A blogger boat in our midst

I've been following a blog for a longtime, written by a lady that lives on a canal boat called the Fizzical Attraction.  I stumbled upon it when I was searching for something about canals once and instantly loved her pictures.

I spend a lot of time on the canal towpath and have had some interesting experiences with snakes, drunken boats and people looking for love.

Actually if you remember the last link, Mike's board is now in a hedgerow slowly moulding.  I like to think he found his love and they threw it away laughing that it wasn't needed anymore rather than he threw it away giving up ever finding his true love. 

Anyhoo, back to today... The Fizzical Attraction has been slowly heading towards my locality since the New Year.  It's taken a while as the  high water levels from all the rain left them stuck on the river soar.

But this week it came right through where I run, I was unfortunately at work at the time and missed a wave opportunity.

But on my day off  I drove up to the basin where it was moored.  It's lovely round there and HWMBO and I often eat at the restaurant right on the front.  I spotted the boat peeking out and went around to it.

Unfortunately for me, but very fortunately for them, they were away in Paris so I had a quick chat with their mooring neighbour about the etiquette of opening up the cover and left a plant on their doorstep awaiting their return.

I will of course be back at work by the time they return but maybe if I am lucky I'll get another chance.

I'm hoping this year that I will get to meet MumsGoneTo and if I'm even more lucky MyLittleBlog. 

I find it a little perturbing the thought of meeting people I've 'known' online for sometime.  I've no idea why.  I'm fine going to work conferences  alone and talking to all and sundry or throw me into a room of Guiders and I'll chat away.  Heck, I had a lengthy conversation with a lady in a supermarket today, I think we both needed to use up our daily word allowance, but bloggers I find it, well, awkward, so I'm pleased with myself today for going up there, even if I didn't actually meet Yvonne, I did say hello to Fizzical Attraction which is a fine step in the right direction!

Read more...

An Anniversary in Paris

Regular readers will recall HWMBO has the date memory of a gnat and forgets our anniversary year after year and it annoys me year after year. To break the cycle we booked a weekend in Paris at anniversary time to 'cover it'!

I think a hotel that has a complementary umbrella in the wardrobe is probably going to do quite well in the 'quite a good one' stakes.  We have stayed in this hotel before and it was lovely to go to somewhere familiar in an area we love.  It makes it all so easy.

Our room had a lovely night time view across the city.













But actually opening my eyes to this was even nicer.

If I could go speak to me younger self, I would tell me to up sticks and move to Paris.

Montmartre is my favourite part, the back streets there are surprisingly quiet, given the amount of people in the main area and they are beautiful.










But many of the back streets in Paris, no matter how plain, still have charm.

And there is of course, the odd monument at the end of them!


















I managed to spot another Gregos.

There are a couple of windmills still in Montmartre which feel a little out of place strangely and yet the area used to be covered in them.  So much flour to grind for all that bread I guess.

















It is a wonderful area to hang out in.  Full of cafes, shops and art studios.  It is buzzing but relaxing.



















So just for once we managed to make our anniversary a really special piece of us time.

That'll do Pig, that'll do.

Read more...

People Watching

This week's Gallery is 'sport'.  I don't really do watching sport, I don't have a team, I get bored watching anything sporting very quickly.  I'm always happy to play, just I never really see the point in watching.  Surely sport is about participating.  So I'm not likely to have pictures of it happening, being as I'm not watching!

So you get the 'sport' I will watch....people.

I love it.  I will sit at airports and train stations happily for hours with a cup of tea watching people coming and going.

HWMBO will be watching the view of the city, talking about the buildings in the distance.  I'm watching the street peddlers running from the police, the lovers cuddled up and wondering what their story is, watching the families interacting, watching the beggars and wondering if they are genuine or not.

Leaning on another fence at the top of the steps, HWMBO is looking at the distant view.  I'm watching the people going up and down. Some fit, some with purpose, some meandering, some skating down the edges and getting told off by teachers!

