Hello All,
I'm a long time lurker convinced by a customer to join up properly and make myself known. So here it is.
Whilst out on my rounds yesterday I mentioned that I was into wild camping and was quickly shown a 'man' shed of the proportion that I only dream about. There are people like me, and they seem to dwell here. And they have great sheds.
I've been living in Bristol for the past 12 years via North Yorks, Wolves and my home town of Derby. And have found a few 'spots' of interest close to where I live to go out and enjoy the countryside. Albeit probably not 'proper' campsites they do provide an escape, and it's good to know that even in a town like Bristol, there are still opportunities to find places to go and play in the woods.
I have two small boys the oldest of which (6) has a signed photo of Bear Grylls hung over his bunk. Now Bear, whilst not known for his subtleties whilst dealing with nature, and not my first choice for a role model does have a special place in my heart for the following reason that I am going to share with you now.
Rather than allowing him to watch kids rubbish on the TV I had been encouraging him to watch the Discovery Channels. This has been great as he did a project on Antarctica in school a while back and I'm sure that watching documentaries on animals, icecaps and volcanoes etc has really helped with his learning. More so than whatever passes for kids tv anyway.
We'd got into 'Mythbusters'. We both would cuddle up on the sofa and watch Adam and Jamie blow stuff up and make robots and death rays and all sorts of crazy stuff. He loved it (actually we both did). It would spark his imagination and he would make cardboard robots in the garden, or we would go to the park with a bottle rocket and pretend to be the Mythbusters. I'd always be Adam ( the one with the Beard) and he would be Jamie, the slightly odd looking one with a beret and big 'tache. Good times and he was learning about stuff. Brilliant.
We had seen most of the Mythbusters now. So when I came home from work one night he excitedly told me he had found a new program to watch. Bear Grylls.
I was made up. He was wanting to watch something educational (of sorts). I started to V+ them so we could watch together. We watched Bear eat bugs, drink water from a Elephant's poo by squeezing it, make a shelter, catch and eat fish and so on. He loved all this, and was full of questions. Brilliant!
And so, Bear was in the Australian outback. He had no water to drink so he came up with a novel method of keeping himself hydrated - short term. It was a little bit grim, but as Bear explained, 'The difference between life and death can be decided on how far you are prepared to go to survive'.
Now, we have water in our house before anyone asks but -
The upshot is.......The missus found him in the bathroom drinking his own pee.
I sent Bear an email and the signed photo above his bunkbed is the result.
He didn't comment.
Anyway,
That's enough from me for now.
Enjoy your tea.
Ben
I'm a long time lurker convinced by a customer to join up properly and make myself known. So here it is.
Whilst out on my rounds yesterday I mentioned that I was into wild camping and was quickly shown a 'man' shed of the proportion that I only dream about. There are people like me, and they seem to dwell here. And they have great sheds.
I've been living in Bristol for the past 12 years via North Yorks, Wolves and my home town of Derby. And have found a few 'spots' of interest close to where I live to go out and enjoy the countryside. Albeit probably not 'proper' campsites they do provide an escape, and it's good to know that even in a town like Bristol, there are still opportunities to find places to go and play in the woods.
I have two small boys the oldest of which (6) has a signed photo of Bear Grylls hung over his bunk. Now Bear, whilst not known for his subtleties whilst dealing with nature, and not my first choice for a role model does have a special place in my heart for the following reason that I am going to share with you now.
Rather than allowing him to watch kids rubbish on the TV I had been encouraging him to watch the Discovery Channels. This has been great as he did a project on Antarctica in school a while back and I'm sure that watching documentaries on animals, icecaps and volcanoes etc has really helped with his learning. More so than whatever passes for kids tv anyway.
We'd got into 'Mythbusters'. We both would cuddle up on the sofa and watch Adam and Jamie blow stuff up and make robots and death rays and all sorts of crazy stuff. He loved it (actually we both did). It would spark his imagination and he would make cardboard robots in the garden, or we would go to the park with a bottle rocket and pretend to be the Mythbusters. I'd always be Adam ( the one with the Beard) and he would be Jamie, the slightly odd looking one with a beret and big 'tache. Good times and he was learning about stuff. Brilliant.
We had seen most of the Mythbusters now. So when I came home from work one night he excitedly told me he had found a new program to watch. Bear Grylls.
I was made up. He was wanting to watch something educational (of sorts). I started to V+ them so we could watch together. We watched Bear eat bugs, drink water from a Elephant's poo by squeezing it, make a shelter, catch and eat fish and so on. He loved all this, and was full of questions. Brilliant!
And so, Bear was in the Australian outback. He had no water to drink so he came up with a novel method of keeping himself hydrated - short term. It was a little bit grim, but as Bear explained, 'The difference between life and death can be decided on how far you are prepared to go to survive'.
Now, we have water in our house before anyone asks but -
The upshot is.......The missus found him in the bathroom drinking his own pee.
I sent Bear an email and the signed photo above his bunkbed is the result.
He didn't comment.
Anyway,
That's enough from me for now.
Enjoy your tea.
Ben
