Well, the wanderer has returned! I wonder if anyone noticed my absence? I know at least five people that did, Mr Grumpy, Master Grumpy and the Master Music, which in turn means Nanny and Grandpapa Baxter felt the fall out!
What a weekend! Depending upon where you are in the world you'll either be marvelling at the most amazing weather we've just experienced or you'll be wondering what all the fuss is about.... Mr Crabb. It has been glorious, considering it's September and I was camping for the weekend, the chances were that it was going to persistently rain, but no, sun, sun and just for good measure, more sun.
In case you weren't aware, I have volunteered to help with the year 10 students on their Duke of Edinburgh bronze award scheme. Which in short meant 15 teaching staff, 61 students, and yomping across the Lincolnshire countryside for about 30km over 2 days. Guess what? I loved it! Not only did my partner in crime, Mrs French and I have a laugh together, we had the loveliest and most competitive group of boys on the trip. I'm not going to go into great detail about all the minor ins and outs of the trip, but needless to say, put 6 lads together, all aged 14 and just imagine the humour. They were a real credit to themselves, their parents and of course the school. Mrs F and I laughed, not just at some of their antics but with them and their humour.
Thankfully they were sensible enough to be trusted to look the other way when my bladder was fit to burst and I had to pee in the woods. They also made a good impression with the landlord at a pub along the way.... pub? how did we end up there? there was no pub on the route! However, he was so impressed with their behaviour, he gave them free crisps and juice!
As I have already mentioned, they were extremely competitive and even though we told them on many occasion that neither day was a race they were adamant they wanted to "win". They wanted to finish first on both days, even though they started fourth on the first day and we explained we needed to teach them all the map reading, pacing and grid references etc to help them pass their actual expedition. Fast forward 4 hours and you'll find the boys running to overtake the only team ahead of us, shouting at myself and Mrs F to "Run Miss & Miss!" Did we run? Was it race? The answer, yes and yes, we were just as competitive as them, and guess what.... we finished first on both days. What a team!
So here I am, completely shattered and in need of another early night but just wanted to share a little of what my weekend held for me... and to think, I haven't even scratched the surface of the landlord and landlady in the local pub, or the story of why Benji couldn't understand why the boys couldn't share tents with the girls.... oh, the stories could be endless.
Have I ever told you how much I love my job?
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