tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72384685037954794262024-03-05T22:33:22.635+00:00Diary of a Scout Leader... following the scouting adventures of one leaderStewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-81764702613639215342012-04-04T16:52:00.001+01:002012-04-04T16:52:59.324+01:00All the best things are inflatable<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some things are just better for being inflatable...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(before any of you dirty minded people go there... no I am not talking about dolls!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like castles...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="300" src="http://aaainflatables.co.uk/images/pink_turreted/pink_turret1.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... or beds...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="366" src="http://www.airbedking.com/imageb.php?x=300&y=275&image=66705E.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... or even a Church...</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="281" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00642/Inflatable-Church_6_642177a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This church blows... (up)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What has this got to do with scouts I hear you ask, well, I arrived at the hall on Monday to see this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFKJs5DbcB_1o4bHX723daY2l452bkXQQw_0aphrYq7SgJA0ZcgS9TrcSJVJBAR_Wum1YGrKc0tyRHCy3we7InDNlwZL9UEuIu9qhteaHYCfHhVuaE1_e2OBLec8nRzTe_26cwK22HHs/s1600/inflatable+planetarium3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFKJs5DbcB_1o4bHX723daY2l452bkXQQw_0aphrYq7SgJA0ZcgS9TrcSJVJBAR_Wum1YGrKc0tyRHCy3we7InDNlwZL9UEuIu9qhteaHYCfHhVuaE1_e2OBLec8nRzTe_26cwK22HHs/s400/inflatable+planetarium3.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what the bejabbers is that I hear you cry?! <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(you're just full of questions today arn't you)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the explorers asked to do some star gazing while we were program planning with them. Unfortunately, being in the UK, the weather doesn't generally help with the whole scheduling to go out and look at the stars thing. Actually, the weather in the UK has generally been messed up of late (late week the temperatures were about the 20C mark, this week we have snow... go figure). So instead of taking the kids out of the hall to see the stars, we brought the stars into the hall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right, it's an INFLATABLE PLANETARIUM!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dC9Tc7bEtym-DIVFs2nC4aJNq6RjzUo8uFqTBYbhGkU4RDEcIKdjziLLolPm8FqP8bCkCQaivbJ1_2QW2N2sAEas3mKRwoABNXS0IthAAOuzTU3xE_ZQSUsPchenJjVgnIHhJR6XKwQ/s1600/inflatable+planetarium2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dC9Tc7bEtym-DIVFs2nC4aJNq6RjzUo8uFqTBYbhGkU4RDEcIKdjziLLolPm8FqP8bCkCQaivbJ1_2QW2N2sAEas3mKRwoABNXS0IthAAOuzTU3xE_ZQSUsPchenJjVgnIHhJR6XKwQ/s400/inflatable+planetarium2.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How cool is that!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-hwkvOl1G9cbvCBEM34DcnTKON-Q1hrSnJ-MWpOsHqBU-trYY3poX7-Ok3577wyax0z93kbLqwSIItfCI3rUDht0LEwNe8QRidvbfHzxnXN4zN4-2wi59S5J-YByTGOjo-dMQc_GMgQ/s1600/inflatable+planetarium1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-hwkvOl1G9cbvCBEM34DcnTKON-Q1hrSnJ-MWpOsHqBU-trYY3poX7-Ok3577wyax0z93kbLqwSIItfCI3rUDht0LEwNe8QRidvbfHzxnXN4zN4-2wi59S5J-YByTGOjo-dMQc_GMgQ/s400/inflatable+planetarium1.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once everyone had entered through the tunnel, we had a short slide show about the universe. Apparantly there are an extra 4 planets that I didn't even know about, it wasn't that I had forgotten their names... I had never actually heard of them!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDmb5aKapM0a9PeuHKr_8-8oH3kuokxcS_yRkFtPu90LDDq_J-0Z7Vkd4QTZfKDmzc7SOZvmBANiGb02DmFJ8-55pNDadZx_-xAn9xwuewFQ4Np-tDh14HSEPW1COtKe-uP0px2HsRE4/s1600/Planets.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="222" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDmb5aKapM0a9PeuHKr_8-8oH3kuokxcS_yRkFtPu90LDDq_J-0Z7Vkd4QTZfKDmzc7SOZvmBANiGb02DmFJ8-55pNDadZx_-xAn9xwuewFQ4Np-tDh14HSEPW1COtKe-uP0px2HsRE4/s400/Planets.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had you heard of Ceres, Haumea, Makemake and Eris?!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll excuse you while you take that in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ready to carry on? Good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After my tiny little mind had popped in the presentation, we moved onto a tour round the stars in the planetarium. The whole of the inside of it was dotted with the stars (and the planets, which were set up as that there were actually outside) and we got to watch as they spun round through a 24hour cycle. It was beautiful, and I wish I would have been able to take a photo or a film without my phone lighting up and screwing with everyones vision.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To make it up to you for not having a video of that... here's a little song that I pops into my head whenever I think about the universe:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f_J5rBxeTIk" width="420"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note: Obviously a number of the pictures (and the film) don't belong to me</span>... <span style="font-size: xx-small;">please don't sue me</span></span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-44063977339583595262012-03-29T16:36:00.000+01:002012-03-29T16:36:10.814+01:00THIRTY!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Before you say anything, no I have NOT just turned thirty... I have years between now and becoming old</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest change that I have found in moving to the explorers has to be the number of them.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the past couple of years, while I was with the 9th Lincoln, I was dealing with about 9 kids... the explorer unit has 30. Thirty, three zero, that's a lot of bodies. And it's taking a while to get used to handling that many. I'm seriously having to think more about exactly how everything will run just because of the increase in people.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jwLepWZySz4/Tmg7tBg608I/AAAAAAAAHE4/GP7Zh1Ry64c/s1600/zone30.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jwLepWZySz4/Tmg7tBg608I/AAAAAAAAHE4/GP7Zh1Ry64c/s320/zone30.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly having 30 explorers also means that I have about 30 names to learn, and about 30odd nicknames to boot. Unfortunately I am not one of those people that can just pick up names really easily. Give me at least a year and I may just be able to remember that your name starts with a J... Jim, <span style="font-size: x-small;">James</span>, <span style="font-size: xx-small;">John?</span>... oh sorry Brian!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regardless of the size <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(THIRTY!)</span>, any new group of scouts will react differently to the same activities. Which has been my next biggest change. I've had to learn how <em>this</em> set of 30 teenagers will react to activities. How would they be with Global issues? Crafts? What sort of games do they like? So, how better to find out than to try some different activities with them.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've had a variety of different activities over the past couple of months. Everything from disability awareness nights, to market nights (which I have covered on here in the past) to egg drops, cake decorating and even a pub quiz.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="400" src="http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/101700.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="312" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They had to ID different muppets in the Pub Quiz picture round... this one is apparently me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... try not to laugh too hard</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These, I will admit, had varying degrees of success... the disability night, for example, was a nightmare (but a valuable reminder on practicalities of running activities for 30). So, I'm not going to go into that really, there were plenty of other nights that were a success that I can talk about instead.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had some interesting methods employed with the egg drop challenge.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPZipBgGUwFRVGM1yWPrN7yI50wPcJVd3clFhc9LnpUicVWlUuvWli_9JpP4OiQE9_Z8bhtg1KBLxw6-xC2L9OmhVhok2MD_vsg-af4xYNJ14Dc2C8ISoJ0YLSz9ByztQWB6X0uIRn1g/s1600/egg+drop1JPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPZipBgGUwFRVGM1yWPrN7yI50wPcJVd3clFhc9LnpUicVWlUuvWli_9JpP4OiQE9_Z8bhtg1KBLxw6-xC2L9OmhVhok2MD_vsg-af4xYNJ14Dc2C8ISoJ0YLSz9ByztQWB6X0uIRn1g/s400/egg+drop1JPG.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had crumple zones, and parachutes and shear dumb luck in abundance.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbtmi6VlISN7fAdWFV2btu5-_XqmIW8slAV81jt0uVDVQeMTLnkvOFme3Cul-VAwr46FJk_kcncignvLUYc9uqHyge6uo8EP9w8-hDJ-lOOdC3kvlO1Ge7X81VtL_xRMIm4UGA1a0nNU/s1600/egg+drop2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbtmi6VlISN7fAdWFV2btu5-_XqmIW8slAV81jt0uVDVQeMTLnkvOFme3Cul-VAwr46FJk_kcncignvLUYc9uqHyge6uo8EP9w8-hDJ-lOOdC3kvlO1Ge7X81VtL_xRMIm4UGA1a0nNU/s400/egg+drop2.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drop zone... I was stationed under the stairs, like a egg craving troll</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cake night was, for obvious reasons, one of my favourites. But boy did it require a lot of prep! They all got 2 cupcakes to decorate each, we also did a team challenge where they had half an hour to decorate a 6inch cake, the winning team got to take home all of the 6inch cakes. Which, when you factor in that it is for 30people, makes for a LOT of cake. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">60 cupcakes and 6 6inch cakes to be exact, and all home made (by me) to try and keep the costs down. We also got them making <a href="http://www.recipesfromanormalmum.com/2011/12/01/hot-chocolate-on-a-stick/" target="_blank">hot chocolate spoons</a> and <a href="http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breakfastbrunch/funnel-cakes-2/" target="_blank">funnel cakes</a>... mmm funnel cakes *drool*....</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">ahem, excuse me</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Don't know what came over me there.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyway, here's some of pictures that I managed to grab between being coated in icing sugar!</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrLiGctFn7byNJVDNQIit7GAukI_37gkWhmCp5N08jOwZpesZM73uAheprBCnVsTfo29ew-jls-hlOCe2RM0x2wvjhnguFJL6Y_wIZ48-uIydJnGvDP4MJbEl3ABS5YGBKzy5fSOeP0g/s1600/Cake1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrLiGctFn7byNJVDNQIit7GAukI_37gkWhmCp5N08jOwZpesZM73uAheprBCnVsTfo29ew-jls-hlOCe2RM0x2wvjhnguFJL6Y_wIZ48-uIydJnGvDP4MJbEl3ABS5YGBKzy5fSOeP0g/s400/Cake1.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Guns n Roses 6inch cake... All the team cakes had to be covered in fondant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ukNJthXl1jS9H0CihFRLRSrBW_3RglCdBJQCPXE5y5LI4oOCihOt_wulnbkkE2hRO_X_RQeEx-xRAA_rKHkN9BbMLw108_0l6oG5-lUn49LJHae4KW5qtTjR8yVqow74pRi6P3dky-U/s1600/Cake2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ukNJthXl1jS9H0CihFRLRSrBW_3RglCdBJQCPXE5y5LI4oOCihOt_wulnbkkE2hRO_X_RQeEx-xRAA_rKHkN9BbMLw108_0l6oG5-lUn49LJHae4KW5qtTjR8yVqow74pRi6P3dky-U/s400/Cake2.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team working on the Field of Sheep/Pandas</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoIhlzm9BmhSzXOwiSqVOapPTzTdo0sJhAi1YjPCnFYw8IzqWL5DOnzeSb5Cp2ZhK7hWTX8RmD5zA9j3DRNwIbwSfJgvzriYVJwDMxSKXPDHQZhueF6mZN9mIVFyNUVBWvBcR1EYASOE/s1600/Cake3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoIhlzm9BmhSzXOwiSqVOapPTzTdo0sJhAi1YjPCnFYw8IzqWL5DOnzeSb5Cp2ZhK7hWTX8RmD5zA9j3DRNwIbwSfJgvzriYVJwDMxSKXPDHQZhueF6mZN9mIVFyNUVBWvBcR1EYASOE/s400/Cake3.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A yellow mothers day cake</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii29f-_HdAS8iWptsiALr66Js22tBAxiGw2fCTPpJl1OlLUluEG-yo3sCuF-LX2knOTU-ntca5mFWeBYGbX0qnhtn5tGTnAaJE8EnK9xZJSL4V9Sna_DgFqcbF58F4o9RfAkD_GNgknOg/s1600/cake4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii29f-_HdAS8iWptsiALr66Js22tBAxiGw2fCTPpJl1OlLUluEG-yo3sCuF-LX2knOTU-ntca5mFWeBYGbX0qnhtn5tGTnAaJE8EnK9xZJSL4V9Sna_DgFqcbF58F4o9RfAkD_GNgknOg/s400/cake4.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This team tried to curry favour by making a scotland cake... they didn't realise that the other leaders were being independant judges</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiue2Ksx4IZ78IodWH-pCbTOtf0lVy6ezBSi-JQcOD8ShCP9A8Qn01SPQM2M4us9XWnMQ20c22fjpuPrRqPuQIsVKUhINYtPJfunzux3K6fSIDRRyY28DJt1Tk4QkPmgKimAJjlrJGB4Uc/s1600/cake5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiue2Ksx4IZ78IodWH-pCbTOtf0lVy6ezBSi-JQcOD8ShCP9A8Qn01SPQM2M4us9XWnMQ20c22fjpuPrRqPuQIsVKUhINYtPJfunzux3K6fSIDRRyY28DJt1Tk4QkPmgKimAJjlrJGB4Uc/s400/cake5.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the cupcakes</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-prqsd1fHnPXsglTkvJ47mzX0eGVik57cQ1XL6e5h304W6XR3t5-qM9hUy0TOlFC8B63LA6GIrevMj11OWkw-FEpYnD5RKmBIpFUPn2YckVJP_rAHATpisu9U6rT1sJKDCXImYUQNU-s/s1600/cake6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-prqsd1fHnPXsglTkvJ47mzX0eGVik57cQ1XL6e5h304W6XR3t5-qM9hUy0TOlFC8B63LA6GIrevMj11OWkw-FEpYnD5RKmBIpFUPn2YckVJP_rAHATpisu9U6rT1sJKDCXImYUQNU-s/s400/cake6.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuVtiuIcIzHhfY3spzVGMdzDbIPlh8Agaok0rl2s5fQzuXjvMfdwlCzX6ndE-Hz2cxzVSGU_QyYc890nNirK5zadBoW97IWYJ23XzUytrXY8kcqcth4YQtlZ0NrGOQ4XAr2r-r66GJ64/s1600/cake7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuVtiuIcIzHhfY3spzVGMdzDbIPlh8Agaok0rl2s5fQzuXjvMfdwlCzX6ndE-Hz2cxzVSGU_QyYc890nNirK5zadBoW97IWYJ23XzUytrXY8kcqcth4YQtlZ0NrGOQ4XAr2r-r66GJ64/s400/cake7.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final cakes, the green one won the challenge</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Not that all the nights are messy. This week we had a Skills Night. Each of them had to teach a skill to everyone else.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">All I'll say is that the demonstration on how to mow the lawn using another explorer as the lawnmower was PRICELESS!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;">Obviously, muppets etc don't belong to me... please down sue me!</span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-44829775280761762492012-01-21T22:39:00.000+00:002012-01-21T22:39:31.065+00:00My money is on Noddy<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New year... new house... new scouting role</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nothing like jumping in at the deep end!