Weekend in the Country
Whats better than a cracking weekend camping in the country? A week, perhaps. Maybe even a week in Italy then some more in Austria… but i get ahead of myself.
My weekend started with me passing up an invite to a party and traveling to Stedham to help put up tents. At the time this seemed to smack of complacency but in retrospect was a wise and brilliant choice. As i arrive at this campsite i smile as if i’m meeting an old, dear friend. For like an old friend it felt instantly welcoming and was more fun than you had remebered. After pitching my tent and eating a working-class dinner of assorted deep-fried root vegetables the others arrived.
Rain, Rain, Everywhere… I got fucking soaked. The first evening was a wet one. The sky didn’t even have the courtsy of dumping all its water at once. It thought it would be more fun to drop it all slowly, like a window-licking dribbler.
Saturday morning was like every morning. I woke with the sudden, all consuming panic i was being smothered. This generally lasts untill i have worked out that I’m face down and haven’t taken any medication yet. Once this is sorted and i can breath i get out of my tent with the emense feeling that it was gunna be a belter. How right i was.
Archery and blind trails; what a laugh! I must say that nothing can beat the sound of a perfectly aimed arrow thudding into the golden bulls-eye, except, maybe that of Liam Floyd smacking his head on a tree whilst blindfolded, CLONK. For those of you who have never done a blind trail, its a laugh, much in the same way running into a wall repetedly untill you lose your vison just sometimes seems like the best idea in the world. I must interject at this point to say that nothing can make you feel quite as manly as kicking down a tree then clefting another in twain with a concealed hatched. Saturday night was the best night out of all of them (fifty-fifty chance). Sitting in the porch of my tent with a nipperkin of rum and enough good company to rival Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace (Film reference for those still to upgrade from radio)
Sunday was a marble cake of a day, it was the goodness of a now well-knitted group of friends larking around together and the sadness of having to leave it all behind, all swirled up and cooked at gas 4 for 35mins. After throwing myself round a lowropes course and setting, what i thought was, a ruddy good time and having it smashed several times by a few different people i thought i would resign myself to the enevitable extraction from this perfect bubble of serenity. I left in good spirits knowing that hopefully it will all be happening again next year and maybe for far far longer :)
