The lock-in is over for another year and so is eating pizza for a very long time!
The plan for the weekend was relatively simple; paint the bird houses we had made a short twelve months earlier (thank you Mr. Cantus for getting needed supplies), fix up the maze and wash the bus.
It was really good to spend time outside with such amazing weather. Normally we can’t get enough hot chocolate inside us to stay warm but shorts and T-shirts were the order of the day.
We started at 11 a.m., broke for lunch (pizza!) at 1 p.m. and then stayed outside until 4 p.m. finishing projects and playing some version of soccer (i.e. the ball was round and there were goal posts, but that’s about where the similarities to the beautiful game ended).
At 4 p.m. we went inside and the guys played hockey and fired up whatever electronics they wanted to play. Thanks to everyone that donated toiletries to the church. They will be giving them to Share.
We did have a brief return to the outdoors at 5:30 p.m. for a flag retirement ceremony lead by Mr. Korade. It was good to see all the boys take it seriously and get an understanding of what the flag stands for. I didn’t realize this but very few, only about three, organizations routinely retire flags, so for the boys to have the opportunity to experience it should be something they remember and cherish.
Did I mention pizza? This is where it is great to watch how the minds of teenage boys work (or don’t or do but very differently than that of an adult). For dinner the PLC decided it would be good to make individual pizzas (because there was at least a 5-hour time interval from when we last ate any pies!).
Nino the main instigator of what is now known as Pizza-gate neglected to tell his fellow PLC members that he wouldn’t be able to make the lock-in because of a debate he was involved with. Matthew, now our head chef, took over the controls and guided his merry band of capable senior scouts (the older guys cook and wash up for the younger guys on this weekend) in the fine art of pizza making.
Soon all was not well. Felix, the master dough roller, was having trouble with Matthew’s dough portions and quickly there was a worrying variability in pie size and form. At one point Felix asked me “Mr. Salt, I roll it out and it’s fine, when I stop rolling it shrinks, what’s that all about?”
Flour was beginning to get everywhere and the toppings were still very separate from the bases. Time was tickin’ by!
Charlie, their considerate and gentle waiter, went round and asked all whether they wanted cheese or pepperoni. On returning to the kitchen he proudly shouted out the order. “What about the bacon?” he was asked. “Ah, forgot that”, he stated. “Oh well, if we don’t tell them they will never know and that means more for us”, was the caring response from a certain very large scout!
After a group discussion about how bad their individual pizzas were looking it was decided to simply start again and make 10 big pizzas. How hard could that be? Not too bad except for their grasp of cooking times. Some pizzas were good, some were very crispy and some resembled an Irish peat bog after a heavy storm. At one point pizzas were coming out and going back into the oven more often than the Isle of Wight ferry making trips to Southampton on a warm August bank holiday weekend!
But, we ate and survived. What more can you ask for? Games were played and washing up done. If you had taken a bag of flour and simply thrown it in the kitchen I think it would have made less mess. But when they were done it was cleaner than when they started! A perfect example of leave no trace.
We held a PLC meeting and made a decision about summer camp. Back to Pipsico we go!
Because everyone was having a blast we didn’t start the movie, The Princess Bride, until 10 p.m. Lights were out at midnight and we were up at 6 a.m. Tidying up and breakfast were done by 8 a.m. and off to church we went.
All in all it was a good weekend and thanks to Maryam for organizing and Mr. Forrer and Mr. Johanson for spending their weekend locked in a building with teenage boys and eating like kings!
MWS