Bounce
not promising anything like coherance with this, but then, what’s new there?
Bounce was the first Guide camp either of us had ever done, even though I was both a Brownie and a Guide. I’d been informed that Guide camping is very different than "family camping" so wondered what it was going to be like. Actually, I wonder if maybe I have a different concept of "family camping" than everyone else (my version including multiple families pitched together…) cos it wasn’t that different. We had mud, rain, lots of noisey children enjoying themselves most of the time, activities laid on with varying degrees of success and a long walk to the nearest clean toilet. See? Just like Kessingland!
Aprilia was with the Brownies for the first half of the week which she had looked forward to for ages but which didn’t quite reach her expectations. Being a "lone Brownie" tacked onto another pack who already all knew each other and were, for the most part, much older, is never going to be easy for anyone. For Aprilia, who can suffer from serious bouts of the collywobbles when she’s not in her comfort zone, it was really very hard. but she made it to the end, earned her Camper badge, tried lots of activities that she’s never done before and even ate foods that she really, really didn’t like the look of but declared to be "okay" once she had got beyond the "ew, it’s all mixed up together" reflex (this girl does not like mixed up foods, except for pot noodles that is……) I was somewhat annoyed that all her kit came back to me on the Tuesday evening saturated, having been left out in the rain for a while followed by being left at the leaky end of the marquee, especially when they knew that a) I was on site so could have come and collected it earlier if I’d known (and they had seen me earlier so could have mentioned it!!!) and b) unlike the rest of them who were going home and thus didn’t need to worry if the rest of their kit was soaked, they knew full well that she still had the rest of the week to do. But hey ho, we managed. We cheered ourselves up on Tuesday evening by visiting the Glam tent which was open as a "one off treate" for the staff and their families. Amazing what a manicure and glitzy nail varnish will do for your mood!
The rest of the week she split her time between helping me run activities in the "international tent" where 5 of the continents were represented with a craft activity, a few with challenges and all with food and pestering the ladies in the craft and glam tents with her new-found friend who was also a young Brownie whose mum was on the same bit of the site as me! Between them they each earned their Communicator, (another) Craft and World Guiding badges and would have done more given half the chance but there is only so much you can do in the middle of a field you know! It was really interesting to see that, after several days of not being able to break into existing friendships and being very obviously on the margins of things, within seconds of meeting up, she and A were inseperable and to see how that dynamic worked so much better. That pair could have taken on the world, just not if they needed to do it with 12 other girls!!!
I had a small crisis when my gas stove failed me (the regulator stopped working so I had a flame that was about as much use as a small candle) but that was quickly averted by me learning how to use the "trangia" (meths burning) stove that I had inadvertantly bought a while ago as part of a set of lightweight camping pans! FAb little thing, bit scary until you get used to it but fab all the same, and aparently I got myself a mega bargain as it should have cost in the region of £40 and I bought it for £10!
The most lasting memory for me is the closing ceremony when then entire camp (400 girls plus about 100 support staff) sang "taps" together whilst the flags were lowered. Seems such a little thing but it really did send a shiver down my spine.
The memory I’d like to dispose of rather rapidly would be the toilets. I really, really don’t like chemical loos. And I shall leave it at that shall I?
Obviously the week was wonderfully rounded off by throwing everything into the car in random fashion and heading North to join the Off the Path Party. Jan’s summer house made a lovely "home" for the night as it was really too windy to pitch the Hobbit Hole (it would have been fine once it was up I think, just the thought of acres of tent flapping in the wind whilst we tried to pitch really, really did not appeal!) Once more I was treated to watching how Aprilia behaves so very differently in a crowd to in a smaller group as she wobbled her way round until finally bonding with 2 other girls to form a sewing club which they took out into the summer house cos the house was just too noisy for them. I’m actually very proud that she can deal so very well with that sort of thing and find her own little niche where she’s comfortable rather than trying and failing to "fit in" with the crowd.
