Scout skills learned come in handy

Yes - my scouts always say - " Do we HAVE to learn these knots??? Whats the use - when will we use them??" W E L L recently I was up in Auckland and actually this is a bit weird and funny - I found via Google a light weight granite aquarium background sold at a local Auckland store - and at virtually half the cost then anything I could find in my local town (Christchurch). I did consider asking them if they would snail mail that to me and projected costs - but then remembered that I was going to be up there soon anyhow for a short visit (see previous two blog entries) and that I could do a pick up on the way through. So I rung them and asked them to put two aside for me - I shall collect in 7 days time - which we did. Only then did I realize that the two pieces where a tad larger then my suitcase - problem here folks - how to bring that back with us. I ended up getting some plain brown wrapping paper (yes folks here is me sitting in the middle of Warkworth town - after lunch - some 50 km or so north of Auckland) and started wrapping both pieces up for the plane trip home. And here is where the scout skills learned came in handy - I ended up doing a self locking knot (ok actually two half hitches) and I always like to go once round like a square lashing. For extra strength I used a double string eg twice as much as needed but folded back once on itself.

This website shows it how its done --->   animatedknots.com - parcel knot

and ---->   animated knots - two half hitches

Excellent - the parcel survived the trip home unscathed and the knots are still done!! perfic


Thus a skill learned isn't learned until you use it often - I keep telling my scouts that almost weekly. . . . . . .