Got my latest tent in April this year, including pitching in the garden etc to dry I must have pitched it at least 10 times without any problems even from the first try. So why then did it take me over an hour to get the b****y thing pitched yesterday? I did everything the same as normal but it was always twisted or the groundsheet to tight, was doing my head in. Ironically having had to take it down soaking wet this morning I pitched it again in the garden when I got back home to dry....guess what? Up and done in 15 mins!!!
ha we had exactly the same recently, we bought our tent,pitched it in the garden no probs up in 20 mins!well impressed! went away at the weekend just gone with kids and took nearly an hour to put up! it ws windy tho so suppose that didnt help!lol
we pitched again in the garden to give it a good clean out....up agin in 15 mins!!!!just typical!
The ground you are pitching on can make a great deal of difference to the way the tent sits.
At home, probably on a fairly flat mown lawn, the tent will sit nicely...just like it does in the brochure.
In a field, which in most cases isn't very well mown and often sloping and twisted, the tent won't look right at all. It doesn't take much of a slope to get the flysheet quite raised on one side and touching the ground on the other, and you may not even be able to see a slope with the naked eye because in a large field there is nothing level to compare it with.
So, you end up struggling to get the tent as straight and as taut as possible and get the pegs in properly, often on stoney ground etc. It all takes extra time.
Goodness me, I thought everyone knew campsites have a temporal distortion.This is the reason food you wouldn't even look at at home tastes great. Tents never fit back into their bags, pegs and torches get swallowed into a black hole, pitching takes four times as long, it takes four days to read a newspaper and bacon butties take on a mystical quality.
This whole thread is very funny! I enjoyed the giggle tonight!
As for the signs of temporal distortion, yup... have experienced all those things. And it's good to know I'm not alone when the tent which went up beautifully on Grandma's back lawn looked like The Crooked House when we tried to erect it in Snowdonia!
The thing is of course, pitching in your garden is not stressful, but arriving at a busy site knowing everyone is watching you pitch adds to the pressure of not wanting to make a mistake and look foolish in front of all the other campers.
Yeah and if you own a Bear Lake 6, having to go and get a bucket of water to soak the front door before pitching (as suggested by someone on here!! Might have been ADL!!!) to ensure it's not too tight to close!!! Not the coolest of looks to have with an audience!!
Yep Tent pitching is a sure sign of temporal distortion!! along with that other mystfying phenonomom(sp) getting the sleeping bag back in the stuff bag??
Biggest sign of TD though is how time flies on a campsite!!
Jelboy.
------------- Campers of the storm,Into this world are born