The Law of Bondage

This week's Gallery is Bond.  And you know I'm only going one way with it!

 I'm a member of a number of Facebook groups and in many of them I watch derision, squabbling, one-up-man-ship.  Occasionally there is 100% support in a thread but that usually seems to be centred around a tragedy of some sort.

But in the Guiding forums it is very different.  People regularly don't have the same opinion but the vein of the threads is different.  It is supportive even in it's differences.  These 2 threads aren't examples of outstanding support or difference but they were my catalysts for today's thoughts on the reason why I know it's 'safe' in Guiding.

We have our common bond of our Promise and our Laws.  They mean that we are all dedicated to supporting the same underlying values.  Ultimately, we care about each other.  Don't get me wrong, we don't all get on all the time. In fact some Guiders will never be friends but they will still work together for the common good if they have to (mostly)!!  Guiders do disagree, we are human.  Guiders feel put upon, disgruntled, tired, tether-ended etc etc.




But there are so many moments when it feels good, right, welcoming, supportive and those moments usually come from times of togetherness when we rejoin those bonds....

....and remember together what our true values are and what we do for generations of girls.

 Of course we can do that in fluorescent slippers and no one minds.

There is always a balance to be struck between the serious and the fun.

All of us are responsible as individuals for maintaining this supportive bond.  It is the Moral of the mighty Oak.















And whilst it is a circle of trust, it is always an open circle. You are always welcome, young or old...and anywhere in between.

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Styles

You know me well enough by now to know I'm not going to be discussing clothes.

I mean the one field to another variety.  Some of which are straight forward and well marked.

 Some are more complicated.

 Some are made for people taller than me....

 and cause an ouch as they are straddled.

And it's not all fair weather once the styles are conquered.

There is often a 'where the heck did the path go' challenge to give extra joy to the day.

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What is that brown stuff?!

 It's still pretty grim around here.

In more ways than one.  The canal has frozen over in a brown yukky pattern kind of way.











I threw some snow onto it to prove it is actually frozen brown yuk.  There was a big oil leak around here last March, I rang up about it many times but nothing happened.  I'm wondering if it is that or residue off the fields.

The animals are walking on water, this looks like swans to me....normal yes.













But this I think is a fox.  He was feeling very brave, or very hungry.

It's got to be cold living on the water right now.  As idyllic as it looks in the summer, I only have to think about those winter months to know it's not the life for me.  The slippy, sloped canal towpath is taking your life into your own hands at the moment.  I don't fancy doing it in the dark one jot.

But the snow is starting to melt, we are in for one heck of a flood as the canal overflow is already rushing out faster than I've ever seen it.

I walked for miles and miles on my own today.

Cold but beautiful.  Silent time for thinking.









What the hell was that brown stuff?!

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What do city kids do?

This weeks Gallery is 'Adventure'

I don't live in a completely remote area, it's a large town but surrounded by fields on the edge of the Welland Valley.  Everyday I feel lucky to live so close to the countryside and often wonder how children in cities even begin to enjoy nature in the way the children here get the chance.

Today, I set out on a steady, but cold, walk and went through a field I've not walked in over a year.  As usual, there was hardly anyone around. But everywhere I looked there were sled tracks.

Still no one just sheep and snow as  far as the eye could see.

And then shapes much less sheepy started to appear.  The shouts and squeals gave them away first.

The 'bushes' on the horizon giving them away by their bright colours.

 Lots of kids, running, shouting, laughing, falling...

 Climbing

At every corner I turned or style I climbed there was another set of kids that had claimed a part of a field as their own for a while.  Building snowmen, making snow angels, snowballing but mainly snow boarding and sledging.

And as I headed home more kids were coming out over the fields on the hunt for the best hills.

There was hardly any adults around, with the tiddlers there were mums and dads but mainly it was tweens and teens walking a mile or 2 across the snowy fields to the hills with their friends.

What do the city kids do when the snow falls?  Because I know it isn't this.

Ask the teens around here what they think of it and they will tell you many things about hating to catch the school buses, the lack of good accessible transport to them, the lack of things to do.  Very few of them are aware of how in years to come, these trawls across the fields with their mates will be the happy memories they will look back on.  They have no idea how lucky they are having these adventures and won't until it they are no more.

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A reminder why we have MOTs

For your sheer entertainment value and mine:

Lots of Russians probably got hurt in the making of this film but hey-ho that's the way the internet crumbles.

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She Grew Up Again

Well if she didn't go and grow up again















Rainbows, to Brownies





Guides to Young Leader.

I'm sure I only looked away for a moment.

Children are only lent to us.

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And that's why you're single mate...

I love reading the 'seeking' column in our local paper.  I entertain myself boxing people off and creating an image of who they might be from a few lines:

Andrew, for example, looks unimportant.

 I read this as difficult to live with cheap skate.

 Looking for a lady with her own hair?! Shallow.

 Well, you can't say male 51 isn't honest.  I promise you this was in our paper last Saturday.

This board was on top of a canal barge near the locks.

 "I want a lady in my life to share my life and boat. It cheap to live and lots off fun. Fed up bieng on my own. Take a gamble. Lifes to short. Mike. 58"

Whilst it touches the grammar nerves, I thought it was quite sweet.



But this week Dave won my vote.  Sounds like a pucker guy.

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Snow Snow Snow

These rather suit my sense of humour and fit the current climate here:

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Happy Families - The Transvestite Edition

This week's Gallery is  'New'.

We have a new game.  I love the old ones don't you?  I used to play happy families at my Grandma's house.

Not a single women in it 'owns' the occupation.  The ladies are all 'wives of'.  I assume 'girlfriends' was a no, no when it was invented, so more WAS than WAGS.








But the game I have isn't totally backwards in coming forwards.  As we've played something has struck me more and more.

 The misses are in fact a Mr dressed as a miss.

 You can't argue with me here.

Even Mrs Hose looks a little suspect, but at least she is doing what a dutiful wife should: polishing her husband's helmet!

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