Newstead Nuffer!
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:37 pm
My casual attitude to the erection of tents finally caught up with me at Newstead last weekend.
Violent thunderstorms passed through the town late on Friday afternoon, while Maggie Somerville and I joined the other "Grumpy Old Poets" at the Anglican Church - a charming venue, and a charming show. Alas, events not at all charming, of which we were at the time quite unaware, were taking place barely a stone's throw away...
This is the scene that greeted us at about 11 pm that night when we returned to our camp site and shone the headlights on our tent. The storm had whipped the fly off the tent, and snapped one of the poles. Everything inside the tent was sodden, and there were large puddles on the floor.
It was too late to book accommodation and too hard to try to scratch around and borrow a tent from somewhere. Eventually I managed to prop some of the tent off the ground with a shorter pole, and found some bits of bedding that were merely moist. I actually didn't sleep too badly. I don't think Maggie fared quite so well.
Fortunately, the next day was extremely hot, and everything dried out quickly.
The jury rig (Matthew Flinders would have been proud of me, I'm sure!) served us well enough for another night, but it wasn't with any great sense of sorrow that I dismantled the tent on Sunday morning, and stowed it in the back of the car!
Moral of the story: Guy ropes and peg loops are actually attached to tents for a good reason. Ignore them at your peril!
Violent thunderstorms passed through the town late on Friday afternoon, while Maggie Somerville and I joined the other "Grumpy Old Poets" at the Anglican Church - a charming venue, and a charming show. Alas, events not at all charming, of which we were at the time quite unaware, were taking place barely a stone's throw away...
This is the scene that greeted us at about 11 pm that night when we returned to our camp site and shone the headlights on our tent. The storm had whipped the fly off the tent, and snapped one of the poles. Everything inside the tent was sodden, and there were large puddles on the floor.
It was too late to book accommodation and too hard to try to scratch around and borrow a tent from somewhere. Eventually I managed to prop some of the tent off the ground with a shorter pole, and found some bits of bedding that were merely moist. I actually didn't sleep too badly. I don't think Maggie fared quite so well.
Fortunately, the next day was extremely hot, and everything dried out quickly.
The jury rig (Matthew Flinders would have been proud of me, I'm sure!) served us well enough for another night, but it wasn't with any great sense of sorrow that I dismantled the tent on Sunday morning, and stowed it in the back of the car!
Moral of the story: Guy ropes and peg loops are actually attached to tents for a good reason. Ignore them at your peril!