Greetings all.

Firstly I'd like to say to any one reading this as a first installment, scroll back a bit and read the first bit first.

Ah yes the arrival.

Bursting through the doors at 09:25, a full 25 minutes late to spy a room of 5 other peeps. One is going to be the course instructor, the other 4 my fellow students for a day. A glance around the room tells me I am the only non local. Who else arrives in a classroom in June wearing shorts, shirt and a pair of Birkenstocks? The rest of the rooms inhabitants are covered in fleeces, trousers and sensible shoes. You know the sort of thing that BDA would never be seen dead in!

2 men and 3 women. I announce my apologies for my tardiness and lateness but realise that my 4,5 min diatribe about local government and the state of the bus service has been heard by all. Shit happens when the answer phone and office are adjacent to the classroom. I say classroom. A   tadge misleading on my part I feel as the the premises are in fact a Portacabin of obvious age and disress and is split into 2 by a thin partition wall.  I digress. The first words uttered to me are, how do you take your coffee? Love it. My dripping self has been accepted and  intros are made.

Opposite me is Alison, a PE teacher from the local school. Late 40s early 50s maybe but with that look that only PE teachers can achieve. An alert level of underlying fitness, hopefully the teachers in the readership will be able to understand this. at theright hand top of the group of tables are sat Zoe and Jenny, young 20 somethings I would estimate who both work on Croquet Island, more of which later. One is definately the more dominant than the other. Even by looking I can tell. And finally Ken, a man of indeterminate age, though surely of more advanced age than me. Silver haired and worldly wise, he is a canoe instructor as far as I can gather. Reserved comes to mind.

The course itself is being taught by Geoff, a local coastguard and youth leader again assumed by me but sort of guessed at by his attire. Confirmed also by our intro to each other.

The course it self.

Nothing earth shattering really but did learn that our CPR schedule had been changed, but doubted that the casualty was really going to be that bothered whetwer or not I Gave the Kiss of life first or started on the chest compessins first. Of course it is no longer he Kiss Of Life but is now known as something else, I did'nt write the new name down in my notes. I just checked.

We did have some god interactions as a group with me trying to hard at times to play both the fool and devils advocate, nothing earth shattering you understand but a good dynamic. Now theres an expression I never ever thought I'd use.

Lunch was taken and I along with Jenny and Zoe left the centre, they went on e way and I the other, but did find out that the island they work on has 30,000 pairs of birds on it, thats one hell of a lot of guano thought I.

Apparently Croquet Island is also home to Britains rarest sea bird the Rosetta Tern, now you know too.

The course continued apace andf we all tried out our CPR technique with Little Annie and watched a few videoes. Before we knew it the course was over. I learnt a lot here and I am not going to trivialise it at all. It seemed easy , but that was due to Geoffs attitude and his control of the classroom. He is a damn fine teacher and a gold star to him. But also a gold star to my fellow participants for butting in where it was necessary and sharing our relevant experiences. I loved my day in Amble, Croquet Shorebase Trust.

Seems I am limited here new post now now now!