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409762776357398434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQ0G8fsoUkWuhNNgEVmcZKAecDmIaIEiiwLuxQg-qv8aMBsQfWwCRW8ut1yu6-xFbE4pSBoq_p_slLyVzGAFwClXygKqpltZoQP94OKOolpztkrPV4YDv5PnJqfTgDvSPuk_UwOA_65k/s400/bulldog.jpg" style="display: block; height: 400px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry while I compose myself, I find that picture hilarious</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*bites fist*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... sorry, I got to look at that picture again....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right, what was I talking about... ah yes, me starting explorers. And what a way to start, before I had even been down to a normal meeting night I was away camping with them at Gilwell Winter Camp. I've been to Gilwell a couple of times now, but this was the first time I was at Winter Camp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weekend wasn't exactly wintery, but it was a grand opportunity to get to know some of the explorers. Like how they had a competition to see who could pull using the line "Do you like apples?"</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="218" id="il_fi" src="http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/aniyer/WindowsLiveWriter/Doyoulikeapples_14278/Matt_Damon_Good_Will_Hunting_Apples_3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="364" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who would have thought that they would be Good Will Hunting fans?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And being mildly disturbed when one of them actually succeeded!</span><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or how one of them had a random dream, an extremely random dream, it was about a fight to the death between the Hulk and Noddy... he subsequently ended up with the nick-name of Noddy.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1013/294071-noddy_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" id="il_fi" src="http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1013/294071-noddy_large.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="255" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, my money is on Noddy</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winter camp also gave me the opportunity to catch up with some mates from previous events. In some cases instead of 'catch up' read 'bother'... as in the potter puppet pals.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lXTBtvZTZdQ" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I literally bothered one of them like this. The other I joined on the leaders pub quiz and we came joint 7th out of 39. I think I know who got off lightly.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The day after the camp I got to actually start explorers officially, with my first meeting at the hall. It wasn't much to write about as it was program planning... so I'll skip a week, to when we did the life auction.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did it a <a href="http://diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/2009/09/going-going-gone.html" target="_blank">while back</a> with the scouts, but as there are more explorers I added some more lots to the auction: like a house of your dreams, being a trend setter and travelling. The explorers seamed to really get into it and there was even some fights for some items.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, a good start I think!</span></div></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-65980493366988993262012-01-18T12:23:00.002+00:002012-01-19T10:17:03.631+00:00Blackout<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*SIRENS*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's time for a blackout people!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="260" src="http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/images/2009-01/blackout-curtains.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You shut those curtains Margerie</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, maybe not the type of blackout where you have to paint your cow...</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/images/2005/03/01/hu36167_blackout_bull_450x350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/images/2005/03/01/hu36167_blackout_bull_450x350.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nice brush strokes... but no, not this type of black out Debra</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm talking about the internet blackout.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right I am (kinda) joining the internet blackout for the protest against SOPA/PIPA... if I knew how to actually black out my website then I would for the 24hours. But seeing that I lack that knowledge you're going to have to put up with a post by my good self.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="290" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/3121978540_7f1d642792.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mayeb I should invest in one of these...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wikipedia handily has some information about the whole thing if you want to learn more about it... right </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're in America then PLEASE contact your Congressman to let them know that you are against SOPA/PIPA. With the number of pictures that I borrow for punchlines and jokes I would be shut down... even though I don't make any money from this site! If you are not from the US, like myself, then try contacting your Ambassador in the US... they are there to represent you after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So concider this site blacked out, and close your eyes or something!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UPDATE: Here's where you can add your name to the petition:</span><br />
<br />
<iframe border="0" height="625" src="http://americancensorship.org/callwidget" width="588"></iframe><br />
<br />
ANOTHER UPDATE: The blackout is now over... you can have your links and buttons and other useful stuff back now!Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-79479678206935344132012-01-11T18:59:00.000+00:002012-01-11T18:59:29.972+00:00Times they are a changing<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well... just about everything has changed over the past month. I think if any more was to change then I could seriously rival this guy</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DbVxyurHFhI" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And no comments about me being two faced.... okay?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest change has to be that I have FINALLY moved house!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HUZZAH- *villagers rejoicing*</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what is more I actually now have internet in said house. I have got an app for blog posting from my phone, but I hate using it as it isn't really user friendly, especially for adding photos/videos etc.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I was moving I was also finished up with the scout section. We had finally managed to get a hold of the Lincoln Mountain Activity Team to run a session for us at a climbing wall. The sprogs absolutely loved it, some of them were up there like a shot, as spry as monkeys they were... and about as loud</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... <strong>SCOTLAND LOOK AT ME!!!</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Yes that's nice, now get out of the way of that other line</em>...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... <strong>I'M AT THE TOP!!!</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>I can see that, now be careful when you set off as you'll swing into that overhang</em>...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... <strong>*THUD*</strong> ...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... *<em>sigh</em>*</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got to have a couple of goes myself, just to remind myself how long it has been since I climbed, and they had this automatic belay device which frankly scared the bejabbers out of me. Normally you have a person at the other end of the rope that would control your decent should you fall, decide you can't go further or even reach the top. Which is comforting cause they can talk away to you and they support you the entire time. This thing doesn't kick in until you reach a certain falling speed... and it's useless at conversation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But generally a night that ends with the sprogs asking if they can do that activity again is always a winner.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My last week with the scouts was another Cinema night, like </span><a href="http://www.diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/2010/12/cancellation-station.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">last year</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. We got a projector and screen and a choice of DVDs and they got to pick a film to watch... and periodically someone would pry the pringles away from my hands to pass them round the sprogs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They have a good taste in films those sprogs, we watched How To Train Your Dragon... but this was partly because Jo (one of the leaders) vetoed <i>all</i> the Muppet movies. Apparently they scare her for some bizzare unknown reason. I mean seriously, how can you be scared of the muppets?!</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="306" src="http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/4/44/Rizzo1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rizzo is, of course, my favourite.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, if it was something like Mimic with mutant cockroaches start attacking people just for the fun of it then I could <em>totally</em> understand <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(ok, I'll admit that I only got about 5minutes into that film before giving up)</span>, but this is the Muppets! Well, I suppose that we'll accept all sorts to be scout leaders.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But Muppet-haters is getting close to the line...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that was my last night with the 9th Lincoln Scouts!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*sniff*</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I've had a brilliant time with the sprogs of the 9th Lincoln Scouts. They are a fantastic set of kids and I wish that I could take them with me... and I've told them all that I expect to see them at future explorer events.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was going to put in about me starting with Dodgers Explorers, but quite a lot happened and this post is already rather long so I am going to be kind at cover that later.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And given that I didn't put up a festive message, please accept this little video (except if you're weird like Jo... )</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ysIzPF3BfpQ" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... Don't say I'm not good to you!</span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-90727782591999206232011-12-02T12:45:00.000+00:002011-12-02T12:45:55.972+00:00Golden moments<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my scouts has managed to gain her Chief Scout Gold Award!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*does a little dance*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you outside of the UK, or just outside of scouting. The award is the highest award that a member of the scout section can get. Out of the 9 possible challenge badges available in the scout section, they have to complete 8 of them. And those challenge badges ain't exactly easy... they take months to complete.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I will happily admit that I am rather proud at the moment.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lincoln District held an award ceremony at RAF Waddington this week for all those that gained the award, and I got to tag along as her leader. We had a tour and got to see some parts of the base that aren't open to the public before the Station Commander presented the awards.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5y6Wq3wwNmbBR3uZ_KN7lWCOXGa0eENniaxF3KBI_q5CHc82nxL8SKPgh4tZ5nrzrlRyIpvz1xLe2aj5jl-H_k2w98lAxI2fJUpuw8bJAzewfdqoL9_URA40vip-lKf40RSLOLl4CzM/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5y6Wq3wwNmbBR3uZ_KN7lWCOXGa0eENniaxF3KBI_q5CHc82nxL8SKPgh4tZ5nrzrlRyIpvz1xLe2aj5jl-H_k2w98lAxI2fJUpuw8bJAzewfdqoL9_URA40vip-lKf40RSLOLl4CzM/s400/photo+1.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately the spot lighting kinda caused a bit of a glare on the award itself! Hopefully the professional photos that they took turned out better than my iphone ones.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgueyuxJ1VYIdWn6IOjDWLlVrGq7Zv_0UuHRPy4qryTqimLxUyazgWf5MyBj2kB84z-7qttnJMKUMbdF01TlaQXmFNPrW78Ebg2yjnCUwQZ4s0gRmx9bz_1Hrb8TDD0cYWMCK5AwW5C738/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgueyuxJ1VYIdWn6IOjDWLlVrGq7Zv_0UuHRPy4qryTqimLxUyazgWf5MyBj2kB84z-7qttnJMKUMbdF01TlaQXmFNPrW78Ebg2yjnCUwQZ4s0gRmx9bz_1Hrb8TDD0cYWMCK5AwW5C738/s400/photo+2.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did collar her before leaving the hall tho to get another photo.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Congratulations Jess!</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Note: before any of you say anything about my 'no photos of the sprogs' rule... I asked for specific permission from her and her parents if it would be ok to post a photo here to mark the occasion.</em></span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-24757794948988940722011-11-30T11:43:00.000+00:002011-11-30T11:43:36.619+00:00Apparently I'm now an elfOne of the explorers in the Jamboree Unit just posted this on the groups facebook page and I just had to share it with you...<br />
<br />
<div style="-moz-border-radius: 10px; background-color: #e9e9e9; border-radius: 10px; width: 567px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><object data="http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?external_make_id=ZF2o9bKjORo6cLKw&service=sendables.jibjab.com&partnerID=holidays" height="319" id="A64060" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="567" wmode="transparent"><param name='wmode' value='transparent'></param><param name='movie' value='http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?external_make_id=ZF2o9bKjORo6cLKw&service=sendables.jibjab.com&partnerID=holidays'></param><param name='scaleMode' value='showAll'></param><param name='quality' value='high'></param><param name='allowNetworking' value='all'></param><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true' /><param name='FlashVars' value='cornerRadius=10&external_make_id=ZF2o9bKjORo6cLKw&service=sendables.jibjab.com&partnerID=holidays'></param><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='always'></param></object></div><div style="margin-top: 6px; text-align: center;">Personalize funny videos and birthday <a href="http://sendables.jibjab.com/ecards">eCards</a> at JibJab!</div></div><br />
