Saluting my tent

[shermarama]

The weather was indeed quite shit this weekend down in Cornwall. The first ever Dive Fest was a complete blowout, with not a single boat launched off the beach. Generally the weather was violently windy and pissing it down with rain overnight and through the morning, and then just very windy and mostly sunny through the afternoon and evening. Some of us managed to get one dive in on Saturday afternoon by going down the coast to Port Mellon and pottering around in the little inlet there, which was actually a really nice dive with all sorts of creatures and lots of dappled sunlight since it was only in about three metres. There were also other entertainments, including talks and films and a photography competition and bands in the evenings, a reasonable supply of beer and an okay if oversold hogroast, and generally sitting around taking the piss out of Monty Halls. Monty Halls is a diver who has made it onto TV, and therefore every dive event ever trumpets his presence, which makes him an instant target.

My tent didn't survive. It did the best job it could, and didn't fail catastrophically, but fabric's taken a lot of UV damage over the years and the door panel ripped away from its zip, and there were a couple of other small rips, and one of the poles on the porch arch broke, and the metal knobble on the end of one of the other poles came off, and what with trying to take it down and pack it in a rain-filled gale, it seemed time to leave it behind in a bin in Pentewan. It's done excellent service since it was bought for the Reading Festival in 1999, and this is far from the first time it's seen weather like that, but time for a new one.