The annual Forestry Ball was an icon on the North Otago social calendar and it so happened that we had prepared for the 1975 function on the 2nd of August. It was a frantic day still cleaning up from the storm and helping folk who had no means of helping themselves, but we decided to go ahead with the Ball as a celebration that we had survived the storm.
There was one problem though. The water tank - a header tank really was outside on the roof and yep, you guessed it, it was blown away. So we jerry-rigged another tank, but it was not hooked up to the water system and I took on the task of keeping it filled with the Wajax tanker. I worked in the bar as well, so kept a good eye on the water needs - hand washing and dunny flushing.
As the night proceeded, and the drinking increased, so did the need for water. The tanker hold 200 gallons and I had to go away and fill it twice!
But you would think forestry people were only interested in the booze, but not so we could boogey with the best of them! Even to modern music!
Working in the bar, you see things that should not be repeated, so I won't but one guy went missing and was found, with half pie hypothermia in a ditch beside a gorse hedge - he had 'slipped'. A young lady slipped and fell on to a table of glasses and bottles and was drenched but wrung out her clothes in the toilet and carried on dancing - she said body heat would do the final drying.
There were stories of the storm - some of them very tall but worth listening to.
As usual there were sore heads in the morning and sore bones because dancing seems to use different muscles to that of forestry work.
I was first back at the hall to clean up the next morning and there was a good amount of food left over - as well as beer. The cleanup lasted well into the night and we were all pleased to use physical work as a detox.
There was one problem though. The water tank - a header tank really was outside on the roof and yep, you guessed it, it was blown away. So we jerry-rigged another tank, but it was not hooked up to the water system and I took on the task of keeping it filled with the Wajax tanker. I worked in the bar as well, so kept a good eye on the water needs - hand washing and dunny flushing.
As the night proceeded, and the drinking increased, so did the need for water. The tanker hold 200 gallons and I had to go away and fill it twice!
But you would think forestry people were only interested in the booze, but not so we could boogey with the best of them! Even to modern music!
Working in the bar, you see things that should not be repeated, so I won't but one guy went missing and was found, with half pie hypothermia in a ditch beside a gorse hedge - he had 'slipped'. A young lady slipped and fell on to a table of glasses and bottles and was drenched but wrung out her clothes in the toilet and carried on dancing - she said body heat would do the final drying.
There were stories of the storm - some of them very tall but worth listening to.
As usual there were sore heads in the morning and sore bones because dancing seems to use different muscles to that of forestry work.
I was first back at the hall to clean up the next morning and there was a good amount of food left over - as well as beer. The cleanup lasted well into the night and we were all pleased to use physical work as a detox.
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