ianwilkins

But apart from all that...what did the British ever do for us? All is forgiven, Now simply speak the language correctly, convert to our measurement system and all will be good. Ah, well, I do try and use a pint measurement on a regular basis.

Which doesn't need to be broken down by year. Here's the list for the USA... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_police_officers_killed_in_the_line_of_duty It's all unanswerables and imponderables though, the what ifs. I mean, I could say...how many of those would still be alive if hardly anyone had a gun? But that might start an argument, so I won't. I do worry, and I do think it's changing a bit in the UK, or maybe it's the media coverage, that things are slowly escalating, that as more crims have guns, more police are armed, so more crims get guns, so more police are

Aaah, you see, that example would be a very very unlikely occurrence, so the follow on logic is based on a false premise. I live close enough to London to see their local news, and I can see that maybe not everything is reported, but generally there's some gang violence, sadly teenage males seem to stab each other on a not infrequent basis, but the last jewellery heist I saw reported it was machete's and the sledge hammers and baseball bats used to get into the cabinets. And still some bystander tried to pull one of them off his moped as he rode away (he backed off when the perp started waving

From across the pond, I've read this thread with bemusement and incredulity*, and you're all making the USA sound very dangerous! I'm not judging, if you consider carrying a gun necessary, you're the best judge of that not me. * But that's only because I'm looking at it from this end, in a country where handguns are illegal, the police don't routinely carry, and the only bears are in zoos. Definitely not trying to start an argument! Ian

Did all his scouts have the advanced chemistry* merit badge? * Excuse the UK boy not knowing if this is a real merit badge or not.

Make sure you doff it if you meet a lady in the street.

If you want another ball park, UK price for the Japan Jamboree was £3000, or $4400. That included transport. I would guess then that the fee component was around £1500-2000. So $2200-$3000. And, just a small point... The Who: Boy Scouts from All over the World I know that UK scouts also invite the girl guides along, and are also mixed, we send two lasses and a lad to Japan last year, so The Who: Scouts from All over the World Would be more accurate. Ian

I don't need to ask. I know the answer. I feel your pain! We're not short of the odd weird and restrictive practice in the UK, though nothing to that scale, and I know I've got more risk adverse over time. I also worry that it's now so hard to get trained and approved for activities like climbing and caving that adventurous activities will just be bought in in the future, but that's all subjects for another thread.... Good work CambridgeSkip! Ian

Yes, it's not rocket science (it's much more nuanced than that but anyway...) do stuff the kids want to do at a price the parents can afford. All the groups I know that thrive it's because of enthusiastic leadership and a good programme.

Shakes head in disbelief. Again.

Wow! That's some drop! I'd be cautious about sticking a flag on it and saying there's a definitive reason for it though. Presumably while it was growing it was mixed too? Otherwise I'm guessing the marketing wonks wouldn't be shouting about it. But I guess "why Venturing is shrinking" is a topic for another thread. Ian

My local district/county could try! I'm always open to a full and frank conversation

Blimey! Interesting stuff! I'd still argue you, as a participant, is only taking part and paying an entry fee. It's me over in the UK that's doing fundraising. Still, if they want to pay for me to come and meet a "professional", I'm sure I could pop over, business class of course! In other news, we went bowling last night, 46 of us, had a great time! Not sure we'll be trouble the top of the leaderboard, but hey, it's not what it's about. Ian

I had a long post the other day, but lost it in the troubles, so, in short, I volunteer, so all the money less costs go to my explorer group. Costs are web hosting, and for those that buy badges, postage and packing, I charge zero for my time. It's probably benefitted around 200 people since it started, from the website... We've used the money raised so far to support International trips to Portugal, and for some Portuguese Explorers to visit us, to help our Farnham Explorers who have been selected for the World Scout Jamboree, and as a hardship fund, as well as general unit activities

