C’est la vie

Or divine retribution for the world’s worst daughter. (Well, I have been practicing for 43 years!)

We survived the first weekend, but not without trials and tribulations sent to test us. Aedan’s D of E expeditions were cancelled, due to his group not having completed their camp craft training. (I knew this to be the case, but why did it take until the afternoon before for someone in charge to realise? Poor communication and organisation is always a disappointment.) Ciara was off colour for a few days, after she perked up, Rhiannon was off colour with something else. The boys managed not to kill each other, mainly because Conall left Aedan to sleep on his bedroom floor and decamped onto the girls’ bedroom floor, so all four children were disturbed, deep joy. I then lived up to my lifelong reputation of world’s worst daughter and caused major upset with a difficult decision. Hmm.

We survived a weekend camping with the Guides at Brodie Castle. I only have one Guide, but as I’m a disclosed Brownie Assistant that doesn’t mind camping, I have become useful at Guide Camp too. Sadly, the boys had to come this time, as David was not home to look after them. They loved it! They were given the job of looking after the camp fire and they built and maintained the most magnificent example ever. My boys! I had a frustrating time with two Guides who, when they couldn’t find the bin compound to dispose of a couple of bags of rubbish, decided to hurl them into the undergrowth! I was incensed, discarded  rubbish is one of my most hated things and so they were route marched to the scene of their crime to reclaim the bags and then shown where the bins were. To annoy me further, they giggled through their reprimand, if a child of mine behaved so disrespectfully and with such bad attitude I would be disappointed and ashamed. The fact I had the beginning of a cold by then did not improve my mood. We returned home with nine gnat bites (all mine) and a tick (unattached and crawling up a leg, not mine!).

David had managed to get home Saturday night, so we planned another assault on Bynack More on Monday. As luck would have it, there was Torrential Rain and Strong Winds. I didn’t have to feel guilty that we couldn’t walk because of my cold, I was a poorly girl! Instead, we whiled away a few hours wandering around Aviemore, drooling over gear and savouring soup and jacket potatoes at the Cairngorm Hotel (highly recommended).

At the moment I’m struggling slightly. I should have  been for a gentle stroll (cold almost better) and done a small pile of ironing, but I am suffering the recurrence of the trapped nerve in my neck. As I type, I have my warm cherry stone bag against my shoulder blade and neck to try to relieve the inflammation and prevent the muscle spasms which cause the real problems. With some gentle exercises my physio taught me last time, things should improve.

Although, obviously, I probably deserve it…