But are you REALLY happy?

I had a run out whilst Cog was at tennis.  It was a lovely evening. 

Far too nice to be running.  I went passed boat after boat with people sat soaking up the evening, relaxing over a meal or a drink.

I stopped part way along the towpath where a group of 4 were sat.  One lady was wearing a paint splattered t-shirt and hat and had clearly been painting canal boat decorations.  They were moored down this way for the locks festival.

"Can I ask you if you are REALLY happy?" I said and they told me how very happy they were with their seemingly perfect lifestyle.  "Even in the Winter?".  Oh yes, apparently it's lovely and toastie on the barge by the log burner in the winter.

And so it seems, they have the life for me.

 

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An Evening at the Windmill

A couple of years ago we took our brownies to the local windmill, it was a bit stressful with so many tiddlers on rickety steps and so many possible ways to fall from a large height.  Whilst they loved it we decided we probably wouldn't do it again.

The Rangers are a totally different matter, they can be trusted to try not to fall from huge heights, they are much more aware of themselves and danger (mostly!).

 It is a beautiful sight.  The windmill here is about 400 years old.  The farm house next to it is only 50 years old.  You'd never know would you.


A chap from the local Society came and spoke to us about the windmill, it's history and workings.

It worried me that the Rangers wouldn't be interested, but they really were and at the end I knew they were as they started to take photos. I think this is usually a good indicator of interest of a teenager, when the phone comes out to snap photos.

 

This is a very rare type of windmill.  It is a 'post' rather than tower.  The whole top half turns so the sails can face the wind.

I wonder what Daniel's life was like here in 1711.

I'm sure this visit fits into the Look Wider program somewhere, I'm just not sure which part yet.  Any suggestions?

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Not just an also ran

Just for once I was at an awards night for me and not just as a 'guest'.  Don't get me wromg, I love to be invited anywhere, even as the guest.  But this time, I got my catering qualification, it used to be called 'QM'. 

Guiders are a wonderfully diverse group of people, I was there in my clarks flats another leader had these guiding motifed beauties on.













This poster at the awards was the backdrop.

We are for the girls.......

......although, in fairness, we are also for the cake.

I think I want my ashes to be sprinkled at our local campsite.  It brings to me the sense of peace and belonging that no where else in the world does.

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Calves and drains

This week's Gallery is 'Green'.

You might remember I was trying not to break my ankles on this back in March.











Well it has finally gone green. 

Bit predictable for a Green gallery I know!

 Do you remember the cows I got chased by because their babies had only just been born.  I walked past them again today.  One cow and lots of calves, I think she got the nursery duty short straw!

Anyhoo, here is my proper green picture for the gallery. I love the patterns on this.

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A new promise for Girlguiding UK

Sometime ago I discussed why I thought it was time to remove God from our Guiding Promise.

Part of the Guiding aim is that we are committed to helping girls explore their spiritually, beliefs and values as part of our balanced program but we live in an increasingly diverse and often secular society, there has been a huge social change in this country since our start and even since the last change to the promise and 'duty to God' became to  'love my God'.

Well, change is upon us again. After a consultation,where anyone with an interest could take part in a survey, the new promise has finally been announced:

I promise that I will do my best:
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,
To serve the Queen and my community,
To help other people
and
To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.

And we will still have a special version for Rainbows:

I promise that I will do my best to think about my beliefs and to be kind and helpful.

I am still fully committed to the promise I made when I was a Brownie and each promise since because making the promise, especially for the first time, is a very special moment.  Hopefully this new promise will be something our new girls and next generations can relate to and also be fully  committed to.

If they relate to it, they will live it. And what better way to try to improve our world than to have a mass of people that are committed to developing themselves, to serving the community (and by Queen we mean our country too) and to helping other people.

Imagine a world where everyone was committed to helping others.

One of the unchanging features of our Promise has always been our declaration to keep the Guide Law:

A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted.
A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely.
A Guide faces challenges and learns from her experience.
A Guide is a good friend and a sister to all Guides.
A Guide is polite and considerate.
A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world
around her. 

Imagine a world where we all lived (or at least tried to) like this.

So God has gone from our Promise but the core fundamentals remain. It gives a purpose to life and emphasises to members the importance of values such as honesty, responsibility, integrity, loyalty, respect, tolerance, self-awareness and having a moral framework.

In the century since the founding of guiding, tens of millions of girls and women around the world have made the Promise, each in her own language.

Tens of millions of girls and women all committed to a moral framework.  It can only be a good thing.

Whilst I am confident that the new promise going forwards is a good thing for our modern and relevant Guiding.  For me, this still speaks volumes, he doesn't need to be in my promise but he features rather largely in my life.

