By: Blonde One
Last weeks DofE expedition was unique in a very, very pleasing way. This was the first expedition that Blonde Two and I could say that we had enough staff! You might think that there are plenty of people that would love a little walk in the countryside, with lovely young people, to help them with their DofE expedition, but you would be wrong! Historically we have had 2 staff (Blonde One and Two). Our numbers then increased to include Search, Numbers and Brummie. This trip however included 10 staff in total. This was brilliant and lovely and made me very happy. Some staff stayed for the whole trip, some stayed for small parts of it and some were providing crucial support from the comfort of their own homes. We had novices and experts, campers and non-campers, and walkers and drivers, and the system worked perfectly. I think everyone was happy with their role and as a result we had an almost perfect trip.
Let me introduce the newbies to you:
- Mr Flip-Flop – had camped once before with us, but is new to DofE. Key Skills – providing entertaining chat, being the male member of staff, providing good snacks.
- Miss On-Call – stayed at home waiting by the phone for our next request. Key Skills – bringing bacon rolls in the morning, being very patient when we made requests, looking very glamorous at camp, providing additional car support.
- Eager – one of our new Young Leaders. Key Skills – being eager to learn, providing invaluable support to Search, Numbers and Brummie, being good fun.
- Giggles – another new Young Leader. Key Skills – giggling a lot, helping girls to find a suitable toilet bush and then standing guard, providing invaluable support to Search, Numbers and Brummie.
I have decided that every expedition from now on should include these four, plus the Two Blondes, Search, Numbers and Brummie, and Little Miss Blonde! I’m not too optimistic about my chances of getting that wish but at least once we had the ‘dream team’!
A hover?
This one would be a very good description of what actually happens – I like it very much!
fasces, or tribune, perhaps – as we are talking about people, not poles, the latter – or maybe, literally, fascists ?
I have seen such tendencies in some ‘leaders’ – but not on dartmoor, of course. Very liberal, at least until a month ago, but there are of course extremist liberals who exhibit fascist tendencies in their intolerance of others (opinions).
‘Fasces’ was a new one to us Gimmer. A bit close to faeces though for my liking!
I did indeed hesitate – and made sure I had the spelling correct – before venturing to make that tie-up
A forest?
A forest is good but I couldn’t personally be part of one as I am always falling over!
A variancy. A superfluity. A phlebotomy. A negus.
Why not any word you want?
A chrestomathy. A parenthesis. A pneumothorax.
The choice is yours, the world your oyster. Strike out for individuality: be creative, go foreign (Werkzaamheid. Peitsche. La-ci-darem-la-mano.)
Or, if you must, an agglomeration.
The wordsmith as ever!
I personally liked ‘an authority’ of staff. Although we all know really, that the youngsters are in charge!
but none of these would leave one any the wiser as to the writer’s intent or meaning, which, I was always taught, by one who also, I believe, taught you, was the principal object of language and communication: but then I was never much good at englsih , gobbledegook being my mother tongue.