The people at the table next to me in a cafe. Were they models doing a shoot?  Were they really newly weds and just waiting for sunset for the perfect photograph?  I really couldn't make up my mind, even after watching them for a long time.

The view from the bedroom window.  HWMBO told me how many seconds the light took to go around.  I could have told him about the people walking across the bridge.  I supposed they were on their way to the shows, perhaps the late show at the Moulin Rouge, but I'll watch them until they go past the hotel, after all maybe they will turn in.

Watching the people on the bridge looking at the locks.  I guess I should have been looking at the locks, but once you've seen one 'our love is forever' lock you've seen them all.  I was more interested in whether anyone was popping back with a pair of bolt croppers after having realised the error of their ways.






Do you see the restaurant or the people through the window?  What if I tell you the couple at the back on the right are Dutch?  Now are you looking through the window at the people?

I'm sure I'm not the only person that loves watching the world go by.  After all the boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by....eye to eye, they're making music to watch girls by.

Read more...

Sometimes only Haribo can fix it.

Those of you that follow me on twitter will know that Haribo plays an important part in my life.  Thursday is work from home day and is also known in my house as Tangfastic day.  Lunch is a large bag of Tangfastics.

I've had a hard few weeks, in amongst Brownie pack holiday and a fairly chronic time at work, I have had a bout of flu and a general weariness and malaise that has left me in regular episodes of tears and tiredness.  It is also lent and I've been unable to shore up the issues with chocolate or gin.

 I guess the omnipresent gods a Haribo (or their PR peeps) knew of my dilemma and a box arrived.

A box of Haribo Easter.

A Charlie Chick (the marshmallows in there are pretty special).

A twist'n'stick.

An Easter Fun bucket (an easter hunt ready made which is a nice addition to just chocolate eggs, Easter can get too chocolate even in my book).

The almost perfect Fizzy Farm Animals, If tangfastics are a bit sour for you Fizzy Farm are more subtle, more gentle on the tongue and a little more fruity. Yes, I can talk Haribo as if it were wine tasting....what? what?

Any-hoo, I say almost perfect because there is a new food of the gods....

 Tangfast-chicks!

Seriously - they are soooo good.

Although Cog, quite wrongly in my opinion, believes Egg-stras are better.

But it does give me a chance to show you my pair of fried eggs - yeah baby!

So Lent and flu you can go shove your misery because I have my staff and it is a box of sweeties that make me very very happy.

If my dad taught me one great thing it was a day without sweets is a day without sunshine.

And a Thursday without Haribo is well.....wrong!

Read more...

A thank you for a guiding journey

This film is a thank you to Girl Guiding volunteers.

It says so much about what the girls are inspired by and how much it gives them.

It was put together by a senior section member and is about her guiding journey.




I think it is fantastic to hear this straight from the horses mouth.

Rainbow and Brownie leaders often show the lovely thank you letters they get or texts and messages from parents.  I've occasionally seen a Guide leader mention it but by Senior Section age, they are unlikely to draw a thank you picture and we are unlikely to see their parents even at a camp meeting, let alone any other time!

I think this film is a lovely thing to see, I'm sure she expresses the feelings that most of the older girls will feel but so rarely have the words to openly share.

Read more...

Baking a cake Ranger style

"Is using a spoon an option?" I said

"I couldn't be bothered to get one" says Ranger.

That about sums this age group up!

What they achieve is incredible: the exams, out of school activities, awards, charity work, volunteering.

But if you don't have to fetch a spoon then they aren't going to exert that effort!

There is a lot of chatting to be done.

Beating a cake with your hands is never going to help it rise.

They did manage to turn it into something partially edible.

I say partially as I don't doubt for one minute that those hands were clean but I just couldn't bring myself to find out.

Rangers aren't so fussy.

Read more...

Silent Adventure

This week's Gallery is 'Adventure', which is lucky for me because I was on Brownie pack holiday this weekend.

The tranquil hut is transformed:

Into squeals of excitement as girls arrive, unpack their teddies and save beds for friends.

