This week was always going to fly over, busy weeks always do. But it has been an enjoyable week, with work filling the time in-between final preparations for Camp @ Home 2: The Jamboree. Work has been busy, with lots to do before my week off. Therefore, the evening run through sessions are a welcomed break – especially yoga, I simply cannot get enough of this meditative relaxing exercise. I used to attend one yoga class a week, now working from home, I complete three or more sessions. I follow along to YouTube videos, selecting sessions that most suit my needs, tight muscles; after a jog, full body flow; when I’m energised – you get the idea, there is so much choice out there and all for free. Each time, I feel transported somewhere else, where my mind can focus on my body, my breath, my balance, my gaze all helping me not to topple over. So, when it is decided a second and third run through is required, I welcome the opportunity to unwind and relax.

Even during the run through of my session: Zendoodling, I find myself able to switch off and fully engage in the task. As a recognised form of drawing, Zendoodling, also known as Zentangling, has become a popular form of meditative art. I love the restorative feeling I get when I switch off after a busy day, creating non-prescribed patterns, where even mistakes are embraced as the creation of a new pattern. I can’t wait to impart the skill of Zendoodling on our young people and watch its reception.

So alongside the den building, making a monument, fire lighting, s’mores competition, campfire, STEM workshops and many other international themed activities, our young people can also learn the art of relaxing and learning how to just be present in the moment. I would like to claim as a host of one of the relaxing workshops I have reached inner peace, but let’s not kid ourselves – it’s a working progress.

Opening ceremony, takes me to a fellow Scouters garden to boogie on down as co-host to the festivities. We keep our distance, measuring to ensure we are two meters apart, it still amazes me how far two metres is.  But we manage and I feel safe with my pre-packed tea, snacks, and drinks to get me ready to deliver an engaging start to camp.

In the opening, I talk of ‘last year’s Camp @ Home’ when this was but 3 months ago. I laugh it off as a comedy element, while thinking how blursday has stolen all my ability to conceive time. However, part of live hosting is the banter, you just never know what might happen next and I love that.

Driving home, I am still singing, ‘Everything is awesome’ and even with the torrential rain pouring down, everything is awesome when your part of a team.  For I really couldn’t have delivered an engaging opening without my co-hoast, and the technical team behind the scenes, that have prepared video, audio and visuals to run alongside our comparing.

I am soon home and enjoying scrolling through the photos, videos and comments posted on the Camp @ Home Facebook page. There really are some great performers out there and I am glad we were able to give them a stage to unlock their charisma. I go to bed still energised from the opening of camp and feeling excited for the weekend ahead.

Saturday morning dawns bringing more virtual Scouting fun. My partner is working hard on the tech side, helping to stream the many interactive sessions this weekend. So in between my own activities, I get a good overview of the weekends jam packed programme. It all starts with breakfast club, then there are STEM science workshops, storytelling, yoga, Zendoodling, campfire and many other sessions, complimenting the pop-up activity challenges. I join in with a few, even re- performing my campfire songs off camera for my own enjoyment.

Soon it’s time for my first Zendoodling session, I can’t wait.  But – all I can hear is a brrrr, grrrrrr, drrrrr noise, followed by a bang, crash, wallop. I guess no one told my neighbour it is Camp @ Home this weekend. We make do. The noises become part of the live entertainment and the participants seem to be loving that too.

The second Zendoodling workshop goes really well too. Engagement is high, with posts spanning into next week, I think we can call that a winner. The young people and their adults really let themselves free to create, without mistakes or judgement.

I blink and its moments before the closing. A few drops of rain fall, it’s a good thing skin is waterproof, yet the clouds clear ready for the last act. A bit of dancing, a quick look back over the weekend, mixed with a few oggy, oggy, oggy and it’s time for ‘Country Roads’. As the song plays out, I feel like Camp @ Home has become a tradition, showing that Scouting cannot be stopped by anything.