explorerscout84

Flying

All times are BST

20:10 (Sat) The plane took off

22:00 Food arrived – Spicy Chicken, Mousse, Bread roll, Fruit (which I traded for crackers and cheese) and Water

22:20 A cup of tea arrives (which late on spills a little on my lap – I’m all good)

22:30 Tray taken away and I’m off to sleep

1:45 (Sun) Sunset so plane lights turn on

1:55 More food (roast chicken caeser salad sandwich and chocolate bar – we can all guess that I went for the chocolate)

2:00 Another cup of tea to give me a caffeine boost

2:30 Eating a bread and butter roll from dinner as sandwich was not nice

2:40 Uniform on and Pen with me

2:45 20 minutes until landing (Final announcement) as well as seatbelt sign

3:09 We have landed (22:09 local time)

3:32 Waiting to get off plane with a 32 degree Celsius temperature outside

4:20 All through security (my fingerprints would scan and be kept o record till they sorted it out)and have found my bag

4:40 Waiting for coach to arrive

4:45 On coach – it’s so hot and humid outside but so cool on the coach with air con

4:50 I’m now on my way to my accommodation see you tomorrow (at 23:50 local time)

Check in

17:35 So I have arrived at the airport and am currently waiting to check in and then go through security. Currently I’m quite happy and excited for our journey.

18:00 Got checked in and my bag weighed around 20kg.

18:25 Went through security and got pulled over. They were interested in my left pocket and right foot. They also took a sample. But I’m clear through.

18:30 We are going to have a meal but first have to decide where!

18:45 Free time before meeting at gate

19:05 Catch train to gate

19:22 Checked in with gate

19:38 Sat in seat all boarded

See you in New York

Setting up your novus account

1. Follow the email link

2. Create a password

3. You can add your social media contacts straight away or you can set them up later

4. Read the terms and conditions to learn of how they can track you

5. Read the privacy policy on how your data will be sent to other parties privately

6. Figure out the app has been done by Canada

7. Log on using the 2019 WSJ app

8. Add more information

9. Explore

10. Count down the days until you will revive your wristband (less than 5 days)

Cathedral – the final event before WSJ

So last Friday my county had our last meetup at my districts Cathedral. We all wore (apart from a few who ‘forgot’) our Jamboree uniform and hence mostly all rocked our UK shorts.

At first we got a tour of the Cathedral learning about the Edward Jenner statue and how his discoveries helped to prevent small pox. We also learnt of the structure of the cathedral and how the east window is the size of a tennis pitch. Our county was able to climb the cathedral tower where we were able to go into the bell rooms. Once we climbed to the top we admired the view as well as had a photo opportunity. There were also a few presentation’s to be given out.

As we climbed back down the tower I realised how tired I had become – this was not a good sign given that I would be on the Jamboree site in now less than a week. Our guide then took us towards the choir seats where we received a blessing to wish us well on the journey.

We then had a quick Q&A session but had to travel through the cloister’s (where part of Harry Potter was filmed). We had a few questions and later on was given an itinerary from our unit leaders (whom some had travelled from the other county my unit is made up from). This was proceeded by a short speech from our county commissioners who reminded us of who we were representing (UK Scouts and our own county).

There was then a few more photo opportunities and thank yous as we then parted our ways to all see one another the following Saturday.

Unexpected use for a necker

Never in my Scouting life did I ever think that I’d use a necker to cover a very exposed rip in my shorts. Typically, I would’ve thought my necker would’ve been used as a sling or a bandana yet, it was used completely differently. So how did this come about you may ask (and no it was not intentional).

It was an early Sunday morning and I was helping at a festival to move people’s kit back to their cars: on the Friday evening I had moved the kit from people’s cars to their pitch so today it was the reverse. Proceeding one of the hauls to a car my group were walking back I decided it would be a brilliant idea to sit in my friends wheelbarrow and they could drag me back (1st mistake!). Secondly, I was wearing fairly tight shorts (2nd mistake!) and decided to sit cross legged (3rd mistake!). After less than a minute of being pulled around sat on the wheelbarrow I got out where I noticed my shorts had ripped. Quickly improvising I held the bucket in front of my legs as I waddled back to the base where we were stationed.

Here I realised that I had no spare clothes and only a hi-vis jacket. At first we attempted to create a hi-vis skirt (I’m certain I would’ve pulled it off) until we realised it would not work. It was not until someone mentioned trying my necker that I realised I was not following protocol of ‘Improvise, Adapt and Overcome’. I then was able to tie my necker around my leg and through my belt loop.

The very important lesson I’ve learnt after this experience is that you should never underestimate your Scouting necker. A necker is the key to the Scouts’ motto to ‘Be Prepared’.

