Men with mallets...

[TinyGang]

We've just been camping. The kids loved it. I am very much less in tune with nature shall we say, but as long as they're happy...

What struck me though we're the men camping (my own dh included). It's hilarious.

They get all primitive stone-age man. 'Ug..family. Must protect and provide shelter'.

There's all the bashing with mallets, rope tweaking and adjusting. Standing back arms crossed. Then it's the prowling round surveing the overall result and the surrepticiously eyeing up other families little strongholds.

My dh isn't remotely interested in what goes on day to day in our road (unlike me) - but he had everyone duly noted around us whilst pretending to read the paper and have a beer. Oh yes!

They were all at it though

Hehehehehe, you could be talking about my dh

and that's without even starting on the chest-beating exhibition of manliness that is the Camping Barbecue...

Ah yes MrsB, quite correctly observed..those little (and often worringly large) plumes of smoke belching out around the campsite from the men.

I even saw two/maybe three families had come on holiday together and put up two huge tents next to each other then staked out a mini Great Wall of China in windbreaks between the two pitches.

There has to be a whole doctorate in anthropology in camping alone

When we were last in the New Forest there was someone who'd parked their camper van in a pitch with a most beautiful view across the heath and forest, but had ring-fenced a patch of about 10 sq ft around the picnic table with winbreaks so they couldn't see out at all.

We don't take windbreaks

in fact we only bought chairs this year - previosuly it'd been groundsheets all round...

Lol! One of dh's 'observations' was a couple that turned up for one night. Staked out windbreaks all round them so they couldn't see out. Had a bbq and made very loud mobile phone calls saying how beautiful it was there. Next day they left.

We on the other hand dragged our three on a 4 mile hike up hill and down dale. They were exhausted (so was I!).

No we don't do windbreaks.... got the idea briefly last week whilst trying to light the candles fords3's birthday cake in a strong breeze (LOL) but no, not for us.

I like to do the mallet bit. DH doesn't let me do the airbeds (???) so we'd be waitinga ll day otherwise. didn't cook a thing last week tho; Dh won't let me near the camping grill, tho guess who paid for it......

Not that i am complaining obv