Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Summer Camp

Hands up if you went to summer camp, as a child...



Now, tell us about it.
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28 comments:

  1. Jeffery10:46 AM, July 05, 2017

    Once. That was enough.

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    1. The Mistress11:56 AM, July 05, 2017

      JEFFERY: I’m sure this is where the term “not a happy camper” originated.

      Delete
  2. Inexplicable DeVice11:02 AM, July 05, 2017

    Summer camp? I don't think we have that here in the UK? We barely have a summer...

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    1. The Mistress11:57 AM, July 05, 2017

      MR. DeVICE: Summer camps are hugely popular in Canada and the U.S. I suspect they’re even more popular with parents who can kiss their children goodbye for at least one week each summer.

      Many camps are run by religious groups or by organizations such as the Boy/Girl Scouts.

      Typically during the day, you swim, hike, canoe, and do arts and crafts if it rains. In the evenings, you sit around a campfire and sing songs. Kids sleep in groups in cabins with their “counselor” who is usually a responsible teenager or young adult.

      Today, there are sports camps, nature camps, art camps, drama camps, and music camps, to name only a few themes. But back in the Mistress’s day, summer camp involved mostly nature activities.

      Delete
    2. Jon2:10 PM, July 05, 2017

      Sounds horrendous. You can keep them. I'm quite happy camping at home, ta! Jx

      Delete
    3. The Mistress2:51 PM, July 05, 2017

      JON: "Camp" being the operative word.

      Delete
    4. Jon4:19 PM, July 05, 2017

      Moi??!! Jx

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    5. The Mistress9:54 PM, July 05, 2017

      JON: You’re the poster boy!

      And that’s a wonderful thing.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous12:29 PM, July 05, 2017

    I once was sent to something like this, called "Sommerfreizeit".
    I remember the terrible tea.

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    1. The Mistress12:42 PM, July 05, 2017

      MAGO: Terrible food is part of the summer camp experience.

      I remember eating Red River cereal which was a Canadian porridge-like cooked cereal with a gritty texture.

      Delete
  4. normadesmond12:41 PM, July 05, 2017

    First experience was day camp for 2 weeks.
    Loved it.

    Day camp was too expensive, we had no money. Through "connections" was admitted to an overnight camp for needy kids. Was miserable until I found the theatre & the queen that ran it. He got me excused from the daytime sports crap so I could learn my lines & make scenery. Experience salvaged though I did return home covered in impetigo. Was forced to return following summer, theatre dept. didn't exist. I was beyond depressed. I ran away from the camp at dusk immediately after we'd come ashore from a rowboat ride. They thought I'd drown. I was ultimately found walking by the road & Mom was called & brought me home. I was punished by having to stay in my room for the remainder of the 2 weeks. Fuck summer camp.

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    1. The Mistress12:47 PM, July 05, 2017

      NORMA: You poor thing.

      I've heard of many kids getting poison ivy at camp but never impetigo.

      What a thoroughly miserable experience. It's no wonder so many kids hated summer camp. I completely understand why you ran away. I only wish you hadn't been punished for your actions.

      Delete
    2. normadesmond5:41 PM, July 05, 2017

      Thanks doll! I should have made the punishment part clearer....there was no where I'd have rather been than in my bedroom! It was NO punishment at all!

      Delete
    3. The Mistress9:55 PM, July 05, 2017

      NORMA: The fact that your parents doled out what THEY thought was punishment is what pisses me off although thankfully you liked being in your room.

      Delete
  5. dinahmow2:49 PM, July 05, 2017

    Nope. Not a thing in NZ.Well, not in my day. But we were very familiar with the torments of American pen friends, thanks to this
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzErh_s62Wk

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    1. The Mistress2:55 PM, July 05, 2017

      DINAHMOW: I once started singing along to the radio playing "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" and was met with blank stares.

      Not because my voice is bad but because the others in the room were from other countries where they'd never heard the song nor experienced summer camp.

      Delete
  6. LẌ3:34 PM, July 05, 2017

    One-week Boy Scout camp in the Summer two times. Slept in tents in the woods. Earned my one and only merit badge. Took swimming lessons to learn the backstroke. Built a log bridge over a gorge.

    All very enjoyable.

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    1. The Mistress9:56 PM, July 05, 2017

      LX: A happy camper, yes?

      I wanted to join the Boy Scouts but they had a stupid “boys only” policy.

      Delete
  7. mrpeenee9:21 PM, July 05, 2017

    I went to Baptist Summer Camp. All the bad experiences listed so, plus JESUS. Hymns and prayers at breakfast, lunch, dinner, after dinner, before bed and as a form of punishment. I was punished twice for incredibly vague misdeeds. I think they could just sense the infant faggotry.

    They had a lake with canoes and volleyball courts and other campish stuff. We never used any of it. We were to busy praying.

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    1. The Mistress9:56 PM, July 05, 2017

      PEENEE: Baptist Summer Camp? There is something “fundamentally” wrong about that.

      Did they make you pray away the gay?

      Delete
  8. Mitzi 5:30 AM, July 06, 2017

    I've had an activity weekend away in the Yorkshire Dales organised by the school, rock climbing, abseiling, pony trekking and pot-holing, I thoroughly enjoyed it, except for the pot-holing. We also had a schlep up Pen-y-Ghent with my school pal Dawn wearing white stilettos and a denim skirt, we were deliberately lagging behind the rest of them so we could have a crafty fag enroute.

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    1. The Mistress7:41 AM, July 06, 2017

      MITZI: I had to Google “pot-holing” because “potholes” over here mean holes (collapsed pavement) on the road that cause damage to your car’s tires and suspension.

      What you call “pot-holing” we call “caving” or “spelunking.”

      Until I Googled, I had a very peculiar image of your childhood activities.

      And of course, there’s the “crafty fag.”

      Delete
    2. Mitzi 12:06 PM, July 06, 2017

      We call them potholes too. I was once pulled over and breathalysed by the police a few years ago, they said I was driving erratically, all I was doing was dodging the many potholes in the road.

      "spelunking"

      Delete
    3. The Mistress3:17 PM, July 06, 2017

      MITZI: Even though that's the proper term for caving, I've never actually heard anyone say, "I'm going spelunking for the day."

      The word spelunking sounds like something that stains your bed linen.

      Delete
  9. Ms Scarlet10:22 AM, July 08, 2017

    All self-catering holidays in Wales in my day.... Wales didn't have the long hot summer of '76 that the rest of the UK experienced, but we heard about it on the radio... it was great to go home that year.
    Sx

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    1. Jon11:19 AM, July 09, 2017

      "Wales didn't have the long hot summer of '76" - not sure which bit of Wales you holidayed in, but where I was brought up in the South the pavements melted, there were stand-pipes in the street and we had more ice cream than I ever ate in my entire life! Glorious. Jx

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    2. Ms Scarlet11:44 AM, July 09, 2017

      North, but maybe the hot weather came after we left? It was abysmal, Jon. The car kept breaking down... there was an outside loo.... and radio 2 banging on about how hot it was back home
      Sx

      Delete
    3. The Mistress7:40 PM, July 09, 2017

      Welcome back, Miss Scarlet!

      Delete

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