When I was 12 (I think) I joined the Guides.
I had a Larry The Lamb perm and wore my hat back to front on my first day - my dad said that was the right way round (oh, wasn't he hilarious?!).
I remember my first camp. I was Patrol Seconder and my mate Morag was Patrol Leader (I was offered my own Patrol but had too much fun where I was, so refused the promotion!). Why they called them Patrols is beyond me. We patrolled nothing! We carried no weapons and we had no power whatsoever!
Anyway, camp...
We finally built our tent (we spent so much time laughing and bickering we were late for the BBQ). Staying in a tent, with your mates, with rain water seeping up through your plastic sheet thing you have under your sleeping bag was actually fun at 12/13/14! Now, I think I'd kill someone if I was made to go through that without hair straighteners!
We finally built our tent (we spent so much time laughing and bickering we were late for the BBQ). Staying in a tent, with your mates, with rain water seeping up through your plastic sheet thing you have under your sleeping bag was actually fun at 12/13/14! Now, I think I'd kill someone if I was made to go through that without hair straighteners!
We told ghost stories to each other at night and generally behaved like children, staying up gobbing off about all the shite of the day.
Each morning, we were starving. But wait. This was Guide Camp and we always had to 'be prepared'...for coping with starvation! Yes, the Guide leaders had hidden our breakfast - every fecking day! We had to solve clues and follow coloured bits of string and wool to get our Rice Krispies and milk.
However, by the time my tent had finished arguing, fighting, laughing and taking the piss out of each other on this particular day, the sheep had found our box of food and destroyed it!
We had to beg the other tent to make us blackbirds (bread and butter, spread with jam and fried - HEALTHY!).
A lot of camp is a blur but the major thing I remember is the competition I had with Morag. We decided not to wash, change our pants, brush our hair or change our clothes - for the whole 5 days. The only thing we did was brush our teeth (cos I had just had my braces off and was paranoid about my teeth falling out if I didn't brush for a day).
Talking of braces. I was not popular on the last day of camp. We had just folded and packed all the tents away and I suddenly remembered I'd left my retainer in one of the tent pockets. We couldn't tell which tent I'd been in so had to unpack them all til we found my wee bit of plastic with my teeth shapes in it! The leaders were not best impressed and I think Morag and Jenny just laughed at me all the way home!
When we got home, my mum could smell me from the bus! She should have been grateful cos she had bugger all washing to do cos all my clothes were still neatly folded in my bag! She picked me up by the scruff of the neck and practically hosed me down before dumping me in a bath of Dettol.
Good times!
Anyway, the point of this blog? I'm organising a reunion with my Patrol Leader and the Leader of a rival patrol. We've not really seen each other since we got kicked out of Guides for being to old to be in them anymore...we've since got back in touch through Facebook and are now planning a drunken night out - I am hopeful that we will behave just as ridiculously as we did at camp!!
I will probably wear clean pants although that is debateable!
Each morning, we were starving. But wait. This was Guide Camp and we always had to 'be prepared'...for coping with starvation! Yes, the Guide leaders had hidden our breakfast - every fecking day! We had to solve clues and follow coloured bits of string and wool to get our Rice Krispies and milk.
However, by the time my tent had finished arguing, fighting, laughing and taking the piss out of each other on this particular day, the sheep had found our box of food and destroyed it!
We had to beg the other tent to make us blackbirds (bread and butter, spread with jam and fried - HEALTHY!).
A lot of camp is a blur but the major thing I remember is the competition I had with Morag. We decided not to wash, change our pants, brush our hair or change our clothes - for the whole 5 days. The only thing we did was brush our teeth (cos I had just had my braces off and was paranoid about my teeth falling out if I didn't brush for a day).
Talking of braces. I was not popular on the last day of camp. We had just folded and packed all the tents away and I suddenly remembered I'd left my retainer in one of the tent pockets. We couldn't tell which tent I'd been in so had to unpack them all til we found my wee bit of plastic with my teeth shapes in it! The leaders were not best impressed and I think Morag and Jenny just laughed at me all the way home!
When we got home, my mum could smell me from the bus! She should have been grateful cos she had bugger all washing to do cos all my clothes were still neatly folded in my bag! She picked me up by the scruff of the neck and practically hosed me down before dumping me in a bath of Dettol.
Good times!
Anyway, the point of this blog? I'm organising a reunion with my Patrol Leader and the Leader of a rival patrol. We've not really seen each other since we got kicked out of Guides for being to old to be in them anymore...we've since got back in touch through Facebook and are now planning a drunken night out - I am hopeful that we will behave just as ridiculously as we did at camp!!
I will probably wear clean pants although that is debateable!
1 comment:
I seem to remember having to wash by default as a trip mid week had been planned to the swimming baths - I bet the locals appreciated us infecting their pool!
Can't wait for the reunion - if there are badges to win for drinking too much, I'm sure we'll be ok. I'm sure I've picked up the bad habits from the guide leaders that chilled their midnight wine in the stream on camp!
Morag (PL) x
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