Narbonne Plage, Languadoc 2000, The Demontage we had all been looking forward to!
After the beauty of the Alps, the worlds most expensive beer (Geneva) and the riotous partying that had been Les Arcs and Vias came "The Site". Months earlier there had been an outbreak of Legionaires disease and the campsite had been evacuated in a hurry and left to fester. We were so looking forward to it.
Fridges and larders were full of food rotting as the electricity had been turned off. It could not have looked or smelled worse and we could not wait to get out of there. It brought about one of the most co-ordinated hard grafting sessions of my life. We were working in lunch breaks, packing tents in the dark and laying off the nighlife.... a bit.
You never can be sure with these things and despite assurances it was safe.... well, why abandoned it in such a fashion? It looked like the marie celeste of the camping world, stuff just left about, lifeboats still there etc. This was one of the eeriest weeks of my life and I am sure we all worked so hard so as to push the fear of such a disease to the backs of our minds.
Great job done by all and we really were a team now..... well almost!
In a grim fortnight or so, the only light moment came when one of the white van men, Micky D arrived back on site eating a pie. Just the one, the tight git didn't bring a bag full or anything like that. He was now the pieman and had taken on hero status, a pie in off season france.
I remember being part of the van driving team later that season and Micky D's van could always be identified by the pastoral sounds of the Macc Ladds blaring from it. Happy days indeed Mick and Trudie
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