NotSheep

Lots happening this weekend!

Yesterday I felt much better than Friday, fortunately. We had all the Beavers meet at the Scout Hall at 11 - we wanted to leave at 12, so knew we had to say 11.30, and figured if we said 11 we could get in some badge-work and it wouldn’t matter if anyone was late We took sandwich-making ingredients and a popcorn popper and the Beavers all made their own sandwiches for their lunch, which they ate on the bus. The journey took about 1 hour 45 minutes, and feeding them on the bus was a great idea, as by the time they’d eaten and chattered and had time to get to “are we nearly there?”, we nearly were

My co-leader at Beavers had gone up to the camp on Friday night, to camp for the weekend with the Cubs and Scouts, and the plan was for her to be with the Beavers on Saturday afternoon - but plans change. Her son, who is in Scouts, had been on the campsite for about an hour on Friday night when he fell and broke his arm. So it was off to the local hospital, where they said an orthopaedic surgeon was necessary, and the nearest one was back from where they’d started… so two hours back to the city, where he was admitted to the orthopaedic ward to be prepared for surgery on Saturday morning. By the time we got the Beavers on the bus, he was in surgery, getting two metal plates and 13 screws put in his arm. His dad was driving the mini-bus this weekend…a couple of hours up to the camp with Cubs and Scouts on Friday evening, then back home…then back up to pick up his son and wife, and back down to the hospital…home finally at 2.30 a.m. …then back up to the camp on Saturday with the Beavers! So my Beavers co-leader had other things to do yesterday afternoon (i.e. sit beside her son as he came around from the anaesthetic) and that left one warranted leader: me.

We muddled through anyway, and all the Beavers had a fantastic afternoon. After games of all sorts, there was a campfire, followed by a barbecue, during which George appeared in front of me with the biggest grin ever and said hello. It’s funny, but it never occurred to me to worry about him camping with Cubs this year, unlike last year when I wasn’t at all sure we were doing the right thing by letting him go. This year’s camp was county-wide, so there were a lot of groups there; even so, I knew he’d be fine this year. His friend R, who lives across the road, has been going to Cubs with him and was camping too - his first time away - and his mum was incredibly worried about him - but he was fine. Scratchy and I (plus other children and dogs) drove up today to collect the two of them, and they were having the time of their lives.

In fact (and I’m almost afraid to say this, because he’s not in bed yet…) George hasn’t even had a meltdown this evening. I fully expected one after a busy weekend with not enough sleep, but so far, so good.

We phoned Barney this morning too, and he sounds good. It’s quite funny, in fact: he’s obviously having trouble finding the right English word sometimes, and he’s speaking English with a very slight French accent Only two more weeks to go before we’re half-way through this very, very long six months…