Rhyd-y-creuau

Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we? I have spent the last five days on a Biology field trip to the wilds of Wales, and it’s been… well, it’s been an experience. We got there on Sunday evening, having driven through Liverpool, then Wirral, then mountains and valleys to get there. You always know you’re in Wales by the road signs. About five or so, we arrived at the Drapers’ Field Centre, a small, lowset building with acres of woodland and a stream in its grounds. It’s certified perfectly sustainable and eco-friendly – it actually generates more energy than it uses, or something like that. I thought it was rather pretty if wet a lot of the time.

I was there with all the people I do Biology with, which means none of them have really appeared here before. I was sharing a room with Sarah, and should have been sharing with Emma as well but wasn’t due to an unexpected incident that Emma will probably be bitter about until the end of time. Thus it transpired that Sarah and I were two people sharing a three-person room, which made us much the envy of everyone else.

Other characters were Jo (young, had sense of humour drier than mine, afraid that after four years as freshwater ecologist it was only a matter of time before she found a dead body) who was our ecology tutor and permanently attached to us for the duration of the trip, and of course Rice-Oxley, who’s probably been mentioned in these pages entirely too much. For those who missed it the first few million times, she is my Biology teacher, a small woman, mad as a hatter and obsessed with squirrels.

The place itself is more commonly known as Rhyd-y-creuau, up the valley from Betws-y-coed. I wrote a lot while I was there, because there was so much time and peace and quiet to do it in. I’ve never written so much in a paper journal before, and I do think it’s worth reproducing. Because I wrote it as it happened, it slips in and out of past tense.

Monday - croeso i Rhyd-y-creuau

( mud everywhere; walking through bogs; the undoubted day from hell )

Tuesday - a source of organic pollution

( just when it couldn’t get worse, wading through sewage )

Wednesday - Bio-amrywiaeth yng Nghonwhy

( ’Cause I’ve met a girl and no-one likes you… )

Thursday - Bio-amrywiaeth; cyfoeth bywyd ar y ddaer

( gravestones and lichens; lollipops as a leveller )

After I’d written all of that, Sarah came in. It was about five to eleven, Rice-Oxley’s usual time for coming round the rooms, and I asked idly where she was.

“It may be only a rumour,” she said, “but apparently she’s out on the town.”

I pictured it. “There’s a weird concept.”

And the conversation moved on as it generally does. We’d been talking about this and that for quite a while when there was a knock. I thought it would be Rice-Oxley, but no, it was Emma and Becky O, who more or less lived in our room more than they did in their own. It was about a quarter to twelve then. “Hi,” I said, and looked expectant, because Emma generally had gossip for us whenever she appeared.

“I just heard Mrs Rice-Oxley,” she said. “She went into Meg and Bev’s room, and then she went again, and I heard Meg say, ‘She was well pissed, her!’”

“Rice-Oxley?” I repeated, feeling slightly bemused.

Emma ignored me. “So, I said, ‘Georgina, are you awake?’, but she was asleep, so I pottered out into the corridor to see what you were doing.”

Becky disappeared after a moment, and Emma started telling us something else, when she broke off. We’d all heard Rice-Oxley’s voice in the corridor, and Emma looked panicked. She really did. She looked all around her, frantically searching for a place to hide in the tiny, tiny room, and I started giggling and couldn’t stop. Sarah was in no better shape, just about dying with laughter. Finally, Emma bounced up the bunk-bed ladder in about two seconds flat and scrunched under the duvet on the bed that should have been hers in the first place. “Do you think she’ll see me?”

“Only if she looks at you,” I hissed back, and then Rice-Oxley’s head appeared round the door.

“I think this room needs to quieten down,” she said severely, and then, “You’re making a lot of noise for two people.”

No-one moved or made a sound. Emma didn’t stir. I noticed I’d been lying in bed pretending to be asleep with my glasses still on.

“Should I turn the light off?”

“Yes, please,” said Sarah and I gratefully, and she did so, and left. The moment she’d gone, “Do you think she saw me?” overlapped with “She didn’t look very pissed,” and I gave up and collapsed laughing. She had to have seen Emma to have made that remark, but probably just let it go. That said, Emma insisted I reconnoitre and pretend to be going to the loo before she sneaked back to her room. I took a picture of her hiding on the bunk bed. I can’t wait to see all her pictures.

Friday morning, and we started back this morning at nine. Thus ends my trip to Wales, and Biology coursework. Overall, I’m not sorry I went, but I’m glad to be home.

I’ve been catching up slowly with everything I’ve missed – there’s a lot! – and haven’t really been able to get through all my friends’ entries, so if there’s anything I must know, please comment here and tell me. I already know I got crack_vanned for Love Is Not Love, so I’m rather happy about that.

And yes, happy to be home.