An eventful first working day!

Today was our first working day. It’s been lovely catching up with Imelda and Phil. They know the way we work and the systems here are very similar to those at Naburn Lock, so little training is needed. The transition is sure to be smooth. We are working together today and tomorrow. After that, we settle in to a three-day on, three-day off pattern until they leave at the end of the month. This is also how we will work it when they come back on March 1st. It seems like the perfect arrangement. We will earn enough to pay for our trip and have plenty of time off. It’s a win-win!!

So, everything was going very well today until things took a sinister turn! Chris, the site owner, went off around the park to try out the new buggy he had just acquired. It was the first time he’d driven it. Phil had tried it out and warned Chris that it felt a bit lightweight and could topple over. Undeterred, Chris set off to the top of the park. Unfortunately, in the car park at the very top of the site, the vehicle overturned and pinned Chris underneath it! Mark and Phil dashed up there to lift the buggy off him. It was clear that he had broken his leg and that he had sustained a head injury. Because it would take too long for an ambulance to arrive by road, the Air Ambulance was scrambled and, after assessing him, Chris was airlifted to hospital in Middlesborough. We had barely met him and now he was away from the site!

Chris was to be in hospital for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, the four of us kept the site running.Read more