As indicated by the title, the past week has not gone as planned, ever since I incurred the wrath of a nearby tree. My tragic tale began last Monday, as I was joining the dive team on a beach clean. On our walk back, I spotted a glass beer bottle left next to a tree, emptied its remaining contents, and bagged it with the rest of the litter. No sooner had I done this, than I looked back at the tree, and noticed the tell-tale red and white cloths on its boughs that denoted this tree as a sacred shrine, and the beer I had just discarded as an offering.
It is at this point, dear reader, that I wish I had understood the seriousness of my situation. For a mere two hours later, as I was walking up the beach after my final Open Water training dive, my legs gave way beneath me. The tree had wreaked its terrible revenge. Fortunately, a hospital visit revealed no broken bones, but my sprained ankle would preclude me from diving for a further two weeks.
It was not all bad news, at least. As I arrived back at camp on Tuesday, my left foot twice the size of my right, I began to think about how I might make the most of my confinement ashore. The pet-project I settled on was the camp eco-bricks programme. For the unfamiliar, an ‘eco-brick’ is typically made by filling a PET drinks bottle with other compacted plastic debris, and is used as a building material, often for garden furniture. However, these eco-bricks carry several limitations, most importantly: poor mechanical strength, poor packing (due to their shape), and poor adhesion to concrete, making them difficult to use for structural purposes. My proposed improvement involves the use of PET debris as a concrete aggregate, creating stackable bricks which are around 50% plastic. Thankfully, the other volunteers have all been very supportive, and with a group effort we have produced ten prototype bricks, which are currently drying!
All that’s left to do tomorrow is to venture back to the sacred tree and leave anther beer by way of recompense; with the tree’s forgiveness, hopefully my ankle will heal swiftly and my bricks will turn out strong and true. Wish me luck!