By: Blonde One
As Blonde Two has said our day on Saturday was absolutely awesome. It was a pleasure in so many ways to be out with such fab people. I was especially heartened (that’s a good word isn’t it?!) to see children being children and enjoying some simple pleasures. The group of youngsters that I was fortunate to spend the day with were very content to sit and discuss some very simple pleasures like just being outside and listening to birds singing. They had a ball with them and managed to invent all manner of games, both sitting and standing. Despite waiting to be rescued for several hours they did not do the typical teenager thing and complain about being bored. They enjoyed each others company, being outdoors and learning from a lovely minder called Andy. Back at the training centre at the end of the day the team were more than happy to be entertained by some word games. The best part of all for me though was to see a bunch of teenage girls playing hide and seek. There was not a scrap of make-up, technology or media in evidence and they had a brilliant time!
Brilliant! I had a lovely conversation with a lad recently who was very excited to show me the book he had got for Christmas all about the wonderful things you could do and make outside. He had great joy in telling me about the dens he had built, the dream catchers he had made and the birds he had seen. The weird thing is that it sounded like a new past time that had never existed before!! Glad there are still some youngsters that get out there and enjoy what nature has to offer!
I completely echo Blonde One’s sentiments. I stood by a window for a while and watched the girls playing … and then stayed for a bit longer because it was such a lovely sight.