Into shouts of "my needle's come off again", "I'm in a knot", "arrrrgh, I touched the wet bit", "I did it, YES!", "I've finished."

Into the singing of Grace as leaders desperately try and remember the tune to the one the girls picked for this meal and into the sound of "ooooooo, oooooo" as hands shoot into the air on being asked "who wants more jelly and ice-cream?"

Into the noise of thundering footsteps as the girls stampede in from outside when a drink and fruit break is announced.

Into the whispers of "there's mine, which is yours?" as they crane their necks to see if theirs has been in the oven yet.

Into  the scraping sound as bowls and spoons are licked clean, no talking as bowl scraping is a serious business if you want to get your fair share.

Into happy shouts of "Me first, me first" as the lorry returns the go-karts from their special day away.

Into the distant laughter from further down the scramble and the only clue they were once here, the spinning, swaying tyres.

Into the gasps of "WOW, look at that sky" as they glance up from the craft tables as the sun sets.





























It's such a shame I can't show you pictures of happy, chocolately fingered Brownies with eyes full of glee and laughter.

Oh, maybe just one then:

Spider Brownies:

Read more...

Moving from Guides To Senior Section (Rangers)

The transfer from Rainbows to Brownies, then Brownies to Guides seems to happen almost seamlessly.

This is partly because parents are still very active in what is happening and partly because the leaders have strict head count numbers and need to keep moving girls through.

The Guide leaders are not as good at the whole 'moving on' thing.  They have less pressure on their numbers so hanging onto girls isn't so much of an issue and sometimes I think they are glad of the older girls being around as they use them as informal young leaders but I don't think this is good guiding.

There is a change in the program at Senior Section level, it is as different to Guides as any of the other sections.  The Ranger unit meetings tend to be more relaxed, there is an accepted flexibility around study leave, there is a bigger emphasis on self management.  The short of it is the Senior Section program is age appropriate.  Guide leaders that try to fudge the guide program to meet the needs of a 16 year old are doing that girl no favours at all.

There aren't always Ranger units in an area.  A good Guide leader will offer older girls the Senior Section program if they can and help them to run their own nights but separately to the guide meetings.

Perhaps they might move them on to do the Young Leader Qualification formally and with proper support.  I firmly believe that a girl that wants to do her Young Leader qualification with a Guide unit is better moving away from the Guide unit she went to if she can and attending another as a leader.  I have seen many girls in guides that seem to hold a foot in the 'am I a guide' or 'am I a leader' and it is not good for their development through the qualification, nor is it a good role model for the new young guides in the unit.

But mostly I know that the needs of a 10 year old that is  still in primary school and newly going into guides are totally different to a 15 year old.  The Guide leaders that try to run a unit that holds this width of ages is doing not justice to any of her girls.

On COGs division wide International trip to Switzerland this year, the leaders recognised the age group difference and allowed the older Senior Section girls much more freedom and flexibility than the younger Guides.  They were allowed to go down to the shops in groups without a leader whereas the Guides could not.  Interestingly, COG, despite being Senior Section found that the Rangers her 15+ age were put in with the Guides and it was the 16+s that were given the freedom.  She took it with dignity but it interested me to think that the 15 year olds were considered too young and yet to me as their unit leader those 15 year olds are as mature and capable as the 16 year olds.  I wonder if this says something about the way the Guide Leaders see them.  There is a massive mind shift and maturing that happens in these girls between year 9 and year 10 schooling. 

So why do so many Guide leaders not encourage a moving-on approach?

The rules are:

Section	Minimum joining age	Normal age for transfer to next section*	Recommended time for a girl to spend in each section
Rainbow Guide	Fifth birthday (fourth birthday in Northern Ireland only).	Between her seventh birthday and seven years six months.	Two years (three years in Northern Ireland only).
Brownie Guide	Seventh birthday	Between her 10th and 11th birthdays.	Three years
Guide	10th birthday	Between her 14th and 16th birthdays.	Four years.
The Senior Section (including Rangers, Young Leaders and any other groups of members aged between 14 and 26)	14th birthday	26th birthday.

