
On another note, the description of the house sounds frighteningly similar to my parents' house, until they got heating a few years ago. Northern standards, eh?!!!
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 25 Mar 2004 13:29:49
David, I think this has all been a terrible misunderstanding, but maybe it has revealed something about you which you may like to take to therapy at some point in the future. I think you assummed that it was me [Mr McMuffin, just in case...] who had been a Venture Scout. In fact, it was Mrs McMuffin who had been one. I must say I for one am shocked by your sexism. Just for the record, I wouldn't go near anywhere that had a chemical toilet. I am running water and indoor toilet kind of guy, which reminds me of a novella by Patrick Suskind called The Pigeon. The hero of the piece concluded, after having been forced to live on the streets because a pigeon was sitting on the steps of the entrance to his flat [it's only a short story, and really you have to read it to get it!], as he was squatting between two parked cars that the indoor toilet was the epitomy of civilisation. I agree with him.
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 13:43:44
I've just realised my mistake: in the first sentence I read "Mrs Carrot Cake has reminded me..." as "Mrs McMuffin has reminded me...", and for that reason I thought the entry was written by Mr McMuffin. Even now, it's taken me lots of brain-straining to work it out! I was just glossing over it, trying to see what had gone wrong. That was how I got confused about the "we" part.
Phew, it wasn't sexism, just bad eyesight! And to think that I used to work as an editor! Shame on me!!!
[Note to self: stop confusing your pastries; a carrot cake and a muffin are not the same thing.]
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 25 Mar 2004 14:09:47
I too was in the venture scouts and we used to go to derbyshire rock climbing and drinking!
Posted by: Kirsty | 25 Mar 2004 19:12:27
I was never a venture scout. Way too hardy and outdoors for me. I need my comforts.
Posted by: Steve | 25 Mar 2004 19:48:18
Go Venture Scouts! Kirsty, was it you I spied while taking the escape route down Kinder Scout to get to the pub quicker?
Mrs CC, I blush! However he was a minger. We were both lucky that we had better judgement ultimately.
David, I don't think you're sexist.
Steve, as I said you are rufty tufty in spirit.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 20:01:12
BTW, blokes can't be mingers. The term only applies to women, or to feminine objects in the broader sense. males are always described as "rugged", Craggy", "handsome" and so on. The word minger is never used.
Posted by: Steve | 25 Mar 2004 20:25:29
oh yes it is, I so hate to disappoint. It is a noble word of Scottish origin I beleieve, meaning dirty/smelly. This lends iteself well to describing men in their late teens and early twenties.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 21:13:03
Yes, from the scottish dialect word for excrement I beleieve! :-S
And hey, leave the miners and shipbuilders alone! They're a big loss to the mining and shipbuilding communities!! Not that there are any anymore.
Posted by: Steve | 25 Mar 2004 21:42:13
My point exactly. My Grandfather was a collier, and now the pits are closed (not that he thought it was a goos job or anything). Bloody farmers get all sorts of subsidies because they're such a big part of 'country life'.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 25 Mar 2004 22:30:05
Ah, I missed the ironic tone in your voice. Always a problem with emails. Nightynight.
Posted by: Steve | 25 Mar 2004 23:30:13
What is a 'minger'??
Posted by: Retro Girl | 26 Mar 2004 06:57:02
Nevermind. I just read the description. You have people in your house smelling like that? You poor, poor souls.
Posted by: Retro Girl | 26 Mar 2004 07:02:06
