Bugged - Day Three

Sweating it out for a burger

So much for a good night's sleep; it was a repeat of the first night, unfortunately. I looked at the hound darkly, I can tell you.

My mood was not lightened when I walked over to the Comfort Station to have a shower only to find the the good people from ServiceMaster were in there cleaning. I will always question the wisdom of cleaning the shower block at 7.30am, the point at which it most used, but I think it's done for the convenience of the contractor rather than the facility's users. Still, looking on the bright side, the cubicle was nice and clean when I returned an hour later.

So, to the business of the day and a quick excursion off site to drop Mrs Toad at her friend's house, just five minutes away. They were off for a quick tour of the many fruit and veggie stands that line Highway 3 in Essex County. But for the heat, that looked like a great day out.

Back at camp, I had two restless Tadpoles, both itching to get lunch out of the way so that we could motor back into town to pick up respective friends for a day visit. Pay attention here, dear reader, it gets a bit complicated.

Small Tadpole had The Boyfriend coming and the big Tadpole had Not The Girlfriend booked in. The Boyfriend has been a fixture for a few months and only narrowly avoided accompanying us for the whole trip by having some surgery done on his toe on the preceding Friday; we weren't going to be responsible for changing his dressings three times a day so discarded him. Not The Girlfriend was a new addition to the mix, made spicier by the fact that The Boyfriend is her cousin. I say spicier because The Boyfriend threw a tantrum that Not The Girlfriend had been invited at all and threatened to visit all kinds of retribution on the small Tadpole should his cousin be allowed to come. How or why The Boyfriend felt he could influence who the big Tadpole invited was beyond us, and threats to call off his relationship with the small Tadpole met with pursed lips and much tutting from Mrs T and I. Knowing how the small Tadpole was already feeling the (unwarranted) pressure, we didn't take the matter up directly with The Boyfriend, but did suggest to her that people who wished to control such things, and in such a manner as he was attempting, probably weren't good boyfriend material. She said she knew that and we left it, but when I picked up The Boyfriend and he saw Not The Girlfriend in the car, he put on his best mardy face and shoved his ear buds in, steadfastly refusing to talk to anyone. I had a mind to just dump him right back out of the car there and then, but then the small Tadpole would have been crushed, so we rode the crest of a very grumpy wave back to the campground.

I need to also to note that the big Tadpole is greatly lacking in the social graces. On the drive back to Rondeau he kept up a stream of inane small talk, which was painful enough, but he wasn't conversing with Not The Girlfriend, he was conversing with me! Yes, Not The Girlfriend was peering intently at her phone a lot of the time but she seemed quite happy to give me proper attention when I spoke to her. Try as I might, though, I could not get the big Tadpole to see that he really needed to talk with his guest, especially as The Boyfriend was creating quite an atmosphere.

Anyway, back at camp the small Tadpole and The Boyfriend jumped on their bikes and disappeared whilst the big Tadpole and Not The Girlfriend headed out on foot to visit the beach. At some point in the afternoon, I'm not sure of the order of events as I was very drowsy and in and out of naps, Mrs T returned and it started to rain, which inevitably brought The Boyfriend and Not The Girlfriend back in close proximity. The impending evening meal also served to get everyone together but by then, relations had thawed a little and there was at least some conversation.

The highlight of the day, though, was bundling all the young people, and the hound, into the car and driving them back to town. Why was this such a highlight? Well, we were leaving them all at home! I motored back to Rondeau on my own to spend a night with the good Mrs T, sans les enfants et le chien. Bliss. Well, it was bliss apart from the heat and the bugs of course.

The morning promised a big packing up effort as the tent was still in position, but at least we were to be free of encumbrances. Maybe we'd get that sleep we really needed?

Bugged - Day Four is in preparation!

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