Jamboree 2011: The Diary, In Full – 25 August 2011

At last, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the diary of my Jamboree experience. Like all good things, it’s been pretty delayed in its release, but all 12,318 words are now attached – with a good number of photographs – for your reading delight.

The truth is, it’s taken quite a long time, and a lot of hard work, to put it together. Whilst away, I used only my phone’s QWERTY keyboard to write, because in storing what I’d written on ‘the cloud’ and not using traditional paper and pen, I didn’t run the risk of losing my work to the rain. Despite this, I still fell hideously behind, so there was a great deal to catch up on once I got home. During the trip, I took over a thousand photographs, so downloading, cataloguing, and sorting these was a time-consuming process. Then, choosing the very best and most memorable ones to include took yet longer.

I actually finished writing it a couple of days ago, but I’ve been proof-reading it and making the appropriate alterations over the last 48 hours. Tonight, I finalised the design, words, and images, and exported it to a bookmarked PDF.

I may have made a great deal of fanfare about the Jamboree (perhaps too much for your liking), but as one of just 40,000 young people worldwide who were given the honour of going, I hope it’s with good reason. If you are interested in reading it, it’s probably something worth making a cup of tea to sit down with and, I hope, enjoy. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it too; you can comment using the facility below.

[World Scout Jamboree 2011: Andrew Burdett’s Diary; PDF file (Adobe Reader 6+ compatible]