Random rambles from an untidy mind
It's amazing what a weekend of camping can do for the soul. It's fab! I've spent many moments wishing I was still camping since we got back on Sunday, simply because it's soooooo relaxing! Am not sure exactly why, or how come I love it (when I lived in London I used to think people who camped were crazy, and that you had to sleep on worms and things - I was wrong), but I do.
I think one of the main reasons is cos camping slows you down, and I usually tend to rush through life at breakneck speed, sending 50 emails an hour and talking to 5 people on MSN, at the same time as making soup and cycling to uni. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. Camping is cool cos it forces you to stop and do things slowly - you can't get in the car and drive off until you've packed the tent, and you can't pack the tent until it's folded, and you can't fold it until you're quite sure it's dry, and you can't be sure the tent is dry until you've taken it down, shaken it and turned it upside down, and you can't take the tent down until you've emptied it, and so on and on and on. There's no point being impatient is there!?
Camping has a weird way of making things simple, but also more complicated. For example, you can only cook certain foods because you don't take an oven or microwave camping with you (unless you're a bit strange!?), so you have a choice of something that is cooked in a pan, or something that isn't cooked. And no, BBQs are not proper camping food!! So you cook something in a pan, or you don't cook, which makes things all very nice and simple.
BUT it also makes life more complicated cos it takes a lot longer to cook, and you have to make sure you have enough water, and you haven't forgotten the olive oil, and it isn't raining or too windy, and you haven't forgotten the matches, and you have to swap the pans at the right time etc. Well, it is more complicated for C maybe, cos she is the Chief Camping Cook, while I just sort of hover around and carry things and watch in admiration at her survival skills and whatever... but still!
And again it makes you slow down. I could go on and on, but anyway, that is part of the reason why I love camping!
On another completely random note, Ce thought I might like to blog this weird-but-true fact that someone emailed to her (thanks Ce):
"Just in case you wanted to know this.
On the 4th of next month, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
That won't ever happen again in our lifetime. In fact it will be approx. 400 generations before it happens again."
Spooky!
And now I really must go and do some reading. *SIGHHH*