Wife points

For the July/ August 2013 edition of Bushcraft and Survival Skills magazine I did a course review and opened it with the following; If I said to the male bushcrafters "Wife points" I dare say that there would be a lot of wry smiles, raised eyebrows and knowing nods.

For those who don't know what I'm on about it's the imaginary, yet very real, points that need to be gained by a chap (and I dare say females as well) to go on course, to shows and on extended rambles that the other half may not wish to. I'm alone in my household in wanting to read bushcraft magazines (I subscribe to both) and outdoor books, go on the afore mentioned courses and to shows. Whilst I do enjoy reading about folks who post on social media about a weekend they just took off on...I also wish to make a voodoo dolly of them! (only kidding).

Even though we all go out as a family on country walks the above picture is typical of the distance soon built up as I stop to examine a tree, wait for a bug to centre itself on a flower for a picture etc, so as you can see it's awkward.

I'm a househusband and work part time so the other consideration I have is that I'm loathe to just push off once my wife rolls through the door and say 'See you Sunday afternoon'. I'm also a parent and I'm a strong believer in quality family time and insist on getting the kids out in the country to break up the Xbox time and give their thumbs a rest...I can't do that if I'm out and about in a wood somewhere.

Also next year I will have been married a quarter of a century and whilst I've always been an outdoorsy person my wife didn't marry a hobbyist bushcrafter so I can't turn round and say 'You knew what you were marrying!' As well as studying the local flora and fauna (which will appear as a blog entry in due course), a fair proportion of my bushcraft time is back garden stuff whether that be practice or construction.

Last August Pablo asked me if I'd be interested in helping as a course assistant on Woodlife Trails course-naturally I said yes but did make it clear that wife points would come into play and indeed, I've reined in my Cub Scout weekend activities to accommodate this as it was too good an opportunity to turn down the chance to be with the extended WT family, even if my role is a 'marigold'.

SWMBO stands for (S)he who must be obeyed and I'm sure it is also equally relevant to substitute the word obeyed with outmanoeuvered  but I sure as hell can't think of a way of fixing the wife points issue!

P.S. I'm not the only one who knows and understands the wife points merry go round...