Hanging Around

Yesterday, I spoke of an experience that I would not want to repeat. Today I got a telephone call from the warden of the estate where this incident happened. His initial concern was that I could take legal action over this. However, I have better things to waste my time on. Once that barrier was out of the way, he wanted to know what actually happened. I told him and he asked if I could put this all in writing. This I did.

Well he called back latter and I discovered that the archaeological group had been told that they could not access that area. This was to protect the bats, and as they are legally protected any disturbance would be illegal. That it seems is why they were keen to have someone like me from outside of the group do this. But as I told the warden they all went down first. Thus their subterfuge failed.

It also explains why it took them so long to organise a rescue of the dangling mouse. The warden has climbing equipment and they could have called him. But had they done so they would have been caught doing something they should not have been doing. Well the warden has fully revoked their permissions to carry out their activities on the estate, so their foolishness has cost them.

It also turns out that their insurance would not have covered me or their activities anyway. The warden only discovered this from the centre manager of the climbing and activities centre where they borrowed the equipment from. He had called the warden and told him what had happened, otherwise the warden would not have known.

Anyway, while my injuries are just chaffing and bruising, it is rather inconvenient as well as uncomfortable. I am going to play couch potato for a few days. As long as it doesn't lead to me watching day time television I can live with that.

One possible benefit of all this though is the warden is going to talk to the owner of the estate. As while they have no shortage of people who take still pictures of the wildlife, they have been looking for someone to film some of the wildlife on the estate. So I may end up with some privileged access. Also as the warden knows the locations of many of the habitations of the wildlife, I would not have to waste time seeking them out. However, the owner of the estate is furious about what the archaeological group did. Thus I may be excluded by the owner because of my inadvertently helping the group. I will just have to wait and see on that one.

It is a good job that I am not involved with anyone at the moment. I did joke with the warden that the archaeological group could have been hired by my ex. But while I told him that I could make him laugh he could not do the same.

One last thing the footage that I shoot in the cave will prove very useful for the conservation of the bats that roost in the cave. So while I would wish it had happened differently, there are real benefits from my hanging around yesterday. Also I have learnt another lesson, apparently the harnesses are gender specific and the ones that were borrowed were designed for females, had I been wearing one for a male I would have been more comfortable. Well I have a better suggestion, not to do that again will be far better.

This was where I was going to end this posting but as I was checking the spelling the telephone rang, it was the owner of the estate. I recycled all my jokes, just as a good environmentalist should, and assured him that I was fine and no I wasn't going to sue him. He told me that he had seen my previous films on You Tube and liked some of them, and his agent/game keeper/warden had told him that I was not totally responsible for what had happened he wanted to see if he could offer me some help. Did I want to come and do some filming on the estate? I told him yes, but he attached conditions that I remove my previous posting. This I refused to do. It is after all factual and accurate and avoids naming names.

So it looks like I will not get the chance to film the wildlife there. The estate owner is obviously a man that is not used to not getting his own way. He even threatened me with an injunction to have the posting removed. When I pointed out that a few minutes ago he had been worried about me taking him to court, that would be a stupid action to take, he calmed down.

Its amazing that a few stupid men can cause so much trouble. Not just to me but everyone involved. What is most stupid is that had they not over egged the pudding and claimed greater skill than they had, its unlikely that I would have agreed to abseil down to the cave. Further, had I known the person who was acting as the safety person had only done abseiling a couple of times himself then I would have ensured that someone competent was watching the ropes. As it is I am safe, but getting increasingly annoyed by all the avoidance of responsibility.

Well personally I am just going to chalk this one up to experience. One to be avoided.