Demo and Frolics in the Stream

Hey guys!

Apologies for the tardiness of my entry, but net access has been non-existant since arriving in this neck of the woods.

I arrived here at Lake Maggiore (pronounced Madjury) on Monday, after a tiresome roadtrip, where we fought through traffic standstills and bad music (can someone please explain to me the appeal of Savage Garden? C'mon! They make Scissor Scissors look like the ultimate masculine specimens), Scouse Danny and I met the rest of the team. Everyone seemed nice... of course, living in eachothers pockets can change your views of people...

Anyway... I have been sharing a mobile home with Sam - the only other girl in the group of 10 (2 more guys are due to arrive this coming week). Sam is a bubbly Scottish girl... who is also A PAIN IN THE ARSE to live with! I'm not kidding. And she lies... told me she was 22. Saw her passport lying around, had a peek. 19 years old. Now WHY would she bother lying about that? Sheesh... Also drinks a great deal, makes loads of noise and invites everyone back to our mobile... which has lead to a few arguments when I've kicked off... Worry not, I'll be ok - the debatable thing is whether SHE will be...

The guys consist of an ex-army dude called Andy - 22, and hates the military. Sam has a crush on him and his muscles. He's pretty sound. There's Ronnie, a Geordie, who speaks his mind, and everyone elses, but seems to get away with it - he's also travelled an astounding amount - very funny guy. Peter, who just became redundant, and is using this as a stop-gap between work and returning to Uni to train as a Maths teacher, Geordie Dan, who's rather quiet, but a fabulous cook, and ex-butcher, Chris, who is constantly making jokes about how large he is, and is very talkative - I've been working a lot with him, and we've had some good debates. Oh and 'Monkey' Dan, who's the youngest, at 18, and seems about 12. Has obviously been spoiled by his parents, as he expects everyone to do his work for him, and his attempts at being witty come across as very rude. Think this experience will be good for him if he sticks with it. Oh and of course Scouse Danny, who likes to be the centre of attention and is beginning to irritate me somewhat.

HENCE why I am on my day off AWAY from everyone on the site.

Don't get me wrong - some of the guys are very nice, but I needed a break from the drama. Last night everyone went out. I decided to hide away - sounds like I made the right decision after the screaming going on and arguments. I'm glad I wasn't part of the embarassment.

Anyway, that's the people.

The area...

Lake Maggiore is GORGEOUS. Breathtakingly beautiful! The mountains rise up, green and lush, full of mystery... and cheesy descriptiveness on my part. Snow capped mountains loom in the distance - possibly where Switzerland lies. The actual lake is turquoise, the lake-front cluttered with bars, cafes, ice-cream parlours, with boats moored at the shores. On Tuesday night we strolled into town for the evening to enjoy the balmy air and sit eating ice-cream, people watching. Some kid had kicked his ball into the lake and was bawling his eyes out. Everyone was watching to see if his dad would dive in to bring the ball back.

He didn't.

HOWEVER, a passing German couple stopped, and the guy stripped off to his boxers (mercifully he wasn't wearing those horrendous Speedos the Europeans seem to love wearing) and dived in, swimming out to the ball which had floated quite a distance by then. The cheers were deafening as he swam back to the shore with the ball.

Personally I didn't think the kid deserved it. Imagine hyperventilating because your ball fell in the lake! Bah! Well, the Clarke Kent look-a-like (as we decided) gave the ball to a kid to give to the other, and finally the mother of the kid who lost the ball (are you confused yet?) pushed him over to say thank you... which he did. It was a touching moment. I swear I had a tear in my eye.

Or not.

The work on Demo is pretty strenuous. I can see why not many girls apply, but I want to try and stick with it to the end. I tend to be the first one up at the cook tent every day, making my porridge and sometimes going for an explore to the river nearby, where I clamber around for the perfect photo. We officially start work at 9, and sometimes don't finish work til 7.30pm, with just an hour break in-between. There has been a lot of scrubbing, and dismantling tentframes, the past few days. We will leave this site on Sunday, and head to Lake Edro... or Idro (unsure of the spelling), which is a 5 hour drive away, or so I am told. Lake Garda, I believe we will spend the most time on, as there are many sites there. Paul (the demo leader) has said that Verona is worth a visit, so maybe I will go there should I get the opportunity. Today, I plan to go for a bit of a hike in the hills. Some of the others are going bungee jumping, but it's 170 Euros, so I think I'll pass.

The sun is beating down, and I fancy a coffee, and practising my Italian (I have been awful so far, continually chickening out of ordering my red wine at the onsite bar in Italian).

Ahhh I guess I'd really better be off. I would have liked to have written more, and gone into more detail of what's been going on, but this is the solitary computer in this supposed net cafe!

Take it easy folks, and I'll try and write more soon. I'm off to have an adventure now!  ;)