A Ton of Fun

I don't think I'd ever be forgiven by several people if I didn't make a post about this, so I'll put in the effort and tell you all about my weekend!

From last Friday to Monday this week I stayed in a field in Bath through pouring rain, camping in a large pool of mud and living off tinned food. And so did thousands of other people. Why? Because these people are all in the Scout Association or Bristol, and they were all having a "Ton of Fun" and the Avon centenary Jamboree.

So what did I get out of this apparent torture of living rough for three nights in squalid conditions away from civilisation? Well, not that much. However, the 5 Scouts I was looking after and the other few thousand which I helped throughout the weekend had the time of their lives, experiencing new things and meeting new people.

Friday: We spent today preparing for the weekend, shifting gear around the site, putting up tents and trying to nab last minute things off people we knew nearby. Failing that, we turned to complete strangers. The joy of the Scouting movement!

Saturday: I wake up to find that my Scouts are all running around on the campsite playing football and suchlike. Guessing from the noise around, I figure that most people on the campsite are up and about. After getting up I discover that our group is the only one and that it is, in fact, 6 O'clock in the morning. Brilliant!

Early in the morning, I turn to the Activities Gazebo (they couldn't afford their own tent) to report for my duties. I spend the next three hours organising an activity which almost no-one uses in the whole day. With good reason. In the evening I go to a disco and dance badly. This seems to recur throughout the next few days. I go to bed at about 10/11, feeling extremely tired.

Sometime today, we are given a dining shelter by another group which is missing a pole. As we attempt to lash a stave in place, they bring us a gazebo. Which we later break.

Sunday:I feel like a lie-in so I do so. Until I'm roused by the main leader to help prepare breakfast. I unwillingly do so. I then report for activities again. Fortunately, I am given something much more interesting this day, involving scouts and catapults (that's all I'm saying).

We eat inside the tent of the group who lent us the gazebo which is at this point on the rubbish pile. In the evening I go to a disco and dance badly. I'm told by another leader that after asking for 2000 packets of crisps from Walkers, they were in fact provided with 4000. All completely free. Genius! Though goodness knows how we are supposed to eat that many when there are only 450 scouts on the sub-camp.

Monday: Another leader from our troop arrived Sunday night to help us. He is assigned to help on the Assault Course on which he does absolutely nothing for an hour before asking to leave. He is allowed to and gets to work on taking apart our tents.

I spend today working on the same activity as the day before. It is just as enjoyable, though surprisingly hard work. Later in the day we leave, after helping people take down their own camps. That's apparently what Scouting's about...

I'm still recovering (two days later). I have a sore throat and my feet rather hurt as we forgot to pack any chairs so I was standing up for three days. But I had fun. I think...