That's the 4 unit leaders!<br />
<br />
... I have to say, hats off to the lad, it's definitely the most bizarre thank you I've ever received.Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-34842001898553246792011-11-28T23:39:00.000+00:002011-11-28T23:39:51.339+00:00Twister + Record Cards + Investiture = An Impossible To Title Blog Post<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight was a bit of a mash up for the scouts as the radio station we were planning to visit never got back in contact with us. M'eh, it happens... you plan things, you try to arrange them and for some reason the planets don't align and it doesn't go ahead.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why we have back up plans.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will admit that it was Mim that came up with this particular back up plan. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Yeah, buying a house really takes up a lot of your time... they should come with a health warning or something)</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYQCu1LJTmnjcwc0FT_4MIenUftWtIeJrNFkHbpO9vLeVb7YylGCxaj4PRC97o0L5X1yr2XCSl48kcURwzBPVrVz0FbzZS8Scndje5pm6jhn8jeeXXVLSx4MXaxCodEeco54NMH-T3mE/s1600/Housewarning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYQCu1LJTmnjcwc0FT_4MIenUftWtIeJrNFkHbpO9vLeVb7YylGCxaj4PRC97o0L5X1yr2XCSl48kcURwzBPVrVz0FbzZS8Scndje5pm6jhn8jeeXXVLSx4MXaxCodEeco54NMH-T3mE/s400/Housewarning.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also... be careful of giants</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a quick game and introducing a newbie <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(a cub moving up- huzzah!)</span> we got on with one of our activities for the night. OS Symbol Twister! We taped 16 OS symbols in a 4x4 grid on the floor, one grid for each patrol.... and then we randomly shouted out hand/foot and symbol combinations.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sprogs should not be that flexible.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both hilarious and disturbing at the same time, arms and legs all over the place.... one tiny little scout cowering completely underneath her PL. Slightly more disturbing when one of the sprogs asked "where's my left foot...?" *facepalm*</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once they had finally all fallen over Niall and Jason went on to do 4 and 6 figure grid references with them, while I pulled one of them aside and went through their Record Card, and it was a good thing that we went through it, as we had found that she had completed a couple of challenge badges.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end of the night came along and I got to present a whole host of badges, most of them challenge badges.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.3rdstoneleighscouts.org.uk/PageLibraryAssets/challenge.gif?84" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://www.3rdstoneleighscouts.org.uk/PageLibraryAssets/challenge.gif?84" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="200" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what's more I got to invest a PL.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I invest my PLs. It isn't normal practice, but I've found that it helps give them some confidence in taking on the role and it helps the others recognise the authority that they have. The investiture runs like any other investiture, but with a modified promise that I came up with.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Patrol Leaders Promise</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my honour I promise, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That I shall lead my patrol to the best of my abilities,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that I shall remain worthy of the position of Patrol Leader,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the sake of my Patrol, my Troop and the Scout Movement.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It doesn't seam like much, but my scouts have taken it all to heart. You should have seen the beaming smile he had when I told him that I was going to invest him as a PL.</span></div></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-79539590400846756832011-11-23T23:52:00.000+00:002011-11-23T23:52:13.813+00:00Does this mean that I will need to change the name of my blog?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know how recently I have been kinda teasing you... saying that I have some secret stuff going on and that I couldn't tell you about them until the time is right.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Top-Secret-Tip-To-Pick-SMS-Keyword.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Top-Secret-Tip-To-Pick-SMS-Keyword.jpeg" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" /></a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the time has come! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*villagers rejoicing and dancing in the streets*</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So huddle in and pinkie promise swear you won't tell anyone...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*deep breath*</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... I'm changing sections to be an Assistant Explorer Scout Leader!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of reasons why I am wanting to make the move, but the main one is that is it a section that I have always wanted to work with and all my recent work with the Jamboree reminded me of that and made me want it even more. I haven't made the change yet tho. That's going to happen after Christmas, to give me time to get all my loose ends sorted out in the scout troop <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(like updating blooming record cards)</span>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You actually have no idea how much I wanted to tell you all that sooner. I shadowed an Explorer Unit here in Lincoln for a couple of months to get a feel for the section and I loved it and I wanted to share it all with you. Like the refugee experience, or the murder mystery night at halloween or the Guy Fawkes night... but I couldn't as my scouts didn't know I will be leaving them.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not long now until Christmas, and I am so excited!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and that other secret project of mine... all in good time... you'll find out soon enough.</span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-37580006667736904842011-11-12T22:04:00.000+00:002011-11-12T22:04:15.452+00:00I did warn you they would get messy...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently (well, recent enough...) it was halloween!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know, that time of year when sprogs dress up, asks for sweets and the challenge for scout leaders everywhere is to throw a party. My rule of thumb with this: the messier they leave the better.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But before I share with you my recipe for a messy child, I'll share with you some photos of the pumpkins that we got them to carve.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJE5Acci05Uxs-VvJxpLaNqk5uh3QTFoUSrpGA1k6zMgjUu6r_Jyv4dHuomUBxYFwiNXpsOThl2iPUfnOFExOSRkWKqJpw8l6ZVIkgtXK8DgMEHPg1KsvT6sN0SJjNzKkIvxkqMvT_OM/s1600/photo+2+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJE5Acci05Uxs-VvJxpLaNqk5uh3QTFoUSrpGA1k6zMgjUu6r_Jyv4dHuomUBxYFwiNXpsOThl2iPUfnOFExOSRkWKqJpw8l6ZVIkgtXK8DgMEHPg1KsvT6sN0SJjNzKkIvxkqMvT_OM/s400/photo+2+%25283%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIFNVALqxiKyhqCURuI3WoZ387uxgoxY2GQbnvbfEecS1VJCfO1okZ8nsjh2DL5UkCeVmBVadbY9-O9wNCeOtZfT8Jmsmp7JacBqfwycGcrjb70PgEAd2Cz0CbOCRxPrXSFkC0_3EAuY/s1600/photo+1+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIFNVALqxiKyhqCURuI3WoZ387uxgoxY2GQbnvbfEecS1VJCfO1okZ8nsjh2DL5UkCeVmBVadbY9-O9wNCeOtZfT8Jmsmp7JacBqfwycGcrjb70PgEAd2Cz0CbOCRxPrXSFkC0_3EAuY/s400/photo+1+%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Recipe for a Messy Child</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ingredients:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sprog x many</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Costume x one per Sprog</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apples x numerous</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Water x bucket loads</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marshmallows x more than a mouth full</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flour x a bouquet</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doughnuts x enough to choke a giant</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Treacle/Golden Syrup x enough to grease a small monkey</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Method:</b></span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inspect sprog in costume, it may be necessary to remove articles for movement/breathing proposes</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Float apples in buckets of water</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insert sprogs head</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">String up doughnuts on a rope so they all dangle freely. Coat doughnuts in treacle/syrup</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hang doughnuts above sprogs heads and let them apply treacle and syrup to face/hair/body/costume as they attempt to consume them.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once all sprogs are damp and coated in treacle/syrup, bring out marshmallows on a plate covered in a large heaped pile of flour.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insert sprogs head, flour should stick rather successfully to water and treacle mixture</span></li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finished off the night with a game of Fluffy Bunnies. If you don't know what that is, you take turns putting a marshmallow in your mouth and saying 'fluffy bunnies'. You are not allowed to chew or swallow at any point or you're out. Needless to say, this was played round a bin for them to eventually throw up into.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's a halloween party without a game that includes vomiting?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They all loved it really, chasing each other round and putting treacle and flour in each others faces, drooling down their tops while trying not to spit up marshmallows. Of course when their parents showed up and saw how messy they were it was 'horrible'...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've since learned (from one of the parents) that it took one of the sprogs several days to remove all the treacle/flour.... SUCCESS!!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-48177315359360343782011-11-11T10:28:00.000+00:002011-11-11T10:28:30.424+00:00Lest We ForgetToday is the 11th day of the 11th month and at the 11th hour we will pause to remember.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnr90WQPXACPBC1tfF_sd4SPQA2vUWfj3Xra_uJyQ3Qt9nefYB7lpHzZdgoJumdRAgTPRF1_HTRim7jIqrWkhJ240n-KnpocNhi_gIIoWI3raRV6zIVMeaCIbGmSVwClrBvXJQxYXjvUk/s1600/poppy%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnr90WQPXACPBC1tfF_sd4SPQA2vUWfj3Xra_uJyQ3Qt9nefYB7lpHzZdgoJumdRAgTPRF1_HTRim7jIqrWkhJ240n-KnpocNhi_gIIoWI3raRV6zIVMeaCIbGmSVwClrBvXJQxYXjvUk/s320/poppy%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Usually scouts will attend church this Sunday, in full uniform and in parade to mark the occasion. My scouts wont. Not because we don't remember, but because the Salvation Army church we are linked to goes elsewhere to help others mark the occasion. So we usually have our own form of remembrance.<br />
<br />
The past couple of years I have dedicated a whole scout evening to remembrance, and one of the things that I have always struggled to get my head round... and something that I am sure that the scouts have struggled to grasp... is the shear numbers involved.<br />
<br />
When told about the numbers that died, the numbers are so huge that my brain just can't imagine anything that size. So a while back I worked out a way to highlight it, a way to make the numbers real. I think I have talked about it in the past, but never actually posted up the numbers and the process, so here it goes.<br />
<br />
I found out, from the internet, how many grains of sugar are in a gram (15.432 on average) and then figured out how many grains were in a 1kg bag of sugar. Then equating 1 grain of sugar to 1 soul I worked out how many bags of sugar were needed to illustrate the numbers.<br />
<br />
The numbers were still huge.<br />
<br />
So I took along one bag of sugar, and emptied it out across the floor. Getting the kids to see just how many grains were in that one bag... and then went through how many bags were needed for each war and other events to help put things into perspective.<br />
<br />
And here are those numbers:<br />
<br />
World War 1 15000000-20000000 dead <strong>972-1296 bags</strong><br />
World War 2 40000000-72000000 dead <strong>2592-4666 bags</strong><br />
<br />
Genocides of Nazi Germany 4871000-11000000 dead <strong>316-713 bags</strong><br />
Auschwitz-Birkenau 800000-1500000 dead <strong>52-97 bags</strong><br />
<br />
Indian Ocean (boxing day) Tsunami 230210 dead <strong>15 bags</strong><br />
Haiti Earthquake 222000 dead <strong>14 bags</strong><br />
<br />
9/11 Attacks (excluding hijackers) 2977 dead <strong>0.19 bags</strong><br />
7/7 Bombings 52 dead <strong>0.003 bags</strong><br />
War on Terror at least 47183 dead <strong>3 bags</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
These numbers always humble me, and remind me of how privilaged I am.<br />
<br />
