Dear Diary

Bugger.

My post today consisted of a letter from my landlord giving me 2 months to vacate the flat that I live in. No warning that this had been planned, nothing, no pleasentries, no thank you for always paying your rent on time, no thank you for not trashing the place, no thank you for not causing me hastle.

No, just be out in 2 months.

Total wanker

Well today was surreal!

A friend of M's had a stall at a fairy fair. Yes you did read that right, a fairy fair! Basically her friend makes model faries and sells them. And today we were expected to go along and support her. I was not really lookign forward to the day, slogging my way to Kings Lynn and then paying for the privelage of watching gorwn adults wander round as pixies was not what what I had imagined doing with my Sunday, but I went along. A few things came out of it though!

Firstly, exactly how different was it to going on a Cub camp? grown adults dressing strangely and messing about when they should really know better? Lets face it, I was in no position to criticise!

Second, lots of ideas for writing. Have always thought there is something a bit fantastical about stately homes and this was no exception. Have some great ideas a can't wait to get cracking.

Finally, before going m told me that her friend actually believes in faries! I was pretty dismisive of the whole thing but then M pointed out that her friend often can't understand why some one can believe in God but not in faries. Now for the record I am Christian (although with major issues with the organised church, although that is a different story for another time) and it reminded me that beliveing in God, in any way, is ultimately a leap of faith. Now there are much better reasons for believing in God than in faries (the whole why are we here, do we have a soul type questions) but when push comes to shove it is about believing in something that you can't actually see.

So as with the whole dressing up and being a prat thing, am I in a position to criticise?

Couple of rights of passage this week.

First two of my young leaders turned 18. They are incredible girls who's energy and enthusiasm for Cubs is brilliant, just a pity I'll lose them to uni in september!

Then I bumped in to an ex Cub in the street who was busy trying to chat up some girls. Of course I in no way attempted to embarrass or wind him up.

At all.

In any shape way or form.

:-)

Really need to find another body for district camp. Have 18 kids going and only 3 adults. There is an over all camp leader so we have enough bodies for the legalities but 3 adults when with that amount of daylight they are just not going to sleep is going to be a nightmare!

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Well we seem to have calmed down our moaning Cub Mum. Caps off to S and H who stopped me from sending her a follow up email that might have been described as "giving it to her with both barrells".

Taking today off work, feel the need for an extended weekend, have been accused of working too hard again!

Had a weird dream last night. I have a kid of recuring dream, althought it's different ech time, where I'm doing something or going somewhere and though I set off in loads of time I get later and later. This time it centered on camp. I was trying to cook sunday dinner. I couldn't find the food, then it wasn't what I needed, then there was no gas, the pots weren't big enough, the other leaders dissapeared, the kids dissapeared and by the time I found them it was 10 at night and they were in the pub! And the parents were turning up wanting their kids back.

Scary

A couple of negatives today.

Firstly one of the 6 new kids that started this term has quit after coming to cubs 3 times. Perhaps I'm overly sensititve but I hate it when that happens. I'm proud of the pack, I put huge amounts of my time and effort in and always feel dissapointed when some one leaves. probably need to take myself less seriously!

Secondly was far more annoying. Had parent of a Cub ring me up to moan about why her son was not a sixer or seconder when younger kids were. God she pissed me off! The reason her son is not a sixer or seconder is because he does not behave like one. He answers back, he doesn't help other kids, is rude and by his OWN MOTHER'S admission is immature for his age. Why the hell should I give him his stripes? She accused me of making one kid a seconder who had only been in the pack 2 months. you what? sorry? No love, the kid you reffer to has been in 10 months, is thoughtful, mature, sel'f confident, polite, does as he's told, and MOST IMPORTANTLY helps others!

She moaned that in Brownies and Guides it seemed to be done be age. Firstly this is not Brownies or Guides. FACT.

Secondly, I can't speak for out friends int he Guides, but in Cubs it is NOT done just one age. Kids have to earn their stripes.

The fact is I have no problem with the kid involved. Yes he has his annoying ways, but that's because he's a kid! The system is set up to give them something to aim at. What has pissed me right off is the attitude of his Mother. GRRRR......

Well it's probably about time I went to bed (it is 1.10 am local time!) but just thought I should add that it is 4 years, more or less to the day, since my nan died.

Rarely a day goes by when I don't think of her, she was a tough old bird, a great friend and truly inspirational. I will never forget how proud she was when I got my queen's scout award, I just wish she had still been alive when I was made Akela, she was Chile herself in her younger years. This stuff must be in the blood!

Eleanor "Dorris" Burt
1913-2002
I miss you Nan.

My alter ego!

I've been faffing about.

I tell people that I want to quit this 9-5 bollocks to be a writer but I don't actually spend a great deal fo my spare time actually doing it! So I have decided that I will spend more time working at it, even if it's not very good and I throw out a lot of what I produce. After all I'm not going to get there by sitting on my fat hairy arse now am I?

I may post bits of it on here now and then for the perusal of those that come this way (or Katie anyway! :-) ), or I may just bottle it, you never know. What I do know is that children are much more interesting to write for than adults. Like I posted the other day, there are an awful lot of people who have grown up to be really rather dull.

Am now going to figure out how to add a photo of myself to this bloody thing. I am not at my best with technology so there may be some anglo saxon flowing round here shortly!

Note to self.

It's a lot safer to go to district meetings yourself rather than letting another leader in your place. That way you don't get volunteered to dress up as a ring master at a circus theme camp complete with leggings, boots and a top hat.

Have warned S that I fully intend to top the out fit off with a whip and chase her around with it!

