This is a guest article by MG
January 2006 you read? Yes, that’s 2 full years now that I’ve been assisting Paul, Dru & co at the local youth club. At the very least, I must have some sort of patience! Anyhow, FYC’s first trip out in 2006 was to Blackburn’s ice-skating rink. What follows is my take of the day.
I want to start with Hybrid. On Friday night prior to leaving the house for Youth Club, I decided to put on CD2 of their ‘Wider Angle’ album that I’d spent £8 on just after Christmas. It was a live set of theirs from a couple of years ago and was played at volume through my Dad’s excellent soundsystem. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound quality of their output may not match what they conjure up in the studio, but what else would you expect? To put it simply, they are amazing. Here are a couple of selected quotes from Discogs: -
‘Hybrid are the future of breakbeat and progressive electronica. Definitely try out Wide Angle and Morning Sci-Fi. Both albums are simply amazing. (submitted by highflier73)
‘When it comes to production quality, Hybrid are simply a cut above anyone else at the moment. That is evident in both their original work and remixing. I can't decide whether they are some homogeneous combination of several genres, or whether they are worthy of being classed into a new genre. Either way - they rock. I find it quite hard at times to put a Hybrid track into a mix, as anything that comes after sounds bland and crude by comparison.’ (submitted by ‘pseudorob)
Whilst not important to most now, this will likely feature prominently at the end of the review. Read on…
Saturday morning began where numerous Saturday mornings in the last two years have done so – on the Rattigan household’s front room sofa. I awoke about 08:45 following the first of the Rattigan family to emerge, thought ‘what on earth am I doing here, I’m tired and need my bed!’ and consequently made a swift departure back home via Marc’s car (cheers sonny!). Next thing, it was 10:40 and time to arise and prepare…
Friday night’s indulgence post Feature Youth Club had a significant impact on my mental state (similar to Sunday morning’s, as well!), but I was ready and willing to make my way to the Community Centre where the rest of the leaders and 30+ kids were awaiting one of Sproat’s Travels’ fleet to greet us. I was stood having a laugh with a few of the lads before thinking that I required some sort of fluid to help us through the day. Thankfully, Spar could oblige with 2 bottles of Lucozade Sport for a mere £1.05. Excellent.
I was walking back from the said shop when our bus passed and pulled up. Good timing! Especially considering that when I arrived the majority had hopped on. Were we going to be lucky today? After greeting the driver, we made our way to the back (via quite a few from FYC1 that hadn’t seen me for a bit who were intent on giving me high-fives!) where the crew I was having a laugh with previously had sat themselves down. And then we set off.
I considered myself quite fortunate when Paul had decided to sit near to the back, and this was to assist greatly as the journeys to and from Blackburn worked out. First challenge set by him, was for Collette to ‘stay quiet’ for as long as possible, which ended up in her trying to communicate via mouth movement alone for a good half-hour! She eventually yielded after this time with the one of the best quotes of the day: ‘I have to talk now’ (hysterics). Yap time!
The other notable occurrence on the way down concerned Curtly. ‘If you want to begin singing, the best place to start is abroad because if you make a mistake, then no-one will know about it!’. Of course (like just about everything else) I can’t sing, but in typical style it turns out that he’s sang in front of crowds in numerous countries (hysterics). Still, he may be able to sing, but he’s still fallible to my usual showing of the Bennett’s pie. ‘Can I have a bit?’… ‘Erm, no – my pie’ (hysterics).
For what was a 2 hour journey, the level of eventfulness on the way down resulted in being lower than I expected. Especially for a bus full of children! As we entered Blackburn, Paul commented that the open water was meant to be our ice rink, and that it had thawed out (hysterics). As usual, he had at least one of the kids in check! The actual rink was situated in the town’s version of Barrow’s Hollywood Park and as you’d expect, the size of the retail park is substantially larger than our equivalent.
And then it began. We left the bus in groups of 5 and headed towards the lengthy queue awaiting entry to the venue. Of course, the group of lads I was left in charge of decided to ‘charge’ towards the flock of people awaiting entry. I shrugged my shoulders and plodded along… The queue appeared to be near stationary for a good while before we suddenly moved to the left-hand side and were fast-tracked through the side-door. That’s service for you! As the rink came into view, I felt a sudden rush of adrenaline to the head. The view was fairly imposing – I didn’t know what to expect prior, but what I wasn’t expecting was a rink the size of an ice hockey pitch ready to be invaded by what seemed like hundreds of people! We joined the (substantially) lengthy queue to grab our skates, and quickly began receiving numerous requests to help lace boots! As a consequence, I aborted queuing and began helping out the growing entourage of children – some considerably more impatient than others! What didn’t help was the fact that I was absolutely rubbish at lacing the boots – instead of lace holes, many of them had hooks that didn’t hold the laces in place and I was thus struggling to complete the tasks at hand! I seemed to spend an eternity doing this before Dru stepped in and recommended that I grabbed a pair of ice-skates for myself. Time to indulge.
