Catcouk Returns (part 3)

Here we go, the last installment of CATCOUK's first ever three part post. And once again, a day or two late. I think we need to just accept that I am busier than a busy thing, busying about a busy place, doing lots of busy work, whilst being a busy buzzy bee being very busy indeed. So, don't hold your breath, posts are like to continue to be late for several weeks/ months (who knows). What can I say, my last year of Uni is turning out to be mega busy.

Picking up where we left off las week, after a busy shut down week, and a trip to Hershey Park, it was time to pack myself away (and my stuff), and get back to the grand old United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And thanks to British Airways, I returned to Heathrow at 9.30 in the morning, having had two hours of, what could be described by a mad person as, sleep. I HATE FLYING - It's so dull and uncomfortable!

The moment I land, and meet up with mum and dad (a considerably smaller welcoming party than I received in the US), we rushed to the car, so that we could find the nearest 'Little Chef'. I have a tradition, no matter how Little Chef's image gets, that I don't consider anything a holiday unless I have had a Little Chef. I love Little Chef's breakfasts, especially their sausages. Delicious. I'm salavating now, just at the thought.

After that, I returned home to hug my car, and unpack. Well, I hugged my car anyway. I also found some excuse to take Ernie out for a spin. I really missed my car, and I absolutely love the car. And then it was onto busy work. I had been back in the country less than 4 hours, and I was up to my neck in paperwork. But what sort of paperwork, I hear you cry. NTC? Uni? Nope - stuff for the magistrates court.

I never made this public, but back in April, I was pulled over by the Police. I kept this under wraps for 'legal reasons'. But never-the-less, a legal action began. I was driving my best friend's car, after we had spent a few hours refitting his interior. We decided that we should take it out for a spin, and Michael asked if I would like to drive. For various lengthy reasons, I thought that I was covered to drive other vehicles on my insurance.

The plod pulled us over, and said that the vehicle had no tax or insurance. I showed the officer the road tax in the screen, explaining that it was Michael's car. He asked if I was covered to drive, and I gave him my details. He radioed it in, and replied 'Oh dear'. Driving without insurance is a pretty serious crime, and so it went to court. Unbelievably, it took the police and CPS more than 7 weeks to pull their finger out of their arse, and give me a summons (which was made out to the wrong person). By this time I was in the states. After getting an adjournment, I had a date that gave me just one full working day in the country. Very poor form in my opinion.

So I compiled all of the necessary, and went before three magistrates. After pleading guilty, and begging for mercy, the magistrates had this to say. 'It's happenning alot. Insurance companies are removing that level of cover, and leaving many people in your situation. However, you have broken the law'. First off, if you drive other people's vehicles, check your insurance carefully. Are you covered?

I ended up with 6 points (ouch), and a £15 fine (fifteen!). This was the least possible penalty they could legally give me, and they wanted to give me less penalty points! But they weren't able to. After all of this, I have to say that I think the magistrates were brilliant. But I have to say, I think that the damned police officer could and maybe should have shown some leniency. He knew the situation, agreed with me, but then wrote a very one-sided witness statement. Cheers buddy. Before this, I used to like the Police, and support their work. But now I have to wonder whether they really are as target setting, and quota meeting as people claim. What a shame...

Before I finish the Catcouk Returns posts, I have to do some housekeeping, and clean up some film reviews. Over the summer, I saw several films. The first one, before I left the country, I saw the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have to say that all of the CGI stuff spoiled it a little, but I really enjoyed the film. There were also a few scenes that were a little bizarre. Obviously there are some scenes that are out-of-this-world, but Indiana Jones has always had that element. Overall, I thought it was a great entertaining film, although some less aware people are probably not going to get the point.

4 Escorts out of 5 - Great film, but maybe won't be understood by everyone.

The other films that I saw was 'The Dark Knight'. I say films, as I saw this film three times! I have never enjoyed a film in the cinema more than this. Heath Ledger as The Joker (and yes I know that everyone raves about him, but he) really was incredible. You also got exceptional value for your money, the film had three endings. You also get Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. What more could you want?

5 Escorts out of 5 and a Batmobile - a CATCOUK first, scoring higher than 5 Escorts out of 5. Now my favourite film of all time.

Lastly, to the reason why I am late posting. This weekend was our first residential since I got back. And I can easily say that it was the worst residential I have ever run. That's not to say that it was a bad trip, but it was okay. I'm not used to running a trip that's less than pretty good, and I won't really settle for less. I will admit that it is partly my fault, for trying to run the trip at all. Without any other officers going from our unit, I was understaffed. Thank gould for Diana and her husband Saidou, who really made the weekend. Thank goodness for Graham of TS Sturdy also, for providing himself, some cadets, and a bus.

That was the first embarrassing moment. We had two parents who volunteered to drive, yet with my car, and theirs, we were still one seat short. It was so embarrasing, not just for me, but for the unit, and those parents who just can't afford to drive that far. Times are hard. I want to sincerely thank all of those parents who drove, and apologise hugely to everyone else, for putting them in that situation. In the end, one parent had to make his wife walk home, so that he could take the extra cadet. I am furious about that. It's not the parent's fault. I am trying my hardest to provide excellent trips, at a minimal price. Yet our committee refuse to put any money towards a minibus (either in purchasing and running one, or hiring one). They insist that if we hire a bus, it has to come out of the trip costs. That could mean putting the price of a day trip up by £5, and a weekend up by £10. I just can't put up our trip costs by that much.

The second embarrassing moment, was just before we left, the centre manager Ian said that the centre was left in an unnacceptable condition, and that it had been the most destructive weekend in the centre's 15 years. I could accept one or two odd things, but for cadets to have broken so many things is just unreasonable. Then leaving a mess... I don't quite know what has happenned to the mentality of some of those cadets, but jees. Obviously not all of the cadets, the majorty are still brilliant, and had a great weekend, but just those few really have got to me.

In the three years that I have been doing this job, I have never once even thought about resigning from TS Intrepid. But with the unit's current transport policy, and the apparently changing mentality of some of our cadets, I really wondered why I bother, when I have a very busy year at University, and the opportunity to help so many with my national position in the Corps. Thank goodness there are still a majority of fantastic cadets that make my work so worth it, and an up and coming set of senior cadets/ junior officers that are so supportive. The fact that I don't have to worry about our marching band any more, thanks to a fantastic bandmaster, is a relief as well. Even if she is trying to turn our band into a faux show band...

Nevermind, life goes on. I have the Corps' National Weekend Activities Camp to look forward to this weekend, and I hope that it's successful. I really would like to see more cadets want to attend, and given the chance to attend next year.

See you all next time.

If you want to donate £40 000 for us to buy and run a transit minibus for 5 years, why not leave a comment.

If you want to donate £40 000 for us to buy and run a transit minibus for five years, and you actually can, why not leave a comment, and a cheque.

Quote of the Week: 'Is that smell coming from your car?' asked centre manager Ian, as I arrived in Portsmouth, after a 40 mile drive towing TS Intrepid's £2500 lovely, but very heavy box trailer. I can honestly say Ernie has never complained so much before. Especially going up hill, I could really hear that new distributor clicking around. Not to mention the best possible speed of 55mph... I love you Ernie...