It was a glorious morning

I am back from another weekend spent in the tranquil Matobo hills. Lucky me! None of my Scouts were available to come with me, despite it being the school holidays, but I guess when you are a teenager, there are many more exciting things to be done in the company of your mates.

The main task is still the cutting of grass in preparation for the Centenary camp in August. We are planning on having five hundred in camp, which means that extra campsites will need to be opened up on the Mike George Camp-ground. I am still extending the area I usually cut on the Bowl Parade ground, to ensure we have a sufficiently large cleared area for the activity bases. So far, I have cut from the northern end where the Duty Hut is, right to the donga at the southern end. Next week I hope to complete the area under the trees next to the kopje on the eastern side. The grass is very thick and tangled, so progress is slow. Cutting it now before it is completely dry, has the advantage in that there is minimal dust, but even so by the time I have been cutting for half an hour, I look like some creature from a futuristic movie. Oh dear, perhaps I am. The down side of cutting now, is that there will be some re-growth and I will have to do a second cut in a month or two's time. At least it will not be as tiring and should go fairly quickly.

I was disrupted on the Saturday with the arrival of the Scouts involved in constructing a Scouting stand for this year's Trade Fair. They needed allsorts of equipment from the Park's stores. Oh well, I guess I needed a break for tea.

Bright and early on Sunday morning saw me lighting the fire in preparation for cooking my breakfast after I had returned from climbing Shumba. As usual the sun was over the eastern horizon long before I reached the summit. It was a glorious morning, so I lingered on the top for some time. Our Troop's name written in stones in one of the depressions on the top needed repairing as the baboons had over turned a few stones in the hope of finding some tasty little snack in the form of a creepy-crawly underneath. By the time I returned to the Park, the kettle was boiling on the stove. After breakfast, I loaded the pump for number three well onto Inguluvane and headed off for the well. Having installed and started it, I waited awhile to ensure that it was not about to cut out, before returning to HQ to get the grass cutter ready for another day of cutting. I was a tired little pixie by lunchtime and decided that that was enough cutting for one weekend.

Following my mid day nap, I drew up a menu for a hike I and three of the Troop will be going on this week.

Your mobile radios were put to good use on our Tuli Expedition. Barry Knight joined us in his vehicle with three Scouts , whilst I took Ingulungundu with four Scouts. We kept in contact using the radios. The chaps chattered continuously all the way to Tuli and back. If any Martian was listening he would have had a very mixed idea of what us earthlings were. Thanks a million, at least the chaps were kept amused on an otherwise boring journey.

Temperatures for the week ending 26 April: 41 and 85. No rain.
Cheers
Norman
Bulawayo, Sunday, April 26, 2009