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A Parent's DofE Expedition.

Kit list received.
We shopped.
I worried.
We shopped some more.
I worried.
Backpack packing.
She panicked.
I decanted.
The bad weather came.
I worried.
"Mum, stop worrying, nothing can be as bad as that 45C bike ride in King's Park or the last swamp of a Guide camp. I will be fine."
The day came.

She was delivered.

A bunch of backpacks with feet disappeared.

The paradox: I stopped worrying.  It was now outside of my circle of influence. 

But what I have learnt as a Guider:  It doesn't matter how many times you have done this, how safe you know they are, how risk assessed your risk is...for the parent it is a first.  Reassurance and information helps the first time parent get through it!

What I knew as a Guider: to stand back and let the leaders lead.  Observe.  Zoom the camera and stay out of the way.

What I needed as someone about to do a run round the park: a toilet.  I hung back for a while but when I got to the block, they were all still there!  What I knew as a mum: Do not talk to them, stay out of the way, quickly disappear in the opposite direction and hope they would pick up the pace or it would be a week of Wednesday's before they were back, not a weekend.

But they did come back, and a little earlier than expected.  She was happy, dry and not hungry.  And only one blister that she didn't realise she had until we were at home.

It seems the good trousers that stayed dry despite the rain and a totally waterproof but breathable, light weight coat were worth their weight in the gold spent on them.  The sleeping bag was too long and a shorter one must be found but otherwise, the kit was right, the amount of food was right, all was right.

She's a capable girl, and it seems her ability to put up the tent, cook the meals and map read successfully added massively to her enjoyment of it. I have her Guide leaders to thank for that.

This isn't really about the ability to survive a walk in the woods, it is the same as Guiding from a different angle:

"It enables them to develop their potential."

A good confidence booster is a fantastic tonic for a teenager.  I hope the 'real' expedition goes just as well.

 

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The Ghost Walk

This week's Gallery is Dads.
I have been walking this path since my brother was old enough to be trusted to take me up the hill.  

My father was always too ill to be able to get up it.  My mother and him would walk on the flat in the same direction as us, whilst we ran up and down the hills, climbing the rocks, racing to the stumps.









Dam building.

Racing ahead.

As I repeat the walks of my childhood, I can hear his voice "to the left branch, yes you can" and as I fell off "get up you daft bugger, there's nothing wrong with you."

I inherited my undersized sympathy gland from my father.

Sometimes we would all make it up to Old John.  He would slowly walk up backwards.  I think walking backwards kept him upright so he could get more air in his lungs.

On the way back he would talk about the deer and the stags and how to stay safe around them.

My brother and I would race back up the hill on the way back to the car and wave from the top to mum and dad on the path below.

I still see him on the path.

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Disarming with Empathy

I found this very moving.

It's a mind shift.

Imagine if the whole world made the mind shift at the same time. Just imagine the love, the peace, the understanding.



Is it time I stopped feeling so bitter about my fear of terrorism when growing up, probably. But I don't want to continue living in a world where that fear continues to exist.

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What the Client Needed.

I've been training and taking exams for professional qualifications this week.

What I have mainly learnt is if the job role involves sucking up lots of information and regurgitating it accurately then sure, recruit the person with lots of exams under their belt.  But if the role involves anything more like applying common sense, multitasking, good communication then behaviours and attitudes count for so much more.

I was part of a room full of geeks learning about great ways to work and we will assuming we pass have a certificate to prove we can do it. But I know most will go back to their geeky cellar, produce sterling technical work and continue to immediately alienate any user or anyone else for that matter that comes within 20 feet of them.
It's been a few years since I took exams of this nature, it's been really quite stressful and totally draining.  I'm totally shattered.  To get the level of concentration required to be able to get through the work needed, I had to turn off my social media life.  It surprised me how easy it was to not be constantly reaching for the twitter scroll and checking email.  I think this is a habit I should try to break.

My work journey involved me driving on a thin country road used by enormous lorries and car carriers at ridiculously high speeds for the type of road if is.

I know that 2 cyclists have been killed on it this year and yet I watched 2 cyclists go through a red light at single lane road works on a bend.  Presumably because traffic lights put there for safety don't apply to them but the lorry driver coming the other way would no doubt get the blame for the head-on. Oddly, I also saw a woman pushing a double buggy down the road (there is no path). If it hadn't been too dangerous to stop I would have asked her why the hell had she even considered it.

HWMBO obeyed has gone off to Switzerland to see family, the usual 1 day's notice for the journey was given.  Can anyone please tell me how I am supposed to organise family life around this type of behaviour because it's a total loss to me.

