Boy Scouts (1977 - ????)

The Boy Scouts is largely lost from my memory. I recall that I had been a Cub Scout in Maryland and when I moved to England the Boy Scouts started a year earlier, or some such thing, so I immediatly joined the Boy Scouts instead of the Cub Scouts. I remember that I wore my American Cub Scout uniform for the first few meetings.

I recall doing a fair amount of camping...in the rain...
There's some issue with not touching the tent canvas because once you do the water starts coming right through.

One time we were camping somewhere and they gave us money to go into the village (what village I have no idea) and buy food. For some reason the thing I remember buying is this big thick English bacon at the butcher shop.

Tent's were a giant pain in the ass to put up and take down with all the ropes and tent pegs and whatnot. As far as I can tell the ones today pop themselves up...I could be wrong...I'm starting to sound like I walked to school barefoot in 3 feet of snow up hill both ways...

There was the time we went canoing (kayaking to Americans) in Scotland. Somehow, and I think my dad was involved, we got all these sea canoes. We took them up to some lake an Scotland to use them. One afternoon we went out and were taught how to bail out of them. It was great! You tip the thing over and fall out upside down. It was a lot of fun. So the next morning we're out in the lake again and I decide to tip over and bail out. Only I made to misjudgements. The first was that the sun had not yet warmed up the water. The second was that the lake was deeper where I was. When I bailed out the cramping from the icy water was so bad I could barely breath and it felt like my testicles were in a vice.

The thing I really don't remember is how it ended. I think it must have just faded out of my life when I started going to parties and discos around the age of 14 or 15.