Strategy Day 1

So this evening I arrived at Strategy to help out for this weekend. My job for this weekend is to help behind the scenes – doing jobs such as creating the packed lunches, helping on bases etc.

I arrived and put up my tent up, before going to sign in – this year I’m very impressed because I get to wear a helpers lanyard as well as my wrist band. Once I had signed in I then went to help pack the lunches, which will be used over the weekend, into paper bags.

Shortly after, we had a meeting where we were told the 3 (large) patrols we would be in for the weekend and what tasks we would be completing. I found out that my patrol will eat breakfast at 7 followed by helping on the washing up station, which was followed by free time to go and visit the venue, to play with a frisbee, tennis ball, American football and football and to play cards with my fellow Jamboree participants.

To be continued …

One month to go …

Wow! I never quite realised how close the Jamboree is until now. I have now officially finished all of my exams and have prom in the upcoming week.

We have one month to pack, to go on last minute precamps, to wear in hiking shoes and to mentally prepare ourselves for this amazing adventure.

I have my final precamp coming up next weekend and I am super excited. To prepare my readers (and myself) for the Jamboree in America, I will be posting more frequently over the upcoming weeks. But for now, this weekend I will be helping out at Strategy. Look out for the daily blog posts over this weekend.

Rumble in the jungle 2

Luckily, I was one of the only ones who did not wake up to the sound of the Beavers at 4:30am. I only then woke up at 6:30 am from the alarm I set myself.

Before breakfast, the Beavers painted jigsaw puzzles until they then ate bacon, scrambled eggs and baked beans. After breakfast, they then started washing up followed by a scavenger hunt on the campsite. They then made animals masks using paper plates and pens.

After this, they played a quick game of NESW but with a jungle twist. When called out ‘Make the sound of …’ they would sound like the animal and when called out ‘Act like a …’ they would act like the animal mentioned.

Finally, it was time for lunch – a banquet of sandwiches, crisps, fruit and veg. For pudding, they had slime (green jelly), bugs (raisins) and sticks (matchmakers). After lunch, they rolled up their roll mats and stuffed their sleeping bags as well as collecting all of their kit together.

finally, it was time for them to go home. Once all the Beavers left, we helped to dismantle camp by taking down the marquee as well as packing away our own personal tents. The weekend was brilliant and was a nice break from my revision.

Rumble in the jungle

This weekend, I’m on Beaver camp as a young leader. I arrived a couple of hours earlier to help set up camp – I helped put up the Beavers tent and the Marquee.

The Beavers soon arrived and I quickly are my lunch ready to start the activities. We all got given jungle books and then we were off on our first activity.

The first activity consisted of hunting for different tracks – the Beavers had to at first spot the tracks and then understand what each one stood for. There were a few challenging tracks to look for which I did not manage to spot.

After our first activity, we then packed our day sacks to walk to the obstacle course. Here, the Beavers completed the course in multiple variations and even attempted the cargo net. Luckily, no one fell into the stream which the course took place above.

Our third activity consisted of knot tying and putting up a tent. The Beavers learnt the reef knot and a clove hitch whilst the other lodge put up the tent. This was shortly followed by swapping activities before going to wash our hands before dinner.

Our dinner was spaghetti Bolognese, but due to last Beaver camp where I broke multiple Scout laws (https://explorerscout84.co.uk/a-scout-is-to-be-trusted-but-not-on-beaver-camp), I was expecting revenge. I was told that my dinner might become chilli infested but in the end, it was normal. Everyone then helped to wash up.

Me and my fellow Young Leader, then made a string trail. Originally it was too long but we managed to shorten it. The Beavers thoroughly enjoyed this before then proceeding to sit and enjoy the campfire. They toasted marshmallows and sang traditional songs.

Finally, it was time for bed after a long day. The Beavers were read a bedtime story.

I am currently writing this enjoying the silence. I have borrowed the campsites WiFi to upload the post – which I only discovered recently.

Continue reading “Rumble in the jungle”

Rumour has it

So this weekend the unit leaders (and IST) have been at the final leader weekend at Gilwell Park. They have been finding out last minute details and handing in the 3 duffle bags to be shipped off to the USA.

I’m now excitedly waiting to hear where in Canada our HoHo is going to be, however rumour has it I might be staying at HoHo with … Scout group. We found this out through a connection of badge swaps.

This week I have survived my first week of GCSE examinations – I am now a third of the way through my 23 exams with 4 weeks still left to go. Also thanks to my biology exam I now know what an axolotl looks like. Not looking forward to tomorrow’s exam, but at least I’ve only got the one exam.

Better get back to the revision now.

Not an axolotl, but is a clue to where HoHo is near.