Ah so it does work! Finally managed to post a blog from a couple of weeks ago, i'm obviously not intelligent enough to understand how this blogging thing works. doh.

Ok so its now Friday and life is manic. As usual. BUT had an ace night Thursday, took 14 explorer scouts to try scuba diving at our local BSAC club. It was brilliant! We were under the water with tanks on our backs within ten minutes of arriving! Could very easily become totally addicted, its a totally surreal experience to sit on the bottom of a pool. Its like being surrounded by a cool silvery liquid quiet. Very peaceful (now you see why i'm attracted!) And ok the possible future trips to the Red Sea and Barbados may have helped... :)

Well its official i'm a terrible parent. Got up early to take my older son to school for a trip to the coast. Carefully made him required packed lunch and tea the night before. Dropped him to school ten minutes earlier than necessary, came home and ate breakfast with younger daughter. feeling very smug until leaving to take second child to school, realised i hadn't made her any lunch at all!!
Poor mite refused point blank to have school dinner (typical) and screamed until i gave in and hastily cobbled sandwiches, juice and yoghurt together.
Then, heartless harpy that i am, i drove her to the 'drop zone' (no parking allowed) and flung her out the passenger door! First time she's walked into school by herself (she's in Yr 1). Sped off not looking at smug calm Boden-dressed mums taking their ecstatically happy vegetable-eating children in, lovingly leading them by hand....grr!

Had a new experience today...thought i would try a new soup, on special offer at large well-known orange supermarket. Beetroot and creme fraiche. I love soup. Had pea and ham last week...lovely. But have to say that beetroot soup is almost exactly how you would imagine it to be....even the addition of worcestershire sauce didnt make any impression. ah well...

Must add a series of books to my all time favourites. The Hyperion books by Dan Simmons. Read the first two ten years ago. Idly browsing Amazon and found he'd written two more! Hastily ordered all four, am now on the Endymion books....not for the faint-hearted or beginner sci-fi fan, but absolutely riveting!

Quick poll....how often do the proud owners of wooden floors actually wash them down? Am quite good at dust-busting problem areas, and vacuum whole rooms regularly - ish, but washing is another matter....have one of those wet-wipe things but feel bad using disposables that will sit in a council tip for 300 years..am interested in finding out if this is the norm?

Ah well. coffee and chocolate time...its Friday you see. Don't get me wrong, i eat chocolate every day (who doesn't?) but on Friday's we stop at the shop and buy a whole bar (so i dont have to sneak bits of cooking chocolate). And by Friday i need it!!!

Am feeling a little overwhelmed today, but that's typical on a Wednesday, its my cub pack night. We're off on a bike ride, and i'm scrambling to make sure enough adults (crb'd adults mind u) are coming with us to meet the required scout supervision ratio (its 1:8), plus sorting out Permission Forms etc.

Am being hassled to produce my Explorer programme, which was mostly put together by the explorers themselves last week (major feat!) and issue updated lists of members so our District can chase them for their subs payments....plus this new seat belt legislation is obviously going to affect our scouting activities, as many of the parents car pool to get their kids to and from events away from our hq..

Did i mention that i was a cub leader? sorry. I'm a cub leader, an explorer unit leader (older scouts 14-18yrs) and, for my sins, a group scout leader (which means loads of paperwork and hassle basically).

Sometimes i just wanna throw my hands up in the air and say 'Someone ELSE deal with this for a change!' I find the politics and paperwork part very irritating, but mostly manage to keep going, consoled mainly by the idea that i dont do this for money (good job cos i dont get any), the glory (what glory?!) or the prestige (like cleaning out the chemical loos on camp - i get all the best jobs!).

I do it for the kids. To give them something they will remember for the rest of their lives (try this: ask any bloke if they were in cubs/scouts and 90% of them will smile and say yes), to show them new ideas and places, and maybe even to teach them a couple of things (like how to save someone's life with cpr) that may be useful to them in later life.

And that's all that keeps me going sometimes!!

Ok rant over... :)

Hi

This post is just a test, been having a few problems!