Thank you, for all that you gave, I will try to live my life to the fullest and remember.Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-10507818195506759572011-10-22T00:14:00.000+01:002011-10-22T00:14:18.469+01:00Stuff I've been doing while I've not been hereRecently I have been ______________________________<br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<strong>Baking like a fiend: </strong>Over the past year and a half or so I have gotten quite into baking. It started off with making some cupcakes and treats for my weekly 'Sunday Gathering' with my mates and quickly evolved into full on birthday cake baking and decorating. It's gotten to the point now that my friends are putting orders in, I kid you not.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGcU2s9_HHp0rvI9KEZcgXz0Kf0rUuZU35Jqh9LxW0OHToKZXDdV-mi6SAxj91aEZB9PGuY_9ADjhvzXpHUjGGMfpoA6LMgnm1tUYTeofq8zOS5RARREnNaaB7UGyEBR0cGCFQRawRbw/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGcU2s9_HHp0rvI9KEZcgXz0Kf0rUuZU35Jqh9LxW0OHToKZXDdV-mi6SAxj91aEZB9PGuY_9ADjhvzXpHUjGGMfpoA6LMgnm1tUYTeofq8zOS5RARREnNaaB7UGyEBR0cGCFQRawRbw/s400/photo+4.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I made this for my nieces first birthday</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wsv1WwX8sWj23o-x0ZdbEkNVRaXlM1KrVkxnVSLl_MKtvNQtHuC81GaqPEZA-8II8WeSjhii0wqLmisEt0aLBt5HM62-zonJ9VLc7OO477oS_0qMup8gDP_arQBpViZ22xmRKZFLEgU/s1600/photo+3+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wsv1WwX8sWj23o-x0ZdbEkNVRaXlM1KrVkxnVSLl_MKtvNQtHuC81GaqPEZA-8II8WeSjhii0wqLmisEt0aLBt5HM62-zonJ9VLc7OO477oS_0qMup8gDP_arQBpViZ22xmRKZFLEgU/s400/photo+3+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They're watching me!?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Only the other week I baked about 50odd biscuits. Some were getting posted up to my sister for her birthday, some to Cheshire to one of my friends who was going through a rough patch <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(cause receiving baked goods in the post is bound to cheer anybody up)</span> and all the rest were getting sold in my office to help raise money for <a href="http://www.jeansforgenesday.com/">Jeans for Genes</a>.<br />
<br />
And I'm currently trying to figure out how to do a turn-table cake for someone in work and have been asked to do 2 wedding cakes!<br />
<br />
<strong>Not buying a house:</strong> This is in spite of going to numerous house viewings (6 this week) and the estate agents getting to the "You've been looking for a while now" stage of proceedings. Which is basically them trying to tell me not to be so picky and buy a house already.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="192" src="http://favim.com/orig/201105/18/bridge-epic-house-island-ocean-rock-Favim.com-48509.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sure the view would be stunning... but the commute would be terrible</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">And, unfortunately, it's not like my previous experiences in buying stuff. Normally when <i>I</i> go shopping, I walk into the store, see if I like stuff, put myself into a mini-guilt trip about wanting to spend money, leave the store, decide that I want it anyway, return to store, check out everything again <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(just in case something better magically appears on the shelf)</span> and then eventually buy it anyway.</div><div class="" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">Dead easy.</div><div class="" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">Not like houses. That requires dealing with idiotic estate agents, arguments about getting things in writing, getting lawyers and people just to convince other people to lend me money. And the odd guilt trip about spending money... cause, well, it's still me we're talking about.</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Buying a house would be so much easier if it worked like any other normal shop. Tho I would expect that the shopping trolleys would be huge.</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">So if anyone has a really nice house in Lincoln that they are willing to sell me for hardly anything I would be really grateful. I may even bake you something.</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Getting most of the ground floor in the house I am currently living in torn out: </strong>Dan, the guy that owns the house I live in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(he doesn't like it when I call him my landlord)</span>, came round with his parents to decorate the house. All was going fine, until the paint that they were putting up on the walls was flaking off as soon as it had dried. It was then decided that we should get someone in to check for damp.</div><br />
Turns out most of the ground floor, up to about waist height, has really bad damp. Which would explain the huge bulge in the wall by the kitchen door. The guy came back about 2 weeks ago to gut the place and damp-proof and replaster everything.<br />
<br />
Some of it <i>still</i> isn't dry... so he hasn't been back yet to re-attach the skirting boards.<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Given that I hate tidying/cleaning at the best of times, I didn't want to clean everything until he has finished... cause that plaster dust gets EVERYWHERE. Even in rooms upstairs. With the door closed.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><em>... everywhere...</em></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Geocaching in formal wear:</strong> Yes, you read that correctly. Geocaching. In formal wear.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">My friend, Stacey (who you may remember used to be the Scout Leader for the 9th Lincoln) got married! And, stupidly, she invited Mim and I to attend. You would have thought that having left the group that she would have taken advantage of the situation and be rid of us, but no.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">While the photographs were being taken Mim and I saw this tower...</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="266" src="http://www.ecastles.co.uk/south-kyme.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South Kyme Tower</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">... and I commented that the area was just begging for a cache. Turns out there was one... and it was within 200m of where we were standing. It would have been rude for us not to. And during the break between the meal and the evening do, when everyone went to the pub... we may or may not have gone out and got 3 more.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3rHNLhdtko7Yg1CJPaubaHR3x01bBP4yjECpVy_ilRzZ0xmC54ovkzirnPj7kILga_3on8piLEciNJHG0qzrvhwUHx58khTVOVR8TKO_bW4ZScCbLhfAh82Gfmen9w9WWXqyTzRRE48/s1600/photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3rHNLhdtko7Yg1CJPaubaHR3x01bBP4yjECpVy_ilRzZ0xmC54ovkzirnPj7kILga_3on8piLEciNJHG0qzrvhwUHx58khTVOVR8TKO_bW4ZScCbLhfAh82Gfmen9w9WWXqyTzRRE48/s320/photo+1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See... actual proper formal wear</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Beating sprogs at monopoly:</b> This one is actually scout related! We had a board games night at the scouts a while back and I played some of the sprogs at monopoly.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpz0S9RNmK79Kxv9qn6UZglcEEwrVLaO-EgncuWrokEE6ZhV_ctA_FQFvljni96KMQtymYnqHQUAsEaLNZOUz-shyphenhyphenj2GYw6xzwtfRkM0szwnphz-gDFLpYnO4flX8x8UZ1UwpbuxqLCIc/s1600/photo+2+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpz0S9RNmK79Kxv9qn6UZglcEEwrVLaO-EgncuWrokEE6ZhV_ctA_FQFvljni96KMQtymYnqHQUAsEaLNZOUz-shyphenhyphenj2GYw6xzwtfRkM0szwnphz-gDFLpYnO4flX8x8UZ1UwpbuxqLCIc/s400/photo+2+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That was what I ended up owning... pretty much the whole board</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">Yeah... they lost. Badly</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Signing myself up for more work: </b>Yup, I am actually a glutton for punishment. I've managed to sign myself up for not one but two new scouty projects.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">You can stop shaking your head in dismay now...</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">First, I've been asked to be a subcamp leader at <a href="http://wwww.poacher2013.org.uk/">Poacher 2013</a>, something that I am rather excited about. I've never been to a Poacher camp before, so I am kinda getting thrown in at the deep end</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">The second thing is super-secret at the moment, so you are just going to have to wait. If I told you what it was then it would spoil the event. And we don't want that now do we? All I can tell you is that it requires a heck of a lot of planning and logistics.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Doing big secret stuff:</b> Even more secret stuff. It's big. And it's secret. I so want to tell you ALL about it. But I can't. Not yet anyway. Soon... hopefully.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, I do realise that I am a bit of a tease.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;">And finally...</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Winning the World Music Networks Battle of the Bands:</b> For the past year I have been a member of the <a href="http://choirinvisible.co.uk/">Choir Invisible</a>. And we've recently won the <a href="http://www.worldmusic.net/battle/news/2011-07-04/battle-of-the-bands-winners-choir-invisible-the-desmond-leah-tutu-peace-choir/">World Music Networks Battle of the Bands</a>, which means that we are going to be recorded for one of their albums! Absolutely fantastic news you'll agree, so I have to go now and brush up on my swahili...</div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-88541980447477237302011-09-09T07:02:00.001+01:002011-09-09T07:07:08.385+01:00Happy Birthday!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="400" id="il_fi" src="http://images.wikia.com/candh/images/c/c6/Hobbes_party.gif" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="234" /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's 2 years since I started this little blogging project of mine!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Party streamers falling from the ceiling, villagers rejoicing and cake getting cut*</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can hardly believe it, can you?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To celebrate I'm going to post some of my favourite photos from the Jamboree for you all to enjoy</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvKb16N_LIj9qctwDyl_yIMPQExUPgMP2Zb8p8R4qwFRGcivDfWZhBjo-iLMXubqVdDiL0tXw3aXGrSpNctCEh5DR_5J7OzhDH5yxFK0KfonMIragnT_h6IGzA_oKxFLfNmIJoV1asXo/s1600/IMG_1063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvKb16N_LIj9qctwDyl_yIMPQExUPgMP2Zb8p8R4qwFRGcivDfWZhBjo-iLMXubqVdDiL0tXw3aXGrSpNctCEh5DR_5J7OzhDH5yxFK0KfonMIragnT_h6IGzA_oKxFLfNmIJoV1asXo/s400/IMG_1063.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look, everyone is all shiny and clean</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95lA3WHYOVg8rnzy4_qD5QZbSqlWkSUtTKTzB4XoBe32nAEwGTQncIPdh2QhO5eST7nZ37W2QliiccrnR0z23-BNRAERHwcvgpkT9rqYF6e-zeTmaatx-PSp0ABMIPdkDuGKHGQ6DBvo/s1600/IMG_1076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95lA3WHYOVg8rnzy4_qD5QZbSqlWkSUtTKTzB4XoBe32nAEwGTQncIPdh2QhO5eST7nZ37W2QliiccrnR0z23-BNRAERHwcvgpkT9rqYF6e-zeTmaatx-PSp0ABMIPdkDuGKHGQ6DBvo/s400/IMG_1076.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYR_Wd_WqsxYEUrmN3pRVpV8kzQOL5Qh6ykK2zIQ5Po7uCv54U31O8cCcnZVzHp-cCCqZ_JQfiOw9-cbATXptg0f69S65tS2vhCjDiWwUNio-NC1lJ4cZaLMRjMP7sWdbfsG65iwd9xss/s1600/IMG_1121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYR_Wd_WqsxYEUrmN3pRVpV8kzQOL5Qh6ykK2zIQ5Po7uCv54U31O8cCcnZVzHp-cCCqZ_JQfiOw9-cbATXptg0f69S65tS2vhCjDiWwUNio-NC1lJ4cZaLMRjMP7sWdbfsG65iwd9xss/s400/IMG_1121.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3i4kjZcf4CWXR3xckSnn-gr31aXIJgO9GCjxIKgKifj4apy0ORU6_WvjB5NVXqKtAPeoVj00qdy0TvB9afle11gLe57E6IM60i5ulRLAMzBQsseZ6qFk6KNoDoTrcqr1PYigHYBziQA/s1600/IMG_1139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3i4kjZcf4CWXR3xckSnn-gr31aXIJgO9GCjxIKgKifj4apy0ORU6_WvjB5NVXqKtAPeoVj00qdy0TvB9afle11gLe57E6IM60i5ulRLAMzBQsseZ6qFk6KNoDoTrcqr1PYigHYBziQA/s400/IMG_1139.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tivoli Gardens was so much fun! (even tho not all the rides were open)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object class="BLOGGER-picasa-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qoSfOQ8-0snij06nDne2q9b0bSAZCCGqBLyeDgAL6dKKVSTzh5wfGi2aY0cjsUXkeXSzRTmwaPbh-aDgUf_njmSlm-KQDcLgSjL41qHImo3wbMUxr-rPj1o6MaYb758dWwu54f0wGDo/s1600/MVI_1184.AVI" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv6.nonxt2.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3Deef3ae6c5e300baf%26itag%3D18%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1315539182%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DDAEF454E7057CAFAD2CFB8BF5776CAC2F6FA70FD.286836F0768F1BBEF929AE7AB04143A75FAB5F7F%26key%3Dlh1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv6.nonxt2.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3Deef3ae6c5e300baf%26itag%3D18%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1315539182%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DDAEF454E7057CAFAD2CFB8BF5776CAC2F6FA70FD.286836F0768F1BBEF929AE7AB04143A75FAB5F7F%26key%3Dlh1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the acts from the UK Party in Copenhagen (my Alphabeat photos turned out blurry *sniff*)</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpCEkdpKCRKDuUsSY5ViGGst-Rd84R4SXRNZjtpA0voZL8fuO8PCrbqIkXWI3mHYTu0tXdJJi7xCT9LrUqTS0M0vqyTAuaxXaVP0a73QyKbLcTb0bzFWFzMv6M_7Cd6KHKPYS2GquoX4/s1600/IMG_1190.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpCEkdpKCRKDuUsSY5ViGGst-Rd84R4SXRNZjtpA0voZL8fuO8PCrbqIkXWI3mHYTu0tXdJJi7xCT9LrUqTS0M0vqyTAuaxXaVP0a73QyKbLcTb0bzFWFzMv6M_7Cd6KHKPYS2GquoX4/s400/IMG_1190.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB88Kg1tXZ1LxLoZq6CuikND9cxuHbFwuSRlBCDnq5LFTeuFcRg0PUfoLbUSBhoz49bNKPuWSFP3vVB7JHSAVO1Do1ZY27dmoc8M4iJ8_MYtCYPuZj7ckzU0os8uVGUMu8Nex4xQgBP9Y/s1600/IMG_1192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB88Kg1tXZ1LxLoZq6CuikND9cxuHbFwuSRlBCDnq5LFTeuFcRg0PUfoLbUSBhoz49bNKPuWSFP3vVB7JHSAVO1Do1ZY27dmoc8M4iJ8_MYtCYPuZj7ckzU0os8uVGUMu8Nex4xQgBP9Y/s400/IMG_1192.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtci6aNYhTgh0pwIg9Bp34qoJb93bWZLg8sSxbZiI9q0KLVHqp-Y3JsFXOAZVgASFNMtu_TdO8FTblNhCZ406FaW4K_MmPKugPM9IFpH8rRwez_N13wrkwICIVBN_MPZOdJ05_2odGUYw/s1600/IMG_1205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtci6aNYhTgh0pwIg9Bp34qoJb93bWZLg8sSxbZiI9q0KLVHqp-Y3JsFXOAZVgASFNMtu_TdO8FTblNhCZ406FaW4K_MmPKugPM9IFpH8rRwez_N13wrkwICIVBN_MPZOdJ05_2odGUYw/s400/IMG_1205.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzUKVl0-uP9UxV42OqMPm9pcYHULUFjnia3KNphuvxoDuVv-mo0MFkh-IJJ7ox-ybXEA8T50Jf53DlR9y0vKiC337D_FEX-79Ufp2Bk4l7NVNEZMX0DXmWVZ94AAeaJH-LDBLM8U4tnM/s1600/IMG_1258-1261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzUKVl0-uP9UxV42OqMPm9pcYHULUFjnia3KNphuvxoDuVv-mo0MFkh-IJJ7ox-ybXEA8T50Jf53DlR9y0vKiC337D_FEX-79Ufp2Bk4l7NVNEZMX0DXmWVZ94AAeaJH-LDBLM8U4tnM/s640/IMG_1258-1261.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoyN9oBuwvovABCZPTDIQKt8tTwYLS87aB1V7SWaYWt5niCLGwBOIjG0jVtFiZLwJAn0IU4UZNdHA8rh4elCI1GVS39hU9rTMq_B2AUnKY8HkRHGCGbw12TC4nuK570k4mKREp7D7h1s/s1600/IMG_1270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoyN9oBuwvovABCZPTDIQKt8tTwYLS87aB1V7SWaYWt5niCLGwBOIjG0jVtFiZLwJAn0IU4UZNdHA8rh4elCI1GVS39hU9rTMq_B2AUnKY8HkRHGCGbw12TC4nuK570k4mKREp7D7h1s/s400/IMG_1270.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-H1RSuPcOj5Wb0JjvmM5LC-8P11BPWbhTFHsf_XuqXJpbMDGVgpMcOrhucO5_QBHT0FNihJml3raJ5S0tgNnUVsr2Gb6XfWyKJo_ctmyLMrF_7I6veeiKUr3hcJDe_hamHl9xHXCTsY/s1600/IMG_1275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-H1RSuPcOj5Wb0JjvmM5LC-8P11BPWbhTFHsf_XuqXJpbMDGVgpMcOrhucO5_QBHT0FNihJml3raJ5S0tgNnUVsr2Gb6XfWyKJo_ctmyLMrF_7I6veeiKUr3hcJDe_hamHl9xHXCTsY/s400/IMG_1275.