The coach park was like a never ending road. The narrow lane was made of small uneven stones that crunched together underneath the wheels. There were people, lots and lots of people, from everywhere. People from Japan; America, Canada, China, Europe, Egypt, India, all over the world!
I saw scouts from a foreign country, doing a formation of salutes and turns, all perfectly timed and level with one another. I can remember making eye contact with one boy as he stood with his hand against his dark hair and saluting at him, making him smile.
As the coach finally pulled up at our gate, I grabbed my bag and headed for the front. Thanking the driver, I climbed down the four black steps. The cool air hit me as I stepped outside; a comforting shiver ran through me.
Coming back to reality, I realised what I was supposed to be doing. I followed the guy in front of me. He was quite a small person with an unusually large head. He wore a blue and white baseball cap over his shoulder length hair, the brown curls licking the edges. His ears were white in the light and were partly hidden by his cap. His light brown uniform was baggy and hung out at the back. He raised an arm to pull his hat down a little and as he did so, I noticed that his sleeves had been pushed up past his elbows, revealing his white and pasty English skin.
I stood in the line with everybody else. I watched the first bag be passed down the line from person to person. As I stood there, I realised that I knew so little of the people that I was going to camp with for 12 days. In fact I didn’t even recognise most of them! Suddenly, the bag was thrown into my open hands. My elbows straightened under the weight of it. I bent my knees and arms and lifted it off the green, short grass beneath my feet. We managed to get through them all and the coach left. I walked over to the huge pile of luggage belonging to our unit and searched for my own. Locating it, I stood up, lifting it onto my back.
Groaning at how uncomfortable it felt I started to walk. The atmosphere of the park lifted me again, as anticipation swept through me. Looking left, I saw a Canadian troop muttering and chattering excitingly to each other. To my right, another troop were dancing around and shouting loudly. Reading their badges on their on their uniforms, I recognised them as Mexican. Turning my attention ahead of me I smiled to myself, knowing that I was taking the first few steps into the adventure of a lifetime.
Twelve days later, I stood in the same spot looking toward the arena and watching 40,000 people cheer and wave their flags in the air, proud to represent their countries. Bright spotlights blinded me as they scanned the crowd. The huge screens scattered the field, making everyone aware of what was happening on stage.
I couldn’t believe this was the end. I looked around at my friends who I had lived with for 12 days. What had started off as a unit of English strangers had now become an international group of best friends. I smiled to myself as memories of this once in a lifetime opportunity filled my heart with happiness.
I recalled how, at the beginning, I started talking to my unit as we unpacked, realising that we came from all over England. I remembered meeting Arianna from the Mexicans that camped next to us and a variety of Americans that were on the other side. I saw Yolanda talking to some Spanish people that she had brought back with her one day because she speaks their language fluently. Belgian friends from queuing for the loo and finally Hiroki and Kjohei from Japan after we ate dinner with them.
I felt an arm around my shoulder, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and saw James towering over me, smiling and joking around as always, his bright green wig abstract in the crowd. I put my arm around his tanned waist along with Laura’s the other side of me. The whole line of us joined together as we swayed gently in time with the music. The brown, dead grass, curled up like wire was now overgrown beneath our feet.
All of a sudden we jumped up and cheered as the ‘Jambo’ song began to play. And there we were, 40,000 scouts and guides from all over the world, dancing and singing along to the same song in the same place, allowing the music to run through us as fireworks lit up the sky.
