Diary of a Scout Leader

My money is on Noddy

2012-01-21T22:39:00.000Z

New year... new house... new scouting role

nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

Sorry while I compose myself, I find that picture hilarious

...

*bites fist*

... sorry, I got to look at that picture again....

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.

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?"

Who would have thought that they would be Good Will Hunting fans?

And being mildly disturbed when one of them actually succeeded!

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.

Personally, my money is on Noddy

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.

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.

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.

I did it a while back 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.

All in all, a good start I think!

Blackout

2012-01-18T12:23:00.002Z

*SIRENS*

It's time for a blackout people!

You shut those curtains Margerie

Okay, maybe not the type of blackout where you have to paint your cow...

Nice brush strokes... but no, not this type of black out Debra

I'm talking about the internet blackout.

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.

Mayeb I should invest in one of these...

Wikipedia handily has some information about the whole thing if you want to learn more about it... right here

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.

So concider this site blacked out, and close your eyes or something!

UPDATE: Here's where you can add your name to the petition:

ANOTHER UPDATE: The blackout is now over... you can have your links and buttons and other useful stuff back now!

Times they are a changing

2012-01-11T18:59:00.000Z

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

And no comments about me being two faced.... okay?

The biggest change has to be that I have FINALLY moved house!

HUZZAH- *villagers rejoicing*

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.

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

... SCOTLAND LOOK AT ME!!!

Yes that's nice, now get out of the way of that other line...

... I'M AT THE TOP!!!

I can see that, now be careful when you set off as you'll swing into that overhang...

... *THUD* ...

... *sigh*

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.

But generally a night that ends with the sprogs asking if they can do that activity again is always a winner.

My last week with the scouts was another Cinema night, like last year. 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.

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 all the Muppet movies. Apparently they scare her for some bizzare unknown reason. I mean seriously, how can you be scared of the muppets?!

Rizzo is, of course, my favourite.

I mean, if it was something like Mimic with mutant cockroaches start attacking people just for the fun of it then I could totally understand (ok, I'll admit that I only got about 5minutes into that film before giving up), but this is the Muppets! Well, I suppose that we'll accept all sorts to be scout leaders.

But Muppet-haters is getting close to the line...

And that was my last night with the 9th Lincoln Scouts!

*sniff*

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.

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.

And given that I didn't put up a festive message, please accept this little video (except if you're weird like Jo... )

... Don't say I'm not good to you!

Golden moments

2011-12-02T12:45:00.000Z

One of my scouts has managed to gain her Chief Scout Gold Award!

*does a little dance*

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.

So I will happily admit that I am rather proud at the moment.

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.

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.

I did collar her before leaving the hall tho to get another photo.

Congratulations Jess!

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.

Apparently I'm now an elf

2011-11-30T11:43:00.000Z

One of the explorers in the Jamboree Unit just posted this on the groups facebook page and I just had to share it with you...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

That's the 4 unit leaders!

... I have to say, hats off to the lad, it's definitely the most bizarre thank you I've ever received.

Twister + Record Cards + Investiture = An Impossible To Title Blog Post

2011-11-28T23:39:00.000Z

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.

This is why we have back up plans.

I will admit that it was Mim that came up with this particular back up plan. (Yeah, buying a house really takes up a lot of your time... they should come with a health warning or something)

Also... be careful of giants

After a quick game and introducing a newbie (a cub moving up- huzzah!) 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.

Sprogs should not be that flexible.

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*

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.

The end of the night came along and I got to present a whole host of badges, most of them challenge badges.

And what's more I got to invest a PL.

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.

Patrol Leaders Promise

On my honour I promise,

That I shall lead my patrol to the best of my abilities,

And that I shall remain worthy of the position of Patrol Leader,

For the sake of my Patrol, my Troop and the Scout Movement.

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.

Does this mean that I will need to change the name of my blog?

2011-11-23T23:52:00.000Z

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.

Well, the time has come!

*villagers rejoicing and dancing in the streets*

So huddle in and pinkie promise swear you won't tell anyone...

*deep breath*

.... I'm changing sections to be an Assistant Explorer Scout Leader!

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 (like updating blooming record cards).

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.

Not long now until Christmas, and I am so excited!

Oh, and that other secret project of mine... all in good time... you'll find out soon enough.

I did warn you they would get messy...

2011-11-12T22:04:00.000Z

Recently (well, recent enough...) it was halloween!

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.

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.

Recipe for a Messy Child

Ingredients:
Sprog x many
Costume x one per Sprog
Apples x numerous
Water x bucket loads
Marshmallows x more than a mouth full
Flour x a bouquet
Doughnuts x enough to choke a giant
Treacle/Golden Syrup x enough to grease a small monkey

Method:

Inspect sprog in costume, it may be necessary to remove articles for movement/breathing proposes
Float apples in buckets of water
Insert sprogs head
String up doughnuts on a rope so they all dangle freely. Coat doughnuts in treacle/syrup
Hang doughnuts above sprogs heads and let them apply treacle and syrup to face/hair/body/costume as they attempt to consume them.
Once all sprogs are damp and coated in treacle/syrup, bring out marshmallows on a plate covered in a large heaped pile of flour.
Insert sprogs head, flour should stick rather successfully to water and treacle mixture

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.

What's a halloween party without a game that includes vomiting?

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'...

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!!

Lest We Forget

2011-11-11T10:28:00.000Z

Today is the 11th day of the 11th month and at the 11th hour we will pause to remember.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The numbers were still huge.

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.

And here are those numbers:

World War 1                      15000000-20000000 dead             972-1296 bags
World War 2                      40000000-72000000 dead             2592-4666 bags

Genocides of Nazi Germany     4871000-11000000 dead          316-713 bags
Auschwitz-Birkenau                  800000-1500000 dead             52-97 bags

Indian Ocean (boxing day) Tsunami         230210 dead              15 bags
Haiti Earthquake                                      222000 dead              14 bags

9/11 Attacks (excluding hijackers)           2977 dead                   0.19 bags
7/7 Bombings                                          52 dead                       0.003 bags
War on Terror                              at least 47183 dead                3 bags

These numbers always humble me, and remind me of how privilaged I am.

Thank you, for all that you gave, I will try to live my life to the fullest and remember.

Stuff I've been doing while I've not been here

2011-10-22T00:14:00.000+01:00

Recently I have been ______________________________

Baking like a fiend: 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.

I made this for my nieces first birthday

They're watching me!?

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 (cause receiving baked goods in the post is bound to cheer anybody up) and all the rest were getting sold in my office to help raise money for Jeans for Genes.

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!

Not buying a house: 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.

Sure the view would be stunning... but the commute would be terrible

And, unfortunately, it's not like my previous experiences in buying stuff. Normally when 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 (just in case something better magically appears on the shelf) and then eventually buy it anyway.

Dead easy.

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.

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.

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.

Getting most of the ground floor in the house I am currently living in torn out: Dan, the guy that owns the house I live in (he doesn't like it when I call him my landlord), 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.

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.

Some of it still isn't dry... so he hasn't been back yet to re-attach the skirting boards.

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.

... everywhere...

Geocaching in formal wear: Yes, you read that correctly. Geocaching. In formal wear.

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.

While the photographs were being taken Mim and I saw this tower...

South Kyme Tower

... 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.

See... actual proper formal wear

Beating sprogs at monopoly: 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.

That was what I ended up owning... pretty much the whole board

Yeah... they lost. Badly

Signing myself up for more work: Yup, I am actually a glutton for punishment. I've managed to sign myself up for not one but two new scouty projects.

You can stop shaking your head in dismay now...

First, I've been asked to be a subcamp leader at Poacher 2013, 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

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.

Doing big secret stuff: 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.

Yes, I do realise that I am a bit of a tease.

And finally...

Winning the World Music Networks Battle of the Bands: For the past year I have been a member of the Choir Invisible. And we've recently won the World Music Networks Battle of the Bands, 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...

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-09T07:02:00.001+01:00

It's 2 years since I started this little blogging project of mine!

*Party streamers falling from the ceiling, villagers rejoicing and cake getting cut*

I can hardly believe it, can you?

To celebrate I'm going to post some of my favourite photos from the Jamboree for you all to enjoy

Look, everyone is all shiny and clean

Tivoli Gardens was so much fun! (even tho not all the rides were open)

One of the acts from the UK Party in Copenhagen (my Alphabeat photos turned out blurry *sniff*)

One of my favourite shots this one!

It was so peaceful on camp-in-camp...

... despite the warnings

Communal cooking area in camp-in-camp. Whatever you had left over you shared with everyone else. We ate like kings that night!

... and slept in some pretty nifty tents

The kids out canoeing

Heading for the Carnival day party

The 360degree stage for the closing ceremony

Our tiny ~~tin can~~ plane for the trip to Lithuania

Now... where's my present?

Note: Obviously Hobbes is copyrighted by Bill Watterson, and if you don't recognise him... first, SHAME ON YOU; secondly, go google it now!

Flaming Phalanges

2011-08-31T23:25:00.001+01:00

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.

