thebitterguy

So, Uday, the youngest of YHB's siblings, has decided he wants to head out camping this summer.

Now, remember, YHB was a proud member of the scouting movement until he was almost 19. Admittedly, in the fractious, highly politicised Napanee scouting movement, that can mean surprisingly little.

I recall one scoutmaster attempting to sabotage the others by meeting me in a local cafe and throwing badges at me. "Can you do a front stroke? Silver swimming." I never put any of those badges on my sash. It felt dirty to me, even then.

The scouting community in Nappers was fairly dysfunctional, with various scoutmasters passing through because of illness, crankiness, and scandal (one of our members stole one of the scoutmasters from her husband).

In the interim, I went camping maybe a dozen times. Sure, once was in Australia, but overall I didn't make it into the brush much.

So, when Uday emailed me and umario up to suggest a brotherly camping trip, I was slightly reticent. I thought about it for a couple days, and when he called me up to ask if I was in, I said "yes". His reply was "good, because I've already booked the campsite". Little fuck.

Apparently, we have to canoe into it, which should be LOADS of fun. I don't even own a damn backpack at this point. I barely have a sleeping bag.

At least I got a copy of that Avalon Hill Wilderness Survival board game, so that should help. Maybe I'll slap some flank steak in that mole sauce and wrap it in tinfoil for a meal.

Oh, yeah: biked today! The shorts got comfy as I went along. Really should have brought the gloves