Earlier last year, we went camping for the first time. I need to make it clear that from the start that I can't stand camping. The idea of sleeping in a tent fills me with dread. Why would you work hard to put a roof over your head, to then rough it in a field sleeping in a tent?
My in-laws love camping. When we said we were going, we were asked whether we had an array of equipment that was straight out of the Ray Mears handbook. They thankfully lent us their 'weekend tent', and put it up in our back garden for practice. However, my petulant "how stupid do you think I am?" chip, kicked in and even though I was trying to listen to the instructions, I wasn't. I compounded the lie even further, when I was asked if I needed to go over it again, and I replied, "nope, I got it all the first time." Considering camping is 90% about your tent, I had a funny feeling that this would come back to bite me.
We pulled up at our campsite in Southwold. I started to have flashbacks of my camping experience as a Cub Scout. "You're doing it for your family," I kept telling myself. I could see some of our friends and they already had their tents up. As we got out of the car, some of the group gave us a look. It reminded me of the look we got from residents in a certain part of San Francisco that tourists shouldn't go to, as we ventured deeper and deeper into Haight Ashbury. They seemed slightly deflated and I couldn't figure out why. Anyway, I jumped out and started to get the tent set up. Only when I pulled out the 4 sheets of our tent, and the 60-piece bag of ties and pegs, did I realise the extent of my 'not listening' during the demonstration. In my best, "don't worry, I'll sort it manner," I attempted to erect the tent. Everything and everything got pegged in the hope it would stay up. Luckily it did.
Later that night, we found out the reason for the look our friends gave us earlier. They had of course endured the first night with their child and knew we had the same to follow. Everything spooked him and it reminded me of the early stages of sleepless nights. All I kept thinking was we were in for a long weekend...........
