The best park garderners there is

Our town garderners are fantastic! Every year they work hard to decorate the town and the park areas around the whole council area. This is a big job. They work all through the year and also grow their own material. We told them about our centinary and they did this. We salute you!

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Now finally!

Finally, the book has gone to the printer's, after lots and lots of debaccle about things not showing in PDFs, pictures that weren't right and little bits and bobs. My friend, whose sister is in the publishing business tells me that this is always so, but it has been nerve wrecking!

Of course, looking at the PDF that was sent to me, I find things that I would have liked to address, but now I just have to settle with the fact that WE'VE DONE IT! We have produced a great publication, almost entirely using volonteers and it is very, very nice! (I just hope that everyone else like it too...)

In a few weeks' time, the finished product will come in the post, together with the books for the other age groups. I will then have a good critical look at them, and present reviews here on the blogg, together with some pictures. "My" book will have to be reviewed by someone else, I'm afraid.

The royal wedding

It was just like a fairy tale: The Princess met the one boy who made her happy, and he just happened to be a common gym owner. Now he is Prince Daniel and he was joking in his speech about how he, albeit perhaps hadn't been a frog, but far from a prince when they met, and that the first kiss didn't change that.

The father of the bride is the Swedish Chief Scout and scouts were of course a part of the festivities. Our own District Commissioner, Marcus, was invited to a dinner with the royals before the wedding, and on the day scouts from Stockholm lined the streets to pay their respects.


Kronprinsessans bröllop 2010-06-19 - Images by Scouts in Sweden

Thank you!

And thank you, Bear, for being such a great role model!

Off to Explore

My son and his good friend left for Italy yesterday, to hopefully earn their Explorer Belts. I so wish that the Internet had been around when I was a kid! Things like this were rumours and legends in our group back in the 80ies.

Posing for the camera

For those of you who aren't familliar with the EB, it originated in the UK in 1962 and there are a few countries that still do it, in spite of insurance and security paranoia. The Swedish EB pretty much follows the original expedition plan (more information about EB in the UK can be found here) and the Scouts hike in pairs, for about 100 miles over ten days, in unknown territory, solving a number of small tasks that involves making contact with the locals.

Ida's granddad has laminated an emergancy note, with the condition that they will have had to starve for three days before using it.

It is ever so exciting even to us, left at home, as we have no clue to where our kids are off too either! We've been promised that an itinary will arrive in the post this afternoon, with a program. That will be very interesting. Even if my son is 18, this is his first really independent trip, and I'm so glad that he does it with Scouts, rather than partying in Turkey or Spain with his classmates.

On to the train bound for Malmoe, where they will meet up with the rest of the expedition for a 24 hour bus ride to Italy.

Centenary Camp 12-15/5 2010

Clever scouts by their camp kitchen.

The group's annual camp had a centenary theme, with classical scouting activities. Chief of the Camp was Eva, who sported a lovely, handmade Guide Leader uniform from the early 60ies. The scouts listened tentatively when she told them how scouting had developed in Falkenberg since 1910.

Eva, missing her hat, in the middle of the camp reception area.

We also had an inaugeration ceremony for our latest Gilwell leader, Marcus. Some of our oldest active scouts from the district participated and we were told old memories of among other things a football match in the summer of 1947, where among others the Swedish Crown Prince Gustav Adolf and the UN Secretary General Folke Bernadotte played on the Scout's team against one of the leading Swedish football teams of the time. A few months later, they were both dead in plane crashes.

Marcus, our latest Gilwell leader. Well done!

On Thursday evening, after having lowered the flag for the night, the scouts walked quietly in the sweet dusk back to the house for their hot chocolate and were met by the booming voice of B-P, and a pack of Cubs from a century ago, a recording found on The Scouting Pages. This made a big impression on most.

Tom, from 22nd Oxford, and Victor, getting ready for Kim's Game on the trail.

On the Friday we celebrated the centenary with a BBQ buffet, with appr. 80 out of our some 120 members present. The weather was with us, and the sun stayed until the end of the campfire, when the scouts again walked together in the dark, on a light trail, where qoutes and messeges on paper bags, lit from the inside by tealights, expressing the scouting spirit lit their way, together with sweet smelling insense soothing music, jingling chimes, mirrors, candelabers, chinese lanterns...

For once, there is pop at camp! You can't be healthy always, and when there is a party there should be pop, shouldn't there?

On Saturday morning it was time to pack up in the pouring rain. But just as we got together to lower the flag for the last time together and say goodbye, the sun broke through the clouds and we went home dry after all.

Pioneering in the rain.

Still not gone to the press

The books are late. Which is ok, but annoying. Today, I've done yet another read-through-check-headings-missing textsandwhatnots. There are still things not right. I expressed my frustration to a collegue at work, who just laught and said: "Did you think the job would be done just because you'd finished writing!?" His sister is in the publishing business and he says that she has a mild nervous breakdown everytime a project comes to the publishing phase, due to the millions of little knacks and knicks that need addressing before the finished product goes to the press.

Never mind. I enjoy this type of work. Perhaps this is what I should do? It's a bit difficult working on two computers at the same time though; keep clicking the mouse on the one trying to get results on the other....

I applied for two Scouting jobs, and got called to interviews, but for different reasons nothing became of it. It's nice to know that it's not me, just my geographical location, that is wrong.

A bit stressed out at the minute, and there is a risk of entries not being very regular for the next month as national course tests, grading and other pressing engagements in my other life will have to be prioritised.