COG is off in the rain on a DofE expedition. I'm rather worried that the weather means she won't enjoy it and it'll put her off for good.  Still, I've done my bit for the Camping Shop economy, I suggest you all buy shares in Blacks, their profits can only be up at the moment.

I have been working so hard on these exams that I haven't been able to keep my balls in the air at all. My overstuffed life is leaking at the seams. To all those of you that I am currently letting down, I am sorry, normal service will be resumed right after....well, sometime soon, ok!

If you are at all interested in what I've been learning, this goes someway to explaining it.

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SuperCommissioner

This week's Gallery is 'Inspirational Women'.

I could have picked Mary Macarthur who fought for women's rights at the time of the suffragettes. She led the 1910 chainmakers’ 10 week strike in Cradley Heath that won a battle to establish the right to a fair wage.  You go girl.

Or maybe, Emily Wilding Davidson.  I really relate to her passion and the Darwinian way she unintentionally managed to die whilst fighting for them.  She got away with that one though, it being interpreted as the ultimate sacrifice for the cause. Votes for Women!

But no, I give you someone that has inspired me beyond belief.  If she hadn't had said "did you see me in Hello magazine with my Guides?!" There is no way I would have volunteered to do the best thing I have ever done.


So without further ado, I give you Abi, my County Commissioner.

She is constantly supportive and amazingly up beat.

In fairness, this was already a good and active county when she took over, but she has taken it from good to great, with her ever able never pointless assistant.

The roar when she walked out onto the stage at Charnwood just shows how much her county appreciates her.








She leads a mean campfire.

And can build one too.

And what she does well with the girls, the leaders also appreciate.  She manages to meet people at the level required.  It's a rare skill.

 

And she even scrubs up well to rub shoulders with the Chief Guide.

My Inspirational Women.

One of the questions for the gallery was 'who I think should be on a bank note?'  Well I think Abi should be, as in....lying on top of a million pounds worth...that would help us grow Guiding!


And just as a reminder, County Commissioner is a totally voluntary role. She gets no money for giving up her life completely for 5 years to Guiding.  I actually don't think there is money enough to cover it's worth.

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Girlguiding Impact Report 2012-2013

Have you seen the recently published Girlguiding Impact Report 2012-2013

Go have a look, it is quite incredible what Guiding and Scouting is doing for this country.

"We are the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK.
"We build girls’ confidence and raise their aspirations. We give them the chance to discover their full potential and encourage them to be a powerful force for good. We give them a space to have fun."

"We are for all girls and young women, whatever their background and circumstances. We offer them fun, exciting activities and the chance to make lifelong friends. You’ll find us in communities all over the UK, helping to give girls a head start in life and encouraging them to be happy, self-confident and curious about the world they live in and the difference they can make."

"We give girls a place where they can really be themselves with other girls and share the experience of growing up as a girl in today’s world. We provide a safe, non-judgemental environment where girls can explore the issues they care about while having lots of fun, enjoying new experiences and learning vital skills."

This is my favourite bit:

We grew by a girl an hour, welcoming more than 8,000 girls and women, taking our total membership to 546,406

Well Done ladies, very well done.

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I'm not a 'real' Guider, get over it.

Ok, before you all go running for the hills, or at least to report me, I can assure you I do have a Brownies Guider warrant that means I'm qualified, a CRB and my Ranger warrant pending.  So the girls are relatively safe with me.

I am however, also now regularly hearing the words "ooooh, didn't you learn to do that when you were a Guide?"

We all hit an age where we like to say "In my day...." and "It's not like it used to be." It would appear I am now mixing in that age group.

We are doing pioneering in a few week's time with the Rangers.  In preparation I thought it would be useful to have a knotting and lashing night.  A lovely ex-scouter husband of an ex-scouter-turned-Brownie Guider friend are you following me there? came in to the meeting night to run through reef yes, simples, figure of eight loop on a good day I can do that, bowline ahhhhh okey-dokey struggling now, square lashing oooooooook lost me somewhere in the frapping and diagonal lashing FFS is all I am saying.

The Rangers were doing fine.  But I threw my string over, I crossed it, I came through but my clove was not hitched.  My bunny definitely went up the hole but apparently it did not go around the tree properly so my line was not bowed, it was definitely still a straight line of string.

I was shown, and shown again and then I started to hear it:

"Did you not do this when you were a guide?  When I was a guide we had to ........."

White noise ladies, white noise,  that is all I am saying.

