Day 15 – 27th June 2007
Routine again.
Concrete breaking is simply monotonous and it was making everyone slightly unmotivated. Sam W was the hardest worker and there was no sign of him stopping! Good on him!
All throughout the day, everyone was plotting what to do for Phil’s birthday tomorrow. It was decided that we would be going to the Murchison Education Centre in the evening for the party. Burtie, a good friend of Phil’s, decided a banner, birthday hat, Happy Birthday spelt out in Bricks, pet rock, and a birthday song would be in order. We had to keep all of this quiet from Phil which is no mean feat!
The most memorable event of the day was the chicken murder. We had 2 chickens and it was decided to kill them for dinner tonight. The task of killing them was given to 2 schoolgirls. Not to leave them on their own, Helen K, myself and a couple of others went with to see how it went. 1 of the schoolgirls looked deeply uncomfortable and Helen asked the teacher if the schoolgirl volunteered or did he pick her out. He wasn’t clear in his answer and we were worried for her. If she didn’t want to do it and went off, she would have been punished and we would be powerless to stop. It looked like the girl had to do it. We watched the chicken killing take place – a machete through the neck while standing on one of their wings to hold them down. Never have I heard the phrase to be so true – ‘running like a headless chicken!’ The body of the 1st one was still moving for at least 15 mins and its head blinked for 30 secs.
Because Orla was a veggie and on cooking duty, she asked if I could do a swap and take her place. I said yes, and started plucking the chicken. I stayed on to help Issac with the cooking and then came the biggest laugh of the day! When Issac pulled down and spread the legs of the 2nd plucked chicken, a massive squawk came of the neck! Issac and I jumped a mile! The air still in the lungs hadn’t been expelled and the spreading of the legs forced the air out of the neck and through its vocal cords! Issac ran off scared and it took a few mins to convince him to come back and the chicken was really dead. He was really worried about approaching the chicken again so I had to gut and prepare that chicken while he did the other. After finishing cooking, we served up and the meal was absolutely delish! I smacked my lips and fingers even with the knowledge I was associated with the chicken murders.
This evening was brought to an end with a quiz in the failing light and then it was bed time for another concrete breaking day ahead!
