First Class Times

Oooh I love a good play on words! So I'm now back (via 1st Class train travel) from Keswick 2012!
So the first question you are asking is, did I have a good time??
The answer is most defiately yes, but there is so much more to say, so I'll start at the beginning:

So Friday 13th July:
8am - I arrive at work to have a shower, as our bathroom had been ripped out. I can't get in to my borrowed caravan, so Roma takes pity on me and invites me in to hers. I then make myself all clean.
9am-12pm - I work, then I leave.
12pm-2pm - I pack my final bits and pieces and head off to the station
2pm-6pm - I travel to Ruth's house in Stoke
6pm-8pm - We eat and catch up, then pack the car.
8pm-11pm - We drive to Keswick, getting stuck in numerous traffic jams on the M6 and making Cam wait up for us, much later than we'd have all liked. Thank you Cam!

So Saturday is Arrival Day for Keswick Team, with most people coming in the PM, those of us there early helped set up the kitchen (Rat Poo Ministry - I'm safe from you for another 4 years!) etc. Then there's lots of hellos and welcomes as lots of people start arriving! By Saturday at 4.30pm almost all of the team is assembled. We meet, pray, give out tshirts and IDs, chat, catch up and begin to look to the week ahead! Then we all go to the first Convention meeting together as a team.

Sunday we're up early to take part in the All-Age Service; lead jointly by the Children's and Youth Teams. Yours truly is up on stage in front of thousands of people doing actions to a song I've never heard before and that the band only learnt that morning! The service is followed by Registration, lunch and then we begin to set up the venues! This involves unpacking sheds full of toys and heavy crates full of supplies; as well as ride-on toys, climbing frames, sand tables and the like! Sunday evening is our first meeting with children: the 8-11s evening programme which every leader is involved in.

Monday to Friday prety much then follow the same pattern each day: get up, shower, prayer meeting, brekkie, walk to Convention Centre, set up for the morning's session, morning session til 12.30, clear up. Walk back to Rawnsley and eat lunch, FREE TIME!, bible study with the main convention speaker (this year: Simon Manchester, a straight-talking Ozzie), dinner, evening programme prep, evening programme til 9.15pm, debrief and pray. THE END! Whew!

What about the weather, I hear you ask! Well it was mainly dry save from the Monday, but today (now I'm back home!) it was sweltering and my office is not a nice place to be in the hot weather! Here's some piccies:

Beautiful sunset to marvel at whilst we were stuck on the M6!

Great bags on sale in Keswick - nothing like identifying your target audience!

Me enjoying my favourite Keswick indulgence, from Java, having an afternoon with Ruth!

So yeah, afternoons in Keswick, our beautiful few hours of free time! I have to say I did spend a couple of afternoons just chilling by myself with my book! Here it is:

 

Then there is our £20 book voucher to spend in the convention bookshops - the convention is very kind to us; paying our expenses, feeding and accomadating us and giving us money for books/CDs! Then I spent an afternoon down by the lake; feeding the ducks and chatting, then strolling around the shops and eating ice cream whilst having good girly times which were just nice :)

Friday afternoon was just Ruth and I, we wandered around the shops and then settled in Java for a natter. It was good to just chill and chat and we need to do it more often!!

All in all, I loved Keswick, but never has a week gone so fast and I've learnt a lot of valuable lessons from the experience. I was challenged on a few things in my lifestyle but over everything I just want Keswick 2013 to come around NOW and I want to go for 2 weeks at least!