 
*The age of transfer is flexible. A girl moves on to the next section when she:
has reached the minimum age for entry into the new section
has found out about the new section and the unit to which she is moving
feels ready and happy to make the transfer.

** A young woman can be a member of The Senior Section until her 26th birthday.

The manual also points out:

Senior Section units can vary a lot − some will follow a structured programme, while others may meet only once a month and have a much more flexible structure. It's important for your daughter to find a unit she feels comfortable with. She should talk to her Guide Leader about what kind of unit would suit her.

I have been trying hard to encourage the Guide leaders to send their older Guides onto Rangers but over and over I hear "oh, my girls love it so much they don't want to leave."  I'm sure Rainbow Leaders have the same issue, but they have an encouraging approach to excite the girls to want to move onto Brownies.  The Guide Leaders just don't seem to use the same skills.  I think the Rainbow and Brownie leaders could teach the Guide leaders a trick or two here.

 As a parent and a leader I know there was a huge difference in the world of this new Guide

 and this new Ranger.


And both deserve appropriate guiding.

Read more...

Brownie Pack Holiday Kit

All year the brownie pack holiday kit helps lag my attic.

After each pack holiday parents return the kit in dribs and drabs and it just gets thrown up there into big sacks. (They are NOT borrowed Ikea sacks, no sireee, nothing to see here.)

A few weeks before pack holiday I get it out and resort it into types and sizes.

I rebag it, label the bags and it goes to brownies on a meeting night to be allocated in closest sizing to all the girls going away this time.










I even make sure there is a bag and a label for the bag for them to write their names on, so they don't get mixed up as they go home.

I think pack holiday kit makes a weekend away feel more brownie like for the girls.  It's not just a residential trip, it's a brownie residential.  It helps make it extra special.

And easier on the parents who don't have to worry about what the girls need to take to wear.

Although every year I have to throw some away.  How did a parent manage to turn the lovely golden t-shirt into a slime grey misshapen wreck in a single wash?

Sigh

The clothes were picked up by our WiseOwl and she took them to Brownies to be distributed and I heaved a sigh of empty room relief and then I remembered...

....back into the attic for the kitchen stuff like the knife block, jelly bowls, oven gloves, tin openers etc, the cleaning box full of cleaning and washing up stuff, the Tupperware we use, the points collectors, the bingo machine, loo rolls and tea towels.  See the empty bag? that was when I discovered mouse poo at the bottom of the bag arrrrrrrgh.  There is often mice at the pack holiday home we go to and if had obviously crept in, crapped and crept out again.  Boil wash here we come!

Sigh.

And as I thought I was done, I remembered the posters, all under my mattress, the weather chart, the jobs rotas, the kitchen cleaning charts, the graces that go up on the walls at meal times so all can see the words.  Then the things I take out of my own house every year that make it a bit easier, the popcorn maker, the whisk.  There is just so much stuff.

Getting ready for these residential events takes up a lot of time from all the leaders involved, the leader in charge all the more so.  She is not me, I'm not even really needed this year.  I will only get to help setup, visit and pack up.  I wonder if parents will every really understand the amount of effort we put in for their children.  From the thanks we get, I think not.  But the smiles on brownie faces makes it worthwhile.

Read more...

Bright Brownie Yellow

This week's Gallery is 'yellow'

When I was a brownie, the practical shift dress was brown.

In 1990 Jeff Banks redesigned the uniform and brought in the lovely bright yellow t-shirts.

I never liked the Jeff Banks design, but I have grown to love the bright yellow now such a large part of the whole Brownie 'brand'.

We have lovely golden yellow t-shirts and jumpers in our pack holiday kit too.

Bought one year from a 3 year back claim of gift aid when WiseOwl took over the unit.

But brownies will be brownies.

And sometimes they will try to turn the bright yellow back to brown!

Read more...