Cutthroat Girl Guide politics
Nov. 11th, 2008 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyToday I cleaned out my airing cupboard/Cupboard of Mystery. I know: what a thrilling life I lead! Amongst the stuff I found in the deepest, darkest recesses: a tennis racquet, helmet, wrist, elbow and knee pads, and a basketball (these items may suggest a far more athletic lifestyle than I actually pursue); three doorknobs, a light fitting and a tap; eighteen coat-hangers; five pairs of gloves; two scarves; two beanies, two baseball caps and three straw hats; and my Brownie poncho.
My Brownie poncho! I didn't know that was there. It was de rigueur in my Brownie pack to sit round the campfire in a poncho made out of a blanket from the local woollen mill and covered with embroidered patches of places we'd been on holiday. We must have looked like a mobile pack of suitcases. When we graduated to Guides, we sewed on our Brownie badges too. I think the idea was that when we left Guides to become, er, whatever comes after Guides, we would add our Guide badges, but I didn't stay in Guides for very long (life in the 1st Ballangeich pack obviously being considerably less exciting than the Guide handbook promised).
My poncho reveals that I earnt Brownie badges for being a First Aider, Flower Arranger, Swimmer, Advanced Swimmer, Artist, Writer, House Orderly and something represented by a magnifying glass that I can't remember (Private Eye sounds unlikely)*. I would have sworn I had Musician and Animal Lover badges, too, but I can't see them. Oh, there are also Footpath, Roadway and Highway badges for community service-y sort of things; three Brownie stars for three years of membership; my Six badge (I was in the Mullokas, if you care to scroll to the bottom of that page to see it); and my Sixer stripes (yes, I was the fearless small girl leader of a gang of fearless small girls). I was an awesome Brownie. There are no Guide badges, though, except my Patrol badge (I was a Rosella)... and my Patrol Leader stripes. Oh, that's why I left! About six months after I became a Guide, Rosella's Patrol Leader had to leave (presumably because she reached the age limit) and the Guide Leader didn't like the girl next in line and somehow the job ended up being mine, aged eleven and still green from the Brownies. Cutthroat Girl Guide politics, obviously. Anyway, some of the older girls didn't like me being in charge and I didn't enjoy it all that much either, so I left. I'd forgotten about that.
I'm not the only one with such a tragically dorky past, am I?
* That's it! The magnifying glass was my Collector badge. I was a pre-teen philatelist (or rather, I was a pre-teen philatelist long enough to get my Collector badge).
My Brownie poncho! I didn't know that was there. It was de rigueur in my Brownie pack to sit round the campfire in a poncho made out of a blanket from the local woollen mill and covered with embroidered patches of places we'd been on holiday. We must have looked like a mobile pack of suitcases. When we graduated to Guides, we sewed on our Brownie badges too. I think the idea was that when we left Guides to become, er, whatever comes after Guides, we would add our Guide badges, but I didn't stay in Guides for very long (life in the 1st Ballangeich pack obviously being considerably less exciting than the Guide handbook promised).
My poncho reveals that I earnt Brownie badges for being a First Aider, Flower Arranger, Swimmer, Advanced Swimmer, Artist, Writer, House Orderly and something represented by a magnifying glass that I can't remember (Private Eye sounds unlikely)*. I would have sworn I had Musician and Animal Lover badges, too, but I can't see them. Oh, there are also Footpath, Roadway and Highway badges for community service-y sort of things; three Brownie stars for three years of membership; my Six badge (I was in the Mullokas, if you care to scroll to the bottom of that page to see it); and my Sixer stripes (yes, I was the fearless small girl leader of a gang of fearless small girls). I was an awesome Brownie. There are no Guide badges, though, except my Patrol badge (I was a Rosella)... and my Patrol Leader stripes. Oh, that's why I left! About six months after I became a Guide, Rosella's Patrol Leader had to leave (presumably because she reached the age limit) and the Guide Leader didn't like the girl next in line and somehow the job ended up being mine, aged eleven and still green from the Brownies. Cutthroat Girl Guide politics, obviously. Anyway, some of the older girls didn't like me being in charge and I didn't enjoy it all that much either, so I left. I'd forgotten about that.
I'm not the only one with such a tragically dorky past, am I?
* That's it! The magnifying glass was my Collector badge. I was a pre-teen philatelist (or rather, I was a pre-teen philatelist long enough to get my Collector badge).