Tag: ukweather

My sunny weekend

Due to the current lock down within the UK, I am currently at home camping in my garden. You may wonder why and I’m here to tell you. A couple of weekends ago I was due to attend another European Jamboree pre-camps with my unit however it got cancelled. Nevertheless, a few days later we saw this challenge set by Northumberland Scouts to camp out for the whole of April in order to gain 30 more nights away. I was quickly onto it.

Tonight, I am on night 5 and needless to say we have turned back garden camping into a luxury; with Wi-Fi, power, an air bed, pillows and millions of duvets we are very comfy. The last few nights have been clear and so I have been trialling night sky photography as well as spotting hedgehogs!

This weekend has been JOTI which is an online Jamboree across the world. World Scouting organised an extra JOTI this year (as it is usually held within October) to help postpone boredom. It has been very fun on the chat rooms talking to people from Australia, Lebanon, Germany, Mexico, the Philippines and even the hearty Scotland – and England!

Other than JOTI I have been enjoying the sun throughout this weekend enjoying sitting in the garden reading as well as learning how to make waffles. I also caught up on some TV seasons as well as creating my revision timetable. I’ve been keeping up with my school studies and in some evenings I’ve been attending online dance lessons via Zoom. I have also been going on walks in the evenings during sunset or later in the evening when the stars are out.

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Back Another Day …

It’s been the first week of my summer holidays and I am already wanting to go back to school – where there is a set timetable and no kittens running around trying to trip you up.

My first week of no school consisted of seeing my friends, getting a new kitten and doing some homework (yes my teachers really did set me homework over the summer holidays). However, I did have an enjoyable time at my county’s Jamboree unit meetup.

We designed a menu for our September camp where I’ll be with my unit and found out that we will have to walk to buy the food to practice for the Jamboree site. We also looked thoroughly through our ‘Jamboree in a bag’ where I spotted an American football, flags, maple syrup, maracas and much more. I am already planning some activities I could do with different sections with the bag and have looked on the UK contingent website of activities I could do – I can’t wait to make a tipee with my Beavers and other local units around me.

I also found out about some unofficial news about the Jamboree. However, this is only a rumour but if it turns out to be true I’m going to be very, very happy.

After our month long UK ‘heatwave’ I can be glad to say that we have finally had two days of rain – yipee! However, I’m starting to miss the sun which is already preparing me for the heat out on the Jamboree campsite.

This week’s top tip is to frequently check the UK contingents website for any new information. I am enjoying looking at the ‘Jamboree in a bag’ section to look at all the different activities I could run in my local area.

Here comes the bride …

It’s been 9 weeks since I camped in the snow (there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit) and this weekend I experienced the complete opposite in weather. I had the pleasure of spending the last two days roasting in the glorious sun, relaxing by the river. Well not quite relaxing as I was busy fundraising but it was by the river.

I have made too many paracord bracelets to count this weekend and if anyone mentions the word paracord I might just get some and strangle them!

The highlight of my weekend was not seeing Meghan Markle’s quite plain wedding dress or Pippa Middleton’s can of green tea dress but the moment when I sold one of my hand made hair scrunchie’s and the girl who bought it took out her JoJo bow and replaced it with my scrunchie. Move over JoJo -84’s hair accessories are the future.

P.S. Please like and share my new Facebook page

Another Muddy Meetup

Recently, I went on another meetup with my county unit. Some of the things we talked about was our personal developments (PDs), a typical menu and practiced some hand washing.
To start the day, we talked about our personal developments and what we wanted to get out of the Jamboree pre-experience. We will be awarded a badge after we complete our goals which have to be set in specific categories, such as physical, emotional and spiritual.
We also created a draft meal plan for a typical day out on the Jamboree. We planned the cost of a meal and portion sizes, so we had to work out how many ingredients we would need to get. We used the draft list of food which will be available on the Jamboree which included some weird food items to us British, like pre-scrambled egg in a carton.
Finally, we practiced our hand washing skills which will be how we wash most of our clothes on the Jamboree. We got split into teams to wash a muddy white T-shirt which personally I think our group did well, at even though we didn’t win. My group contained the others in the joint unit as well as myself, so we have decided to keep the T-shirt as our group mascot.
I hope everyone has had a great bank holiday weekend, the weather has been a lot nicer compared to my counties meet up last week.