Oh the best laid plans of mice and men... if only my writing hand hadn't caught on fire.

Yes, you read that correctly. Caught. On. Fire.

Not me, yes. Not exactly what happened, yes. Cool picture none the less, hell yes.

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.

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"

That, for the record, is a sentence that can send shivers down any leaders back.

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.

So I grabbed it and ran.

And then stomped all over it.

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.

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!

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.

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...

And if you still don't get what "Flaming Phalanges" are... then this little clip from Bones might help

A little pick me up

2011-08-24T19:37:00.000+01:00

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.

Not this type of pick me up...

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.

This summer I was in dire need of a pick me up.

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.

from here

But not to worry, my pick me up worked and I'm happy again! (woo hoo)

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 not go round doing Timmy Mallet impressions and hitting the kids with an oversized mallet to relieve my stress.

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.

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. My unit on the other hand, instantly, and without being asked, formed a human shield round them and started doing crowd control.

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.

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.

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.

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.

That night, not only did they protect their fellow scouts, but they restored my faith in being a scout leader.

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.

Live from the Jamboree

2011-07-29T14:26:00.000+01:00

This post is coming to you LIVE from the Winter Town internet cafe at the World Scout Jamboree.

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...

Anyway!

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)

Have plenty of stories already to pass onto you all...

See you on the other side!

What an adventure!

2011-07-24T10:01:00.000+01:00

Wow... what a couple of months it has been!

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.

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.

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!

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 so 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.

... and don't worry, my diary is packed...

March Jamboree Training

2011-05-17T14:50:00.000+01:00

Not long to go now!

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.

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...

March Training Day

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 (woo hoo, Africa!) until the week before the prep for this one was way behind.

Cue sleep deprivation due to late nights prepping and early mornings getting into work.

Logo from Channel4's gameshow Shattered

How I managed to stay awake I don't know!

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 course run by UK Contingent) and a quiz with random facts about Lithuania.

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!

See... it exists, honest!

We also got the county Trek Carting team to bring them along for a bit of trek cart racing in the afternoon.

Look, it's vintage scouting!

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. Try saying that really fast 3 times.

We also got them to do some mini-pioneering so that we could get some ideas for the gateway.

This one had rope bridges up the sides and a swing in the middle

Going with a castle theme, this one has the iron gateway painted on fabric which could be raised during the day.

This one included a platform at the top and a number of posters about Lincolnshire

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.

3Nations: Free Day

2011-05-04T14:10:00.002+01:00

Have a look at previous 3Nations posts on the Expedition Page. It's where all the cool kids hang out!

Sunday 26th July 2009

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.

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.

All of us, about to set off on our mission.

You would be surprised for somewhere so remote just how much rubbish we found in the National Park!

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.

A small selection of the bags that we filled.

In total we filled somewhere in the region of 130 black bin bags!

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 Khuurshuur (pronounced Horsha) with a variety of different fillings.

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.

3Nations: Ulaanbaatar

2011-05-02T13:00:00.004+01:00

Have a look at previous 3Nations posts on the Expedition Page. Go on, you know you want to!

Saturday 25th July 2009

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!

The plan... taking in some of the sites of Ulaanbaatar! woo hoo, touristy fun! I'm always a fan of touristy fun.

First stop was the Gandan Buddhist Monastery. Which was packed with tourists, or at least it felt like it after the quiet of camp.

Ok... doesn't look as busy as I remember it...

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.

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)

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 is a Buddha statue. Looks rather Hindu in style I thought; what with the 4 arms, breasts and the spot on its forehead.

Actually, check this out. It's a 360 view from inside the temple itself!

Megjid Janraisig in Ulaanbaatar

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.

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. 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.

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:

It's my name in Mongolian

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).

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.

Photo from travelblog.org

The inside of the ring is covered in a mural.

Zaisan Hill Inside View in Ulaanbaatar

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!

Thanks to those that I borrowed photos from, thanks also to 360cities.net for the awesome panorama views!

As Clear as Crystal?

2011-04-29T16:55:00.000+01:00

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.

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.

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!

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.

The water was put through colanders and sieves to get rid of the big bits...

... then passed through coffee filters to get rid of smaller stuff.

... then they used water purifying chemicals

... and then it was boiled... twice... just to make sure.

And for their efforts they were rewarded with some hot chocolate, with water they had purified themselves.

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.

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.

Bomb Disposal (again)

2011-04-15T08:53:00.000+01:00

Just who is leaving all these bombs laying all over the place??

It's careless is what it is... some would even go as far as saying dangerous.

Before I get to that ticking time bomb, we actually did another activity with the sprogs first (it helped give us some time to set up the detonators and rig the motion sensors). 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.

(by the way, free pdf downloads of the booklets are here... if any of you are looking for program ideas).- 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.

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.

Name the planet and explain why it is called that
Draw the flag for the planet, explain the design
10 laws
Motto for the planet
How will the planet make money?
List 5 things that are banned on your planet
Design your planets formal costume
Draw and name the money used on the planet
Write and perform a planetery song, at least 6 lines long (can be to a tune they already know)
List 6 items you will take from Earth with you.

And all I gave them to do all that in was half an hour!

...cause those bombs are ticking you know.

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.

See all those extra obstacles? They are the bomb-o-matics new 'features'... now with extra deadly. (and a free carrage clock with your first order)

With these Proximity Prevention Poles (PPP for short) water will need to be dropped from a height.

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.

They're getting so close!

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 (we had cones as our pieces as there were only 3 leaders).

The sprogs lost.... mah ha ha ha

Changing the World

2011-04-14T11:02:00.000+01:00

Are you changing the World?

The official song for the next World Scout Jamboree has recently been released... here check it out.

Pretty good huh?

I can't wait to be singing it in the middle of the site with thousands of others!

Mothering Sunday

2011-04-13T10:51:00.002+01:00

This week I had a bit of a problem.

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.

I mean, I could try asking Will and Kate to move it... but somehow I doubt they would go for it.

How selfish of them!

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.

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....

So I got to thinking, and I remembered this post 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 this post 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!

Yes, I am obsessed by cake recently!

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.

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.

You can see some of them just behind the bowl of melted chocolate... that's the next stange.

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.

like this

The process was slightly messy

Once dropped in the petite four cases the sugar glitter was unleashed.

how pretty

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. Well, hopefully that would be obvious. 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.

Then cut up some swiss roll, and stuff it in the pot

Then top that with some frosting (i used ready-made Betty Crocker stuff.... *drool... I could (and have) eat that stuff with a spoon).

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.

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.

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!

The results, I think, are pretty cool.

Caching In

2011-03-31T09:07:00.000+01:00

It's about time that I introduced you to some new members of my scouting family...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was like we were naming children.

We delibrately went for more old fashioned names so that it would be less likely that we would get sprogs with the same names.

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.

This video should help explain it:

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.

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

Theres a mApp for that

2011-03-28T11:20:00.000+01:00

Given some of us leaders new found joy in Geocaching (I blame Mim my GSL for getting me into it), it was only natural that we would want to cover the navigator badge with the scouts... especially given the new GPS/Geocaching option for it!

Mind you, even though we were going to teach them how to use a GPS and geocaching, we still wanted to make sure that we covered the basics on how to read a map, so the past two weeks have been dedicated to mapping skills. well... it was when I starting writing this, before I went on holiday!

First off, contours... and potatoes.

Yes, potatoes.

We cut them in half length ways and then got the sprogs to draw lines on them at regular intervals (using CD cases as spacers), that way they could look at them from above and see how the contours relate to the shape of the potato.

I have to say, it worked rather well... altho the pens didn't like the starchy wet juices from the potatoes.

While that was being done in the kitchen, I was drawing out a massive grid out in the other hall with chalk. The patrols were then given a map key and a list of items to mark on the grid at given co-ordinates.

We got the activity idea from Programs Online, altho we had to adapt it as we didn't have time to make up the cards needed and some of the symbols listed weren't on our local OS map keys (oops)

Moving forward a week (did you feel it?) we continued on with the mapping skills. We didn't want the scouts thinking that all maps had to be really complicated so this nice was all about them making their own maps, starting off with their homes.

You would hope that they would know their own homes right? And you would be right, mostly...

But why leave it like that? Let's get them to map somewhere they haven't seen before... how? Well, that's easy. First they would have to build it. We dragged a whole load of stuff out of the cupboards: ground sheets, chalk, rope, cones, boxes, buckets etc and each patrol had to create a landscape that the other patrol would then have to map.

And if I am honest I was rather impressed with the results!

I was liking the use of the table to make a cliff, and the waterfalls. Also they used the different tins to represent different types of building (church, bank etc). Unfortunately I just can't remember what it was that they called the country!

And our other country- the name of which was something Twilight themed (grrr):

I'm liking the mountains, forests and lake with waterfall

Now, they didn't get it wrong with the red rivers... that isn't water, it's lava. We have volcanoes here!

The cones off to the side were a large body of water with some small islands in the middle.

You have to admit, that's pretty darn funky!

CLEAR!

2011-03-14T11:30:00.000Z

CODE BLUE!!!

