By: Blonde One
This year the Two Blondes have selfishly decided to do a few expeditions without young people! We will probably miss them a lot and spend most of the time talking about them though. We are going to do our DofE Diamond Challenge. (See https://dofediamondchallenge.org/ for more detailed info.) The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is 60 years old this year and there are all sorts of things planned (including a trip to Buckingham Palace for me and other DofE Managers). We were determined to do our bit to raise the profile even more, raise money and support a cause that is so very very important to the young people that we work with, Little Miss Blonde and every 14-25 year old across the country.
After much thought and deliberation we have come to a decision about our challenge …
Blonde One and Blonde Two are going to do a Bronze, Silver and Gold (style) expedition through the summer. A normal DofE expedition has to fulfil 20 conditions to be successful; the reason that our expeditions are only in the style of an actual one is that we will break some of those conditions. For instance, despite how we feel, we are actually too old! We will also not be in a team of between 4 and 7. So our trips will be adapted.
Our first expedition, on Dartmoor of course, is our Silver. We will be trekking for 3 days and camping for 2 nights in April. Our second is in June: our 2 day Bronze will be in our local area and hopefully there will be a little twist to this one. You’ll have to wait for more details until another day though. The last expedition is 4 days in July/August and is our Gold in the Peak District (probably).
Each DofE expedition has to have an aim and we have seen some really good ones from our youngsters. We’ve had a ‘Where’s Wally?’, 20 sports, selfies with animals, and lots more interesting and clever ones. So here’s where you, dear readers, come in. What should we do for our aim? It has to be detailed enough to fill several hours each day and preferably something that we can take pictures of to show you all. Please, nothing too tricky though! We promise to consider every suggestion.
In the meantime, while you are pondering, you might like to sponsor me to raise as much money as I can for this fantastic cause.
Thank you in advance.
As it is a Diamond Challenge, could it have something to do with finding diamonds??? Diamond shaped clouds, diamond markings on bugs, diamond rock formations, diamond markings on trees??? I’ll keep thinking!!!!
I like this idea … diamond shaped sweeties for instance …
Silver – identify 25 flowering plants (preferably new-to-you ones), photograph them and make a little book with location, time, date, funny foreign name and anything interesting such as past medicinal use, reason for name, etc.
That’s a good idea, thank you.
So… I wasn’t present at the final unveiling. Which is a bit of a shame since I’ve recorded quite a few of the preceding veil disposals, having watched you both pass through many of the stages I did before I finally unveiled. You stretched things out longer than I did (approximately 4 years in my case), having told myself I wanted to be known for what I wrote rather than who I am. But in the end these two elements fused and could no longer be separated. Besides which, as the 5:2 diet took hold, I became fascinated with my own gauntness, saw it as something sellable – a sense of literary menace.
Appropriately you chose of moment of triumph. Plus the need to acknowledge the fact that the only people who still didn’t know what you looked like were, on the whole, your blog commenters. At some stage or other, Blonde Two said, without any preamble, that you were both good looking and I was struck by the unselfconsciousness of this announcement. I suspected it would turn out to be the truth, assuming I was eventually vouchsafed a full frontal, and, lo, it was and is. So damned healthy too, but this of course is not so surprising.
In the end a photo, however eloquent, is a two-dimensional moment in one’s life. But not of course in your two cases. Whether by strategy or accident (I favour the former since you’re both a couple of clever-clogs) you got things right. The unveiled years not only created a third dimension (depth) but also a fourth (time) and these can now be added to the pic. You are not only three-dimensional beings you are also in possession of extensive and engaging personalities proved over the months and years. Exuberant, confident but also capable of reflection. An excellent advert for persistent blogging.
As you know I’m engaged in a little dimension-addition of my own – getting to know music from the inside out. I’m glad the Ives went down well and I suspect I’ll uncover more blonde-ishness presently hidden along the chromatic scale. When I do, I’ll let you know.
An epiphany, I’d say.
I have to say, I think I prefer being secret; but whilst it was acceptable to ask the OS photographer for a few ‘from the back’ Blonde shots, it would have made a very strange video. You may well find that we melt back behind our veil now … unless our forthcoming OS publicity photos woo us into another revelation!
Sounds a bit like being “slightly pregnant”. As to melting back, in how many recipes would that be disaster? The Rubicon has been crossed; you are revealed as mere mortals (albeit advanced versions of that genus) and can no longer claim esoteric qualities. Live with it and pass amongst us.
Oh go on then …!