Walking on ice-skates is an odd experience in itself. Obviously, you know you’re going to balance once both are on, but putting all of your weight on such a small surface area that made contact with the floor just didn’t feel 100%. As Andrew iterated, it gives the knees a workout of some sorts – so much so that he deemed his troubled knee(s) to be unsuitable at the time for participation. By this time, everybody else was out on the rink, and from what I could see, not many of our lot were particularly struggling. I wasn’t particularly confident that I’d adapt to it as quickly, and my apprehension was confirmed as accurate when I set foot on the ice and attempted to remain upright. It wasn’t easy, and within the first few minutes I set a target of circumnavigating the rink without falling. This, in theory, is simple. All you have to do is watch any sort of sport where ice-skating is involved and think about what speed the participants have the ability to travel at and you’d believe that it wouldn’t be that difficult for the average human to reach even moderate speed. And you’d be right… Except that I’m not an average human being. It took me at least 10 minutes to get around first time and regardless of the fact I stayed on two feet I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t get to a speed that was no faster than half of normal walking pace (i.e. 2 mph)! Once round, I came straight off the ice for a breather. That was hard work! Wasn’t it? Oh dear (hysterics).
At this point, as with most activities I do with FYC, I was totally zoned out and purposefully off the ball and boil. I’m sure that if I’d thought about it all rationally, I wouldn’t have gone back out there, but since all of that was cast aside I was back up and on the ice within a matter of minutes. This time, I encountered Dale, Dean and Stacie, who all enquired as to why I was only travelling at a canter fractionally above stationary. As usual, I gave the full and blunt reality (hysterics). ‘But its easy Dicko! All you have to do is skate outwards’… Yeah, to get an unwanted encounter with the ice first-hand, perhaps (hysterics).
The next few laps saw no increase in the time it took me to get around the spot. Whilst stopped on the side having a breather, Bekka stopped by and mentioned that she wasn’t any good at going around either, although I’m sure I made her and 75% of the others on there look like absolute pros in comparison to my standard! Bar a small number, everybody was travelling substantially quicker than myself – which often led to minor to moderate problems for those beginners who had little idea how to actually bring themselves to a halt without careering straight into fallen victims in front of them! It happened on numerous occasions, and usually equated to sudden panic and me holding a certain line that would hopefully cause as little harm to those on the floor as possible. Two of the principal reasons why there were numerous fallers were the differences in speed people were travelling around the rink’s outer (the majority of the quicker skaters kept to the middle – a small minority did not!) and the actual number of skaters actually travelling on the ice at the same time. The latter aspect was especially mad, as you could probably compare it to the equivalent of travelling on one side of a packed eight-lane motorway where all of the vehicles travel at massively varying speeds and lines. I often found myself flailing my arms around in the attempt to maintain or regain balance only for an unlucky passer by to receive an unwarranted smack! Lynn mentioned that there were probably too many on the rink, although when the speed you’re travelling at isn’t particularly thrilling it certainly added to the ‘experience’ factor! Paul kept on mentioning ‘I’m not going very fast either, Dicko!’ – at least I wasn’t completely alone…
As time passed, I gradually managed to travel at speeds that were equivalent of a normal walking pace. Yes, 4mph doesn’t sound particularly quick, but it was 100% faster than I was previously travelling in real terms and threw up more problems when I needed to slow down or stop, as the time factor involved before inadvertently hitting targets was significantly reduced! It also put me considerably more off balance whenever I did temporarily lose it or had to make sudden decisions. Mad!
As our time on the rink dwindled, the right boot I had donned was starting to rub significantly into my right ankle. This brought about a number of sharp painful moments on the opposite side to the course to where the FYC clique were situated, and I was struggling to get anywhere at all without gritted teeth and determination! However, I was in luck. It turned out that the far side had a single exit gate, which turned out to be highly fortuitous considering my predicament and the fact that I was thinking about attempting to skate around to what I believed was the nearest exit on the other side. I left the ice to assess what had been going wrong. What I saw when I removed my boot was a blister right on the middle of my ankle. Ah, that would explain it! The three who had been ‘teaching’ me how to skate were in attendance and also complaining of similar problems. The remedy? Roll your socks down to make more of a barrier between blister and boot and get back onto the ice for the last few minutes before it was time to go! Well, I may as well have made the most of it…
Once off the ice, it was time to collect our more traditional forms of footwear and head into the retail park for some much needed foodstuffs. Unfortunately, as you can likely imagine, with hundreds of people leaving the rink simultaneously, the queues at the collection points were substantially long, and this consequently led to a number of us spending a long duration of time waiting for the queue to dwindle. One memorable moment whilst waiting for our footwear was when me and Jack got into a conversation about voluntary work. Jack: ‘What you do isn’t work – you enjoy this, don’t you?’ (hysterics). Dicko: ‘Yeah, sometimes. It’s easier to do so when you all behave. Its still work, though!’ (hysterics).
