The last blog touted that for members the N.Z.M.C.A. camps provide private, cheap and secure parking spaces. I also suggest these camps are a bit of a haven from other types of camps. NZCMAers do not have to worry about cleaning staff blocking amenities with yellow signs or tripping on tent pegs or listening to fractious conversation between children and mothers. In the N.Z.M.C.A. camps there aren’t toilets, tents or children. True it would be nice to have toilets and someone, even a child, to open the gate but the fenced piece of grass is to be valued.
The registration hut is another valuable thing. The code always works to open the door and there are always books inside. I like to borrow a book at times and also leave a book. It is a good system.
I recently read ‘Mill on the Floss’ by George Eliott found in one of these registration huts. It was an old story about the workings of the mill on the Floss river. It was written by George Elliot (actually Mary Ann Evans writing under an assumed name). The story ( a semi-biography) highlighted the past and the gap between male and female expectations. Both main female and male characters drowned at the end of the story, which dramatically and neatly eliminated the gap between the sexes. Neither had the advantage over the other in the end.
It reminded me that for harmonious travelling no single crew member should have the advantage over the other. Each member of the ship needs to understand where the other is coming from.
I mean if one member jumps out to open the gate then the other should park so the gate can open. Also if one member is backing the caravan the other should not obstruct the view, and if one member wants to empty the waste water the other one should have finished in the bathroom.
Small things but ones that keep ‘The Mill on the Floss’, arka caravan life, working smoothly. Hurrah!