Sad/Glad to be home

Well I'm home and recovering. the short time I spent at camp was so much fun that I wish I were still there, but know I wouldn't have been comfortable.
SATURDAY - Set off for camp - I had my bus swapped at the last moment as one of the mini buses didn't have an 'adult' in the back. (The driver and co-driver concentrate solely on the road). It was brilliant, I was in with Johnny, Ollie, Fowler and assorted other Cubs and Scouts. Top fun, they have such a good sense of humour, observation and knowledge. They can also sing, they know the words to most modern pop songs and make up for what they don't know with tumultuous volume! For instance, they managed to take a beautiful song, "Chasing Pavements" and turn it into something akin to a 200 decibel football chant! So funny.

What goes on at camp, stays at camp.

Apart from.....
A little cub throwing bits of bread at Little Fink and her friend, I shout at him to stop. A little later, Little Fink comes up to me and says, "Please don't tell C****** you are my mum."

Mrs Biscuit and Mr Coultard were both on site, in fine form. Along with The Charioteer and his faithful driver Jeeves who never fail to make us smile. (Jeeves had requested that his breakfast bacon roll be delivered to his tent by the kitchen staff - to which he received a suitable reply!)

SUNDAY - Rain, rain and more rain, some of the kids tents are in danger of becoming waterlogged so all start digging trenches around them to divert the water. The children are filthy and loving it. On site activities including, Backwoods Cooking - "Eugh look at the blood on that fish...yuck...can i touch it?" Cyclo-cross - rerouted as the mud and water made the original route dangerous. Woodworking - Little Fink made Harry the Hedgehog. At elevenses i looked at Little Fink (you only really get to see the children at meal times, the rest of the time, they are spread out all over the site, impossible to find) bearing in mind it is walloping down with rain and she is wet through, I ask, "How hard does it have to rain before you feel waterproofs are necessary?".

Two of the cooking team and I spent the night in the local TravelInn as my back was so sore and they don't camp. I watched the morning (5am) weather report on Monday - Hike Day - to find a severe weather warning had been issued, 60mph winds and torrential rain forecast. By 7am I had decided my back was too painful to stay on site so I phoned Mr Fink and he sleepily agreed to come 160 miles and get me. We cooked breakfast for the hikers, we were worried as the weather was so fierce and the children were due to be hiking across Exmoor - I was sure the troop would be on the evening news having been rescued by the Mountain Rescue people. I found Little Fink - bacon buttie in hand - told her I was going home and asked her what did she want to do (I really wanted her to come home as her eye was going pink again) she declined my offer and said she was going hiking. What can I say?

As the hike parties were leaving we had to create a trench through the kitchen to divert the water through. Mr Fink arrived at about noon and i was very relieved to see him. I said my goodbyes and asked the girls to keep me updated on Little Fink's progress eye=wise and headed off home. Sad to leave but in enough discomfort to be glad to be going too.

Apparently some of the hikes were rerouted from across the top of Exmoor to the beach for safety reasons. I'll know more, hopefully, when I see Little Fink on Friday.

I'd like to offer a big thank you to all the Finkers that have left messages of support on the camp website, you know who you are.

Rememberance Day

Not including weddings, christenings and funerals, I only go to church once a year. Today was that day. I have an over riding need to show my gratitude to those that gave their lives so that I might live mine in relative peace.

Is it just me? Ever since I had Little Fink I have become overly emotional at certain stimuli.

Rousing music (Albert Hall New Year Concert - the timpani drum started playing the theme from 2001 a Space Oddysey and I was toast - blubbing), Rugby players singing the National Anthem (the recent World Cup had me in tears every time), ordinary people talking about emotive subjects, I hear that barely audible 'wobble' in the voice and I'm history.

The thing that set me off today was, an old soldier laid a wreath on the memorial, took a step back, bowed gently, then as he straightened up, he threw his elderly shoulders back with pride, stood to attention and saluted all his comrades, known and unknown. The way he held himself infront of that memorial, the pride and strength in that simple gesture made me cry, it's making me cry just thinking of it now. Later in the service he read out the names of all the local people who died in WWI, WWII and the Falklands, this again made the tears fall.

On a happier note, earlier on in the day when Little Fink had gone to meet up with the Cubs to parade into the church, I met up with 2 of my best friends, one of which came to Scout Camp this year (where she made her name as an expert biscuit-procurer, remind me to show you the video of her Biscuit Stealing Dance sometime) She and I were sitting together in church which is a dangerous place to be because I only have to look at her and I collapse in fits of giggles. I blame my other friend for not supervising us properly. Anyway, as the vicar got to the bit about, "Blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers" I started to shake with suppressed laughter and dare not look round at Mrs Biscuit for fear she would launch into a Monty Python tribute and get us both thrown out.

The other highlight was Little Fink, she recited the Lord's Prayer beautifully (she knows the 'old' version from her time in a Catholic Scout group - they don't teach it at her school - terrible) and at the end, she dutifully crossed herself in the Catholic fashion, bless her, she was the only one, we were in a C of E church!