Good day all my faithful readers old and new. Apologies for last week’s late and substandard post. It was rushed to get something up. As I mentioned last week, I have been given a promotion to ‘Commissioner’ which is basically a bit like a customer services job. And it never ends!
But hey, there you go.
So this week has been an interesting one. I finally found a set of scales to weigh myself. I am mortally aware that food in the US is tasty and plentiful. So I decided it was quite important to see how much weight I had gained (especially with the whole inactivity due to the broken ankle business). It would appear that I know weigh 170 pounds (which is 12st 2lb). When I left Britain, I only used to weigh 11st 5lb! I’ve gained 11 pounds!!!!
I am now resisting the urge to eat all of their tasty food, although I am failing miserably at the moment…
For some bizarre reason our sail boat (yacht) stopped working last week. Management felt that they knew what the problem is, and ordered the part. Well, delivery being what it is, it took the part the whole week to arrive, which put the yacht out of action for the entire week. But I guess that makes me and my boss Sam, the most amazing sailing instructors ever…
With our usual 22ft sloop out of action, we had to instruct a sailing merit badge, armed only with one small dinghy (a SunFish), and a small lake/ puddle with no wind. By Thursday, we had covered all of the theory, and done all of the stuff that we could physically do without any wind. I told the kids and adults to pray to whoever or whatever they believed in that either the part came early Friday morning, or that Great Buck Lake somehow had wind in the morning.
Well our prayers were answered. Somehow, through nothing more than luck, the Great Buck Lake had wind for just long enough for the kids to get the requirements done to get their merit badge. Just as the last pair were coming in, the wind died! Now, don’t get me wrong, it was not the high level of quality instruction, or experience that I wanted the kids to have, but they all left with a smile.
We scraped something together, the kids had a fun time (doing other stuff other than sailing, and ice cream may have been involved), and blow me down of the kids didn’t complete their badge. Even now, I’m not sure how they did it.
Of course, we also have to have my interesting injury of the week. The running total at the moment is: poison ivy, broken and sprained ankle, NORO virus, and now… (drum roll please)
Some sort of bite!!!
Overnight I was bitten by something. God knows what, but it blew up immensely. I have only one theory. It must have been my tent mate that bit me: Jordan Kivitz, the climbing director… Ironic really, as you will never meet a nicer human being than Jordan. He is just marijuana away from being a full time proper hippy.
As I said earlier, I now commission. And with this job, I meet lots of interesting people, and get to know most of the Adult Leaders (although I am still useless with names). You may remember some weeks ago that an American gentleman left a comment/ complaint on CATCOUK, and I was forced to make an apology. Well this week, I met him in person (I think). Either way, he has defiantly read CATCOUK before, and was originally (and coincidentally) from Chiswick in the UK. Small world, eh?
Well it gets smaller still. Over the weekend, we have some younger kids and families inn camping. I was told that a lady from the UK was camping, and that she was from Sussex. I went to meet her, and find out where in Sussex she was from. As it turns out she grew up in West Sussex, near Brighton. Well I told her that I live near Littlehampton, and she said that she actually came from a village near Worthing called Lancing! Well beggar me silly if she didn’t live less than a mile from where I grew up.
She did kind of prove my old saying though: ‘You can take the girl out if Lancing, but you can’t take the Lancing out of the girl…’. It was fantastic to talk to her. Although she had an American twinge to her voice, she still spoke with typical Lancing dialects. Most stereotypically, instead of saying South, she said Souf. I hadn’t heard my home dialect for a while…
But hey, there you go.
So this week has been an interesting one. I finally found a set of scales to weigh myself. I am mortally aware that food in the US is tasty and plentiful. So I decided it was quite important to see how much weight I had gained (especially with the whole inactivity due to the broken ankle business). It would appear that I know weigh 170 pounds (which is 12st 2lb). When I left Britain, I only used to weigh 11st 5lb! I’ve gained 11 pounds!!!!
I am now resisting the urge to eat all of their tasty food, although I am failing miserably at the moment…
For some bizarre reason our sail boat (yacht) stopped working last week. Management felt that they knew what the problem is, and ordered the part. Well, delivery being what it is, it took the part the whole week to arrive, which put the yacht out of action for the entire week. But I guess that makes me and my boss Sam, the most amazing sailing instructors ever…
With our usual 22ft sloop out of action, we had to instruct a sailing merit badge, armed only with one small dinghy (a SunFish), and a small lake/ puddle with no wind. By Thursday, we had covered all of the theory, and done all of the stuff that we could physically do without any wind. I told the kids and adults to pray to whoever or whatever they believed in that either the part came early Friday morning, or that Great Buck Lake somehow had wind in the morning.
Well our prayers were answered. Somehow, through nothing more than luck, the Great Buck Lake had wind for just long enough for the kids to get the requirements done to get their merit badge. Just as the last pair were coming in, the wind died! Now, don’t get me wrong, it was not the high level of quality instruction, or experience that I wanted the kids to have, but they all left with a smile.
We scraped something together, the kids had a fun time (doing other stuff other than sailing, and ice cream may have been involved), and blow me down of the kids didn’t complete their badge. Even now, I’m not sure how they did it.
Of course, we also have to have my interesting injury of the week. The running total at the moment is: poison ivy, broken and sprained ankle, NORO virus, and now… (drum roll please)
Some sort of bite!!!
Overnight I was bitten by something. God knows what, but it blew up immensely. I have only one theory. It must have been my tent mate that bit me: Jordan Kivitz, the climbing director… Ironic really, as you will never meet a nicer human being than Jordan. He is just marijuana away from being a full time proper hippy.
