We've arrived!

The moon is shining bright, and all is clear as night draws on.

So much for the sky! The ground is not so clear ... pretty muddy already and we're still on day one!

We arrived at 2-30 at North Weald Airfield where we parked the car and checked in. We straightaway felt at home parking opposite a car sporting a Cherry and Whites flag straight from Kingsholm. I regretted not bringing my Leicester Tigers shirt. It wasn't long before we bumped into Paul from Prestbury on the translation team. Nice to have a chat, but we didn't need his services. After booking in we met Joan Goldsmith, the County Commissioner and by then we felt really at home.

We loaded our bags on to a bus and set off on a half hour journey to Chelmsford and Hylands Park.

From the dropping off point it was a thirty minute walk to the Adult camp site. There are 8000 in the International Service Team from all over the world. And so far no youngsters. They don't arrive until Thursday and Friday.

Felicity is going to be part of the Guest Services team, though what she will be doing remains to be seen. I am going to be a Listening Ear linked to one of the sub camps. That means that I will be linked to a particular group of Scouts for the two and a half weeks of the Jamboree.

We picked up our tents and it wasn't long before we had erected them and sorted out our things. Correction. It wasn't long before Felicity had erected the tents with a little bit of help from me.

We split up for the rest of the evening with a training event for me to go to and an explore for Felicity. First priority, however, was a meal. They claim it's the biggest moveable building in Europe - catering for 8,000 adults with a full breakfast, a packed lunch and a full evening meal. And it was a pretty good evening meal.

Interesting company too!

Bruce from Belgium had recently moved to Chelmsford. A Civil Engineer by trade he was here just for four days this week helping to manage the transport. Quite some feat transporting 40,000 from the Reception ten miles away to the Jamboree site.

The evening is drawing on. Coffee calls. And it won't be long before we are back to our tent. Mind you, the sky is as clear as can be, the moon is bright and a little bit of star gazing may well be in order. We had better make the best of the opportunity to have a clear sky as the forecast is not so good tomorrow!

Our thoughts are very much with everyone back at home. It's hard to think what it's going to be like without water for a fortnight. Everyone's very much in our prayers.

Every blessing,

Felicity and Richard