*rushing of nurses and other people with odd bits of beeping machinery*

...

we're loosing him...

...

*overly shiney doctor with sparkly glint in teeth stares into camera* "Not on my watch"

*pounds chest*

... *blog splutters back into life*

No I haven't been in hospital and I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. Infact I've been to Africa for my first non scout related holiday in over 12 years (which for a 25year old is a rather sad fact).

Given that it was a non scouting trip I won't be covering it in any detail on here: altho being surrounded by elephants and chased by rhinos (I kid you not) was exciting and I thoughly enjoyed myself.

Rest assured that normal coverage of my scouting adventures will resume as soon as I figure out what normal is.

Balls!

2011-02-10T13:17:00.001Z

No wait... strike that

awww man, you're going to make me go spare if you keep this up.

just shut up and eat your turkey already

...

So can you guess what we were doing the other week? Yeah, that's right, we went ten pin bowling!

We paid for a game and they paid for a game, and because we went slightly earlier then we normal would go it was a load cheaper. Woo hoo for discounts for arriving 15 minutes earlier.

It was a fantastic night... very laid back and relaxed. Did some bowling, got some cream sodas and curly fries (cause we all know that they are the king of fries- especially ones that are slightly spicey). Mind you, that doesn't mean that the sprogs didn't manage to scare us.

Either:
They were scarily good, numerous strikes throughout the evening... the ante had to be uped a bit when we had the bumpers up for the second game, the sprogs started getting so many strikes!
OR...
well, lets just say that there were some rather... unique... techniques involved.

Let's go through some of them shall we...

The Big Run Up Technique:
This methodology involves running with the bowling ball right up to the line. Stopping suddenly. Then drawing the ball back and throwing it.

The Top Gun Technique:

Called the 'Top Gun' technique as if it is successfully executed then you will convince everybody around you that you are actually a fighter jet just about to take off. The ball starts off behind you and level with or above your head. It is then swung at high velocity while you run towards the line. Hopefully you release the ball before you join it down the lane. Maximum points if everyone behind you flinches. (also known as the Reverse Rocker as the arch your arm makes looks like someone playing the air guitar backwards)

It's actually remarkably similar to this... but with a bit more velocity and deadliness. Think of this at double speed and you're closer to it.

The Stop Drop and Roll:

No... not that stop drop and roll...

Unlike its predecessors this techniques doesn't actually require a running start. If anything, it looks better if you start off by just wandering up to the line. At which point you stop, drop the ball onto the floor and then roll it down the lane with both hands.

The Squat and Drop:
Fine balance (or a lack thereof... I'm not sure) is required for this technique. The start just looks like any other bowler, but it's all in the finish for this move. Upon releasing the ball, the bowl must squat to the floor (presumably to regain balance or invoke some sort of magical rite or something). The lower the squat, the more pins will be hit. In fact, it was noted that buttocks hitting the floor actually resulted in a strike!

And yes... all of these techniques were used! But what I still can't understand is why the smallest sprog kept getting her finger stuck in the holes... how does that even work?!

This was actually a couple of weeks ago, I've just been keeping rather busy... so didn't have the time to blog straight away. All photos and videos obviously don't belong to me.

Cook Off

2011-01-23T16:25:00.001Z

It's time for Ready Steady Cook!

... well, not exactly...

I mean, for a start, we don't have Ainsley Harriott

...or his friends Susie Salt and Percy Pepper

And instead of getting the scouts to bring ingredients in a poly bag, we supplied the ingredients.

This was for ONE patrol!

Also, we had gotten the patrols to randomly pick out a country from a hat last week. We had 6 to pick from: India, China, USA, Sweden, Italy and Mexico... and they would have to cook in the style of there chosen country (Curry, Sweet & Sour, Hamburgers, Meatballs, Spag Bol and Chilli respectively). As much as possible was to be from basic ingredients.

The two chosen were Indian and Chinese.

So on the menu was:
Indian: Chicken Curry, Onion Bhaji, Rice and Naan (all homemade)
Chinese: Sweet and Sour Soy Pork, Chicken and Vegetable Spring Rolls, Rice and Prawn Crackers (again all homemade)

One of the patrols got the kitchen and the other patrol had some tables set up in the hall and the gas stoves. Mim was looking after the Indian food and I was looking after the Chinese.... Jo was trying to do an impression of Ainsley Harriott and munching as much food as she could get away with!

I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the final dishes, but I will say that I was rather impressed with the outcome. Both patrols did a brilliant job and got a load of compliments from the parents that came into the hall and tried some.

Om nom nom

The Indian food won on presentation, but the Chinese food won the taste test (yee haa!)... so I would say that we won overall.

Ainsley Harriott and Ready Steady Cook belong to whoever they belong to... well obviously Ainsley Harriott belongs to himself... I mean the images etc of them

An epic scouting adventure

2011-01-21T13:34:00.002Z

I just heard about this expedition and I had to share it...

As you know I am an Assistant Unit Leader for Lincolnshire for the next World Scout Jamboree. And I am thoroughly looking forward to leaving at the end of July for that adventure.

But for some the adventure has already begun. Actually, they set off in OCTOBER 2010!!!

Yup, two Australian Scouts, Adam Kilpatrick and Stephen Warren-Smith, are riding recumbent trikes from their hometown of Adelaide (South Australia) to the Jamboree site in Sweden!

And it's not as if they are going straight there either... they are riding to Perth, flying to Cape Town then covering the entire length of Africa before going through the Middle East and Europe to get there!

That's a minimum of 22,000km

Check it out here

3Nations: Temple Project

2011-01-20T08:00:00.002Z

It's kind of suiting that I am running behind with the 3Nations posts (previous posts can be found on the expedition page)... given that I have a note in my handwritten diary:

"Right- am going to admit that I am very behind on the diary... So I am going to keep this short and sweet until I catch up"

Friday 24th July 2009

Given our rather late and drunken night out in Ulaanbaatar last night, what we wanted was a lie in, something fried for breakfast and something caffeinated to drink. What we got was an early wake up call to get bussed to Zuunmod for our second community project.

Manual labour isn't exactly high on my list of hangover cures!

Manual labour + hangover = ooo, this is going to be difficult

But never mind, this was one of the activities that I was really looking forward to, one where we would get to make a difference.

Our task was to paint the roof of the temple, while the normal services were ongoing in side, so we had to try and keep the noise down a bit.

Those bits on the underside of the roof were rather footery, lots of different colours involved.

The instructions for painting, like the Scout Project, were rather basic... a combination of pointing at pots of paint, pointing at surfaces and use of the word "paint". Oh, and pointing at the little ladder they had brought out for us to climb to get up onto the roof.

You ever heard of that cat on the hot tin roof?

Well, I feel for that cat... it was a blazing hot day in Zuunmod.

Manual labour + blazing heat from sun + reflected heat from tin roof + hangover = ooo, I'm starting to get a little light headed

See how one of the Mongolians is wearing a mask? That's cause of the fumes from the paint...

... it was very very strong

...

I'm still not convinced that it wasn't some soviet lead based car paint or something.

Manual labour + blazing sun + burning roof + possibly toxic paint fumes + hangover = ooo... look it! puuuurty colours....

We all got covered in paint... see, you can actually see me trying to remove some with methylated spirits.

Mind you, we didn't get as much on us as the little local boy who came up onto the roof to give us a hand, it had got difficult to tell where was wet paint and where was dry... he slipped on the wet paint and managed to get a bright yellow back.

After we had finished our work in the morning we had our packed lunches, played a little basketball with the apprentice monks before getting directed to the local public showers. A lot of Mongolia is under canvas, in gers, so people don't always have their own showers... so there were public showers (just like we would get public toilets in the city centre).

It was an absolute joy to have something as simple as properly clean hair.

After our showers, we were to walk back to the campsite, before having a nice relaxing evening (and crashing!)

Thanks for those that let me use photos, I think I didn't have my camera with me this day.

And now for something completely different...

2011-01-18T09:30:00.003Z

Ok, I realise that yesterdays post was a little heavy.

So here's something to lighten things up a bit...

Someone, not me I might add, gave this to Mim (who looks after the Beaver section)

....pffft *tries not to spit out tea*

ha HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

me?! childish?! NEVER!

Board games and basic bases

2011-01-17T23:44:00.000Z

This covers 2 weeks of scout meetings, have been a busy boy again!

Our first night after the Christmas holidays was a board games night. It's not very often that the sprogs would be able to get a group together to play some board games... at least that is what I found, so I used to always enjoy the opportunity.

So we asked the sprogs to bring along a board game and they could have a laid back evening playing them.

It would also give us leaders an opportunity to get a couple of plans together, even if it was just when we would be able to get together to do a proper program planning.

Fairly simple yes...?

what could possibly go wrong...?

By now I should realise that seemingly simple nights never quite work out. A couple of the sprogs decided that they didn't want to play board games, they wanted ball games... or to listen to their ipods.

So of course I gave them a simple choice... take part in the program that we put on; which was just board games after all, it wasn't as if we were making them do drill or something like that; or they could do some washing up for us, cleaning out some of the camping equipment.

