So!
Camping; the activity of spending a holiday in a tent.
That’s the definition Google gives me on a quick definition search, but it could be a little more descriptive. Here, I’ll give it a shot.
Camping; the act of spending about three fifths of a copious amount of money on a canvas walled, weatherproof (hopefully) portable house, warm clothing, and bedding. Then finding a place to assemble aforementioned behemoth, usually for a price. The final act of this activity is to survive in your surroundings.
Yeah, I think I summed it up pretty good. Though it could be drawn out even further, however I won’t be doing that right now.
Alas, as much as I think I slammed camping just now, I do rather enjoy it. The fresher air, the lack of suburban noises, screeching tyres, buzzing transformers, yelling, screaming and the constant noise that everybody has. Mine is about a C sharp, and amplifies when there’s no other noise. So I suppose I wasn’t telling the whole truth, that little noise doesn’t go away, it gets worse! It must like camping too!
I bring all of this up because I do find camping a bit of a conundrum. It confuses me in the way that I do find profound relief in such a simple act. Lately I noticed that my eyebrows get pulled in toward my nose bridge, as if I’m getting angrily confused over time. This happens periodically, and when I notice it, I correct it by stretching my face muscles, just raising and lowering my eyebrows vigorously.
This happens periodically when I’m alone, working on stuff like right now writing this post. It happens unnoticed until I do something else and notice it there, fixing it and awaiting it to happen again. This is one of a few things that happen on a regular basis at home and at uni.
When camping however, this has not happened that I’m aware of. I’m constantly having my eyes open to something in the scenery, or just appreciating where I am. When I’m camping, I’m pretty relaxed, but also get bored rather quickly, and I don’t mind that.
This is strange, I get bored quite quick while camping, so I go do something; like chop up some wood for the night, or make a snack, or go for a walk or something like that. Hey that rhymed! So I may always have angry eyebrows, but I don’t notice them.
I don’t mind getting bored, and the reason I think this is, is because of the atmosphere of the situation. Take the atmosphere at home for example; I’m surrounded by electronic devices specifically designed for my personal entertainment and communication. Little effort is needed for a great entertainment return. So getting bored seems like something that shouldn’t happen, and that’s how it feels at home.
However, when camping, there may not even be any mobile reception, no external power source for mains electricity (unless you go glamping). So in the onset of boredom, there’s no immediate means to entertainment, there’s no quick fix, unless you’re really quick (if you know what I mean… if you catch my drift… if you comprehend what I am portraying… if you understand what I am depicting… if you… yeah you get it. It’s a sex thing.). Alas, to quench this famished need for entertainment, you require a negative investment of energy and effort, and you subconsciously know this.
Hence, being bored is an ok thing to be while camping. I am ok with it, even though there are things I can do to avoid it.
I’m not sure exactly where people are reading this from, or when. So, I’m going to set the time of year, and season; it’s the start of May, and it’s the beginning of winter. I’ve gone camping with friends out to Kenilworth homestead, this place I have never been to before, but it’s not too far away and the price isn’t too much.
We arrive and the gate says that entry is not permitted before 2pm on Fridays. Dammit, they should probably signpost this on their site or something more obvious. They probably did, because we were the only ones that didn’t know (or so it seemed).
So we got in at 2pm and set up camp next to a steep hill down to the next camping area. All set up and the sun is about 30 minutes from setting, time to start the fire. Cool, nice fire started, sun is just about to give it’s last wink of light and warmth for the day. It disappears, we realise quickly that we all need another layer of clothing.
FYI: This fire was a nice fire until somebody decided to comment that “This is a nice fire, not like those mean fires.”. As if on queue, the fire collapsed, and turned “mean”. Flames died and wood was reassembled, and the fire was given another hour to restart by itself. It worked but dang it man, that was a cold time.
We do, and I make the fire a bit bigger.
We cook up dinner and sit around the fire for a time, after which we called it a night and crept into our shockingly cold beds. Zipped up the tents and the sleeping bags and slept until morning, as you do.
The morning came and so did the fog, holy crap the fog. So much of it in fact that my friend says she could look directly at the sun and all she could see was a round white/yellow ball shining in the sky. Of course we all are concerned that she was looking directly at the sun for extended periods of time, but what can you do. But realistically, the fog restricted visibility to about 500 meters, and it slowly faded away completely by about 9am.
We stayed from Friday afternoon to Sunday lunch time, and it was a nice trip with friends. The relaxation was definitely appreciated; however the bad cold I proceeded to develop over the next two days was not very nice. On Monday I could only breathe through my mouth and had limited use of my pulmonary system, due to my inability to utilise any extended utilisation of movement.
On Tuesday I had the vocal cords of a young and tone deaf Barry White, which brought a smile to my face, and so I made a doctor’s appointment. On Wednesday the voice had gone, and my original voice was half-reinstated. Only allowing a few words before cutting the fifth or sixth one short for an almighty cough. In the afternoon, the doctor looked at me, listened to me say “I think I have a bad cold”, and quickly did an examination and printed me out a prescription for antibiotics.
Dang he’s good; those tablets fixed me up within two days. So now I’m here, writing on my computer, surrounded by easily accessible entertainment devices. Tapping buttons, pressing keys, swiping on screens and listening to music; so easy, so simple.
Yet even just having been away for the weekend I find myself wanting to go back, to a simpler place, with simple needs, and an easier way to pass time. As for right now, I’ve got at least three assignments to work on, and four final examinations to look forward to. Yay *waves hands in air with a blank facial expression*.
So if you read this whole thing, let me know; what little thing do you do that you sometimes notice? As I type this I release my eyebrows from their confused/angry expression.
Until next time,
Travers.