A soft, blue sky with wispy clouds, a bright yellow sun with a gentle breeze; the weather was perfect. Dad finally found the CD he was looking for and pressed the play button. “Oh, not that again! Every time we go on holiday you always play the same blasted song, can’t you find something more original to play?” Mum sighs as she hears the introduction to the song. I glance at Dad through the wing mirror and see him happily nodding his head and mumbling along to the song. My brother starts to sing. Dad turns up the volume button. All you can hear are the words “We’re all going on a summer holiday, no more working for a week or two….” Yep, it’s definitely that time of year again when we all look forward to a well-earned break.
One hour had passed and the same old song is still playing. I can hear my brother and sister arguing for some unknown reason. I can hear my Mum and Dad arguing over the song that’s playing, I can hear the birds chirping as I wind down my window. I gaze out into the countryside surrounding me. The grass stands tall as if it were fingers pointing towards the sky. The gold sun reflects its rays onto the cotton-wool clouds. The sweet smell of pine trees floats in the breeze. Soon, we pass a sign ‘Welcome to Scotland’. We are finally here; the camping holiday is just beginning.
We all step out of the car and look around us. A small river is flowing just to the left of me. On it, swims a Mallard duck. Its feathers are a mottled brown with specks of deep green. It gracefully swims along through the dill-weed without a worry in the world.
Before long, the light seems to drop and it is time to set up camp. Dad struggles to get the tent out of the boot but after about ten minutes he succeeds. He drops it on the floor and you hear the tent poles clash. “Right, everyone come here, we’re all going to work together and get this tent up. Without any arguments and a bit of teamwork, the tent will be up in no time”- Dad seems to think he has the hang of everything.
Two hours had passed and still the tent was not up. We had 3 poles in place and a tent that looked like a tee-pee. Dad got frustrated and thought it would be a good idea to throw the instructions up in the air; and of course they had to land in the river. It was no good. It was five past eleven and no way that we were going to be able to sleep in the tent that night. So, we decided to kip in the car. I got in and tried to get comfortable. ‘What a great holiday, you have to spend the first night in your car because your Dad loses the instructions. ‘ It was half past three and I was still awake. Everybody is asleep, how on earth they all got to sleep with my Dad’s snoring is a question without an answer. It was pitch black. I tried to adjust my eyes to the very dim light and glared out the window trying to see what was outside. Stars. Lots of stars. Stars so bright they were tiny torches shining from the night sky. It was silent. No noises could be heard. My Dad had finally stopped snoring and I felt tired. I was just about to drift off when I awoke. What was that? I felt the hairs on my neck stand upon end. A distant howl broke the silence. What on earth could the noise be? Was it simply the howl of a nearby dog or did some sort of bear make it? My eyes opened wide. I wanted to wake everyone up but couldn’t speak. The pure shock of what I just heard had stunned my body. My tongue had frozen inside me and I was lost for words.