Given that about 15mins later they were still sat off to the side doing nothing, they were put to some use. Who would have thought that they would have picked washing up over games?

Fast forward a week

*imagines pages pealing off a calender

This week didn't exactly get off to a brilliant start. It started with one of my scouts leaving, not up to explorers like I would have liked... but to leave scouting entirely.

It wasn't exactly a surprise, he'd grown out of it... it happens.

... but he is the 5th since the summer that has left in such a way. And yes I realise that most Scouts won't actually move up to Explorers, rather they grow out of it.

I understand that.

It makes sense.

Doesn't stop me thinking that I'm doing something wrong tho.

I keep trying to put on activities that they would like. Mixing simple fun evenings (like board games the week before), adventurous activities (like kayaking) and scouting stuff (like the cultural stuff and scouting skills etc). Trying to keep things mixed while sticking with the principals of scouting. And hopefully you would agree from what you've seen on this blog that I keep it varied.

I'm obviously still on a learning curve.

It wasn't that long ago that I was an Assistant Cub Leader, and I've been trying to adjust my approach for the different ages ranges... and for a while I was getting away with it. But I think more adjusting may be needed.

And then the scouts go and surprise me again!

Just when I am thinking that I must be the worst scout leader on the planet, and have the smallest troop in the UK (I only have about 8 sprogs now), and that frankly I'm a failure and should just retire for the sake of the children (oh please won't someone please think of the children).... just when I have all that running through my head, the scouts pull it out the bag.

One of the most peaceful and enthusiastic nights I've had in a while.

We put on some basic skills bases, just to jog there memory. Knots, pioneering, recovery position and bandages. And even tho we were covering the basics, they all seamed to enjoy it, and the all paid attention.

I really don't understand these sprogs sometimes! (How did my leaders manage it when I was in scouts?!)

Oh, and to the one that left...

Thank you!

It takes some courage to admit that you're no longer enjoying something. I hope that you enjoy whatever you go onto do next, where ever it may be. You were actually a really good scout, and I am sorry to see you go... I'm just sorry I couldn't be the leader that you deserved.

If ever you wish to come back, then you're more than welcome.

3Nations: Scout Project and Ulaanbaatar

2011-01-10T09:00:00.001Z

Right, I realise that it has been an age since my last 3Nations post, so please go to the expedition page to remind yourself what happened.... go on.... go on, go on, go on...

sorry about that, was channeling Mrs Doyle there!

I've made it a New Years resolution to get these done, it will happen!

Thursday 23rd July 2009

Given that the whole program has been thrown a bit off kilter; what with the storm, evacuation and moving the entire site; today was trying to get it back on track. So our plan was to head into Ulaanbaatar, for a bit of community service and culture.

All aboard the minibus! woo hoo

First stop on our magical mystery tour is the scout service project. This service project actually began before we had even left the UK. Money from the project and our fundraising was being used to build an official scout hall in Ulaanbaatar (and if I remember correctly it would be the first purpose built scout hall in Mongolia). The builders had been busy building the hall, our job during the trip was to paint the inside.

Our instructions were, well... basic to say the least.

"Blue, blue, purple, white"

... that and being handed the pot of paint and some brushes. Well, we say paint. It was more like blue water, but hey, you work with what you have!

The blank patch in the corner is damp from the storm two days before (the one from evacuation day)


Right into all those cracks!

You can see how thin the paint was... we had to do quite a number of coats

That little hut outside isn't storage... it's the toilet. We had been warned by previous aravts about this little hut of horrors and its preilous drop of doom.

After numerous hours of this we were taken to a shopping center food court. Food! And it's NOT mutton! It's even in the shape of pizza *mmmmm pizza* (scarily this was the one type of food that I missed the most during the trip)

After our meal that me, if not anyone else, happy we set off on our next stop on the magical mystery tour of Ulaanbaatar... the black market. Now don't worry, this is actually nothing illegal and doesn't hold any of the negative connotations that it does in the UK.

Aside from looking for some traditional mongolian stuff for souveniers, we had a rather bizarre shopping list:

Lino (for the floor of our ger, as our last lot got damaged)
a flat cap for Dan (because he decided that he would rather look a bit more dapper)
a hard hat for Pete (as he keeps hitting his head on the low ger doors... even knocking himself out cold one time!)
SWEETS!!! (just because... I don't need a reason for sweets)

And given that it had started to rain just as we were about to leave the black market the lino doubles as a handy group umbrella!

...we didn't get random looks from the locals, so siree

We'd asked Annie and Tempka (the Mongolian Scouts who acted as our guides for our time in Mongolia) where we could get some souveniers, something traditional, so an extra shop at the imaginatively named 'Souvenier Shop' was squeezed in. And I really do mean that it was squeezed in, we pretty much had to run from it to our next stop, the theatre!

I got this traditional horse brush

Us Networkers can actually be cultured at times.... honest.

We were there to see a performance by a Mongolian orchestra. It was quite stunning actually, all the musical instruments were traditional Mongolian (including the flute and the horse head fiddle I tried on our day on site) and it also featured throat singing. I doubt that I would ever be able to sing like that (and given that your throat can bleed if you do it wrong I'm not exactly lining up to learn if I am honest).

ok, the horse head fiddle is funky... but check out the really cool Mongolian Clarinet in the background!

They also featured some dancers and gymnastics to give the musicians a bit of a break.

All very bright and colourful and impressive... educational as well given that they had a LED display at the side translating and explaining stuff in english (how thoughtful)

Given this rather busy day, we were starting to get hungry again so were taken to a small local restaurant for our dinner where we were taught the Mongolian method of drinking vodka (ie. vodka and mixer in seperate glasses, neck the vodka and then the mixer)

From there... well, let's just say that a drunken return trip to the campsite is even more fun when the music is pumped up, you are literally bounced off your seats at the back of the minibus and its after midnight when you return.

Thanks for those I borrowed pictures from, pictures of the show are from http://www.astronomicaltours.net/

It's 2011... what already?!

2011-01-06T10:00:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

...

and cause I've been looking up loads of stuff about the places...

Gott Nytt År

(that's Swedish by they way)

ein gutes neues Jahr

(should be German)

gleðilegt nýtt ár

(Icelandic)

and... laimingų Naujųjų Metų

(which hopefully will be Lithuanian)

Yeah, I'm feeling particularly international at the moment. Propably down to the fact that I have been researching stuff for future camps abroad. As you all know, my grand plan for the scouts is to take them abroad every other year (and every other time abroad would be to Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland).... so every scout would get the opportunity to experience scouting at Kandersteg and somewhere else in Europe once before moving up to Explorers (I'll leave further afield to the older sections).

Last year we went to Kandersteg, which means that 2012 will be somewhere else is Europe... but where? I've whittled it down to three options (that was a lot of whittling) for my troop, and their parents, to choose from.

1) Austria

2) Germany

3) Iceland

Some of that information has been emailed out to them now, so just waiting for the votes to come in!

Why the Swedish and Lithuanian at the start you ask...?

Well, this year is the Jamboree of course! And what is more I learned shortly before Christmas that I will be going to Lithuania for Home Hospitality.

I just can't believe that it's 2011 already!

Cancellation Station

2010-12-14T00:11:00.000Z

Well... one of the things that I've learned in Scouting is that things rarely go to plan.

Sometimes it's you being ill.

Other times it one of the sprogs chugging up his dinner just as you're about to start the activity.

But the past 3 weeks things have had to be changed at the last moment and each week having to cancel all or part of it (and I apologise that I haven't blogged the past three weeks, bad Scotland! I must do better in the New Year).

Three weeks ago then... cancellation 1.

It was thankfully a very easy week for us leaders. We had asked the kids what they had wanted included in the program and they had said that they wanted to go swimming. So we arranged to meet at the swimming pool in town; where the sprogs would have some fun in the pool, the leaders would hang out in the viewing gallery and then we would all walk back to the hall... potentially stopping off at McDonalds on the way back as a little treat.

... cause you know, us leaders can be nice like that

...

... yes we can be nice... shut up

That was the plan anyway, and we would have got away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

One in particular really. He'd got into into his head that he was getting picked up from the pool (which some of the others were), but from what we knew he was getting picked up at the hall. Well, we couldn't exactly leave for the walk to the hall until we had things straightened out.... time to phone his mum. No answer (like sods law would ever let things be that easy), by this point time was ticking away to when we had said that we would be back at the hall.

It was getting so close now that us leaders had to do a bit of jiggery pokery to get cars in the right place so we could drive the kids down to the hall and still maintain the child protection rules.

Turns out his mum had told him he was to walk home from the hall himself... he wasn't even getting picked up! Argh sprogs!

As for two weeks ago (and cancellation 2), well, for those of you that don't live in the UK we've had a bit of snow recently here. Ok, it might not be a lot by your standards, but we're not exactly used to snow here in the UK (at least not at any significant volume) so we don't have the infrastructure to deal with it. Given the highly unusual 8-10inches of snow that blanketed the UK and the Governments advice not to travel unless absolutely necessary, we decided that scouts wasn't 'absolutely' necessary.... so our night of baking was canceled entirely!

