Greetings all!
Thursday (7/23) and Friday (7/24) we journeyed to Brownsea Island, the home of the first Boy Scout camp, established by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. It was a 4 hour car ride from Ashford to Poole (Poole Quay to be specific). We were joined on this trip by Paul's friend and very humorous lady, Sue Walker. On arrival in Poole, we then hopped on a ferry boat for a 15 minute ride across the harbor (harbour) and checked into camp. The staff their provided us with some very nice tents - all the scouts stuffed into one big one and all the leaders getting into 2-man tent of their own, although even diagonally challenged Nick had a bit of scrunching to do. The island is mostly somewhat of a nature preserve, so it was a fresh break from the big city and everyone just spent time exploring around or combing the rocky beaches. Weather's still been on and off - I don't think anyone's used up any sunscreen yet.
We headed back the next day, pausing in near the dockside for some fresh-out-of-the water fish and chips. Everybody made a game attempt, but apparently it wasn't all the boys’ favorite meal. We then drove for about an hour and a half - Paul's GPS unit took us through the rural, longer, shall we say scenic route - to Stonehenge and spent about an hour walking around the Stones. It's not as big or as isolated as I imagined, but impressive non-the-less, especially when one lets his imagination take over. The ride back to Ashford took about an hour and a half longer than the anticipated three hours due to some horrendous traffic (English holiday weekend), but we all made it back to our host families for a weekend of much needed rest.
Next week we do some day tours (Canterbury, Chatham Dockyards, and Deal) and then head to The Kent International Jamboree on Thursday (Updates to follow.)
As my creativity and writing abilities can only go so far, so I've asked the group to give me a quote or listing of their, so far, most memorable English saying, event, item, or whatever. You'll have to ask them for some of the meanings later. Here's the list:
Randy: "Mind the gap." - Incessant recording on the tube cautioning about the gap between the platform and the subway
Nick: "Toss! Toss!" - A line from "Wicked"
Tom: "Can you have too much chocolate?” as quoted by Sue
Andrew: "WICKED is the BesteRest"
Jim: "Oh! Paul! Do you have a pen?"
Dan: "They're just shoes (loud gasp)!" - A line from Wicked
Jacob: "I have to use the loo."
Ryan: a favorite item - A Galaxy Bar ("best chocolate in the world")
Josh: "Paul, are you sure we aren't lost?" (Josh to Paul in London)
Paul: "You've got a headache? Have you considered amputation?"
Sue: "Yeah" from all of the USA, "It's yes!"
And also from Sue this "aahhh" moment: "It has been wonderful to meet you all and I wish I was going to KIJ with you. The lads have been a credit to scouting."
Further updates on Troop One's fifth international scouting exchange will be forthcoming, and for additional information on sites mentioned in this article, please visit:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-brownsea_island/
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
http://www.canterbury.co.uk/
http://www.chdt.org.uk/
http://www.deal.gov.uk/Contents/Text/Index.asp?SiteId=328&SiteExtra=17174243&TopNavId=707&NavSideId=3640
http://www.kij09.org.uk/
-Stuart & Ryan Parkinson, Assistant Scoutmasters, Troop One, contributed to this article, with primary coverage provided by Assistant Scoutmaster Randy Martin.
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