Take warm, dry clothes, a flask of tea and some sarnies. Maps, Camelback, tools etc - you'll know when you neen them - a lot of the advice here is for more advanced gliding.
There's no reason why you, as a beginner, should be handling lots of steel cable.
Too true - you can pull the cable by the parachute. And always handle it in such a way that if it accidentally departs down the field at 50 knots, you or your fingers won't be taken with it!