Which brings us to this Friday past.... and cancellation 3!

The plan had been to have a sleepover for the scouts, all very relaxed. Have some films on a projector, a couple of games consoles, let them bring some of their own games and toys and run a couple of games/activities to mix everything up a bit. We don't set a bedtime or lights out... just let them crash when they feel like it; tho if someone is trying to sleep then they have to respect that and keep the volume down. We do this instead of a Christmas party. They get so many Christmas parties everywhere else... and we like to be a bit different.

Shame that the overnight part of the evening had to be canceled!

We didn't have enough sprogs confirmed for the evening, so instead we put on a cinema night using the projector and screen that I had already arranged to get. We also treated them to some takeaway pizza and some other treats from proceedings from our bagpacking efforts.

It wasn't quite what we had in mind, but it was still a good night. Which brings an end to this term with the scouts!

Merry Christmas Sproggage

Radio Interview

2010-11-29T21:00:00.001Z

Hey there,

I had promised to get the audio of the radio interview that I did on here if I got it... well, my Dad managed to record it. So here it is!

Not only was it our first interview, but it was the first one the guy interviewing us had ever done... so we were chatting away during the songs to try and figure out what to chat about next!

We will remember them

2010-11-25T15:47:00.000Z

The other week we covered a subject that I take rather seriously. We were covering Remembrance Day.

Usually all a Scout Troop will do for Remembrance is to go to church parade, well... some of the kids would go on parade if they bothered or their parents made them... and that would be it. Nothing really on why we should be remembering or for that matter what and who we should be remembering.

I'll admit that I have never been in a war situation personally, none of my family have gone off to war... even my grandparents were excluded from going off to battle as they were engineers and were needed in the factories back at home.

And if I am honest I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if I would be able to lay down my life or my well being. And frankly, I don't really want to be put in the situation where I would have to find out. That's why I have the upmost respect and gratitude for those that do, and it's this point that I tried to get across to the scouts.

Not that that is a particularly easy concept to try to get across.

Last year (and I refer back to last year because I did something similar, but it was during a while where I fell out of the habit of blogging so it hasn't been covered online) I did a lot of searching. Going through loads of websites with activities to do, and tips and advice on conveying this rather large (and at times scary) topic. A lot of the activities I passed off as too childish, not conveying the right level of seriousness that I wanted to get across... other activities were at the other extreme. Nothing really seamed to fit, so I made up something myself.

But before I go off describing all that and forgetting to actually cover the scout night, well, the plan was going to be simple for tonight:
Flagbreak
Game
Remembrance
Game
Getting some programme ideas from kids (as next so many weeks were blank in the plan and we also wanted to find out what countries they wanted me to look into for 2012)

pretty simple... but nothing simple ever runs like that.
flagbreak *tick*
Gam... *mphf... mphf... mplaaaahhhhhhhh* <= that would be a sprog, vomiting all over the hall floor
...

... Where's the mop and bucket?

...

... Sprog, did you have pineapple for dinner?

The next 10/15mins were spent cleaning up the floor while the other sprogs played cards and tried to think up program ideas in another room (we didn't want a chain reaction starting).

Well, we were going to play dodgeball, but given the huge wet patch covering the middle of the hall it was decided to do a chair race where they wouldn't touch the floor at all. (I think it was appreciated)

And onto the main activity, trying to get the importance of Remembrance across to the Scouts.

Now a lot of numbers generally get batted about when it comes to casualities of war, some very large numbers which can be rather difficult to visualise. So last year I used sugar. I found out online how many grains of sugar are in a gram and from that figured out how many were in a bag. Taking one grain of sugar to equate to one life I got the Scouts to try and guess how many bags it would take to account for certain wars. To add to the effect I got a 1kg bag of sugar and poured some of it over the floor so they could actually see just how many grains are in a bag (that would be 15432 lifes roughly).

So how many bags would it take for different events?

Would you believe that it would take somewhere in the region of 2592-4666 bags of sugar to account for the 2nd World War?! To put that in perspective, the War on Terror claimed 3 bags (including non-allied forces... which believe me is difficult to find the numbers for) and the Haiti Earthquake would be 14 bags.

This year I tried to think of a different way to get these numbers across, my flatmate kindly suggested time. If you were to start killing one person a second when would you finish to match the different wars?

It's a long time, between 2 and 3 years for the 2nd World War!

After going through these numbers with them I got the scouts to lay out on the floor (which was thankfully now dry). They were to completely relax, clear their minds... and put themselves into the situations and stories that I would tell them. To imagine that they were there and what would they be thinking and doing. Last year I had given some general descriptions of conditions in war. This year I gave real life accounts given from survivors.

They could be rather powerful, especially when imaging yourself being there.

I'll post the spreadsheets with all my numbers and the true stories that I used in the meditation in the resourses page I have (I'll post a link when I have done it). Feel free to use and adapt it for your own scouts.

Just realised that I haven't actually blogged the week after this one. It was simple enough, we did some circus skills with the scouts... so it was just a fun night with the circus gear I take round other groups. Thanks to Gav for helling out as I was a little short on leaders.

Live on the Radio!

2010-11-24T12:19:00.000Z

Today I, and three Explorer Scouts, are going to be interviewed for a local radio station and the World Scout Jamboree!

It's Lincoln City Radio, they have a live feed online. I'm not entirely sure exactly when we will be on air, but I've to show up at 4pm (UK time).

I'll update this with sound and visuals later if possible

Remember Remember...

2010-11-16T13:30:00.011Z

... the 5th of November

So, todays post is covering scouts from 2 Fridays ago, but there is a reason for that. And it's a good reason as well...

You want the reason... okay I'll tell you.

What? Now? Well that isn't exactly patient of you.

I'll let you know what my super fantastic reason for not posting about this last week... as soon as I make up a reason.

Right you caught me, I forgot!

Okay, you happy now?! Forgetting, even with that Remember remember poem and everything!

For those of you not from the UK, the 5th of November is known as Guy Fawkes night. He had planned to bomb the Houses of Parliament (you know the building with Big Ben), and he nearly managed it too... but he was discovered the morning of the planned bombings, the 5th of November.

To celebrate the fact that the Houses of Parliament (and as a result the King who was due to open Parliament) were saved we... errr... blow stuff up!

Ooooo..... sparkly

.... I like fireworks

The 2nd Lincoln were holding a fireworks display and BBQ on their grounds to raise money for their group. I we figured that we would invite the scouts and their families along to enjoy it. Turns out that most of them had their own plans for watching fireworks as a family elsewhere... we only had 2 scouts (and no other family members) show up!

O well, I was going to enjoy the whizz bangs all the same. I mean, what's not to enjoy, it's explosives!

In fact, I enjoyed them a lot more than I thought that I would. If I am honest I thought that it would just be a guy going round with a taper setting off some bog standard fireworks that were bought in a garden center. Turns out that I was very very wrong. It was a full on proper display, about 15minutes long and jam packed full of fireworks.

Well done 2nd Lincoln, I was very impressed.

I was going to include this weeks scouting exploits in with this post, given that it was about Remembrance Day and would have tied in nicely with the whole 'remember' thing I had going on. But seeing that it is a rather large topic and I want to explain what I did (as I found researching stuff to do for it a tad difficult, for stuff that would have any effect anyway- I ended up giving up and making up my own thing, which you are more than welcome to steal) I've decided to put it into a separate post.

International Man of Mystery

2010-11-10T16:31:00.000Z

Or to put it more accurately... International Mystery of this Man.

That man being me of course, well, not him in the picture. That's definately not me!

And that International Mystery, well, hopefully you guys can give me a helping hand with that. As part of my grand plan, my evil plot or even my cunning ploy (depends on how you want to view it) for my scout troop I want to alternate having summer camps abroad and in the UK (but not in Lincolnshire).

Given that this summer we went to Kandersteg in Switzerland, one of my evil compatriots (aka. Assistant Leaders) will be organising 2011s summer camp somewhere in the UK. I would organise it, but I'm going to be a tad busy what with the Jamboree. But, as unbelievably far in advance this sounds... I'm going to have to get my finger out with summer camp 2012.

Yes, you read that right... I'm going to start organising summer camp 2012. Which will be abroad...

... somewhere...

... and that is the difficult part. WHERE?! I'm trying to pick three sites that I can get details for and present to the scouts for them to vote on. But which three?!

Do you, people of the interweb, have any good suggestions?

I'm looking for a campsite that would preferably deal with international scouts regularly, have a load of activities (on and off site) on offer that would be suitable for 10-14year olds... oh, and not cost a small fortune! I know, it is a lot to ask.

So please leave some comments to this post with recommendations of campsites. I asked nicely and said please after all

NOTE: Image is of Austin Powers and belongs to however in the film industry it belongs to

Warm and fuzzies

2010-11-03T12:25:00.002Z

The Scouts can be confusing at times. Sometimes the Scouts can be really annoying... but then they do something that will really surprise you, throw you for six and remind you why you do it all in the first place.

