Coming home & having a BBQ in the rain.

Just got back from holidays in Stirling today. It was a fine wee break, doing general touristy stuff - like riding open-top tour buses and befriending the driver - and waving good-bye to my wages as I bought a whole new wardrobe (well, there abouts).
I was glad to return home in time for Red Cross tonight, because despite the dull weather and low lying cloud, we were promised a BBQ, which was going ahead whether it rained or not.
First of all though, we had to earn our burgers and cake by completing thee Big Scenario planned by the group a few weeks ago, and set up for us by one of our trainers.
My partner in crime (she'll know who she is by now - in fact, I'm just gonna start calling her that in all my blogs now...or I could call her Raffia - the fake name she used as a casualty, tee hee) another less-frequent member of our RC gang and myself volunteered to be the casualties, which resulted in the three of us sitting in our own wee patch of woodland, each with our own condition waiting to be treated, each getting wet because of the fine rain (the sort that soaks you right through) and each being molested by midges.
Finally, we heard the signal - three toots of a car horn - to alert us to the forthcoming first aiders who would come and help us in our time of need.
I'm not sure what happened with the other two casualties, but I do know that my scenario was quite entertaining. I was supposed to be suffering fae Hypothermia, but it was hard to imagine at the time cos I was wearing a thermal fleece, had a blanket wrapped around me, and a hi-vis jacket across my knees to keep them dry. The hair could go frizzy - I didn't care anymore.
Things literally heated up even more so when folk came with the necessary equipment and used them successfully. Of course, this is a good thing, but by the time we had spent a good five minutes stuck inside a wee tent/shelter thing, and myself wrapped up in not only my original blanket, but a silver sheet, another blanket, and a body bag-type-thing with another first aider hugging me to keep me warm, I was starting to feel like a cross between a boil-in-the-bag, and a roasted, casualty. It had to be done - for accurate practice - but by the time I was freed from the tent and various other bits and bobs designed to raise the core temperature of an actually frozen casualty, I was glad to feel the rain and cold air on my face again.
In the end though, everyone generally did really well. I know that "Raffia" (lol) was injured more often than treated in one circumstance, but it can't be helped; everyone did well in the end anyway, and it all adds up to experience.
Following the scenarios came the BBQ, at first in the drizzle, then the pouring rain, and finally in the dry dark of 9 at night. It was a good BBQ, with a lot of laughs, a lot of water, and a contact lense catastrophe (that hurt a bit). I'm gonna have to get "Raffia" back at some point - she started a round of Happy Birthday for me, cos she missed the opportunity a couple of weeks ago, when it actually had been my birthday. I know she'll be reading this at some point, so just to let her know, I'll get her when she least expects it...ha ha ha...
Anyhoo, all in all the night was great fun. It's the best RC banter we've had on a Tuesday night in a while me thinks. There were a lot of laughs, but the best bit had to be when one of our trainers (I'm dying to mention his name, but I won't) came running in to the office proclaiming that the new guy who's probably going to join our team next week is hot, and told us 'ladies' to calm down. I don't think it was us who needed the calming down, not next to our trainer!!
It's nights like these that make me glad to be in the RC. Ok, so there's never a moment when I think, "God, I wish I had never joined," and there never will be I don't think, despite what ever negative things have cropped up in the past. But it's just...especially nights like these when I'm thankful for joining. As time goes on, the people in our wee (well, big) Elgin gang feel more and more like a second family. I love it when a night is a good banter, and everyone just gets on hunky-dorey, cos it's those nights when the gang really does feel like a team.
I'd say tonight was definately one of those nights.