Hi folks, I run a(n unofficial) competition to find the best ten pin bowlers in scouting! It's for any section, from any country. The basic premise is, you enter, go bowling with your cubs or scout or whatever, and enter your scores on the website. Then when the competition ends, we add up all the scores, and see who has won! The competition is run by age group/section, so there's a separate competition for cubs, scouts, and adults can join in too! Previous years we've had entries from all over the world, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, and the UK. It wo

While we're on an international tip, the south africans have a thing called a potjie (pron. pot-chee), basically looks like a more witches cauldron type of dutch oven, with longer legs. Of course, much of south africa was invaded by the dutch as well as the english*, so it ties up they'd have something very similar, same source. I assume the english at the time thought lids were for weirdos. * gross simplification, no offence meant.

Seems fair. When I'm doing dinner, the DO is suspended over the fire, and tends to be cooking something pretty wet, so it's basically just a saucepan that's thick and heavy. That said, there were some pretty good pineapple upsidedown cakes made at summer camp last year, someone else was in charge, I think there was a spacer put on the bottom of the DO to lift a dish containing the upsidedown cake mix off the bottom. Then briquettes placed on top as you say. I think I was doing something else at the time. I had some of the results though. Very nice! Anyway, over this side of the pond we con

Yeah, just seems very specific. I could understand it with the cobbler, as you had to brown the top.

Another view from the UK here... As it happens, we camped at the weekend, and a meat and veg in foil was done. Breakfasts we try and do a full english most mornings, fried bacon, sausage, egg, tomato, and cooked baked beans, maybe some black pudding. It's always a bit tricky with lots of people as it's almost all fried, and that takes up lots of space, some sometimes it's scrambled eggs instead. Over the last few years we've got into dutch oven cooking more and more. We do one called South African Chicken Stew, no idea how authentically south african it is, as it's spiced with "caj

Well, I've been told I'm wrong, that boys and girls sharing is against the rules, it is not true (in the UK). Or even if it's not against the rules, that I shouldn't do it anyway. I've had parents reckon there'll be mass orgies as soon as our back is turned, If memory serves I think I managed to bite my tongue and didn't say this said more about them and their opinion of their child than anything else. On a practical level, on a weekend camp, we've had them in big tents, mixed up, and they either change in the toilets, or in sleeping bags, or tell all the boys to get out while they change,

I'm one of them, yes, I won't shy away from it, we've had issues, but nothing insurmountable, and in perspective, we have as many of the standard problems getting chores like washing up done to a standard. It really depends on the explorers you have at the time. We not infrequently have boys and girls sharing tents. Usually I'm talking about, say, 8 all mucking in together in a big tent, before you think I'm some sort of degenerate, I would draw the line at a boy and a girl couple sharing a two man tent. That said, we had a hike competition, and we had a team of 5, 1 girl, as it was March, and

Sorry for your loss. I'd echo previous comments that scout significant songs could be sung at the celebration of life ceremony. Sadly, I've been to two scout leader funerals this year, and at both a guard of honour of uniformed scout leaders for the incoming coffin lined the path to the church. One also went out to "riding along on the crest of a wave", but I don't know if that's a known song in the US. Maybe at your campout you could have a tree planting, over here the engraved bench seems popular. Ian

As a complete aside, we hosted some portuguese explorer scouts last year (aged 14-18) in the UK, they were also confused by prawn cocktail flavour, but very very confused by Worcestershire Sauce flavoured crisps. (a) it's pronounced "Wo-stir-shire" not "Wor-cess-stir-shire" and (b) had not a clue what that sauce was actually supposed to taste like, when Worcestershire is a place, a county, rather than a thing. Some of them did try them, they're a sort of strong beef flavour, I don't remember any coming back for more. Some of the feedback from Japan is that there were very long queues for

And yes, I've had a few plop camps in my time.

Not sure I'd ever describe a scout camp as glamping! Though I'm sure that BP fellow had something to say on the subject, was it "any fool can be uncomfortable on camp"? Or "and fool can camp in good weather"? Oh, apparently the first has origins in the military, ends "in the field", the second...pass.