Day 4...thank goodness for wellies!

No late start this morning. We all managed a good night’s sleep and awoke refreshed at 7.15am. Breakfast was, for the first time, served at the hotel and we indulged in omelettes, toast, coffee and juice. After some cajoling, the team were on the bus at 8.00am and off to the project.

We arrived to screaming geese and steady rain, but Jai was in similarly good spirits to the day before. No time to sit around today; we headed straight to our respective sites and got to work. More of the same at the house with the human chain of bricks soon doing its job efficiently and with less dropped efforts than the day before (practice evidently makes perfect). The water level was higher today and we spent a lot of time splashing around the site. We also acquired Jai’s son for the day, who could translate and thus prove a vital communication link with the (a little cold and unfriendly, it must be said) building staff. After a seemingly very early tea break we got back to the business of moving materials around and making chunder. By lunchtime we were definitely ready for a bit of a change!

Alex Wright and Henry Dunn were, unfortunately, down with the team’s first bout of stomach trouble, so were forced to miss both the lunch and the afternoon’s work. For the rest of us, after beef steaks, chilli beans and vegetables we returned to the site eager to do a bit more on the creative front. Thanks to Hughes and Batley’s forcefulness we managed to get some of the boys in doing some bricklaying, which seemed to go down very well with the boys, if not quite so well with the builders. However, one seemed very up for the challenge of George Henderson as an apprentice, and soon the men from opposite ends of the world were working together admirably.

The end of the day saw a return to the river for some canoe shenanigans and some meeting and greeting of Jai and Laila’s extended family. We also got in a good half hour of dance practice, perfecting steps three and four despite Church’s efforts. A bit of backyard football followed, with some impressive interceptions and overly complicated running moves, before we finally headed for the bus and home. On our return the pool was quickly occupied and then dinner was enjoyed by all. Dunn and Wright had recovered well and managed as full a dinner as everyone else…