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my favourite shots this one!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aki4Myfhl7mTNsvY45C172WvR30j1ETpop-Qggxrts_0rkohpDu0U-H3FBmeBpfRP57QoUeaVt__hw58jilE3_UKiNT4vhA2ylF4daqmKOJHsPf40MYBNVNza2U41HM7Y5ZYhz47Hpk/s1600/IMG_1286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aki4Myfhl7mTNsvY45C172WvR30j1ETpop-Qggxrts_0rkohpDu0U-H3FBmeBpfRP57QoUeaVt__hw58jilE3_UKiNT4vhA2ylF4daqmKOJHsPf40MYBNVNza2U41HM7Y5ZYhz47Hpk/s400/IMG_1286.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was so peaceful on camp-in-camp...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdVWFTGPEUEHi9BJ_aciMhz7ET21WCJgD6WUUNcmyzC6r5FfqaEk3jAH_NQGvRebYv30PWf68UVHPSU9C5PVyEb4kBMqLQRnlWvg0vwrQTFqJE6Esk2oMWb_UtXue5J8z2fjXFtFRaJk/s1600/IMG_1291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdVWFTGPEUEHi9BJ_aciMhz7ET21WCJgD6WUUNcmyzC6r5FfqaEk3jAH_NQGvRebYv30PWf68UVHPSU9C5PVyEb4kBMqLQRnlWvg0vwrQTFqJE6Esk2oMWb_UtXue5J8z2fjXFtFRaJk/s400/IMG_1291.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... despite the warnings</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZueqxshteEqIu8IAEVsAszBdcevqeBt3LglnRCvqpNeZx-aGuVKxHYZhBPkI60VpXRTEZauqsz9t7mCXm5w_uzkm4SyNDNwx_UUy5pwEYZaXh02uBCF74iTFc_xAZafn2iq-My2DA5g/s1600/IMG_1293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZueqxshteEqIu8IAEVsAszBdcevqeBt3LglnRCvqpNeZx-aGuVKxHYZhBPkI60VpXRTEZauqsz9t7mCXm5w_uzkm4SyNDNwx_UUy5pwEYZaXh02uBCF74iTFc_xAZafn2iq-My2DA5g/s400/IMG_1293.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Communal cooking area in camp-in-camp. Whatever you had left over you shared with everyone else. We ate like kings that night!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitymtDZpXmkP56Od_E-26crCgxLVL2rticlOWH3SzA2c1vhnAx-d3XHSw089M9vow_TWlYVDU0ISBVBp5p9LXWmqJmNHr1ZKpXrnmwk1m6a2Lc3A0E9LJ_aAsh17rte8PFcVs6tr43jA/s1600/IMG_1295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitymtDZpXmkP56Od_E-26crCgxLVL2rticlOWH3SzA2c1vhnAx-d3XHSw089M9vow_TWlYVDU0ISBVBp5p9LXWmqJmNHr1ZKpXrnmwk1m6a2Lc3A0E9LJ_aAsh17rte8PFcVs6tr43jA/s400/IMG_1295.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... and slept in some pretty nifty tents</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQYHeEma-8BFZVn27q5Z33e0UZV1V5pPBApQp1ea6CX_V-HqG_KAMVkfUrFCF_GUe6bK-hnLUno2zhAbvgrBgg4RtT6OCHya5N0GSE__7n6ed870-xSfP9qcn5H4xUvyn3Lt6GbjqK9o/s1600/IMG_1305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQYHeEma-8BFZVn27q5Z33e0UZV1V5pPBApQp1ea6CX_V-HqG_KAMVkfUrFCF_GUe6bK-hnLUno2zhAbvgrBgg4RtT6OCHya5N0GSE__7n6ed870-xSfP9qcn5H4xUvyn3Lt6GbjqK9o/s400/IMG_1305.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kids out canoeing</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfulfXTPNMq5If5xA-TsnLPBLjCKOSxIhFLEzQ9CrXYwQejvRpL3_4PT5BQEFLu2V7SBw1ku3frqa43tKUHcJfWaSAnzyZTh7G3SgFJuygwajAYW7NtHotM3YWFVHu_cxYHw_EiFlsdVI/s1600/IMG_1307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfulfXTPNMq5If5xA-TsnLPBLjCKOSxIhFLEzQ9CrXYwQejvRpL3_4PT5BQEFLu2V7SBw1ku3frqa43tKUHcJfWaSAnzyZTh7G3SgFJuygwajAYW7NtHotM3YWFVHu_cxYHw_EiFlsdVI/s400/IMG_1307.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhce85qtKPNDz7y7qt3wHAFaSrxyYzt5x_fwozS1HkAayzSISEfjUCM1JvplwYkW10L8W7fZ09w-jp3v1hZ9Ifd2IsqmUn2nCCfV0iY6Aumz_-1UfxdGvQoTqN1i20GqsFBBZ0WIn5AsBE/s1600/IMG_1340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhce85qtKPNDz7y7qt3wHAFaSrxyYzt5x_fwozS1HkAayzSISEfjUCM1JvplwYkW10L8W7fZ09w-jp3v1hZ9Ifd2IsqmUn2nCCfV0iY6Aumz_-1UfxdGvQoTqN1i20GqsFBBZ0WIn5AsBE/s400/IMG_1340.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heading for the Carnival day party</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsCw8Dt3pmWw5k6tBgqHfMLmU5W2uSgV0S_LV9Y3g2WQyoVBqayUYNdyb2HrPnInDzi2JdHGvRZZmF8ZX62zliXmR7uxWICT6ZNSWAFY0Tqlt6kUQeIedJ19-Mdf6KVr99FyBaoMu5yY/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsCw8Dt3pmWw5k6tBgqHfMLmU5W2uSgV0S_LV9Y3g2WQyoVBqayUYNdyb2HrPnInDzi2JdHGvRZZmF8ZX62zliXmR7uxWICT6ZNSWAFY0Tqlt6kUQeIedJ19-Mdf6KVr99FyBaoMu5yY/s400/IMG_1386.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 360degree stage for the closing ceremony</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8TmP4XsrhwWpZ-sAjCjK8U0DjwU6M5zMsZ3W1q52E4f0jhPqwlcBOqNOm7ou8T871GurGrde5UKaablIu01pHUaXulUGd_CMQ_g2Sqn5t0j4Te6DvDElmUYpXEC4hgxUqi6IlfByEUr0/s1600/IMG_1399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8TmP4XsrhwWpZ-sAjCjK8U0DjwU6M5zMsZ3W1q52E4f0jhPqwlcBOqNOm7ou8T871GurGrde5UKaablIu01pHUaXulUGd_CMQ_g2Sqn5t0j4Te6DvDElmUYpXEC4hgxUqi6IlfByEUr0/s400/IMG_1399.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our tiny <strike>tin can</strike> plane for the trip to Lithuania</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6B0OSR5wXyTSXb__WyZ8I-mqbgRwHfj7vQQ_jlVKYL6P39hYYh067ELevlG3IhsEyzsXTs78_BEEXMJaICNMTVIM4y8j8ht7hbFgWEqgt9fFrzdYDmP_rEVxQCt1JpML2cWW65oR6pyk/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6B0OSR5wXyTSXb__WyZ8I-mqbgRwHfj7vQQ_jlVKYL6P39hYYh067ELevlG3IhsEyzsXTs78_BEEXMJaICNMTVIM4y8j8ht7hbFgWEqgt9fFrzdYDmP_rEVxQCt1JpML2cWW65oR6pyk/s400/IMG_1405.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRdjKbPWtH20dA7G9naaqx5bPeuHeucHDhs8Fxm99xm_N0DTR0Z44wtZm6Q3ppyg9Thjk1VJNIIfQAWvAG0PTUV6o12IPWhHo4IYtYTvMvwD9ENi3iht8hbCRnB-hg6Z0e2ci8Bixi3UI/s1600/IMG_1425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRdjKbPWtH20dA7G9naaqx5bPeuHeucHDhs8Fxm99xm_N0DTR0Z44wtZm6Q3ppyg9Thjk1VJNIIfQAWvAG0PTUV6o12IPWhHo4IYtYTvMvwD9ENi3iht8hbCRnB-hg6Z0e2ci8Bixi3UI/s400/IMG_1425.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm6V3k6JnSPtp5XAVOGs9Ru1hJJekqf9WhoPZv0nIWJ3c1ZWisRpTr8ndsfNfXexEKvHdWrVsEDFpPPoOZXHw5Gn0n_T1tmWVRCKWVWaJoSlsTPeJkuQBBfpZymsqZO05OviX8lOzjf8/s1600/IMG_1461.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm6V3k6JnSPtp5XAVOGs9Ru1hJJekqf9WhoPZv0nIWJ3c1ZWisRpTr8ndsfNfXexEKvHdWrVsEDFpPPoOZXHw5Gn0n_T1tmWVRCKWVWaJoSlsTPeJkuQBBfpZymsqZO05OviX8lOzjf8/s400/IMG_1461.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2z-o5x1SDJbp2-1l-3rvI847BoR2hyP3Rmgp_8WAvaf4gKlO4zn9ypb5fAeF4AXUzWqS7vvIQK4FDI94JGMGkhZw7YYEJgNkyZFHjtxWjqwkltL3U3bA2M-i0grpUTxvMPdEDijGfQs/s1600/IMG_1491.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2z-o5x1SDJbp2-1l-3rvI847BoR2hyP3Rmgp_8WAvaf4gKlO4zn9ypb5fAeF4AXUzWqS7vvIQK4FDI94JGMGkhZw7YYEJgNkyZFHjtxWjqwkltL3U3bA2M-i0grpUTxvMPdEDijGfQs/s400/IMG_1491.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now... where's my present?</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Note: Obviously Hobbes is copyrighted by Bill Watterson, and if you don't recognise him... first, SHAME ON YOU; secondly, go google it now!</span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-14235678112971783672011-08-31T23:25:00.001+01:002011-08-31T23:25:23.145+01:00Flaming Phalanges<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you all know I was recently at the World Scout Jamboree as an Assistant Unit Leader, and, as promised, I took my diary with me to jot down all the little stories and details.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh the best laid plans of mice and men... if only my writing hand hadn't caught on fire.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, you read that correctly. Caught. On. Fire.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.philipgraham.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/photography-digital-Hand-of-Fire-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.philipgraham.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/photography-digital-Hand-of-Fire-1.gif" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not me, yes. Not exactly what happened, yes. Cool picture none the less, hell yes.</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was our first day on the Jamboree site in Sweden, we were still setting everything up, including the kitchen. The way that our chosen system worked meant that the patrol that I looked after was on duty and had to cook dinner.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were making dinner, on our brand new stoves, in our brand new mess tent surrounded by packages and boxes hiding all manner of things, like those handy things called fire blankets. Everything was going smoothly until I hear one of the kids say "Oh look, it's on fire"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That, for the record, is a sentence that can send shivers down any leaders back.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I quickly turn round and not only has the kitchen roll that was beside the stove gotten so hot that it spontaneously combusted, but it was in said kids hands. Everything following this happened in a matter of seconds. I ran over, I think I stupidly tried to blow on it (I know, I know, but this was like a second after seeing it) realised that I needed to get it out of her hands and out of the mess tent.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I grabbed it and ran.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then stomped all over it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then released that in the past 3-5 seconds from seeing fire to stomping it that I had burnt my hand... not my best moment I will admit.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to treating it straight away. I was pouring cold water over it while Elaine (our first aider extraordinaire) was prepping the burn kit, and as soon as that was on I was on my way to the first aid facility. A first aid centre which was embarrassingly still setting up, that's how early in the Jamboree this happened!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did try to write that night, a lot had happened that day after all... we'd gotten to Sweden, to the actual Jamboree itself after 2 years of work... but it just hurt too much to write with my burnt hand and if I had tried with my left it would look like a 5 year olds scrawl and a single word would probably take up half a page.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So all my Jamboree stories are going to be just that, stories. Unlike the 3Nations posts (going day by day) I'll be doing some random little stories from time to time. If you don't like it then you can blame the flaming kitchen roll...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">And if you still don't get what "Flaming Phalanges" are... then this little clip from Bones might help</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xt9KKxJ2ARA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-17675915793367066782011-08-24T19:37:00.000+01:002011-08-24T19:37:47.954+01:00A little pick me up<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every leader has their ups and downs. And at some point or another we all need a little pick me up. I'm not talking about a cake and a good cuppa type pick me up.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/teacake415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" id="il_fi" src="http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/teacake415.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="316" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not this type of pick me up...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm talking about the pick me up that only the scouts can provide. They may not intend to provide it... heck they might not even realise that they have done it, but I've generally found that when you need one, then they will deliver.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This summer I was in dire need of a pick me up.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things had been getting on top of me, I was getting mega-stressed with everything and if I am honest I wasn't exactly a happy bunny. I stayed clear of here for a while (if you hadn't noticed) as I didn't want to be all negative. That's also why I'm not going to go into any details.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/4/23/5b75b5ad-a63a-4be5-831c-f3d49b6bb03f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="I Iz Not A Happy Bunny!" border="0" class="event-item-lol-image" height="300" id="_r_a_4687036672" src="http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/4/23/5b75b5ad-a63a-4be5-831c-f3d49b6bb03f.jpg" title="I Iz Not A Happy Bunny!" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from <a href="http://cheezburger.com/View/4687036672">here</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But not to worry, my pick me up worked and I'm happy again! (woo hoo)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The nature of the pick me up, well, it's rather unusual as it actually involves something that we scout leaders dread, medical care. And no, before you say anything, I did <i>not</i> go round doing <a href="http://www.brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/">Timmy Mallet</a> impressions and hitting the kids with an oversized mallet to relieve my stress.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me set the scene. At the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden one of the set activities was Dream, a night time activity in the forest based round self discovery. Our subcamp had this scheduled straight after the Opening Ceremony, so after the party at the main arena we had to fight the crowd back to our site to get changed and then make our way to the queue for the activity. Needless to say we were all shattered.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact we weren't the only ones that were shattered. A girl from another UK unit fainted near us while we were in the queue for the queue. One of her leaders dutifully stayed with her, but the rest of her unit carried on and went into the queue for the activity. <i>My</i> unit on the other hand, instantly, and without being asked, formed a human shield round them and started doing crowd control.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was shortly after that, that one of our own keeled over. Well, the newly formed Protection League went into over drive. Passing water among themselves to make sure that everyone was okay, protecting the casualties from being walked over and clearing the road for the ambulance to get in.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At one point there was actually three people under our protection, altho the third wasn't there for that long... so I presume that he recovered quickly and went on to enjoy the activity.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know, I know, it sounds like a complete disaster. Obviously it wasn't the situation that was the pick me up... that would just be a bit too sadistic even for me, it was the way they reacted. They truly went above and beyond the call of duty that night and I was immensely proud to be able to call myself one of their leaders.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I'm not trying to brag, I've done a number of things that are rather pride worthy. I've got my Queen Scout Award, Duke of Edinburgh Gold, Explorer Belt and Wood Badge all before I was 25. All of which were presented to me at various times, and don't get me wrong, I was very proud at all of them. But all of them pale in comparison to how proud I was of my unit that night.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night, not only did they protect their fellow scouts, but they restored my faith in being a scout leader.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: The scout from my unit that fainted recovered rather quickly as was fine. We also received a thank you message the next day from the girl from the other unit that fainted saying that she was fine.</i></span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-88880763866119110742011-07-29T14:26:00.000+01:002011-07-29T14:26:54.555+01:00Live from the JamboreeThis post is coming to you LIVE from the Winter Town internet cafe at the World Scout Jamboree.<br />
