The End

Today marked the official end of the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. All the groups left the WSJ site and headed home today. Our hopes for a rainless last night went unfulfilled, and I must say, the last 24 hours have been mighty interesting.

To start, the closing ceremony was amazing. Unfortunately, halfway throught the starting band, the rain began (or should I say returned). What could have been the best night of the entire Jamboree turned into one of the worst. We, being scouts, stuck it out in the rain for the ceremony, and had a blast. After a fitting performance by the band Europe, and a speech from the King of Sweden, the show concluded with a stunning musical fireworks display. Then the real fun started...

The Swedes will tell you that thunderstorms aren`t very common over there, so obviously we brought some of that scouting luck with us, because we got one alright. And all we had to sleep in was our little dinning shelter (and we have 40 people to fit under it). All was well until the rain hit, at which point we discovered the river running through our tent. A feeble attempt to evade the flooding gave way to a dash to the nearest available Town tent. There we played cards, experimented with Wint-O-Green Lifesavers and, in true Canadian style, grumbled about the weather. Cards soon became sleep, and we said goodbye to one of our members who was leaving very early that morning. After 2 or so hours sleep (depending on how warm each person was), we awoke to take down our shelter, hurry up, and wait.

Our bread-with-jam fueled energy was only dampened by the reappearance of the rain, who stayed with us for the rest of the day. We got on our bus without too much delay, and settled in for the long day of travel.

The bus ride was interesting to say the least, and the rest of our journey home was uneventful, thankfully. Now sitting at home, tired, all I can say is:
Good bye World Scout Jamboree, you were awesome, and for that, the world thanks you.