FEATURES
A Series of Unfortunate Events Year 12 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award The first weekend of half term, while some of you were enjoying a long night’s sleep, a home cooked meal and an episode of Friends (best TV show ever by the way), the DofE expeditions were kicking off in a notso-timely manner. For 76 Eastbournians, this meant three days of hiking, navigating and tent-pitching. The Eastbourne weather was quintessentially sunny for the entirety of the expedition and, thanks to Covid, overnight camping was not allowed (which brought some relief to those in my group who shared a tent with me on the practice expedition — for reasons I’ll explain later). Still, not everything was smooth sailing — or hiking.
Demonstrating superb navigation skills was Savannah Winston’s group; they confidently trudged up and down hills for two hours, only to find themselves in the very same spot they started in. One anonymous person who responded to my call for feedback noted that some of the challenges DofE entails are not quite what you’d expect. “The real challenge of DofE wasn't the walking, the weight of the bag, the navigation or the rough terrain, but the sheer annoyingness of your teammates (at least from my experi-
ence). One of my group members did a better job collecting sticks than anything else. I will never forget when the instructor said, ‘Please measure your bearing’ and that person replied, with enthusiasm, ‘390°!’”. All I can say to that is, I hope it goes better next time!
Our group was briefly panicked upon realising we had to walk along ‘Paradise Drive’, a road, apparently well known for posing a mortal danger to unsuspecting teenagers (cue eye roll). Oh, and when I say we, I’m, of course, referring to the boys in our group. This resulted in a two-hour delay, taking us approximately an hour to walk up a hill and come to the realisation that the road wasn’t, in fact, a death trap. (I, personally, was struck by how much terrain you can cover while engrossed in a somewhat heated political debate… thanks Dexter). Despite the few mishaps along the way, all groups met their objectives and returned safely, making the weekend another Eastbourne DofE success. I was particularly pleased not just to have finished, but to have redeemed myself — and retiring the nickname ‘Sir Sicksalot’ — by completing the expedition without getting food poisoning (all credit goes to Liv’s mum’s cooking). Sasha Rosanov, Yr12 Nugent House 7
