Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Confession

Every time we sit outside on a warm summer evening (which is twice so far this crappy weather year) I say to Dave "Ooh, I'd love to sleep outside!" but at that point I'm too tired to go ransacking the shed for the tent, which hasn't been used for seven years, since the family member who declines to be named went round Europe with his friends.

Yesterday it was baking hot from 6 a.m. so I knew it would be a lovely evening, and when I got home from my early bike ride, I found the tent, and Dave helped me put it up  I helped Dave put it up, and then I remembered how I can't sleep on the cold hard ground (like the woman in the folk song can when she runs off with the gypsy) because I'm a princess-and-a-pea kind of person, and I persuaded Dave to bring down a single mattress from upstairs.

This is me, trying it out (crap photo, I know, but we couldn't find the camera and had to use the iPad and Dave couldn't see what was on the screen):



I took down a duvet and a pillow, and at 10 o' clock I went outside and zipped myself in and settled down to sleep. But it was SO hot last night, that it was hotter and stuffier in the tent than it had been in the bedroom with the windows wide open. And the mattress was not as comfy as the one I usually sleep on, and.... 

Why didn't I open the tent flaps and get some fresh air? you might ask. I didn't, because I didn't want any kind of creatures, tiny or bigger, joining me in the tent. After two hours of lying in the dark, sweltering, not going to sleep, I decided to give up. I stepped outside the tent into a little more air and looked up at the sky, which was dappled with cloud. It was beautiful. Everything was still and quiet. Then I went inside to bed and went to sleep.

A question I am currently considering is: "Are there any advantages to getting older?" My first response to the question was "Only one: grandchildren." But I think there are more. One is the ability to accept one's limitations and not to be embarrassed or ashamed of them. That is why I am telling you about the failed outdoor sleeping adventure. As I was lying there outside, not sleeping, I decided that I could stay out there and save face and have a terrible night and wake up to the warm sunrise and the fresh air - the best bit about camping - and then be wrecked for the rest of the day on account of lack of sleep, OR I could give up and come inside and avoid laying waste to today. So now I am going to get dressed and pick blackcurrants before it gets any hotter.

And if you're wondering how I am going to fare on the camping trip with my brother (see last post) I will just say that there is more to camping with Jonty than sleeping in a tent. Plus it won't be so hotin August, or probably ever again.






1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the idea and planning - and the confession - alls well etc ...

Jenetta