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It's going to be rather short due to the limited time on the computer, that and I keep hitting the wrong keys as they have extra ones with such things like ö and ä or even å... *plays with more keys*.... ¤½ ÖÄÅ...<br />
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<br />
Anyway!<br />
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Everyone is having a grand time. The kids went to their first activity, Dream, straight from the opening ceremony last night (which resulted in us not getting to bed until 4am)<br />
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Have plenty of stories already to pass onto you all...<br />
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See you on the other side!Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-74937720479944039832011-07-24T10:01:00.000+01:002011-07-24T10:01:03.490+01:00What an adventure!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow... what a couple of months it has been!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot has happened in the past couple of months. So much that I simply haven't had the time to type it all out for you all.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some things have changed, some started, and some sadly going to come to an end, houses are being hunted, best man speeches written (tho not yet delivered), Jamborees prepared for and new events signed up for.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that is not to mention all the week to week stuff with my scouts; all our work on the communication badge and our recent camp at Sudbrooke... as well as getting some new members!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest adventure is, of course, the World Scout Jamboree, for which I will be leaving the house for in about an hour. We have a fantastic group of kids and I am <i>so</i> excited about it, it should be a trip of a lifetime. I'm not entirely sure that the kids, if you can call them that, know what it is that they have let themselves in for... but that is all part of the magic.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... and don't worry, my diary is packed...</span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-66882562389972730422011-05-17T14:50:00.000+01:002011-05-17T14:50:22.260+01:00March Jamboree Training<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not long to go now!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Jamboree is getting ever closer and it is about time that I gave you all an update on it all. A lot has happened Jamboree wise recently, and I mean a LOT. So much so that I haven't had the time to write it all up for you all... hence this out of time post. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly we've had two lots of training with the Unit. I was prepping the second one, which was just this weekend, when I realised that I hadn't even blogged the first one yet... and it was in March! So here it is...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>March Training Day</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We had a single days training with the sprogs in March held at a scout hall in Lincoln. Due to the fact that I had been away on holiday <span style="font-size: x-small;">(woo hoo, Africa!)</span> until the week before the prep for this one was <em>way</em> behind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Cue sleep deprivation due to late nights prepping and early mornings getting into work.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg39ObhN63cwTNcy7LYuMbGsE7qKY4eODuHVsZpCbvmoQmTcPdfmo-nPaz-bczkPV5eU1hOYO0_a4Oq_4F7bN-0nSbI-_9OP5G7kOxdwWm6jliTlUqOq_zYZ3CrcohjhU5yYPI-H8qntQ/s1600/ShatteredLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="256px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg39ObhN63cwTNcy7LYuMbGsE7qKY4eODuHVsZpCbvmoQmTcPdfmo-nPaz-bczkPV5eU1hOYO0_a4Oq_4F7bN-0nSbI-_9OP5G7kOxdwWm6jliTlUqOq_zYZ3CrcohjhU5yYPI-H8qntQ/s320/ShatteredLogo.png" width="320px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Logo from Channel4's gameshow </span><a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/shattered"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Shattered</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How I managed to stay awake I don't know!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But everything came together and the kids really enjoyed it. We covered some information on the Jamboree, Home Hospitality, Media Training (done by the sprogs that went on the </span><a href="http://diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/2010/11/media-darlings.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">course</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> run by UK Contingent) and a quiz with random facts about Lithuania.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facts like how animals are believed to talk on Christmas Eve in Lithuania, The old currency was ground up and recycled into toilet paper when they switched and that Stalin World is a tourist attraction!</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="309px" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/ht_stalinworld_070913_ssh.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400px" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See... it exists, honest!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We also </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">got the county Trek Carting team to bring them along for a bit of trek cart racing in the afternoon.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="204px" src="http://www.shurdington.org/Scouts/Trekcart/TrekCigCardFr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400px" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look, it's vintage scouting!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The racing involved pushing them up to a barrier, taking them apart, getting over a barrier, putting them back together, pushing it round a post and back to the barrier, taking it apart again, getting it under the barrier, putting it back together again and pushing it back to its original position. <span style="font-size: x-small;">Try saying <em>that</em> really fast 3 times.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We also got them to do some mini-pioneering so that we could get some ideas for the gateway.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AjHwg1Tx9VMTVNy986ugMQ7NgA8FHwenC65nGriEkwT78Axqm-Tiro9ugQQ49IhyPElikfGYWoanrdt6VpZn-4mxwgI5mwmivxcmlwX2NX09uc4A3-pBu8xYDslQvogwd3_IM2_Fvxs/s1600/Gate1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AjHwg1Tx9VMTVNy986ugMQ7NgA8FHwenC65nGriEkwT78Axqm-Tiro9ugQQ49IhyPElikfGYWoanrdt6VpZn-4mxwgI5mwmivxcmlwX2NX09uc4A3-pBu8xYDslQvogwd3_IM2_Fvxs/s400/Gate1.JPG" width="400px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one had rope bridges up the sides and a swing in the middle</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKP4D_PCVYPjoQe0BKEzMGhGJvh5iufi9Pfbr299ZhR7YMssWNfisiB-tk7kmN3a3_ESItSJCGzMfEDqVq7AlJxxkyLzAsHPof25tgB0Rcz07CbnFBqln2xgrRjus4Jd5rkzvwV39Bz0/s1600/Gate2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKP4D_PCVYPjoQe0BKEzMGhGJvh5iufi9Pfbr299ZhR7YMssWNfisiB-tk7kmN3a3_ESItSJCGzMfEDqVq7AlJxxkyLzAsHPof25tgB0Rcz07CbnFBqln2xgrRjus4Jd5rkzvwV39Bz0/s400/Gate2.JPG" width="400px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going with a castle theme, this one has the iron gateway painted on fabric which could be raised during the day.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVaLWvjgXBps5GvZOa0Rv18ZMg_UOtjNhFfJyKVUC4tUbFdJa_GRdOCwk0k-WYtV_tOBw9j-assNkfbA6oTYOt5lkTWKE-50Lw4EXsIDvQTSQGYDFJXi_xyir6mLjmQZtLWCIseN5D70/s1600/Gate3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVaLWvjgXBps5GvZOa0Rv18ZMg_UOtjNhFfJyKVUC4tUbFdJa_GRdOCwk0k-WYtV_tOBw9j-assNkfbA6oTYOt5lkTWKE-50Lw4EXsIDvQTSQGYDFJXi_xyir6mLjmQZtLWCIseN5D70/s400/Gate3.JPG" width="400px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one included a platform at the top and a number of posters about Lincolnshire</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial;">General concensus went with a platform above the gateway, so that they would be able to climb all over it. Us leaders also managed to brainstorm a couple of ideas while they were building. I don't want to reveal the ideas just yet, but if we can get it to work it will be brilliant and should help get people from other units over to our site.</span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-92088783935545574932011-05-04T14:10:00.002+01:002011-05-04T14:10:59.443+01:003Nations: Free Day<div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Have a look at previous 3Nations posts on the <a href="http://diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/p/expeditions.html">Expedition Page</a>. It's where all the cool kids hang out!</i></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Sunday 26th July 2009</span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today was a free day for us to relax, recharge the batteries etc... which is usually needed at some point in the middle of such a long expedition.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the morning, as a thank you to the monks that allowed us to camp and hike on their land, we did a litter sweep through part of the Bogd Khan National Park.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="300px" id="myphoto" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6128_148649555399_602670399_3851879_7727528_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400px" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of us, about to set off on our mission.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You would be surprised for somewhere so remote just how much rubbish we found in the National Park!</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It truly was rather disgusting. Some of the stranger things that we found included most of a deck of cards (all separate of course, we were all trying to collect poker hands as we went along) and I found a fair amount of a vehicle chassis.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="300px" id="myphoto" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6128_148649570399_602670399_3851881_5277405_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400px" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A small selection of the bags that we filled.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In total we filled somewhere in the region of 130 black bin bags!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the day was ours, and was mostly filled with laundry and washing and relaxing. Until dinner came along and we were told that it would be a cooking competition, where we were to make some traditional Mongolian food. We opted for some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuushuur">Khuurshuur</a> (pronounced Horsha) with a variety of different fillings.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="300px" id="myphoto" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6128_148649575399_602670399_3851882_1335357_n.jpg" width="400px" /></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="300px" id="myphoto" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6128_148649580399_602670399_3851883_7536962_n.jpg" width="400px" /></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And we actually came joint first! Tho to settle who came first overall it was a relay race to the flag pole... which we didn't win. The rest of the evening was just laid back and relaxed.</span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-46866977593240510912011-05-02T13:00:00.004+01:002011-05-02T13:00:10.370+01:003Nations: Ulaanbaatar<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Have a look at previous 3Nations posts on the <a href="http://diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/p/expeditions.html">Expedition Page</a>. Go on, you know you want to!</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Saturday 25th July 2009</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today was rather different from most of the days here in Mongolia. Instead of the Aravts pairing off and going to do activities separately, we were all going to be heading out as one big happy family!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plan... taking in some of the sites of Ulaanbaatar! woo hoo, touristy fun! I'm always a fan of touristy fun.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First stop was the Gandan Buddhist Monastery. Which was packed with tourists, or at least it felt like it after the quiet of camp.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="266px" id="fullimage" src="http://photos.perry-online.me.uk/index.php?sfpg=VHJhdmVsLzIwMDlfLzA3MTUgLSAwODA1IFRocmVlIE5hdGlvbnMgRXhwZWRpdGlvbi8qSU1HXzEyNzkuSlBHKippbWFnZSoqYjkwMTYzNzU3MDE2MTQ2MjBlYzBmYzk2MGI2ZDk3NTY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400px" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok... doesn't look as busy as I remember it...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'd waited about a bit, waiting to find out exactly what was happening. I think someone was supposed to show us around, but that didn't turn out, so we eventually just started wandering round like the rest of the tourists. Right round the back of those buildings was a load of prayer wheels, which led us round to a prayer room, where there was a load of monks chanting. Unfortunately there was also a load of tourists surrounding and blocking the entrance, so I didn't really get to see anything.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But turns out, this was only a small part of the monastery. We found a temple nearby with possibly the biggest Buddha I have seen (and I've seen some big Buddhas in my time)</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w3irVXAd_mBh7vrE7Z_3PBSnj1zAJ15lzpKkbiLD_hq-bFDPKz5aeEhrzqHdRPkTZTYhR-tkWth5je4jTfNEnkJIAGnffsINjt8Jexb-ehDeldURncMdYpHdaaIhHDXvJwR-qef1pow/s1600/photo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w3irVXAd_mBh7vrE7Z_3PBSnj1zAJ15lzpKkbiLD_hq-bFDPKz5aeEhrzqHdRPkTZTYhR-tkWth5je4jTfNEnkJIAGnffsINjt8Jexb-ehDeldURncMdYpHdaaIhHDXvJwR-qef1pow/s400/photo.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't take the photo, cause of all the signs saying not too. But one of the others was naughty and snapped this quick one. Yes, it <i>is</i> a Buddha statue. Looks rather Hindu in style I thought; what with the 4 arms, breasts and the spot on its forehead. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Actually, check this out. It's a 360 view from inside the temple itself!