A new hobby

Categories: really, greenbelt

Tags: silliness, Greenbelt

Date: 02 July 2011 21:57:11

Way back during those long, dark winter evenings, I blogged about the joys of choosing a tent for Greenbelt.

As I have difficulty folding and unfolding your average deckchair, I’ll need to practice in the comfort and privacy of my back garden before I try and pitch camp in full public glare.

Hah!

So, to the moment of truth...yesterday, when I tried out my super-duper easy-pitch tent for the first time. Replicating that GB ambience went by the wayside, though I did aim for authenticity by wearing 4 layers of clothing and draping my sleeping compartment with enough fleecy blankets to kit out an arctic expedition. And a very good night I had, too.

This morning...not so good. I'd no trouble 'popping' the tent up; but folding down...well, let's just say that in the time it took to upend it, my cosy green caterpillar-like abode transformed into a huge, threatening amorphous mass, billowing round the back garden like a barrage balloon. It unleashed in me (and in Mr M) dark forces that no amount of watching instructional videos on Youtube could purge. And there are no shortage of them, believe me. To wrestle the sodding thing into submission requires arms the length of a gorilla, and the strength of one too.

We, or to be truthful, Mr M, managed in the end. Barrage balloon is sitting there in the study, neatly packaged into its 26" disc...biding its time....

Hmmm. :(