The Howling Winds...

Kind of Romantic !

Nowadays the weather is literally up to the powers that be. Predicting it or rather expecting it to behave according to norm, is useless.

In the middle of the night I woke up to howling winds...outside the house, not inside the bedroom ! The type that make the glass panes vibrate, tree branches bend like plastic toys and noises that are scary ( I suppose that could also describe some winds inside the bedroom ). But how romantic.

Cocooned in my duvet, with only a nose exposed to the cold air, this windy situation made me remember camping trips that we had taken in the Berg. Isn't it just the best to be inside a little tent when the wind tries its hardest to move it.

Sometimes even I felt a bit embarrassed by how many things I packed for just a weekend of camping. Especially when we went together with some friends who were ' professional ' campers. You know the type, who build their tent in seconds and only have a bag of stuff between them !

Just reminiscing about these camping trips taken in South Africa, makes me remember the other side of romantic camping. The sleepless nights, because I thought I hear a wild animal outside, while in the Drakensberg. Our tent usually was closest to the perimeter and even the local cat sneaking past, made me think it was a leopard. Yes, I admit that at times I could be a bit of a drama queen !

At another instance, camping near a river in the Umkomaas Valley, someone told me to be careful as there were plenty of poisonous snakes and scorpions about. Well, really, why would you even make me go there ? No sleeping for me, and definitely no midnight toilet excursions. Even Bob's toes touching me during the night set me of in a series of screams.

Life is great and even scary events can make for some good memories. Let's see what today brings...

Biggi