</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0" height="315" id="_360_krpano_id_593028" name="_360_krpano_name_593028" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.360cities.net/javascripts/krpano/krpano.swf"/><param name="quality" value="autohigh"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="flashvars" value="pano=http://www.360cities.net/krpano/external_embed/megjid-janraisig-asia.xml&epd=http://www.360cities.net/data/embed/plugin_data/megjid-janraisig-asia"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><embed src="http://www.360cities.net/javascripts/krpano/krpano.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="425" height="315" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" quality="autohigh" flashvars="pano=http://www.360cities.net/krpano/external_embed/megjid-janraisig-asia.xml&epd=http://www.360cities.net/data/embed/plugin_data/megjid-janraisig-asia"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.360cities.net/image/megjid-janraisig-asia" title="panorama photos of Megjid Janraisig on 360cities.net">Megjid Janraisig</a> in <a href="http://www.360cities.net/area/ulaanbaatar" title="panoramic images from Ulaanbaatar">Ulaanbaatar</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How cool is that!! Anyway, I asked Dawn, one of the leaders on the trip who is Buddhist, about the statues form and she said different statues were aimed at getting different aspects of the Buddha across symbolically.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After exploring the temple we were then taken to our next location, a sauna. A chance to get properly clean was a very welcome prospect at this stage, since we left China we'd been washing in buckets from water you had to heat over the fire. The showers were nice and strong, the green tea bath was very refreshing and the freezing plunge pool took your breath away. The fact that all the guys were in together and we were all completely naked.... *shudder*... I saw FAR TO MUCH of some people. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>and before any of you ask, NO there are no photos, and if there was any they would be hunted down and destroyed for the sake of humanity.</i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving on, after lunch we went to the National Museum of Mongolia, where we got to learn a bit about the history and culture of the country. I say a bit because only the first so many displays had english translations. We still enjoyed it tho, and I did get this:</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0GS9bBwmehXS0L-iH_H4zsxJeyUVgtCJTcDXk6Nr9v6qDU2Obn-QKH-Vqu8JcJRLCUTWGbB4leOb_huGcSpxgWEaY93YebDi7Uk9cxhTRoAc2FzdCsEdpzsnNfLbWcoXjN5iUxxSS6M/s1600/IMG_0238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0GS9bBwmehXS0L-iH_H4zsxJeyUVgtCJTcDXk6Nr9v6qDU2Obn-QKH-Vqu8JcJRLCUTWGbB4leOb_huGcSpxgWEaY93YebDi7Uk9cxhTRoAc2FzdCsEdpzsnNfLbWcoXjN5iUxxSS6M/s400/IMG_0238.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's my name in Mongolian</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were then given some free time around the main square area of the city before heading off for another meal. Myself and a couple of the others went in search of somewhere to post our postcards and I attempted to phone home (it was a stupid number of digits to use, like 20-30ish).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dinner was followed by a visit to the Cashmere Market on our way to our final destination, Zaisan Hill. It's a huge memorial for Soviet Soldiers killed in World War 2 on the top of a hill just south of Ulaanbaatar.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="300" src="http://photos.travelblog.org/Photos/74303/291181/t/2483726-ZaisanHill-0.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from travelblog.org</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inside of the ring is covered in a mural.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0" height="315" id="_360_krpano_id_239737" name="_360_krpano_name_239737" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.360cities.net/javascripts/krpano/krpano.swf"/><param name="quality" value="autohigh"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="flashvars" value="pano=http://www.360cities.net/krpano/external_embed/zaisan-hill-inside-view-mongolia.xml&epd=http://www.360cities.net/data/embed/plugin_data/zaisan-hill-inside-view-mongolia"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><embed src="http://www.360cities.net/javascripts/krpano/krpano.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="425" height="315" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" quality="autohigh" flashvars="pano=http://www.360cities.net/krpano/external_embed/zaisan-hill-inside-view-mongolia.xml&epd=http://www.360cities.net/data/embed/plugin_data/zaisan-hill-inside-view-mongolia"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.360cities.net/image/zaisan-hill-inside-view-mongolia" title="panorama photos of Zaisan Hill Inside View on 360cities.net">Zaisan Hill Inside View</a> in <a href="http://www.360cities.net/area/ulaanbaatar" title="panoramic images from Ulaanbaatar">Ulaanbaatar</a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This panorama is just perfect actually, it looked exactly like this when we were there. Have a look round at the mural and see if you can find the woman breast feeding!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Thanks to those that I borrowed photos from, thanks also to 360cities.net for the awesome panorama views!</i></span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-25665159049280670202011-04-29T16:55:00.000+01:002011-04-29T16:55:28.770+01:00As Clear as Crystal?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I've mentioned in the past, we are trying to include some of the Join In Jamboree activities into our weekly program. This month was all about water.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://www.waterfiltersite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/pure-water.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To highlight some of the problems with the supply of water we didn't just want to talk at the sprogs about them, we wanted them to experience them.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, first challenge was to actually collect the water. Not from the tap like the sprogs wanted to, but from the a local waterway. The walk was supposed to be 20mins if you follow the program idea, as that can be the normal length of walk for some people in the World to get their water, but the sprogs were rather quick at walking!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The water was obviously not safe to drink as it was, just as it isn't in many parts of the World. So the next challenge was to go through the process of purifying the water so that we could make a drink. And let's just say, we were leaving nothing to chance.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The water was put through colanders and sieves to get rid of the big bits...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... then passed through coffee filters to get rid of smaller stuff.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... then they used water purifying chemicals</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... and then it was boiled... twice... just to make sure.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And for their efforts they were rewarded with some hot chocolate, with water they had purified themselves.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sprogs were having a good laugh with the water and were surprised at how much the water needs to go through before it was safe to drink. Hopefully it will help them appreciate the water that we have so readily available from our taps, and to think of those that don't have the equipment to properly purify their water.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Ok, so I know this one is way late... but I've been a busy boy ok! Unfortunately it means that I forget the little jokes and stuff that the sprogs did... d'oh. But it was a good night.</i></span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-91161595265580535712011-04-15T08:53:00.000+01:002011-04-15T08:53:32.032+01:00Bomb Disposal (again)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just who is leaving all these </span><a href="http://diaryofascoutleader.blogspot.com/2010/07/red-wire-or-blue-wire.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bombs</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> laying all over the place??</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's careless is what it is... some would even go as far as saying dangerous.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I get to that ticking time bomb, we actually did another activity with the sprogs first <span style="font-size: x-small;">(it helped give us some time to set up the detonators and rig the motion sensors).</span> As you all know it is the Jamboree this summer, so the UK Scout Association has some Join In Jamboree activities... so that everyone can experience a bit of the Jamboree.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(by the way, free pdf downloads of the booklets are <a href="http://scouts.org.uk/joininjamboree">here</a>... if any of you are looking for program ideas).<span style="font-size: x-small;">- actually, do any other countries have something like this in place? Would be interesting to have a look at it, if you can then leave a link in the comments.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We chose the New Planet one, were they were to pair up and come up with a new planet and they were given a list of things that they had to come up with to help describe life on that planet.</span><br />
<ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Name the planet and explain why it is called that</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Draw the flag for the planet, explain the design</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10 laws</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Motto for the planet</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How will the planet make money?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">List 5 things that are banned on your planet</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Design your planets formal costume</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Draw and name the money used on the planet</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write and perform a planetery song, at least 6 lines long (can be to a tune they already know)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">List 6 items you will take from Earth with you.</span></li>
</ol><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And all I gave them to do all that in was half an hour!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...cause those bombs are ticking you know.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like the last time, they would have to use water to float the trigger out of the bomb. But this one is a different model.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4a3b3b0cbd&view=att&th=12f50bcf8f5bf822&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4a3b3b0cbd&view=att&th=12f50bcf8f5bf822&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See all those extra obstacles? They are the bomb-o-matics new 'features'... now with extra deadly. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(and a free carrage clock with your first order)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW87CB4Hq9vd_FrH7va9yIoJ1RwO_zYpQ1cZOyie09s2STKhgJmGR4nX8VB90g0t4ZgEP7ZLQYu8W9mBGrTa_n-j_PVgkpPLsXjJV7avM3BC7pk2Xk7dRym98UpcXUYpZtBbGICVY4xA/s1600/bomb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW87CB4Hq9vd_FrH7va9yIoJ1RwO_zYpQ1cZOyie09s2STKhgJmGR4nX8VB90g0t4ZgEP7ZLQYu8W9mBGrTa_n-j_PVgkpPLsXjJV7avM3BC7pk2Xk7dRym98UpcXUYpZtBbGICVY4xA/s400/bomb.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With these Proximity Prevention Poles (PPP for short) water will need to be dropped from a height.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Infact, the pioneering project they had to build was a chariot, an A-frame. One of the patrol would have to ride the chariot, carrying the cup of water, while the rest of the patrol carried the chariot. Of course, you get more than one cup in a bottle... so they had to go back and forth a number of times to fill it.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFxWrfu9C5dYvPs_Rq0G4Jq8QNftmEqfrFNL2ZblZkY40HDGhCLXexNNbA0K5Bd5FemQitrMlqdo1aDYgLY9VXlrZld49uXDxrJYDPAXHzvEjxULqXgN2c4Yqp97wbiSM1qelI2kJ-FI/s1600/bomb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFxWrfu9C5dYvPs_Rq0G4Jq8QNftmEqfrFNL2ZblZkY40HDGhCLXexNNbA0K5Bd5FemQitrMlqdo1aDYgLY9VXlrZld49uXDxrJYDPAXHzvEjxULqXgN2c4Yqp97wbiSM1qelI2kJ-FI/s400/bomb2.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They're getting so close!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surprisingly, we managed all of this... designing a new planet, deactivating a bomb and clearing up... and we still had time to spare! So we played human checkers, Sprogs v Leaders <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(we had cones as our pieces as there were only 3 leaders)</span>.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4a3b3b0cbd&view=att&th=12f50bcf8f5bf822&attid=0.7&disp=inline&zw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4a3b3b0cbd&view=att&th=12f50bcf8f5bf822&attid=0.7&disp=inline&zw" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sprogs lost.... mah ha ha ha</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-59492074098324775592011-04-14T11:02:00.000+01:002011-04-14T11:02:51.142+01:00Changing the World<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you changing the World?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The official song for the next World Scout Jamboree has recently been released... here check it out.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Te8FbB76jzc" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretty good huh?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't wait to be singing it in the middle of the site with thousands of others!</span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-57084287830833144692011-04-13T10:51:00.002+01:002011-05-02T23:12:33.052+01:00Mothering Sunday<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week I had a bit of a problem.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initially this week, the program had us down to get ready for camp, but camp has been delayed until the end of the month. Normally we would have simply have moved the program for that week forward to this week. But given that that week is connected to a certain wedding, we couldn't exactly move.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, I could try asking Will and Kate to move it... but somehow I doubt they would go for it.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How selfish of them!