Shall I also mention at this point that the Guider assessing me for my ability to run a Ranger meeting night, to check I am able to talk to the girls at an appropriate level, to basically see that I am fit to be a Ranger leader turned up at this meeting.  So there are the Rangers, Guider in Charge, Ex-Scouter, Ex-Scouter-Guider, Guider assessor and a dog just don't ask all in one small room with canes at all angles becoming shapes of all sorts and me.

Shall I tell you how hard it is to try to hold it together whilst inside I am screaming "I sent my bunny round the f'ing tree and back down it's sodding hole so where is my bloody loop and no, I did not learn to make gadgets as a guide and I am clearly a useless sodding lump of a Guider"  whilst I am actually trying to do a tinkly laugh and say "well done girls, they are really good frames, great work"

So just to prove to myself I am not a useless lump of a guider, I have sat at home with strawberry pencils and laces and clove hitched, lashed and frapped and reefed and to be quite frank, I was consistently rubbish.  I can't do it, I just don't see it, it doesn't matter how much I study the picture.

But I also decided it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter a hoot if I can't do it, I am an enabler.  I got someone in, that can do it, to teach the Rangers.  But what about when you are camping I hear you cry, you have to be able to stand on your own two feet.....nope, clever Guider in Charge can shout the instructions whilst I watch the Rangers set up camp.  That is precisely why I like being a Senior Section leader.  I am not a lazy lump that can't do it....I am an enabler that allows girls the chance to learn to do it for themselves.


Oh and I earn enough money to buy a  plastic washstand. But should I find myself up the Amazon without a Lakeland in sight, I shall improvise with a tree stump, no honestly, it'll be fine.   I am NOT a REAL Guider....get over it.

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Sands of time

This week's gallery is 'Two'.

I knew exactly which photo I was going to share but as I hunted for it I ended up spending hours looking through old photos of Cog and one of her friends. A friend she spent hours, days, weeks with. A friend that slept here at least once a week, came on holidays with us over and over. Cog went on holidays with her. They were BFFs. They were put into different halves of the year groups at high school but just about managed to hang onto the friendship for the first year, then it just petered out.

COG of course has a whole new friendship set, as does old friend and I guess neither of them are as unhappy about the sad end of what seemed like a great thing as I am. I guess it's just a natural part of growing up and going with the flow.

But I miss friend.

She was fun, caring and great company.

I know that she still is and I rather hope that their paths cross again at some point.

A lovely friendship. Funny how these things just pass, like the sands of time.

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London Reccy

We will be taking the Brownies to London again this year and we are looking for an alternative to Crystal Palace, so I took COG to London to check some 'do-ables' out. HWMBO came along with the promise of a trip to 'David Bowie is' at the V&A.

We started with a breakfast at the Perkin Reveller, not one for the Brownies for sure, but needed to soothe my soul.  They do tea properly.  HWMBO kept up his usual form of not being able to be taken anywhere by breaking a tea pot.

The reason for being down that way was to go to the Tower Bridge exhibition, this is definitely one for the Brownies, there is enough in there to keep them interested, just enough views and interactive without it being too expensive, too intense or taking too long. 

We could have spent much longer in there than we did. But we rushed on to get to the V&A on time for our timed ticket.

The sun had come out and it was over 5C so all the children were paddling and the court yard was packed full of people drinking quite appalling coffee.  I guess parents must travel with towels and clothes changes whenever visiting a city museum.  It was never on my list of 'must takes' when COG was young.

The 'David Bowie is' exhibition was over full and over priced.  HWMBO liked it but for me it didn't touch the House of Lennox we saw last time and that was free.  I've been really looking forward to it for months and left feeling slightly deflated.

Still, onwards and upwards...up the Monument.  311 steps up the inside of a tower built in 1677 to mark the start of the great fire of London.  At the time if would have been one of the tallest buildings around.

Whilst quite overshadowed now, it still has views of London that are hard come by unless you work in the buildings close by.

Construction continues all around,  which I guess shows that the economy is moving but the crane count across the skyline probably still isn't high enough.

I'm not sure the Monument is going on the Brownie list, it is cheap to get in and if you have strong thighs, worth the walk up on a lunch hour if you are down that way but not one for herding tiddlers to.

We walked from the Monument to the Tate, had a late lunch at the Tate Modern cafe, which I recommend, and then another wander along the South Bank.

The south bank is always an interesting place to take a walk.  These people were just doing some acro post picnic in a quiet corner by the National Theatre which we snuck into for a toilet trip, they weren't 'performing' at all.  Interesting to watch for a while though.

As was the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream through the open doors of the Globe.


It was a funny sort of day, not at all like one COG and I usually have in London.  It's like our familiar balance was tipped by HWMBO'd being there too. It felt very strange sat back on the train home and not a single shopping bag in sight!

 

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