I am sitting in a tent in the Yorkshire Dales. Even when it’s not raining (and it generally is) there’s enough damp in the air to leave a fine dew on the surface of your clothes. Sometimes the sun does come out, but it never seems to stay around for very long. This is what vacations are all about, breaking free from the routine to do something less pleasant and comfortable instead. And in our case, it also involves sleeping in nylon bags that have defective zips, and being awoken ridiculously early each morning by a bird whose stage name is, I’m pretty sure, Cocky the loud-as-@#%& cockerel.
Not that I’m complaining. Because over the course of a camping trip that’s taken us from NW Spain all the way to northern England, via France, I have made a small but significant discovery. E-books are no good in a tent. If you want a convincing argument in favor of the long-term survival of paper books, especially paperbacks, invest in a tent, borrow a couple of kids, fill the car with the myriad necessities for three weeks on the road, then toss in your Kindle Fire. You’ll wish you hadn’t. Continue reading “Retro-sausage”