Script: A disastrous camping trip
Lucy and Rachel work in the same office. Both of them really look forward to the lunch break on Mondays because they talk about what they've done at the weekend.
Lucy: I’ve been dying to ask you if you had a good weekend. But you’ve had a face as long as a fiddle all morning. You don’t look as if you relaxed at all. I thought camping in the countryside would be restful.
Rachel: I didn’t! It was a disaster from beginning to end. I should never have agreed to go. But Luke had been on a shopping spree with me last weekend, so I thought I should go camping with him when he suggested it.
Lucy: Go on. Spill the beans!
Rachel: Luke said he would organise everything and all I had to do was be ready at ten on Friday morning when he came to pick me up in his dad’s car. And that's another thing! I wasted a day of my annual leave by taking the day off.
Lucy: Oh no! So what happened?
Rachel: Luke had bought a top quality tent, ground sheet, sleeping bags and so on. I thought he was going to rent all that. But last year, an old uncle died and left him a bit of money in his will, and he went and spent most of it on camping equipment! I didn't know about this until Friday. I had to keep my mouth zipped when he told me because I thought it was a stupid thing to do.
Lucy: I thought you said this was the first camping trip for both of you. How did he know he was going to enjoy it?
Rachel: My thoughts exactly. But I didn't say anything. The campsite was great: woods on one side, beach on the other. But our good mood didn’t last once we started putting up the tent. It took us over an hour and a half. The ground was so hard we couldn't hammer in the pegs to fasten it down. I got frustrated and cheesed off with not being able to get the pins in properly.
Lucy: But you got the tent up eventually?
Rachel: Yes. after a great deal of effort. Then we had a rest, cooked something to eat then went for a walk on a path along the coast line. It was a beautiful evening. We got back to the campsite about ten, got the sleeping bags ready and went straight to sleep. We were both very tired.
Lucy: You would be.
Rachel: We were woken up at about quarter past twelve by a terrible noise. It had started to rain and rain was pelting down on the tent. To our horror, we were lying in five centimetres of water! Our sleeping bags were wet through. We grabbed as much stuff as we could and ran to the car park. We spent the rest of the night in the car. Lots of other people were doing the same or leaving the site altogether.
Lucy: Did you get any sleep?
Rachel: Not a wink! It was freezing cold, the rain was pelting down on the car and the wind was howling like crazy.
Lucy: That sounds like a lot of fun!
Rachel: You’re crazy! Anyway, it was still raining on Saturday morning, and the guy in the next car said the forecast was dreadful for the rest of the weekend.
Lucy: What did you do?
Rachel: There was only one sensible thing to do. Our clothes were soaking wet anyway, so we just stood in the rain and packed all our stuff into the car and came home. Oh, it was wonderful getting into a lovely warm shower when we got back. I know no one can do anything about the weather, and we had checked the forecast before we'd set off.
Lucy: You'll get better weather the next time.
Rachel: There won't be a next time! We've both decided our camping days are over and Luke is putting all the equipment for sale online when it's dried out. The next time we go away for a weekend we'll stay in a hotel. Then the weather can do what it wants and at least we'll be warm and dry.