A glass of wine sat around the campfire...

[SeaShellsAndTheInlawInvasion]

so I am fed up with the rest of MN (this whole mamazon shite really is the ,last straw), so I am assuming that if any of you are trolling you are showing extraordinary persistence by delving into the thrills of iceytec and are worth chatting to.

So anyway, hi, I am SeaShells, I have 2 dc and have been camping and trapsing through the Great Outdoors all my life. I hang out here as my love of camping is more a love of the countryside and life, and you lot have a similar outlook.

< admires well made fire and tastefully arranged logs with throws>

[Slubberdegullion]

You never know, it might happen . Hope for the best, plan for the worst etc.

[Fennel]

I might take half of them to the Lakes. but yes I think I can't quite imagine 10 days of glorious sunshine. Even though the only other time I went there it was like that.

[Slubberdegullion]

Lol @ 12 books for 10 nights. You really are planning for bad weather!

Yes 5 kindles is a lot of kindles.

I saved up my nectar points and got mine free (sort of) from amazon.

[Fennel]

Slubber, our packing light doesn't include books. I think camping is such a good reading opportunity, it seems a shame not to have lots of good books (I have already bought 12 books for me for our 10 days in the Scillies, I think that's perhaps too many). But we leave them at campsite bookswaps so we come back lighter.

I do wonder if a Kindle would help, but there are 5 of us so that would be a lot of Kindles.

[SeaShellsMyDogSmells]

Shiny New General Chat Thread as this is massive

[YellowDinosaur]

I need to get round to catching up on here more often! My brain is hurting having read all since I last posted and all I can remember is iceytek gin!

news from us is that my luggable loo arrived and it is huge but boys like it(fought over who got to sit on it watching the tour de france anyway so fingers crossed they have a similar amount of enthusiasm in the middle of the night in a tent!)

We are off to my mum and dads in a week and are heading off camping from there to Fisherground in Cumbria in 12 days time. I am very excited!

[notwavingjustironing]

Oh Slubber. Sheds a tear.

Nostalgia - sometimes it just makes you sob.

[scaryt]

Gosh all those titles take me back. Must try Swallows and Amazons again this summer.

Slubber - this is awfully lazy of me but you linked to a site on Lleyn a while ago and I thought I'd bookmarked it, would you mind sharing the name with me again...and any other pearls in N Wales if poss.

[Slubberdegullion]

Fennel,
Inspired by your Swallows and Amazons passion I was just about to order the book proper on Amazon when a tiny voice in the back of my brain told me to go and look in a long sealed cardboard box and the back of the garage.

In it I found not only the complete set of Arthur Ransome books but also The Borrowers Afield, all the Little House on the Prarie books, all the Judy Blume books and a shed load of other books from my childhood I was sure had been chucked out when we moved house 20 years ago.



I will be breaking my packing-lite rule to allow a rather musty copy of Swallows and Amazons into the car

[MisSalLaneous]

I'm going to be terribly disappointed if I don't see loads of perfectly trained cats on leashes walking in straight lines, heads held high, noses in the air, sniffing in disgust at the uncivilized Sal-family invading their shores.

is what my cats would be like. It also closely resembles going for a walk with my toddler.

[Funtimewincies]

Have fun chippy .

[Slubberdegullion]

kindle test from forrin parts (wales)

[Fennel]

Reshape, Tolpuddle was great, but it doesn't get the famous bands. Yes Billy Bragg was there, he's at every leftie anti-cuts demo round here (we live in Devon so he's our local Protest Singer). He had a new song about the New International Hacking stuff . Also playing were the probably not at all famous (but I wouldn't know... ) Dizraeli and the Small Gods (they were good), Ahab (OK). And Josie Long was there (comedian), my dc have learned many new and exciting swear words.

Swallowdale was my favourite Swallows and Amazons book too, and after the Scillies we are going to the Lakes for a week, but not camping for that. So it is a good summer for the S&A books. So far my dds haven't been keen on these books at all which is a bit disappointing given that they were one of the few series that DP (from a watersports and camping family) and I both loved as children. But there's nothing like 10 days in a tent with few other diversions to get them reading the solid old classics.