Well, here I am currently sat at my desk at work (during my lunch I might add before you say anything) and I get an envelope through the internal mail.

Now, I know that that doesn't sound like much... but I never get mail. Everything I deal with is sent via email, but I recognise the handwriting as one of my scouts parents. In it was another envelope.

"To Scotland, Sorry it's late- I would have given it to you at scouts"

Inside said envelope was this:

"Get Well Soon" and it has a picture of her saying 'Hope your feeling better'... and a flower, and some juggling balls and some fire poi (yeah that's right, my scouts rock!)

"Dear Scotland, I hope you're feeling better:) Can't wait to see you at Scouts soon. Love from ..... xxxxxx"

And get this... it wasn't even from the daughter of the woman that put it in the internal mail... she gave it to her to get it to me!

I can't even start to say how this cheered me up. THANK YOU SPROGLETTE!

Media Darlings

2010-11-01T16:13:00.000Z

I said that I wanted EVIAN... not this, this, TAP WATER!

I don't know how you expect me to work under these conditions... seriously... TAP WATER!

Do you know who I am?!

That's it! I can't handle this anymore... I'll be in my trailer

Not the face!

Well... That's what generally springs into my head when told about getting media training.

Well, to be honest it wasn't even me getting the media training. As part of the preperations for the World Scout Jamboree, we sent 2 unit members to Kettering to be trained by the UK Contingent media team on how to be spokes people for the Scout Association.

They got to learn about the media; how to prepare to be interviewed, for newspapers, radio and television. They even got to have a go and see what they look like on telly and how they sound on the radio.

They also got taught about the Scout Associations branding and how it is used to try to actively promote the Scouts, and what they should do to make sure that any media coverage that they are involved in is 'on brand'.

What they were doing sounded like it would be rather fun and interesting, I was to go along and get a briefing on what they were doing and how we could support them. I also got to get a couple of details about the Jamboree! WOO HOO for new knowledge.

Can you tell that I am getting more and more excited about Sweden?

NOTE: image is from the film Anchorman and all rights belong to those people... not me, obviously

Horror Filled Silence

2010-10-25T15:42:00.002+01:00

Okay.... so let me explain why things have been so quiet here recently.

Tumbleweed...

Put simply, it's because I havn't been at scouts for AGES.
My last post said that I was missing one week so that I could go visit my newly born niece.

But the two weeks after that I was ill with Gastroenteritis (believe me when I say that it's really not fun!) What the scouts actually got up to while I was curled up in my bed I'm not entirely sure.

At the tail end of my illness there was a Jamboree Unit training camp, which of course I missed the vast majority of. I had decided that I would be sensible and stay at home that weekend to make sure that I recovered, but I did pop out to visit the happy campers.

Which, if you have been clever and worked out the dates, brings us up to this last Friday. At which I was also not at scouts. I know, totally slacking huh. But I had a good reason, honest. One of my best mates was throwing a surprise party in order to pop the question to his girlfriend.

No, not "will you pass the salt?"

...

You know, that one that involves expensive rings... and ball and chains?

Yeah that's the one.

Thank goodness she said yes, cause I was under instruction to wrestle the sharp knifes away from the mother-in-law-to-be if she had said no, and I really didn't want to have to take her on.

At least this time I actually knew what the scouts were up to, in fact even tho I wasn't there I had provided a load of equipment for it. We sent an email out a couple of days before our Friday meeting saying that each patrol was going to be making a horror movie and they could bring whatever they wanted in the way of props/costumes etc.

From what I hear they did a really good job (I've yet to see the films... I'm looking forward to that, especially given that some of them involve singing and dancing to Thriller!)

The storylines were: A schoolgirl visiting a Transylvanian castle and getting turned into a vampire and one that I think is particularly inventive... a statue outside a house that would kill trick or treaters as they waited for their sweets (until it gets slain of course, but the hero does die in the process of killing the monster).

That's basically how we are marking Halloween this year, next week is half term so we aren't meeting up (yes, yet another week of no scouts for me!)

Of course, the images belong to whoever they belong to and arn't mine!

Little bundle of joy

2010-09-30T09:00:00.001+01:00

As you all know, I generally spend my Friday evenings with the scouts.

But not this week...

This week I have the great pleasure of meeting my new born niece for the first time. That's right... I'M AN UNCLE!!!

*tries to contain joy and excitement*

... oh sod it....

WOO HOO!!!

YEE HAA

...

ahem...

*cough*

*brushes down clothes and straightens self up*

sorry for that little outburst.
Actually, that's a lie... I'm not sorry about it at all

So, yeah, I'm not going to be at scouts this week.

Drowning in paperwork

2010-09-28T11:10:00.000+01:00

HELP....!

Or at least that is how it can feel...

The Child Protection Officer from the Salvation Army came down to see us this Friday (we're affliated with the Salvation Army if you were wondering why) and she came armed with a small forest of paperwork.

So while the sprogs were out doing urban tracking, one patrol would leave a trail for the other to follow... making the symbols out of stuff they could find, but making them stuble enough not to be trashed by the public... I was in signing my soul away.

The sprogs seamed to enjoy it, and we didn't have any hassle about any of them running away like the last time we let them out... so in my books that is a success. *woo hoo*

Mind you, I think it really surprised some of them when we told them that the groups that they had been working in for the evening were their new patrols! Awww, the shocked look on some of their faces was just priceless

Kind of like a shocked fish...

3Nations: Relocation Day

2010-09-23T09:00:00.032+01:00

If you would like to follow the 3Nations posts from the beginning then head to the expedition page

Wednesday 22nd July 2009

Well, yesterday certainly threw the plan out the window!

I awoke on the floor of Ed's 'calm room' to realise that it wasn't some sort of dream... we really had been evacuated and our little bubble had not so much burst as decided that it would much rather do an impression of a snow globe.

The buzz from yesterday had started to die down a tad, everyone was safe, there were some that weren't exactly in good shape... but PJ (our medical wizard) was on the case and things were looking very positive.

A small group, made mainly of the expedition leaders and some of the Mongolians, ventured back to the site to check out what the damage was and to figure out what we should do to protect ourselves should it happen again. While we were doing that we were told that we could go explore Zuunmod.

A couple of us had decided that we should go on the hunt for a newspaper, not to get clued up on the news in Mongolia... or to enjoy the suduko or crossword (which would have been a tad difficult given the language barrier)... but so that we could stuff our boots and try to dry them out. We did manage to find plenty of shops, none of which had signs on the outside... or newspapers for that matter.

And to be honest, there didn't appear to be that much more to Zuunmod, that we saw that day anyway. Just a load of nameless shops, which you could easily walk by.

But it was time to start heading back up to the site. The kit was thrown (literally in some cases) back into the mini-buses and trailers and we hiked up to the site.

This was the storm damage to the site

It ripped right through some of the gers.

And the outside of the gers got pretty battered by the hail stones.

It had been decided that we should move the site, so that if there was another storm we would no longer be in the way of the run off water.

The way gers are supposed to be moved is to systematically de-construct them, load them onto either a vehicle or your cattle, move to new site and re-construct it. Which would be fine if you have one or two, we had 12.

If we didn't want to sleep outdoors then we were going to have to do things slightly differently.

3Nations Guide to Relocating Your Ger (the 'Quick' Method)

Recruit about 20 mates to help you.
Tie the door of the ger open.
All but two of you go inside the ger.
One person stand in the middle, two people grab the poles holding up the centre of the roof, everyone else lines the walls.
The ones lining the walls crouch down, grad some trellis, and lift... you are now relocating your ger!
The person in the middle, with the help of the people outside, are to guide you - remember you can only see out of the tiny little door at the front (so they had to be spun round first to go up the hill).
When lowering your ger, make sure to push out on the trellis... or the roof will fall in on your head.
It is also advisable to get another team to move the flooring while you are walking to ger up the hill, so that it will be ready for your arrival (good puzzle/jig saw experience may be required)

If you want to see this method is action, check out Marks video.

*waits for you to come back*

It always reminds me of the Luggage from Terry Pratchetts Discworld. But it was this method that we used to move all the gers...

One...

...by one.

Every...

... single...

... one

Needless to say, this took up about the entire day, and we were absolutely knackered. I remember having to curl up in a corner at one point and get an hour or so sleep... I think I was still recovering from the evacuation day.

Lessons learned:

Nowhere in Zuunmod sells newpapers.
The Peace Corp are everywhere... including the tiny town of Zuunmod.
Gers are designed to be transported a certain way, and it is that way for a reason.
Apparently Coca-Cola in India make a lime fizzy drink, which cannot be exported from India... because it contains cyanide.
Fishing for bones when preparing the groups lunch can be made even more difficult when you're trying not to loose any of the vegetables.

Thanks, again, go to those who I borrowed photos from!

Recycling Ideas

2010-09-21T09:44:00.000+01:00

Us scout leaders like to recycle. I'm not talking about that plastic rubbish, or paper (you wouldn't believe the amounts of paperwork we have to do at times, definitely not environmentally friendly)

No, I'm talking about ideas.