The last few days at work have made me realised just how much I can't stand all the bollocks there is in the world. It has brought me in to contact with a number of people who are commited to making as much money as they can in as short a time as they can. And all of them seemed to have nothing else in their life beyond money. And none of them seemed to have anything to say for themselves.

Have managed to wriggle out of a district leaders meeting tonight, mostly to look after my loved one M as she has got her Spanish exams tomorrow. Thankfuly S has stood in once again!

From The Mouths of Babes

Today, Sunday, we took the pack to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford to do the air activities badge. It was a fabulous day out but there was one very poinant moment that will make it very memorable.

Having been round most of the museum one cub asked me why we needed wars and said that some of it scared him. The common sense he spoke and the innocence of a child of that age was quite heart breaking.

I tried explaining that most wars were caused by people being afraid of things they didn't understand not tollerating things that were different and if we all tried talking to each other there would be fewer wars. I'm not sure how much he took in, I just hope I made some sense to him.

At times like that you realise what a privelage it is to be able to help mould young minds but also what a huge responsibility it can be as well.

I do this for free!

There is something that I want to get straight, and I think it is very important to say it.

I do NOT get paid for being a scout leader. That is not to say I want to be paid, or that I think I should be paid, it I simply the fact that I don’t. I do it because it is FUN! That’s right, I do actually enjoy it!

It is important because it never ceases to amaze me the number of people that ask me how much I get paid. Very few of them seem to realise that I am actually a volunteer as are the rest of us. Although it hasn’t happened to me I have even heard of people being TOLD that they are paid and even how much on the basis that they are either a teacher or a social worker.

In addition I would like to comment on the attitude of some parents. Firstly the vast majority of the parents of my Cubs are very supportive and encouraging. There are a handful though who get right on my tits. Cubs is treated as simply a cheap crèche and as if there child is the only one that matters and they can ride rough shod over how things are run. I wont give examples as eventually one of them is bound to read this and that is an argument I really don’t need!

The one that got away

I am lucky in the area I draw cubs from, most of them have loving caring and stable families and I have never a second’s concern about any one them. There are always one or two though that I look back on and wonder what ever happened to them.

I’d like to tell you about a kid I’ll X.

When X’s mum called to put his name down I had a taste of things to come. She said that they wanted him to come because “he’s a little shit and we want him to do something constructive”. My first thought was that this was just going to be another ”challenging” individual who we get from time to time. When he turned up though X was different. True he was a little bundle of mischief with the attention span of a gnat but he was also a genuinely nice kid was capable of dishing out as much love and affection as he could trouble. The trouble was never nasty though. He interrupted because he wanted to ask a question or tell a relevant story. He would run off with the ball simply because he was desperate to play, that kind of thing. There were times though where he was impossible and the time came when I had to talk to his parents and frankly I was shocked at the way they spoke to him. A whole string of expletives came out his dad’s mouth and that wasn't the last time either. In all the time he came to Cubs I never once heard them say a positive word either to him or about him. When he was praised though he could be fabulous. He used to respond particularly well to E, a leader who has since moved on to become a nun. I never saw it with his parents though.

Now I wouldn’t want you to think for one moment though that I ever suspected he was abused or was in any kind of danger, it was simply that he seemed to have no positive influence in his life other than Cubs.

And then he quit, out of the blue he just stopped coming and his parents said he had simply started refusing to go. And now I wonder what ever happened to him, where is his positive influence now?

The one that got away, I guess we can all think of one of them.

The Big Bang

Back to meat and potatoe cubs on Monday as we did some fun science! Our new leader H is an academic at the uni engineering department and ran a night that involved blowing the lids off paint pots, crushing oil cans and making bombs out of plastic milk bottles and iquid nitrogen. The kids loved it so much one of them actually wet himself in the excitement.

Fabulous stuff

Off to the Imperial war museum on Sunday to do the air activities badge.

Feeling a bit guilty as S went up to the hut today to sort out all the tents that had been left to dry, think she takes on more than she should some times.

Sixers and Seconders Camp

Well I took 7 of my "elite" away for the weekend and it was er..... interesting! We'd deliberatly told them nothing about the programme and when they arrived on Friday night they naturally expected to see their tents waiting for them. Well they did, trouble was it consisted of a pile of canvas, poles, dolleys and pegs! And so it began.

The thing to remember is that I have a very young pack right now, the eldest is just 9 and a half right now and untill Friday had just 5 nights away under his belt. So their camping skills left a bit to be desired. We put them through their paces in almost unrelenting rain and by the end they could put and take down tents in their sleep, could all cook on stoves and fires, had learnt basic lashings, could fold a flag, light a fire and are generally looking good for future camps.

The only down side is that discipline is still not what it could be. There is still some answering back from some individuals and a complete in ability to follow some basic instructions from a couple of them. How difficult is it to understand "don't play with the tent pegs" even if you are 9 years old and tired?

Tonight I get to see what the hut smells like after it is had soggy patrol tents drying in it for 24 hours.

yum!

Bank Holiday

Bank holiday so get a day off from my normal Cub duties, however..... have just realised that actually there is loads to do before next weekend's sixers and seconders camp!

A week to go and we have no cool boxes, no home contact sorted and still not given a deposit to the camp site (thankfully the duty warden for the weekend, Craig, is a drinking buddy of mine so that shouldn't be too much of an issue!). Borrowing an air cadet leader for the weekend who is under the impression that she can instill some military discipline in to procedures. What she doesn't know is that my lot were the ones that answered back to the RSM of the Queens Lancers last summer!

AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!