Here I am sat in a cold, leaky tent attached to the side of our Campervan. The heater is on but I’m still damp after putting up the tent in the rain, wet on the outside from rainwater and on the inside from the sweat of my exertion.
The wind is getting up outside periodically quaking the tent to its pegged foundations. Reassuringly one side of it is firmly anchored to our Campervan. We arrived at lunchtime and it started to get dark not long after we’d pitched our tent.
Thanks to Covid, the toilet block and showers are closed so we’re peeing in our Kamper Khazi toilet and holding off on no. 2s until we’re out and about and able to make use of public toilets.
A drip from the leaky tent has just bounced off the table and landed on the mobile phone I’m using to write this blog. A large squelchy puddle is forming between the ground sheet and the tent floor.
Tonight we’ll sleep on the makeshift bed in the van which is about half the size of the bed at home and a lot harder. Mrs Jones always wakes up complaining of a bad back. Maybe tomorrow we could sleep on the tent floor which is slowly developing into a waterbed.
We’re camped at one of our favourite sites on the outskirts of Oxford, near one of the Park & Rides. From here it’s easy to bus, bike or even walk into beautiful city.
Here, it feels like a different world from home which is only an hour or so’s drive up the M40. There awaits our warm and cosy house with central heating and all the modern conveniences we cherish such as proper toilets.
Why are we doing this I ask myself. I could have been sat at home watching Coventry City v Reading on Sky Sports followed by Bake Off, Extra Slice – maybe with an Indian take-away washed down by a bottle of red – followed by a good night’s sleep in a comfy kingsize bed.
And yet, we’re far from the only ones here – there are a few dozen other hardy, crazy souls ensconced in the small metal boxes.
As talk of another lockdown gathers pace I’ve decided to stick it out here in Tier 2 Oxford for another night.
We’d viewed this weekend’s trip as our last Campervan hurrah of 2020. Truth is it might turn out to be our last journey anywhere for a very long time. Change is as good as a rest, they say. Make the most of it, we will try.