After what seemed like an age, we finally donned our more comfortable footwear and headed off to meet the awaiting mob so that we could make our group departure. It was at this time where they send the ice sweeper onto the rink and brightened the lights from their previously dimmed state. The spot looked a lot better in that mode for mine, although I can see why they decide to darken things up whilst the general public are on there – it certainly adds to the atmosphere, or at least it did so in opposition to what the pop music CD that was on continuous loop was doing, mind!
On leaving the rink, we sat the kids back on the bus so that we could formulate a plan as to how we were going to feed both them and the leaders. This quickly provided the children with a simple choice of either Pizza Hut or Burger King. Amazingly, there turned out to be quite an even split, with myself, Paul, Lynn, Krystal, Lauren and Nig heading off to the former with a group and Drew, Natalie and Bekka taking the rest of the clique down to the Pizza Hut across the road. Here’s the Burger King side of affairs…
With our group entering BK and orderly forming a sizable queue, it gave the leaders time to assess what to get, and more importantly, where people would sit. Thankfully, there were plenty of seats available and as the kids each got their meals, they found seats quickly and seemed content. However, as the queue grew smaller, problems started to arise in typical style. I’m not the biggest fan of these fast-food outlets, I tell thee! Drinks either not being handed out as ordered or not tasting as they should, one particular child whinging that they were ‘starving’ who wouldn’t shut up about it no matter how many times I told him his order was due to arrive imminently! A complaint that an order hadn’t reached a child who paid (which Lauren dealt with immaculately), change being handed out incorrectly (i.e. short) in addition to my order going wrong and myself having to ask an already irate assistant to sort it out being the ones that fly off the top of my head. Eventually, we had a scenario where all was well. Rest bite! Now let’s review the meal. Infact, let’s not, because at £4 it’s a bloody rip-off and I would have certainly begrudged paying that much for what I got with my own money. I always thought Burger King would be better than McDonalds, but on my first impression of BK, both are as bad as each other and it reiterates my belief that I should totally avoid such outlets (hysterics).
Anyhow, small rant over! My next problem came when some of the lads began using straws as pea-shooters! It was probably a good job that they asked Paul if they could go outside in order to continue their activity – best done on a litter-strewn car park than inside a store where the already tested staff had their patience levels stretched further! Of course, I volunteered to keep check on their actions. The crew (Dale, Dean, Stacie, Jordan and their mate (unbeknown to me) managed to conduct a fairly harmless game, although I felt tested in trying to ensure they didn’t stray too far from the central point and get into any trouble with resident Blackburn drivers, or even random youths who were in attendance, who they amazingly always seem to get on with no matter who they are. I would never have attempted such social feats when I was their age! It was difficult maintaining order at times (I often think that sometimes the kids overlook the fact that all I want them to be is safe, free from trouble and happy, without causing harm to others), but in the main, as much as the Burger King section of the trip took a sizable chunk of sharpness out of me, I think I just about managed to do whatever it was that was required.
Of course, with the kids all having picked up straws from BK on departure, the task on approaching the bus was to ensure as many of them were confiscated before any of the kids boarded. I think they all thought I was a killjoy at this point, but I deemed it necessary to carry out such a task in order to avoid the scenario of the bus turning into both a substantial mess and a more condensed warzone than the one I’d just witnessed (and been a victim of on occasion!) (hysterics). I don’t think the kids saw why I did this either, but if it helped keep the bus clean and stopped potential bad blood / behaviour…
Once everyone was on the bus, it had become apparent that we were significantly in front of the Pizza Hut group. With collected straws in hand, I made my way down to find out how far they were away from re-joining us. It was nice to get away after all of that, aside from the fact that I spent about a minute working how on earth you were to enter Pizza Hut bar a small door which was filled with people. Of course, you couldn’t. On entry, I couldn’t see where the crew were sat, although this quickly changed when I made my way to the back to find the kids sat on a number of large tables and the leaders relaxing in the corner. It looked a lot easier than what I’d just gone through (hysterics), though the time factor involved must have meant a great deal of messing about in actually securing a seat. As it was last time at the Pizza Hut chain, all of the kids were trying to make me taste a load of spices that are used on the pizzas. Naturally I declined (hysterics). A quick word with Drew gave us an indication of how long we were away, which as it transpired, wasn’t overly long, as on return to our bus the usually rowdy crew had calmed down significantly and were chilling out to the ‘chill-out’ version of DJ Sammy. That’ll do.
