A Simple Camping Trip (Part 2)

On day two of our trip I got to enjoy the camping lifestyle fully. I had to get dressed so I could go to the toilet and have a shower so I could get dressed. Luckily my good mood I’d fought so hard to hang onto, was still in place.

After we all had breakfast we decided that I would go to the campsite’s HQ to find how we could avoid more thumping music this evening (actually it was still playing as we ate) while J and the children would go to the nearby playground.

I had a good response from the campsite people who, after some heavy hinting from me, moved us into a static caravan instead of another tent. Given that tent walls are not well designed at keeping out noise this seemed like a reasonable request. I was given a key and shown where the caravan was.

I went to pick up the others, only to find the girl had fallen off her scooter and badly grazed her arm, while the boy had fallen from a climbing frame. He was fine but we all agreed a wooden adventure playground after heavy rain was not the best place to be.

So, we went back to the tent and happily packed everything up to move to our new home. I’ve only stayed in a static caravan once before and it was pretty much the same experience, only this time with small, high velocity people running around. It is unnerving to pull an electric plug out of the wall and feel the wall coming with it, but you soon get used to this.

Things were much better. Walls, although flimsy, were not made of fabric, we had a toilet and shower and a kitchen that didn’t involve turning on gas tanks and lighting matches in order to cook anything. I felt much better.

We did many holiday/birthday things and enjoyed the beauty of the forest. Then J’s trick ankle gave way while she was carrying the boy. I caught him and found a bag of ice to help with the terrible swelling J was undergoing. We limped back to the caravan and began packing for the journey home.

Then, as I was trying to take some bags to the car, I found the caravan’s door was stuck. We tried twiddling the key in various ways but with no success. I tried pushing the door out, in case it was just stuck, but the whole wall moved outward too and I had visions of major damage. It made perfect sense to leap out of the bedroom window and try the door from the outside. I did this without injury but still couldn’t get the door open.

A short time later I had the warden back (he was starting to give us funny looks) and he had to disassemble the lock mechanism before we could get out. Since J’s ankle needed to be elevated we decided to stay another night rather than put her through lots of pain on the drive home.

We needed somewhere to stay.

“I’ve got an idea.” Said the warden.

[to be continued, again]