They are as precious as diamonds and even more valuable. Hence why this week... what with the fact that we haven't sorted out the new patrols, or done program planning... I decided to re-use the Life Auction idea.

The results again were rather interesting:

well... I think that they are interesting.

*tries not to get too distracted analysing the results*

But this wasn't the only idea that we recycled this week. On Sunday we had good old bagpacking! *sarcastically waves hands in air in fiened excitement*

We've all been there, we all despise it.... but it gets money in, well it does when the public arn't being incredably awkward like they were this weekend!

District Camp

2010-09-12T18:51:00.000+01:00

Apparantly I can't say or do anything about this particular event without putting my size 9s in it...

... so I'm going to keep my mouth shut

Sorry to all who wanted to hear about District Camp

Gilwell Reunion

2010-09-10T11:41:00.000+01:00

Well I've already said about me arriving onsite for Gilwell Reunion, I suppose I really should cover the rest of it!

This was my first time ever going to Gilwell, yet alone Gilwell Reunion, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

I camped with Rosie, Rich and the rest of the Freespirit ESU gang from Wales; and after my late arrival the night before it was a pleasure to wake up the bacon butties (a pleasure purely reserved for camp)

And buying one of these... part of their fundraising efforts for the Jamboree.

Once suitably attired, it was time to explore the site. A big part of Gilwell Reunion is that they have a load of stalls to give you program ideas for your section.

"ooo, that looks interesting..." *picks up leaflet and shoves it in bag*

...*plods along*

"We could adapt that to work" *shoves more leaflets in bag*

...

*waits for freespirit people as they are selling stuff to random people*

...

"You heard of that before?" *grabs more bits of paper- which, if I am honest, I will most likely not look at again- and shoves into ever bulging bag*

But it wasn't just leaflets gallore, at a load of them you got to actually try out the activity as well.

Like making edable campfires....

Nom nom nom

Or tie dying, which unfortunately didn't have any gloves! thanks Lucy!

... and this was after me spending about 10minutes scrubbing them!

But it wasn't all work, there was Pimms on the Lawn

And a campfire... although it was a sit down one, didn't want any of the old dears to pop a hip now did we? The guy running it was brilliant tho, really funny

That and getting to see a load of my friends from past adventures again... some of which I havn't seen in about 3 years, which is just shockly long.

Was a fantastic weekend, lots of ideas on offer and some very very good company

Kandersteg 2010: Setting off

2010-09-08T11:23:00.001+01:00

Well... I said that I would try to get this out on a faster timescale that the 3Nations posts... so here is the start of it anyway.

Friday 13th August 2010

Yup, it's Friday 13th.... and we are setting off on the groups first ever international camp, with 13 people. I'm just asking for trouble arn't I?

Given that the bus was supposed to arrive at the hall at 10:30, the sprogs at 10am and I wanted to make sure that I was at the hall in plenty of time to make sure that it would be open for them arriving... I asked Niall to give me a lift to the hall at 9am.

It was a good thing that the coach was early to pick us up. Tha Salvation Army (who we are linked with, just so that you know) was wanting to get into the hall to set things up for a funeral. So what is worse, setting off on a journey on Friday 13th or having your funeral on Friday 13th? Anyway, it wasn't long til we were on the road.

WOO HOO... Next stop ~~Kandersteg~~.... err Essex? Ok, so we're picking up another group in Essex. Well, we all had our little mishaps with getting onto the coach, our was the funeral. Theirs was the fact that the heavens opened (it was actually a thunder and lightning storm) so all their stuff got wet. Including all the parents waiting to wave them off some were impressively resilitant.

Mim and Jo also got wet while running to the toilet while they were getting themselves onboard.Right, that's them all on board... let's go!

... let's GO!

...

...??

*tries to move bus through sheer mental will power*

.... GO!

... crud

Our next set of bus drivers, the long distance ones, were supposed to meet us at this pick up and take us to Switzerland. But they were still way behind us, stuck in motorway traffic... so here's the kicker, we DOUBLED BACK a bit to a service station we'd already stopped at to collect them.

Sprog: "these service stations look the same"... *facepalm*

Right, now off to ~~Kandersteg~~... Euston Station in London, awww man! Picking up another group, and what was their coach loading troubles I hear you ask (that is you isn't it? Would be bad if those voices are back again) well, their group was split between two coaches. And the other coach wasn't there!

The sprogs that were already on the bus amused themselves trying to get Londoners to wave back to them good luck with that girls while the leaders already on the bus were in awe. Every adult is usually put in awe when met with someone famous from their childhood, and what is more they were going to be sharing the coach with us!

Must try to contain myself!

Wait... you want to know who it is?

Run for your life!

Turns out that the ghostbusters failed to kill him... either that or it was Hollywood trickery. Mind you, he didn't seam that happy about being banished to the back of the coach.

Your choice Stay Puft, your choice...

Ok, So now that we're all on... can we head to Kandersteg now? WOO HOO

Next we find out that, what with all the delays, we've already missed the ferry that we were supposed to be on. And there is one more ferry tonight. And we might not make it, in which case we would have to wait overnight for the ferry (making our arrival in Kandersteg very late indeed). Pedal to the metal time... damn you London traffic!

We managed to make the ferry, with about 15minutes to spare. So it was very very close.

We all had to leave the coach once we were on the ferry, and while on board we gave the kids a packet dinner. Sausage rolls, juice, fruit etc. Certainly easier and cheaper than getting dinner on board like was suggested to us!

Bye bye UK!

I was going to finish this post with us leaving the UK, as the rest was just bus journey. But I do have to share this little bit of wonders from a sprog. While the air conditioning had been off on the coach for the ferry ride over, it had gotten rather hot in there...
sprog: "I'm roasting like a spit-roast"

ha-mphf.... must not laugh! Little sprog doesn't realise why it is so funny... must protect sprogs sweet and innocent mind... must... not.... LAUGH

*Bites fist*

Thanks to those that let me use photos. Obviously the image of Stay-puft belongs to who-ever it belongs to... basically it ain't mine. Hope you don't mind me using it. Please don't sue me!

And it all starts

2010-09-04T02:31:00.001+01:00

Well it has all started now!

Not only have the scouts started back for the year, but Gilwell Reunion is now officially underway. And yes, I'm attending both.... In the same day

... And some people have the cheek to say that I should get my head checked!

But yeah, after scouts I headed down to Gilwell... which is a surprising first for me. So yes, that popping noise at 1:15am was actually my Gilwell Cherry as I arrived on site.

Rosie and Rich had been kind enough to stay up for me. I'm camping with them, ans frankly I would have never found them if they hadn't come and met me shortly after my arrival.That was your mistake Rosie and Rich!

I also get another first in today, first in-the-field (literally) blogging! Yup, am currently laid in my tent loving the fact that I am, yet again, back at camp!

And as it's now half two in the morning I'll bid you a good night...

Night night!

Location:Walthamstow,United Kingdom

New Page!

2010-09-03T15:15:00.000+01:00

I've added a new page!

woo hoo

*villagers rejoicing*

what is it?... well its Final Thoughts. We decided to change the prayer at the end of the night to a more reflective quote/saying. Its a bit of an experiment, but hopefully it will work.

I know that the reflective aspect of the balanced program can be rather tricky to cover so I'll keep adding some of the quotes that we'll be using so that you can copy the idea if you wish.

Hope you like it, let me know what you think... and if you have any that I can add to the list.

Here we go again...

2010-09-02T12:02:00.000+01:00

I don't believe that we are about to set off on a new scouting year ALREADY!

It only feels like we got rid of them the other week... oh wait, it was!

Not only are we starting again this Friday epp but we will be hitting the ground running. We met last night, us leaders that is, to discuss our plans for the coming year. This wasn't actually our program planning (we'll be doing that later with the patrol leaders), but there is a lot happening very soon that needed to be discussed.

The main thing is that next weekend will be district camp woo hoo with both the cubs and the scouts. So lots of organising details for that.

I also want to get my rear in gear with regards to the kids record cards. It's one of the bits of being a scout leader that I am awful at, but it's not going to go away (as much as I would like it to)... but with the work that I have already done on it, I have already figured out a load of badges that the kids are actually due! So my plan on for Friday is to go through these, one-on-one, with the sprogs so that they know where they are at with regards to their awards and challenges.

I would love to get some of them getting their Chief Scout Gold Award. Am sure they can do it... it'll just be getting that push now.

Note: I'll also be going to Gilwell Reunion this weekend. Feel free to say hi if you see me!

PS. I did a little search online for 'rear in gear' to see if I could get a funny picture... this is what I found.

I don't know what to worry about more, the fact that this exists or the fact that she seams so happy about the fact that her dog butt is covered at all times! I know it's completely unrelated to scouting... but it was too funny not to share.

Given up the ghost

2010-08-31T13:34:00.002+01:00

I feel that I must apologise for the fact that I have been rather quiet since returning from Kandersteg and the fact that I havn't even started writing up the Kandersteg posts. (they are on the way I promise!)

... but frankly I needed a bit of a break from everything

Well, I say everything, but I will put my hands up and admit that there was sleeping, the odd evening round at mates, sleeping, a couple of meals thrown in, some catching up with work (of the paid kind),sleeping did I mention that?, a visit home to see my family in Glasgow and a bit of mourning.