[Slubberdegullion]

notwaving, ta for starting new thread. Can't believe how huge this thread has become. I love it a lot though. Glad to hear kindle has arrived. they are seriously fab. So small and light, never again will you have to pack piles of books for holidays.

Reshape, no, no Dick King-Smith which is a bugger. I think it must be that older children's books are not having enough requests to turn them into kindle books. I had a look through the recommended books for the ages we have and have downloaded a few. At 99p each it's not going to be a huge drama if they are a bit bobbins.

Sal, all those RULES! Blimey, and no bush loitering, terrible

[notwavingjustironing]

Have a lovely trip Chippy! I'll sort the the thread out tomorrow!

Tonight I have excelled myself. I came through the door at. 10.50 to be told we have a mouse. Well it won't be one mouse will it ? Aaah!!

However my kindle had arrived. I am now off further down the thread to find out how to get on MN!

See you all tomorrow

[SeaShellsMyDogSmells]

Marking spot as being social :)

Safe trip Chippy!

[lovecat]

Oh, that's fabulous. The thing about cats on leashes, that is. What genius came up with that? Or are Dutch cats peculiarly biddable?

The picture... well, I could dream of looking like that...

[MisSalLaneous]

Lovecat

Oooh, I forgot the best bit:
No dogs allowed, but cats are, as long as they're on a leash.

[lovecat]

Happy camping, Chippy! Early start? :o

[lovecat]

Whoa! And there you were all set up for a bit of loitering...:o

To be fair, the caramel waffles are to die for (DH brought back a delft-patterned tin of them from his last business jaunt to Amsterdam, which, co-incidentally, has become my camping teabag container), they may make staring at your tent a bit more bearable...

I'm actually a little concerned that you all think I'm some sort of medieval action woman... I learnt the jousting stuff many years ago and since I got pg with DD and had to put my horse out on loan, I've given up on the LARPing and am one lardy lazy blob. I remember having thighs of steel when I was regularly fencing

I'd still like a camping hawk, though. Could train it to fetch the paper and steal bacon butties from unsuspecting neighbours...:o

Right, I need to make some chocolate button banana bread for Cornwall (it's a good keeper) and some other cakes for Front of House tomorrow (opening night of current amdram group show - Terence Rattigan centenery show - have been asked for 1950's style cakes - any ideas???).

[ChippyMinton]

Right, I am done. Car is packed to the gunwales - actually I have the load cover across the boot, with just a jaunty tartan blanket and a couple of straw hats perched atop, so I guess it's not really that full.

Off to the chunnel in the morning.

Looking forward to the mumsnetabroadwithcanvas thread

Happy holidays all.

[MisSalLaneous]

Got my camping brochure / pack today:
"21 It is prohibited:

• to light (camp)fires, either open or in the fire baskets or pots
  
• to drive posts in the ground
  
• to tie hammocks to trees
  
• to climb trees
  
• to loiter in the bushes
  
• to clip trees or bushes
  
• to fly acrobatic kites
  
  ((which was all fair enough, until rule 22)
  
  22 You may only set up a satellite dish on your own pitch.
  
  a SATELLITE DISH??
  
  I fear those Dutch are crazy we might not be natural Continental campers... Excited / nervous. Ah well, worst case I can just stare at the canvas all night and overdose on cheese and caramel waffles. Separately, would be an odd combination. Something ds would probably love, mind you.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Faraway tree is fab for that age :)

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

Oh and Lost, commisserations over river of puke/poo. Hope things have improved - well they must have if you're in the Alps already!

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

Borrowers series were possibly my favourite books as a child. Those and any Robert Westall ones set in the Blitz. /eclectic Sad to hear they're not on Kindle yet. This is what's putting me off getting one - I like re-reading old favourites and they don't seem to be Kindling those much. Also I like books, though can see the attraction of a Kindle for camping holidays.

Fennel, I really fancied going to Topuddle last year! (We were in Dorset the week before and saw the fliers everywhere.) Who was playing this time? And was Billy Bragg there? Love him.

Slubber - animal-based stories - are any Dick King-Smith books on Kindle yet? The SheepPig, Daggie Dogfoot, etc? Michael Morpurgo, though perhaps a bit too gritty for a 6 yo.

A friend of mine recently took up archery and now practically runs the local club! It sounds a lot of fun, though she has to wear horrible bottle-green for competitions.