As I said earlier, I now commission. And with this job, I meet lots of interesting people, and get to know most of the Adult Leaders (although I am still useless with names). You may remember some weeks ago that an American gentleman left a comment/ complaint on CATCOUK, and I was forced to make an apology. Well this week, I met him in person (I think). Either way, he has defiantly read CATCOUK before, and was originally (and coincidentally) from Chiswick in the UK. Small world, eh?
Well it gets smaller still. Over the weekend, we have some younger kids and families inn camping. I was told that a lady from the UK was camping, and that she was from Sussex. I went to meet her, and find out where in Sussex she was from. As it turns out she grew up in West Sussex, near Brighton. Well I told her that I live near Littlehampton, and she said that she actually came from a village near Worthing called Lancing! Well beggar me silly if she didn’t live less than a mile from where I grew up.
She did kind of prove my old saying though: ‘You can take the girl out if Lancing, but you can’t take the Lancing out of the girl…’. It was fantastic to talk to her. Although she had an American twinge to her voice, she still spoke with typical Lancing dialects. Most stereotypically, instead of saying South, she said Souf. I hadn’t heard my home dialect for a while…
The Amazing GMC Suburban - statistically the only car big enough to eat another car - whole.
But I suppose I should try and cover my title for this week. As I said above, I am putting on weight, at nearly two pounds a week (as if my self-esteem didn’t need any more knocking). Furthermore, I am taking a liking to the big American cars (particularly the legend that is the GMC/ Chevrolet Suburban). And this weekend, the Asst. Camp Director, Terry, and his brother took me hand gun shooting!
Furthermore, I loved it! We fired three hand guns: a Smith & Wesson 357, and two semi-automatic hand guns. I always thought that I would prefer to shoot a semi-automatic, but having shot both, I really enjoyed the old school revolver. At this point, I should point out that I didn’t enjoy it for the violent banging. I enjoyed the skill and accuracy afforded by the Smith & Wesson.
But I will admit that after that, I couldn’t get the Dirty Harry theme tune out of my head…
I was also surprisingly good. Below are some pictures of targets that I shot at from 7 yards, and 25 yards. With the Smith & Wesson 357, we had two types of round. Some 38 Special rounds, which are less violent, and some 357 rounds, which had one hell of a back draft to them. I fired 6 shots at the plate from 25 yards, 4 were the more gentle 38 special, and the first two were the 357’s. Unsuprisingly, the 357’s missed wildly, but I got 3 and a half of the 38’s on target. After this, the camp are considering me for shooting sports director...
Furthermore, I loved it! We fired three hand guns: a Smith & Wesson 357, and two semi-automatic hand guns. I always thought that I would prefer to shoot a semi-automatic, but having shot both, I really enjoyed the old school revolver. At this point, I should point out that I didn’t enjoy it for the violent banging. I enjoyed the skill and accuracy afforded by the Smith & Wesson.
But I will admit that after that, I couldn’t get the Dirty Harry theme tune out of my head…
I was also surprisingly good. Below are some pictures of targets that I shot at from 7 yards, and 25 yards. With the Smith & Wesson 357, we had two types of round. Some 38 Special rounds, which are less violent, and some 357 rounds, which had one hell of a back draft to them. I fired 6 shots at the plate from 25 yards, 4 were the more gentle 38 special, and the first two were the 357’s. Unsuprisingly, the 357’s missed wildly, but I got 3 and a half of the 38’s on target. After this, the camp are considering me for shooting sports director...
Standard target from 7 yards, 18 shots.
A plate from 25 yards. 3 and half hits. Dirty Harry eat your heart out.So I now live in real fear that I maybe turning into an American. Gaining weight, like big cars, like shooting hand guns. What does that say to you.
Once again, highest regards to everyone back home, especially Montycat, and Ernie.
If you think that I am turning into an American, why not leave a comment telling me how fat you think I am.
If you think I may be over-reacting a little, why not leave a comment calling me back to Blighty!
Quote of the Week: (alright so it was last week, but it’s good) ‘The [work] chip in my head switched off on Tuesday, when I was singing ‘moo moo here, and moo moo there’ said a disgruntled Scout Master when someone got him talking about work on Friday evening.
Once again, highest regards to everyone back home, especially Montycat, and Ernie.
If you think that I am turning into an American, why not leave a comment telling me how fat you think I am.
If you think I may be over-reacting a little, why not leave a comment calling me back to Blighty!
Quote of the Week: (alright so it was last week, but it’s good) ‘The [work] chip in my head switched off on Tuesday, when I was singing ‘moo moo here, and moo moo there’ said a disgruntled Scout Master when someone got him talking about work on Friday evening.
2 comments:
"Oh (this has to be said in a fairly high pitched leeds accent to have the desired effect) he's got man boobs"! Oh dear Oh dear gaining weight and shooting guns what would your mum say? glad to read a slightly more interesting blog although the hypochondriac in you could'nt help but rear it's ugly head. Only joking will the pics be as sad as the ankle one's on NTC website? Seeya would'nt wanna be ya!
Ye gods,
Andy andy andy, all you need do now is add more adnoids to your normal voice, mispronounce things like Iraq (I-rack), Jaguar (Jag War), Hyundai (Hundee) or start spelling in a more simplistic manner (color) and you will become as close to a Gen-u-wine American as damn it.
Just no holding your chest and crying at the stars and stripes....
Partario :O
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