As I start to write this post, I finished lesson eleven of my twelve-lesson Russian evening course last night and I have one more lot of homework and one more lesson left and then I’m done. I’m glad for two reasons. One is that this is hard – learning anything with a different alphabet is … More A review of my Russian evening course
If you want to follow the story so far, I’ve talked about: Anita’s B&B, Monday in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, Tuesday at Our Chalet, Wednesday in Neuchâtel and Thursday at Reichenbach Falls and on the Brienzersee. Friday was a light day for our driver. I’m still kind of bitter and bemused over how much we paid … More Switzerland 2014: St Beatus Caves, a boat trip and a rainstorm
I notice I write a little more about archery than fencing here but I teach both and my latest fencing session went well enough that I thought it deserved a post of its own. My first session back in the hall with my Brownies after two years and two weeks didn’t go great. By the … More Fencing with my Brownies
I bought How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason months ago and I’ve been dipping in and out ever since without quite being able to bring myself to read it from start to finish. That I eventually achieved by literally scheduling a chapter a day in my calendar and now I’m certain it does … More Travel Library: How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason
This is probably the last virtual event I’ll do with Girlguiding – or at least, the last major event. I have no doubt we’ll do another Zoom Brownie meeting at some point when half the unit gets the dread plague from school, but virtual events are noticeably dwindling. All the big in-person camps and festivals have … More Castaway: a virtual sleepover
For the last little while, I’ve been kind of jealous when I go hiking with other people because their bags have little pockets on the hip belts. They’re really useful and my bag doesn’t have them! I like my bag and I’m not looking to replace it but I do want belt pockets. So I’ve … More MYOG: hip belt pockets for my hiking day bag
It’s now Thursday on my 2014 county trip to Switzerland and today we’re off to Reichenbach Falls and we’re going to return to Interlaken on a boat across the Brienzersee. I’ve already covered Anita’s B&B, Monday in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, Tuesday at Our Chalet (is on its way) and Wednesday in Neuchâtel and Yverdon-les-Bains and … More Switzerland 2014: Reichenbach Falls & a boat trip on Brienzersee
In the first lockdown, I took to gardening. I’d never taken any interest in it but my dad was doing the shopping for three households in our local little M&S (Tesco was impossible for the first month or so due to the combination of epic queues and shortages caused by panic buying) and they were … More What I learned from my second year of gardening
Now we’re back on track! This is my county trip to Switzerland in 2014 and after starting in the wrong place, I’m now getting my days in the right order. Today is Wednesday and I’m going solo, off to my adopted home city of Neuchâtel and for a little spa afternoon at Yverdon-les-Bains. The story … More Switzerland 2014: My day off in Neuchâtel and Yverdon-les-Bains
Guess what? I did my Rebel Stargazer badge! I’m not going to do a separate post for every Rebel badge I do – I’ve already talked about the Water Sports badge but Adventurer just got a mention at the bottom of that post, Community Service isn’t getting a post because it’s just doing Brownies and … More I did my Rebel Stargazer badge!
I Am A Polar Bear 