Keeping dry

It's actual quite appropriate today to post this picture showing a massive waterproof padded jacket given it is raining really hard at the moment and I had a near miss while scouting first thing when the heavens opened needing me to run like the clappers to get into somewhere dry as I felt the rain landing on my legs.

Like the postal workers here I much prefer to be outdoors in short trousers because it never soaks as much into them, landing on me and so a quick rub down with a towel and a hot drink does the trick.

That is much better in my opinion than carrying damp or soggy cloth next to your skin for a long time as rain sooner evaporates from your skin than cloth although for extreme uses, waterproof trousers and the likes have their uses.

Wolf Cub Uniform

From time to time I post things around my Uniform which in part was the start point of the entire blog because uniform albeit then the discovery of my younger brothers Cub Uniform played a important part in my early regressive life in my mid teens. 

That is  standard bottle green jersey extremely close to what those sections in Scouting that didn't hold with the post 1967 changes still wear in Wolf Cubs and over time you'd of earned you badges to go on the right side arm.

That is the Wolf Cub membership badge, an original, to go on the wearers left when I persuade someone to sow it on.

These are my David Luke charcoal shorts because most cubs and wolf cubs didn't have a set pair supplied for cubs but used what you had for school.

Because I was brought up in the 1970's and through my entire boyhood our shorts were shorter than current shorts by a good margin, they were taken up to a four inch inside leg which is just a smidgen longer than what I wore as junior school boy which would of overlapped with the period I would of been in membership of. 

Pix credit: Albert Prendergast.

I also bought to go with it a pair of navy blue scout socks with green bands on the turn over top of the sort worn at the time.

To a point, authenticity in a practical sense comes into having a uniform in the context of "being" who you were so in that respect rather say buying a vintage jumper ready badged but not having my County and Scouting District badges on them I favour buying more or less the same thing new and adding the badges.

We are not in formal scouting where we are required to follow rules around where and what goes on them to the letter but they are uniforms that when we wear them help us channel the Spirit of that Eternal Boy as a Cub or Wolf Cub in practising scouting, helping us move along and making a difference for the good in the wider community.

From my point of view there's no need to collect and wear old uniforms in order to be us but when a uniform is worn help us resemble it thus my shorts are taken up so I look and feel like a boy of 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 of my era so while they are new, they are very authentic.

Staying warm and dry scouting

As we move across Autumn, one consideration has to be staying warm and dry as while you might get away with just a pack a way cagoule  just to keep showers off you we often get heavy showers and with it cold which is  bad combination.

This Regatta jacket is pretty good as it has a built in fleece for extra warmth, a fully water proof outer skin and the main zip covered by a flap to keep the slightest rain away from you.

Another thing that is handy are zipped pockets so nothing falls out hiking and this has two plus two small intermal pockets for a wallet and mobile phone.