Yup I'm in mourning, it is a sad sad day.

I don't know if I can bring myself to actually confirm it, it just sounds so final...

My boots are dead... and no they are not just resting

Ok, so this may seam like a tad bit of an over-reaction, but I am actually gutted that they are dead. I've had them for about 5 years or so (I can't actually remember when it was I got them), and they have done a lot of work in those 5 years. My Queen Scout Award, Duke of Edinburgh Gold, Explorer Belt, 3Nations trip to Mongolia and China, the World Scout Jamboree 2007, several Blair Atholl Patrol Jamborettes, Eurojam 2005 and innumerable weekend camps, cub trips, scout nights and network events.

Lovely plumage...

These boots have got me through a lot of good times... and always with warm, dry feet.

I noticed the first signs that they were dieing last summer, when I saw that the middle of the sole was degrading. I have since found out that Raichle is Swiss and they had a problem with the acid in the British soil dissolving the sole... apparantly it has been fixed. I was willing to over look my boots dissolving soles, hey it would just be getting as evil as myself, given that they were incredibly comfortable and still waterproof.

But it was this summer that I noticed the fatal wound... a crack in the fabric of the boot. This couldn't really be ignored or fixed*. So while I was in Glasgow I decided to do a bit of boot shopping.

Just like normal shoes, every brand makes them differently, and it is generally sound advice (for boots anyway) that once you've found the brand for you that you don't stray. Raichle is definately my brand, they fit my feet like a glove... well not like a glove, like a sock, a really good fitting sock... oh sod it they fit like the proverbial glove.

But when I looked in Lincoln I couldn't find any Raichle... and even more worryingly I couldn't find them ONLINE! (well in my quick 5min search anyway). So, full of hope, I went to the shops in Glasgow, where I was dutifully informed that Raichle had been bought over by Mammut.

*villagers rejoicing*

*trumpets sounding*

*holds back from kissing the sales assistant out of sheer joy*

So... would you like to meet my new boots?

tough luck, its my blog and I am going to show you them anyway! so there!

all shiney and new!

...and what is more the soles are intact

And to compare old and new... a preview of what will probably happen to my shiny, new, clean boots....

Fairwell my Raichles, you have served me well. You've deserved your well earned retirement at the back of my wardrobe (I don't think I could face throwing them out)

*yes I do realise that duct-tape can fix ANYTHING... but it's not exactly ideal for what I put my boots through and what I rely on them for

3Nations: Evacuation Day

2010-08-24T22:40:00.002+01:00

Right, before I get started... if you havn't read them already, visit the Expedition page and follow the 3Nations Expedition from the start.

This post has been rated PG and contains scenes of mild-peril*
No Networkers were harmed in the making of this post.

*Trace amounts of other types of peril may be present.

Tuesday 21st July 2009

Well, this is probably the most memorable day of the expedition for all involved... and not for the right reasons... but before I get ahead of myself I should really start at the beginning of this rather eventful day.

We were to get up early this morning to make sure that we would be able to set off on the hike that our aravt was programmed to do. Given that this is Mongolia, and they generally have little use of maps, we had a Mongolian who was going to guide us on the hike.

Time keeping in Mongolia is a tad different from here in the UK. Generally when we say that we will set off around 9am, then we will try to set off as soon to that time as possible. In Mongolia they will wait for a good omen until they set off. This can mean that they will wait several hours until the omens are right.

I don't know what the omen was on this particular day, but it was actually nearer ten when we set off, heading just over the hill into the next valley and the entrance to the Bogd Khan National Park.

Once in the national park we headed to the museum and the ruined Manzhir Khid monastery. The place really was beautiful and rather awe inspiring.

One of my favourite pictures (that I took anyway). The blue cloth is used in prayer.

I just love the detail!

From the monastery we headed/scrambled up the steep slope behind it to the top of the hill, which is where our first mishap of the day happened. To be honest I am not entirely sure what happened, but one of the girls had a bit of a run in with a snake or something... anyway, she was a tad freaked out and required a bit of consoling. Once she was ok to carry on we set off again.

This smaller shine was part way up the slope.

Occasionally we would pass something similar to cairns randomly dotted in the hills, they would also have prayer flags attached to them. We were directed by our Mongolian guide to pick up some small stones, we were to walk round all of these cairns while adding our stones to it three times; first for luck, then for sorrow, then for luck... so that your journey will start and finish with luck.

It was about 12noon ish that we reached this really large one at the top of the hill, and after doing our circuits of it for luck we stopped to take some photographs of the stunning view.

The approach...

Woo hoo! I got there!

It doesn't really show well on camera... but out there, the horizon just keeps going further and further back. It's like the longer you stare at it the further it goes.

The guide set off again... wait a minute... we came from THAT direction... why is he going away from the site

"now we head for the summit"

.... oh crud...

We thought that we were at the summit already! We had been told that it would be a short walk and that we wouldn't need to take much in the way of supplies. But then again, we still hadn't got used to the Mongolians concept of time just yet.

It was actually 4 hours later that we reached the actual summit, with no food or water left... we were all starting to suffer from dehydration in the hot weather. But we were happy we had reached the summit.

To our left we could see Zuunmod...

to our right was Ulaanbaatar...

... and what's that thing in the middle...

... ohh yeah.... that'll be the biggest storm that they've had in 20years!

... ohhh and look, now its turning towards us

double crud!

We only stayed at the summit for a short while, as we raced down the mountain ahead of the storm. Unfortunately the storm won, it was only maybe 40mins or so after we started our descent that we were hit. This, ladies and gentlemen, is when the excrement collided with the propeller.

We got soaked. But why only be soaked by rain when you can be pummeled by hail stones that were the size of a 20pence piece. And believe me... they hurt! We were carrying our small day sack over our heads to try to provide a little bit of protection while we walked... but there was more than once we had to run for cover under the trees.

I know, I know, you don't need to tell me. Hiding under trees in a thunder and lightning storm isn't a good idea. Frankly it's dangerous. But at that point we were in too much pain to do anything but. Even when we were under the trees, with our bags over our heads we were crying out with pain when hit.

I managed to get one quick photo during one bit of hiding... just before we were told to turn everything electrical off so that we wouldn't attract any lightning.

The rest of the hike down to the site is frankly a bit of a jumble in my head. but there are certain things that stick out in my head.

Like the moment the lightning struck a nearby hill top, you could feel it through your entire body, and our guide.... the ONLY person who knew where we were... curled up in a ball and started screaming like a little pansy.

I also remember getting scared senseless by the marmots, who had been forced out of their holes (as they were overflowing with water) and were defending their territory against us.

Or the 5 rivers of ice cold water, that hadn't been there that morning, which we had to wade across and which went half way up my thigh.

But, thankfully, we all made it back to the site to find chaos. The flash flood had ripped right through the camp. The people that had been onsite that day had been running around trying to secure everything and reduce the damage as much as possible. They had been panicking about us as they hadn't been able to get in contact with us (everything electrical switched off remember?) and had made sure that there was a ger heated up for us to get immediately bundled into.

We actually had to be stripped out of our wet clothes by the others, our hands had gone so numb that we couldn't bend our fingers. Basically they started treating us all for hypothermia and dehydration (remember we had run out of water as the start of the day had been gloriously hot and sunny).

Once we had recovered enough, we were moved back to our our ger to rest and recover more while the others finished securing the site. By this point it was about dinner time, so we took the decision to make ourselves useful and make dinner for everyone on site (as the others were so busy they didn't have any time to prepare anything).

It was once we had dinner ready that we had been told that the storm may be returning and we were to evacuate.

Everyone and all personal belongings were to be removed from the site... NOW. The race was back on, and we were determined to win this time. All of our stuff was packed, but we also had to pack all the gear from the people that were in Zuunmod and Ulaanbaatar, so we went from ger to ger grabbing things and stuffing it into any bag that you could find. It could be sorted out later.

Those that were on the hike and those that were ill were to be evacuated first, so that included my aravt. We were to be taken to a boarding school that was empty for the summer. It was like a refugee camp...

...mass confusion, stuff everywhere (chain gangs to move gear from the buses inside to the corridors), people going around trying to find their bags... even a hospital room for those that were in bad shape. It was good when I found Eds little room of calm. He had imposed a rule that anyone coming into the room was not the panic and just RELAX.

I remember writing up my diary that night, up until then I had usually done some little funny notes of things that had happened that day (which I have tried to share with you).... but I made a conscience decision not to make too light of a day that could have gone horribly wrong.

Thanks again to those I borrowed photos from

Please be reassured that everyone from the expedition fully recovered from the effects of the storm, it was later reported to us that 8 Mongolians in Ulaanbaatar died... my thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families.

Honey I'm Home!

2010-08-22T15:45:00.005+01:00

All going well, I should now be back in Lincolnshire after an awesome week in Kandersteg, Switzerland... with a diary full of memories to pass onto all of you.

Woo hoo

... now to do that laundry

... damn