Thursday 27th July
The weather has certainly been more consistently inconsistent over the last two days and more similar to what one might expect in South Wales - wind, rain, sun, overcast, scorching and cold - all in the same day. Baden Powell said, ‘Any fool can camp in the sunshine.’ This might be apocryphal but it is nevertheless quite true. Mixing it up a bit means that we are all tested a little bit more and it stops complacency drifting in.
Despite the changeable weather, everyone remains in very good spirits and yesterday’s army day was an energy sapping and enthralling mixture of tough love and high jinks. Some fool had persuaded the HQ that it would be a good idea to meet in the marquee at 07.00 to wake up the Troop to make sure that they were truly surprised! Dutifully, they responded but the weather wasn’t playing ball. So despite a very early reveille we didn’t think it was a good idea to wake the lads whilst the heavens were open. Thus we waited, yawning and drinking coffee, smothered in camouflage paint and dressed in khaki whilst the rain rescinded. However, at 07.45 we deemed the rain sufficiently light to go for it. So, on Mr Causton’s command, all hell broke loose! Screaming and shouting, bangs and smoke, boys doing press-ups, HQ running around like headless chickens! All this before going off on a morning run to get the blood pumping!
The tone for the day was set. What followed was our attempt at army training which is probably similar to Year 11s teaching Year 7s the school rules i.e. as an HQ we are hopelessly deficient in knowledge about how the army works, where the ranks fit in and what their training looks like. However, we are quite creative and can put on a good show.
It was a great day full of fun and nonsense but there were some tired boys in the evening! Unfortunately for the PLs, we had the first round of the HQ vs PLs football still to come. Though both teams approached the match with a slight sense of weariness and apprehension, it was a fantastic game of football with the HQ coming out as very narrow winners and the PLs having a penalty saved in the very last minute. All very dramatic and played in very good spirit.
This morning we were greeted by friendly skies and then everything moved along briskly towards our departure for Hereford for our ‘free day’. The younger boys have been assigned HQ ‘minders’ to look after them during the day whilst the third and fourth year are trusted to go around in groups of three or more. The lads take the opportunity to eat junk food, buy sweets and go for a swim (and a shower) in the local pool. The senior HQ retire to the Castle House Hotel for a spot of lunch. I heartily recommend it if you are in the region.
Tonight we look forward to the APLs taking over for a few days, the PLs setting up for their hikes and the first round of ‘Universally Challenged’ our new quiz event that will run for the rest of camp. Right, I had better write some questions.
