Post-Camp, some thoughts

[pensnest]

My last sparkly Camper has gone—adelate is at the airport as I type. Beast drove her, since she had to be there for about 0830 and I don't do mornings if I have an option. It's been fun having a sparkly person around for a couple of extra days, and I learned many things, including that The Three Musketeers movie is very pretty and completely, gloriously ridiculous (Orlando Bloom has Dick Dastardly facial hair!), and that Kris Allen seems to have produced a video about gay bullying for his new single (go Kris!).

Gosport/Portsmouth was a very good place to hold Camp. Lots of tourist attractions within easy walking distance. Admittedly there is a strong naval theme to these. Beast and I went to explore HMS Warrior (first steam/sail ship, with metal armour, c 1860), then HMS Victory (Nelson's ship at Trafalgar [1805], probably built around a hundred years or so before Warrior), then the Mary Rose exhibition—Mary Rose being the ill-fated Tudor warship that sank with all hands just off Portsmouth and was exhumed a few years ago. Lots and lots of stuff found at the site—my boyfriend at university was a diver there, and his mum one of the leading lights in the recovery of the ship. It was particularly interesting to see the ships in reverse chronological order. I must have seen inside sailing ships before, but I didn't remember that the gun crews had tables and benches between the guns where they took their meals—and I certainly hadn't realised that they slung their hammocks above the tables. On the lower decks of HMS Warrior, my Beast could stand upright without threat to his skull, but aboard the Victory even I was stooping, such a great difference between the generations!

We also went with nopseud and archie_gremlin to the Explosion Museum, which is mostly about naval firepower, and the site at Priddy's Hard where the explosives were made and packaged. Interesting place, though I'd have liked more information about the lives of the people working in the factory at different times.

I was very happy that this year's Camp had quite a strong emphasis on the actual popslash. We watched a fair bit of footage, and had a good discussion on Sunday afternoon. There was also a Feast on Wednesday evening where we dressed to sparkle and had a brief war between the two dining tables, involving party poppers and miniature, glittery Tribbles. And the Five Words Story was… surprisingly sane this year. Hmm. It still amazes me that we all, as a group, get along so well, that fascinating conversations break out randomly all the time, that we have such pure *fun*.

We're refining the search criteria for Camp all the time. This year we discovered that having Interesting Things To See within walking distance is a really good idea. By the time we're all too old and grey to attend any more, we'll have refined the search to perfection, which will probably mean there's only one place in the world we can go...

Comments

[ephemera]

I can well imagine that have Interesting Things within walking distance would be both a good thing in absolute terms, and take some of the organising and driving pressure of you and A.

(I am determined to make Camp next time - even with getting to see lots of you seperately, I still missed you-plural no end!)

[pensnest]

I am enthusiastically rooting through holiday cottage sites even now, so remind me which dates are going to work for you - July? Any time in July? And what about the spring or autumn? It would be very good to have you there for the whole time!

[turlough]

Gosport was a great place for Camp Sparkle! I would gladly go back there next year. I love being so close to the sea and there was so much I didn't have spoons to see this year.

I'm in two minds about the house though. It was very nice but having the main lounge and the kitchen on different floors made it feel like everyone was always somewhere else to me. I think the fact that our bedroom was on the groundfloor might have something to do with this. I never really felt at home on the first floor. (Our bedroom and the lounge should totally have changed floor, it would have made much more sense that way!)

[pensnest]

It was oddly laid out, wasn't it—I sympathise with your feeling of strangeness. It's always a compromise - in this case, the awkward kitchen and the upstairs lounge, plus there not being a bathroom on the top floor, in exchange for nice beds, generally good facilities and an excellent location. We're already looking for possibilities for next year, and there are always plusses and minuses.

[turlough]

Some day we will find the perfect house where everything is the way we want it! *keeps fingers crossed*

[nopseud]

By the time we're all too old and grey to attend any more, we'll have refined the search to perfection, which will probably mean there's only one place in the world we can go...

And then, we can all pool our pensions and buy/build a popslash retirement mansion at that spot, and we will have CAMP, FOREVER!

[pensnest]

I fear this site may be a little small for us - also, it doesn't have Broadband. But, gosh!

[nopseud]

Wow! Although I think walking to the shops could be an issue.

I still wish we could hire the Napoleonic fort in Cornwall, but £15,000 for a week might be a bit of a stretch.

[saffronra.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of boggled that you ended up in Gosport, but I have the prejudices of someone who lived in Portsmouth until I could escape at 18. I grew up with it being a transport black hole (the ferry is all well and good if the weather is ok, and you're in the city, getting there from the suburbs is a nightmare though) and its only redeeming feature was that it had an icerink, and Portsmouth didn't. Glad you all had fun though, hopefully I'll be back one year in the not too distant future!