Camping produced a specific set of experiences that were the same for essentially everybody, involving equipment that never quite worked and a level of discomfort that nobody mentioned at the time. Here are sixteen.
1. Loading the Car Beyond Reason
Departure was preceded by an extended session of fitting an impossible quantity of equipment into a vehicle, with several attempts and a final arrangement nobody could reverse.
Somebody sat with something on their lap. The loading is the operation that preceded every trip.
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2. Arriving Later Than Planned
The journey always took longer than allowed, which meant arrival in the evening with the light going and everything still to do.
It happened every single year. The late arrival is the condition the whole first evening was conducted in.
3. Putting It Up
Erecting the tent involved poles, pegs, instructions nobody read, disagreement about the order, and a period of raised voices that concluded with everything standing.
It was quicker the second time. The pitching is the stage every family remembers as difficult.
4. The Pole That Was Missing
Something essential was absent, had been left behind, or had been lost the previous year and not replaced – and was improvised around.
It was noticed at the worst moment. The missing component is the annual discovery.
5. Hammering Pegs Into Ground That Refused
The ground was either too hard to accept a peg or too soft to hold one, and both problems were solved with force and stones.
It was never the right consistency. The peg struggle is the physical part everybody did.
6. The Smell Inside
Canvas, groundsheet, damp and whatever had been stored in it since last year produced a distinctive smell that is instantly recognisable decades later.
It was not unpleasant and it was strong. The tent smell is the sensory memory reported first.
7. Never Being Able to Stand Up Properly
Life inside was conducted crouched, kneeling or lying down, which made every ordinary activity awkward and dressing truly difficult.
The height was always slightly wrong. The crouching is the physical condition of the whole holiday.
8. The Rain
It rained at some point, everything became damp, and the damp did not leave for the remainder of the trip regardless of subsequent weather.
Drying anything was impossible. The rain is the event every camping holiday included.
9. Not Touching the Sides
The rule that touching the inside of the canvas would cause it to leak was universally believed, enforced strictly, and approximately true.
Everybody tested it once. The touching rule is the piece of folklore every family had.
10. The Walk to the Facilities
The toilet block was a considerable distance away, was visited in the dark with a torch, and the journey was the least popular part of the day.
Going in the night required commitment. The nocturnal walk is the arrangement everybody dreaded.
11. Cooking on Something Inadequate
Meals were prepared on a small stove that produced heat slowly, in one pan, in wind, and everything took substantially longer than it should have.
The results were eaten enthusiastically anyway. The cooking is where the day mostly went.
12. Everything Tasting Better Outdoors
Food that would have been unremarkable indoors was received as excellent, which everybody noticed and nobody could account for.
The effect is real and universal. Outdoor eating is the compensation the whole arrangement provided.
13. The Cold Before Dawn
Whatever the daytime temperature, the hours before sunrise were substantially colder than anybody had prepared for, and everybody woke up.
Extra layers were deployed at about four. The pre-dawn cold is the reliable interruption to every night.
14. Waking With the Light
Canvas admits daylight from first light, which meant everybody was awake substantially earlier than at home with no possibility of returning to sleep.
The day started at five. Early waking is the consequence of sleeping in something translucent.
15. Making Friends Within an Hour
Children on a site found each other almost immediately, formed a group with people they would never see again, and spent the entire week with them.
No introductions were required. The instant friendships are what children actually remember.
A Week in Something Slightly Inadequate
An overloaded car, a late arrival, a difficult pitch, a period of rain that never dried out and a group of children who found each other within the hour.
The fifteenth item is what children actually took from it. The equipment, the weather and the discomfort are what adults remember, and a great many people mainly recall a group of children they knew for six days, whose names they never learned, and with whom they spent the entire holiday.
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