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So their rudeness left me in a bit of a problem, what to do with the scouts on Friday. Luckily it would be Mothering Sunday that very weekend... the challenge with that being coming up with something different from all the other youth clubs and schools etc.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Here mummy, I made this card for you at school and these paper flowers at sunday school and this other card at science club and this....</i></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I got to thinking, and I remembered </span><a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/04/springy-flower-pot-desserts-a-blast-from-my-past/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this post</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from a food blog that I kinda follow and I'll admit I have made some yummy things from it in the past. And then I remembered </span><a href="http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this post</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from a blog I used to follow. And I had a brain-wave. It's traditional to give your mum flowers and chocolates on Mothers Day right... I mean, that's what all the shops keep telling me (and why would they lie?)... so let's give them flowers and chocolates, but in cake form!</span></span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I am obsessed by cake recently!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So first off was cake balls, to look like chocolates. I missed some pictures of the process, but it is very easy. You get them to rip up some cake, I used cheap cupcakes, they have to turn it into crumbs.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then you add some frosting, just a little bit mind, and get your hands stuck in to stick all the crumbs back together. With this you can grab a lump and shape it however you like.</span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbhxbPt-HtJiHtwsbURvX3sn6YIWY9lJu58Fg2i96H1hfdRRAaNE9uDja6oL3ALraS2dI3QgsV3PXUoqLiCXIyKHYXpsw-CDoYbpX25HJwsGe5UE73F_-lNLQHOSMkhy7mZJmOS5NJqU/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbhxbPt-HtJiHtwsbURvX3sn6YIWY9lJu58Fg2i96H1hfdRRAaNE9uDja6oL3ALraS2dI3QgsV3PXUoqLiCXIyKHYXpsw-CDoYbpX25HJwsGe5UE73F_-lNLQHOSMkhy7mZJmOS5NJqU/s400/photo+2.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can see some of them just behind the bowl of melted chocolate... that's the next stange.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got them to shape them like chocolates and then coat them in melted chocolate. It's best to use a fork to move them round in the chocolate as when you lift them out you can tap off the excess chocolate and it falls nicely between the forks teeth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f66veOYZDIf3QZNgD3Hn6_A535rNqwDhBrxztyGmFTmFIZORw2IEY_OEuuDUrKYk6is0GoT2QVtDdw3AQBk8h0snEN7WnqY1za0V8mUrGdF9PrLpJBgWZ3SRPybpja6SMBT-kP3DUaM/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f66veOYZDIf3QZNgD3Hn6_A535rNqwDhBrxztyGmFTmFIZORw2IEY_OEuuDUrKYk6is0GoT2QVtDdw3AQBk8h0snEN7WnqY1za0V8mUrGdF9PrLpJBgWZ3SRPybpja6SMBT-kP3DUaM/s400/photo+3.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">like this</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4_AOVGb1o58WKkC5Btn5deAAt67G9Uh_gztsC6VyheFM8Vpdpt8bD5X4TzuS0wWCvTMcAeBO5yBKXptosOR04lS9q3gXCiwDKSsY0O58kZrXWcRjO_alqsXNDPTZpHSL9SccsqnGRTE/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4_AOVGb1o58WKkC5Btn5deAAt67G9Uh_gztsC6VyheFM8Vpdpt8bD5X4TzuS0wWCvTMcAeBO5yBKXptosOR04lS9q3gXCiwDKSsY0O58kZrXWcRjO_alqsXNDPTZpHSL9SccsqnGRTE/s400/photo+4.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYPcyIWyY5WXSfdHQJvQB5lzGEoZ239Mp8AStq86AxSxD-kO-dXyITxGDlBsqjG9gFuTsfntKvX2BzOTPf-x_jRBE55W5SmVuQNIL07mMy784EQ11oB_WiWmLa-Z1C41vpZHUBlm8CKs/s1600/photo+1a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYPcyIWyY5WXSfdHQJvQB5lzGEoZ239Mp8AStq86AxSxD-kO-dXyITxGDlBsqjG9gFuTsfntKvX2BzOTPf-x_jRBE55W5SmVuQNIL07mMy784EQ11oB_WiWmLa-Z1C41vpZHUBlm8CKs/s400/photo+1a.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The process was slightly messy</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: medium; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: medium; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: medium; text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once dropped in the petite four cases the sugar glitter was unleashed.</span></div></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCZQih2MywCj4sD-YpkHsqqo1U9w8WTy9-giqV9gBGBvqC8THeZa0zX62_awQ4YtY9MS0FSx-stvgz2O6KqC-j8fc3dR93ZCpOCp_YcDHoJtC-i9W1xMF1c1P-OgEUcrZ56ZwYKVZ5Kc/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCZQih2MywCj4sD-YpkHsqqo1U9w8WTy9-giqV9gBGBvqC8THeZa0zX62_awQ4YtY9MS0FSx-stvgz2O6KqC-j8fc3dR93ZCpOCp_YcDHoJtC-i9W1xMF1c1P-OgEUcrZ56ZwYKVZ5Kc/s400/photo+5.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how pretty</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that's the chocolates done! We just needed to leave them out to dry. Now for those flower pots. Obviously the first thing to do was to thoroughly wash them. <span style="font-size: x-small;">Well, hopefully that would be obvious. </span><span style="font-size: small;">What I failed to photograph is that you need to get a small square of greaseproof paper and put it over the hole in the bottom of the pot.</span></span> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJMB6wEEiA0i9qzIQ3VdARaGG50OEB5L31wh1DoxHEwooLcz-dXtg64SY6f1iS43AXL-BX-PKS9uTZqe4FF1oxzDZ5yqzodVBjFzjAfgxXxTFP4wV4uqCTHPOUVqgqWbPetCT_UgnN3hc/s1600/photo+3a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJMB6wEEiA0i9qzIQ3VdARaGG50OEB5L31wh1DoxHEwooLcz-dXtg64SY6f1iS43AXL-BX-PKS9uTZqe4FF1oxzDZ5yqzodVBjFzjAfgxXxTFP4wV4uqCTHPOUVqgqWbPetCT_UgnN3hc/s400/photo+3a.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then cut up some swiss roll, and stuff it in the pot</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> <br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwb4fihe2hlq2_hQ4vUcL82MKV3CJvprrX-XaBLVGV0auluhwP9X_MQrD6TLi4Gf-7m-tZamAobCzyTGMeHxZlq_iAKNKAZkPKO9JwMzbRJcjdG3sTL0rDlxXiOWN2aIkXRlHslYJSYY/s1600/photo+4a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwb4fihe2hlq2_hQ4vUcL82MKV3CJvprrX-XaBLVGV0auluhwP9X_MQrD6TLi4Gf-7m-tZamAobCzyTGMeHxZlq_iAKNKAZkPKO9JwMzbRJcjdG3sTL0rDlxXiOWN2aIkXRlHslYJSYY/s400/photo+4a.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then top that with some frosting (i used ready-made Betty Crocker stuff.... *drool... I could <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(and have)</span> eat that stuff with a spoon).</span></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxxCChIjbTuoZoQ6OT-8vuK7qz0mUmSMzAF49nUEmsk7hsyongORov-WwdQx-ayTMWnS5lp07eOvOyQy6-BmbnMGvl2s9wEsbe7qPpVuCOtKEQN4KPOz77CIU7q263TMmFGtSs7iR0a0/s1600/photo+5a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxxCChIjbTuoZoQ6OT-8vuK7qz0mUmSMzAF49nUEmsk7hsyongORov-WwdQx-ayTMWnS5lp07eOvOyQy6-BmbnMGvl2s9wEsbe7qPpVuCOtKEQN4KPOz77CIU7q263TMmFGtSs7iR0a0/s320/photo+5a.JPG" width="240px" /></span></a> </div><br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4MGVPWhicg-5tp7CdcDAnzFhLyOGuudKrURTOvdJ77RT-weNOmHpHBYSJXQU5sT5IDHfHnerEOEht9tdJJz-HX-3jwXHuurToVA4a4NEVoxjFfOEwBJ5QBXmdZnNpuKxbjKDNLZgBCw/s1600/photo+2a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4MGVPWhicg-5tp7CdcDAnzFhLyOGuudKrURTOvdJ77RT-weNOmHpHBYSJXQU5sT5IDHfHnerEOEht9tdJJz-HX-3jwXHuurToVA4a4NEVoxjFfOEwBJ5QBXmdZnNpuKxbjKDNLZgBCw/s400/photo+2a.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can even mix up the types of cake... and stuff in some marshmallows if there are any gaps. Keep going like that til you're nearer the top.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYXENgT5p_Ni4NLYnRTJ0JOglVbNKlWrvjMXHJ5_-ypKHPmIl6RL94Wt11pKHANY85sbyEsYzf1pZlGaSYBR6-ohT2CR6s2BJmqRqe5ddvjczZz4EboD-_xkfWvzz-Q4xncRqCQcK3XQ/s1600/photo+2b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYXENgT5p_Ni4NLYnRTJ0JOglVbNKlWrvjMXHJ5_-ypKHPmIl6RL94Wt11pKHANY85sbyEsYzf1pZlGaSYBR6-ohT2CR6s2BJmqRqe5ddvjczZz4EboD-_xkfWvzz-Q4xncRqCQcK3XQ/s400/photo+2b.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now get a whole load of Oreos, about 5 for each pot) and crush them with the end of a rolling pin, until they are crumbs. This is going to be the soil. It's rather convincing too, some of the sprogs thought i was eating soil initially.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5vQLUChhXpVgFlF0Z7FUabNCRTzlyAu3nSEO37OWxKakHx-Y5fLkrrZiyexAE-bgDN0iP6JKQZ7X-y-BFhdTKEDk8xiKIkOroTuzW7wl1G_tnjexFym9C-l5NBBh9nte1DuNWk68eTk/s1600/photo+1b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5vQLUChhXpVgFlF0Z7FUabNCRTzlyAu3nSEO37OWxKakHx-Y5fLkrrZiyexAE-bgDN0iP6JKQZ7X-y-BFhdTKEDk8xiKIkOroTuzW7wl1G_tnjexFym9C-l5NBBh9nte1DuNWk68eTk/s400/photo+1b.JPG" width="300px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grab some flowers of your choice, cut them to length and strip some of the thorns and leave off the stems. Now, you don't put it straight in the cake, rather you insert some straws into the cake... and put the flowers in the straws!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The results, I think, are pretty cool.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbc5j4zMAfy998ZzFqpTvFJJ6ND2dp50_08kOeVapw0mjijykvbprGyszTmX_Z46hbqMx7sw_mcRUvjACp6jBj0Gvv7N07RIvdAV0lMtdpL1iAXy8iXV2ZYzerJm26JaQ93xuepdtvMTo/s1600/photo+4b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbc5j4zMAfy998ZzFqpTvFJJ6ND2dp50_08kOeVapw0mjijykvbprGyszTmX_Z46hbqMx7sw_mcRUvjACp6jBj0Gvv7N07RIvdAV0lMtdpL1iAXy8iXV2ZYzerJm26JaQ93xuepdtvMTo/s400/photo+4b.JPG" width="300px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9BJZ-n-RIfG6bGiI7OoSDnrFNDz-gCw88KUZ8XpZKWjmbBAgVnsdpfrYxvh3qXqAhQ6Mti3YEFiqLQIT4oGcPp4qzhCvRQrpgpWw1ab5gRQs3HwFFNwGNjeayDRv3jxaN_ZC4kW6K1g/s1600/photo+3b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9BJZ-n-RIfG6bGiI7OoSDnrFNDz-gCw88KUZ8XpZKWjmbBAgVnsdpfrYxvh3qXqAhQ6Mti3YEFiqLQIT4oGcPp4qzhCvRQrpgpWw1ab5gRQs3HwFFNwGNjeayDRv3jxaN_ZC4kW6K1g/s400/photo+3b.JPG" width="400px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QHlUqyFOT8KqEFY6jp9Ru9HbpT7919TKKiiQVLhzOFJ2dLlChMtfYADyeUZHh4MeFLHteLfqwBfZUlb8JKEQ5WebLfSjcHADQrbUioPTM8t6SUKQjpiz-_rgNNu0olAaCC0-NOGGJpA/s1600/photo+5b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QHlUqyFOT8KqEFY6jp9Ru9HbpT7919TKKiiQVLhzOFJ2dLlChMtfYADyeUZHh4MeFLHteLfqwBfZUlb8JKEQ5WebLfSjcHADQrbUioPTM8t6SUKQjpiz-_rgNNu0olAaCC0-NOGGJpA/s400/photo+5b.JPG" width="300px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238468503795479426.post-9143298362519895982011-03-31T09:07:00.000+01:002011-03-31T09:07:16.218+01:00Caching In<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about time that I introduced you to some new members of my scouting family...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cMq1xf12lIWFeLvxTIkcVVEZ3r8q1BatVfCdlJ6SDysL4Wb3ToANC3VsqTdYPtKas-nUadK3B1ihCSkmzkN4R9q5ZIxTYm57XIN_zDrBEeUdw43Z9JseWrIaLIEgVzAPWKgTKfUnCTY/s1600/Albert.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cMq1xf12lIWFeLvxTIkcVVEZ3r8q1BatVfCdlJ6SDysL4Wb3ToANC3VsqTdYPtKas-nUadK3B1ihCSkmzkN4R9q5ZIxTYm57XIN_zDrBEeUdw43Z9JseWrIaLIEgVzAPWKgTKfUnCTY/s400/Albert.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Albert, he lives with Mim (the GSL) and likes to get out and about with her family. He's sociable like that, altho you will find him at some family gathering sitting in the corner munching on some boiled sweets.</span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUrM_38Xj-3vF9qDx87sTHa6AftdgEviy6pHBtc1beIMY_7KJ0yVeohT0x3Moucey6GJKq2y4orwJsYHQDonjRQoXOL9Ln2qnhNtDHLrtCeJKSfaMCWpIaKcOXfzbypxa4hSCo1WTDUc/s1600/Betty.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUrM_38Xj-3vF9qDx87sTHa6AftdgEviy6pHBtc1beIMY_7KJ0yVeohT0x3Moucey6GJKq2y4orwJsYHQDonjRQoXOL9Ln2qnhNtDHLrtCeJKSfaMCWpIaKcOXfzbypxa4hSCo1WTDUc/s400/Betty.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr></><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Betty here has been living with me (oh the scandal). She likes visiting places and sometimes accompanies me to work. She likes cake and her favourite colour is blue.</span></td><><div></div></></></></></></></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5-5CbNQWQXaqU2GwMXZme8Tj07UPBUkulAhHs_Nr3x1EZncV6Za7HWeUi66fm4vtUX_QT7OJavslEiGqDZ2EQIvIgjSUU3rf47ZGrejnMuqgRLStQj6W-BbBBryTsLM1UCg0_8YJHJQ/s1600/Cyril.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5-5CbNQWQXaqU2GwMXZme8Tj07UPBUkulAhHs_Nr3x1EZncV6Za7HWeUi66fm4vtUX_QT7OJavslEiGqDZ2EQIvIgjSUU3rf47ZGrejnMuqgRLStQj6W-BbBBryTsLM1UCg0_8YJHJQ/s400/Cyril.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cyril can be a bit tempremental at times. Jo, his carer, has being having some problems with him. He has occasional dizzy spells and gets slightly disorientated.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqk0-two1sqiKXhqn2sz-qsTZ0tkmNsxVnxBNDVuGLbaRS-HY2gmM5zdiGyIK0_vOyxG60MqQ4u0gutRi_9Jp__JZ-ksPPXoB3ia451N9fShrMeGTk2bew2LAHP5M2mE36h3GXuuSDlk4/s1600/Doris.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqk0-two1sqiKXhqn2sz-qsTZ0tkmNsxVnxBNDVuGLbaRS-HY2gmM5zdiGyIK0_vOyxG60MqQ4u0gutRi_9Jp__JZ-ksPPXoB3ia451N9fShrMeGTk2bew2LAHP5M2mE36h3GXuuSDlk4/s400/Doris.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And not to forget Doris, our shrinking voilet. She's rather quiet, keeps herself to herself and doesn't get out as much as the others. She can usually be found round the drinks table at the party tho.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yup, these are our new GPSs. Instead of numbering or lettering them we decided to name them... because it's more fun that way! The worrying part about it was the number of emails that flew between Mim and myself as we were trying to come up with the names.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was like we were naming children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We delibrately went for more old fashioned names so that it would be less likely that we would get sprogs with the same names.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, what have we got planned for them? GEOCACHING! Geocaching is like a giant treasure hunt. People hide containers of varying shapes and sizes all over the world and register it online, anyone else can then look up the co-ordinates and the clues and then go hunting for them. Usually there is a log, a strip of paper, for you to sign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This video should help explain it:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-4VFeYZTTYs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, Mim is pretty nifty at this whole geocaching malarky (as of writing this she has found 250 of them... and that is bound to go up... oh and she only started 9 months ago!). So she hid a series of caches just for the scouts to find, some of which would be made public later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We split the sprogs into two teams and got them to go hunting, as subtly as they could manage (which wasn't that subtle if I am honest). They had varying degrees of success, but they all seamed to enjoy it... which is handy as it all goes towards their Navigator badge</span>Stewarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894522853413408092noreply@blogger.com0