Or at least, that’s what I initially thought how it’d pan out. Minute after minute passed without sign of them, and I was wondering how long it would be before everyone sprang into life again. As it transpired, that was to happen when we set off for home – a place that we instantly set sail for when the other group returned to the bus. Good work.
The trip back to Ulverston was relatively calm. Once the lights were dimmed, you’d expect varying reactions from the children, and this is exactly what we got with some opting to sleep, others acting less franticly than previously and the group at the back starting to play ‘truth or dare’, with the stipulation that the ‘truth’ element of the game was totally removed (hysterics). We turned a partially blind eye for a sustained period before putting a halt to festivities before lines were crossed (hysterics). Madness!
During the journey, I decided to send Mr Stretch a text asking about the football scores for the Saturday’s matches. A side-effect of attending FYC trips is that you always seem detached from the real world to some extent, which consequently intensifies the info seek after a half day, full day or few days away with the group! What is actually happening out there? Maybe I should buy the Times on a Monday and take time out to take in the full picture. That was far easier when I could read on the train either travelling to or from Preston during my University days!
The consequence of texting my mate for the day’s scores was that Jordan and co. behind me wanted to take a full tour of my mobile phone. I thought the K700i was only basic ‘entry-level’ nowadays? (well, maybe one level up, but fairly tame in comparison to more modern phones). Seemingly not. They tried out most of the features on there (some of which I hadn’t yet explored myself) and ended up playing a Java-based game of darts with us. The game itself wasn’t overly bad – its one of those novelty affairs where if the user is roped in, they’d likely be hooked for a considerable length of time. This would probably sap battery life (the camera on the phone literally drains the battery in startlingly quick time), but, as long as it kept them amused it was being used as a tool of sorts. As for the result of our match, well, they were rubbish and the tactic of ‘playing to their level and just winning’ was used to full effect (hysterics).
The other thing that the phone game did was pass time. One look, we’re off the motorway, next look, Lindale, then Newby Bridge. Excellent stuff. By the time we stopped playing darts it was actually time to get up off the bus and head home. Drew and Paul kept the kids in check for a couple of minutes but once ready, they were off, and so were we! Well, not quite. Having thanked the bus driver and headed for the car park behind the Community Centre, it turned out that Jamie and his mate were without awaiting parents. So, with a car at Paul & Lynn’s disposal, they were ferried home! A successful operation, then. And then we went to the Glaxo Club and left Lynn and Krystal, both of whom came out with the best quotes of the day on the journey to our destination.
Lynn: ‘I can see why you goto the pub after Youth Club on a Friday, now!’
Aye! Good nights can take it out of you, and after a bad event or night, total relaxation is very high on the agenda. I think it can often be viewed as some kind of reward for the effort that goes in – it can be hard work, especially for those such as me who don’t have the talent of say, the whole of the rest of the FYC leadership team.
Matt: ‘I was rubbish on the ice, very slow’ (etc)
Krystal: ‘You can’t expect to be good at something first time out’.
I hadn’t thought about this all day. Whilst (zoned) out on the ice, it gave me time to think about and reflect what on earth I’m good at. Not much came to the forefront of my mind. I tend to think in such ways when I do something poorly, inadequately… or even just at pass level. I’m very self-critical – when something goes wrong I always try to think of ways in which I could have done acted more positively and consider implementing different ideas and approaches in order to be more successful in the future. Except I haven’t been very good at this recently. The Burger King episode was a perfect example. You try, very hard, to ensure that the kids can have a good time whilst in a safe environment. You think its paramount, and in essence, it makes sense – otherwise why would the children be there? In the end, I did well to ensure that happened, but I can’t have been doing it very well as it was taking a significant amount of energy out of me straight afterwards, leaving me in an emotionally drained state. 2006 will be an interesting year in terms of seeing whether I can begin to deal with that sort of scenario more comfortably – because, as Krystal iterates, I should become better at coping with situations such as that as time passes by. First stop, 03/02/06 when the leadership team is reduced significantly with Andrew and Natalie in attendance of a youth worker training course. That will put me to the test in a highly thorough fashion. Hopefully, I’ll survive to see England play Wales in the 6 Nations the day after, and indeed, make a trip down to Manchester on the 10th to go and see James Zabiela rip things up like few others can at Sankey’s Soap. They’re both (very) good rewards and give me the opportunity to see people in action who are a hell of a lot better at their disciplines than myself at any other. Anyway, I digress…
Since I mentioned her, I don’t think I could end this review without giving warm congratulations to Krystal on her engagement to Ryan at the turn of the year. I sincerely hope you prosper as a couple and wish you both well for the future.
This is a guest article by MG, imported from Wordpress. Please ignore the 'author/contributor/posted-by' tag on this post, which is incorrect.
