a life-changing experience...

Today was our last EVER day of Puddle Restoration (aka wading through squelchy mud to dig up, remove, put back and re-cover a plastic pipe). Some of us did some work, some of us did less work, some of us complained, some of us laughed, some of us sang. It was generally an easy day really!
Lunch of course lasted for longer than it needed to, and most of the day was spent shovelling clay about 2 metres from one big heap to another one then stamping on it! Adrian fell over a few times, and Jamie Corry somehow got clay on his ear, in his hair and splatters on his back. I have no idea how...
Bill didn't realise how deep the water was (because Sian and Henny were in there, standing on a plank of wood) and ended up knee-deep in the "pond" with loads of water in his welly. He didn't make much of a fuss... meanwhile Sarah hopped around screaming and I was being pulled out of the mud because I'd got stuck again!
Babett and Sarah sang loads of motivating songs throughout the day, particularly to the tune of Little Donkey. When Adrian tipped the wheelbarrow over by accident and almost hit Babett they sang:

Health and Safety,

Risk Assessment,

On the clay-y road,

Tried to kill me,

Adriaaaan,

With your heavy load!

At the end of the day when we had to wash off all the clay-caked spades and gloves, we all got a bit emotional because we realised we had to go, even though there was so much more help we could give to the animals of the forest. For example saving the squirrels from becoming Jamie Corry's dinner (yes, he actually eats squirrels : S). But unfortunately for the squirrels we are going to Long Down Dairy Farm tomorrow, so the poor things will just have to suffer.

This experience has definitely changed my perspective and I now appreciate the little things more, like vending machines (although we never went short of chocolate!) and sinks (because we had to rinse our hands in a puddle every day before lunch). I feel that pond-digging has been a rewarding experience and my life will never be the same again.

I do feel like Pond Digging has just been a parody of building a school in Tanzania, as Babett said, it's been a bit surreal!

but we've had fun anyway and we're probably closer friends now than we were before. I guess clay fights and name calling brings people together...

bring on the baby goats at the farm tomorrow! hahaha xx