St Ives Cowboy Theme

Give them a theme and they'll run with it. At the St Ives camp, the theme was the "Wild West" (actually the wild East, being Cambridgeshire, but that hardly seemed to matter. The humans were "away on a hack" running with the theme.

The entrance to the camp was a mocked up shack, complete with papier-mache-faced man in blue check shirt, jeans and boots, outside with a big double barrelled gun (a safe mock up, let me say, with a wooden stock with two bits of one inch diam black plastic pipe attached). All around were signs such as the one shown, with a Ciroen Ami van with buffalo horns attached, or the totem pole adorned with many mysterious Citroen double-chevron runes and a dubious looking 2CV in blue on top.

Everywhere, the theme was taken up. The food area became the "chuck wagon" place, with the food wagons being cowboy related - mexican street food (Delicious said Dad - spicy chicken in a wrap with a salsa made with toms and onions plus green limes, and pumpkin seeds), cowboy food (pork and beans etc). The "flea market" became the "Trading Post". All the "streets across the camping site fields between the blocks of tents were named with wild west names - indian tribes like souix, mohawk and apache, or film-related names (boot hill, the crick).

In the barn set up for the live music and entertainment the stage area was, inevitably, the "Deadwood Stage". Even more Citroen related - there's a car called the Ami 6 Saloon, so that was the name given to the bar, and there's a range of 2CV's called the "AK"s, so the main arena was called the "AK Corrall". They must have enjoyed themselves thinking up all the puns and in-jokes for the programme. The quiet camping area was signposted the "Stockade", and the boundaries to the site were signposted "The Badlands".

Ah - before I sign off though for today a quick "Hello" to Em-J. Sorry I missed you, ol' mate. I didn't realise you were on an early flight Sunday, or I would have said a proper "goodbye" on Thursday morning. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay with "Mum". See you again soon.

Deefski