That letter from the bank (about the old
reptile club's accounts that arrived yesterday) had me spending spent much
of last night's night shift thinking about the old reptile club. I can remember
the club's first meeting at The Plough in Brabourne some time in the mid 1990s
(it must have been about then - according to my old snake-herding website I gave my first talk
on snakes in 1997).
It was rumoured that the landlord there kept snakes; particularly a huge
python. Everyone knew the rumours of this snake but no one ever actually saw
it.
At that first club
meeting I got talking with the chap who'd arranged it, and I offered to produce
a newsletter for the club (I was keen on my Serif desktop publishing package
back then). I can distinctly remember just after making that offer being
told by a friend "you can't just be a member, can you?"
I soon became very much
wrapped up with that club. Initially there was a minor battle between the two
local reptile shops as to which one would hold sway... I say "battle";
the shop which tried to call the shots soon went bust.
The chap who started
the club very soon disappeared (never to be seen again), but the club
grew without him. The chap who became chairman of the club became a good friend
of mine. It turned out that his wife knew me from my religious days in Hastings
in the early 1980s. The club moved to The Fox in Willesborough, and then on to
The Albion. We had speakers and quizzes. Guest experts would come along; we
once had a vet who said he loved reptile keepers as they always knew what was
up with their animals and all he ever had to do was sell the medicine. The club
would put on displays for local schools and clubs. We had a great time.
Sadly after three or
four years it all fell apart. Looking back it is probably fair to say the club
over-reached itself. There was talk about setting up an animal sanctuary as a
registered charity, and people who had been firm friends suddenly felt they
were competing for jobs in a business which was never going to exist.
By then I'd become
treasurer of the club (I seem to become treasurer of clubs) and a rather
aggressive woman from Stanhope (I think she might have been an
"Audrey") was also on the committee and was watching me like a
hawk. She insisted that she counted all money collected at club events before
it was ever handed to me, and she was regularly demanding to look at the bank
statements. She was absolutely convinced that every month I was giving thirty
quid of the club money to some other committee member (who I can vaguely
remember being called Adrian and who was a cub scout leader in Bethersden).
She was particularly angry about the matter because I was supposedly managing
to hide this thirty quid so well it never appeared in any of the accounts. To
shut her up we had the accounts professionally audited, but that just wound her
up more.
Personally I suspected
she just wanted some of the cash for herself, and thought if she made enough
fuss I might hand some over.
Eventually the club
stopped being fun. Having some harridan constantly publicly accusing you of
embezzlement does that. I walked away from the club which then folded a couple
of months later.
Sadly clubs seem to do
that. The Kent-wide Trekkie club got rather nasty (I was accused of fiddling
the money there as well!). The attempts to form a UK-wide kite club got
very bitter. Astro club used to be fun. In my blacker moments I wonder how long
Dog Club has got left...
Talking of which, once the early shift arrived this morning I set
off to Dog Club. The initial plan was to drive home, collect everyone, and then
drive them round to Dog Club. But some genius at Kent County Council had put
two sets of temporary traffic lights between home and Dog Club. So having
looked at my journey on Google Maps I was faced with a decision. Either arrive
at Dog Club on my own fifteen minutes early and let “er indoors TM”
fetch
“Darcie
Waa Waa TM” and the dogs, or go home and collect everyone and
arrive fifteen minutes late. Bearing in mind there is only one key to the
paddock and that key was in my pocket I thought it best not to keep anyone
waiting.
Dog Club went very well. I spent a few minutes
bunging up the holes in the fence before people arrived, and we had a great
session. A few people wondered if their dogs should graduate up to the “middle
dogs” group that follows ours, so we stayed with them rather later than we
usually do.
It was good to do the
dog thing (even if Max did tiddle up my wellies) but we missed the
Mystery Year contest on the radio.
We came home; “Darcie Waa Waa TM” sang along with
all sorts of nonsense on You-Tube. Rather than going to bed I sat on the sofa
to be with her… and fell asleep there instead.
After far too many Dave
And Ava Songs “er indoors TM” took “Darcie
Waa Waa TM” home. I had a very late shave, dishwashered and
generally got ready for the evening.
Chris soon arrived with
the Infinity Table, and once it was set up, Steve and Sarah arrived; followed
by Martin and Tony. We had a rather good evening playing “Ticket To Ride”;
I managed to win a game (heaven only knows how!)
It’s a shame that there
is a limit as to how many people can play the game. Next time we’ll set up another
table with something else going on.
Usually the day after a night shift is a tad
dull. Today was rather good…
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