Grim Up North - Not Romantic, Grim

I've written about my grandparents' post-cotton working lives before, but recently the reality of their post-war poverty was pulled into sharp focus, it was far from the quaint Lowryesque pictures I had in mind, and I realised that despite knowing the facts of my heritage, I was still guilty of romanticising it into a 'grim-up-North-where-there's-muck-etc' kitchen sink drama.

Fifty years ago this month my parents were married in the tiny Edge Lane Methodist Chapel tucked between rows of terraced houses in the back streets of Oldham, long since swept away in the slum clearances of the sixties. As we celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, I asked my mum to describe her wedding day, anticipating tales of make-up, hair and the sort of girly preparations 19yr old brides might make.

She told us how, on the morning of her wedding, she walked in the rain to the Public Baths on Shaw Rd for a bath. This was special - a bath was normally taken in front of the open fire in a shared enamel tub. After bathing cheek by jowl with other neighbours, she walked home, calling in at the corner shop to buy a pie and mash lunch for relatives newly arrived after a full morning's bus journey from Sheffield. Only after delivering the pie and mash was she free to do her own hair and make-up before the car arrived to drive twice round the block before dropping her off at the tiny chapel at the end of the street.

My dad remembers how he arrived late, with a hangover, and was confronted by my maternal Great Grandfather - their first meeting. The older man eyed my father up and down, grunted and passed judgement on the future husband of his Granddaughter "He'll do" he said.

The black and white photographs of the day tell their own story. The clothes are great: only my dad had a new suit, all the other men wore 'the suit' - the only formal piece of clothing most of them owned, and kept mothballed in the back of a wardrobe for long periods for events such as these. The older men were staunch in their refusal to remove the headgear that marked them out as working men - not the modern Moss Bros rented top hat jobs, the men wore flat caps with their double breasted suits.

It was when we were flicking through the album I had my reality check - I was gently chuckling at the flat capped men, and commenting on how we'd just nip to Matalan for a seventy quid suit made by some poor sod in Asia these days, and noting how Primark age photos would consequently have that bland look that comes from everyone buying the same cheap clothes with the money they have, rather than saving older clothes and reusing them.

I asked whether my Mum and Dad missed the days when life was simpler and at an easier pace. Not a bit of it. Because of course it wasn't simpler - my mum didn't choose to walk in the rain for a bath on her wedding day, nor choose to have to go and buy lunch for the guests. They had no indoor bathroom nor toilet, nor fresh food in the house. And the houses weren't later demolished in some kind of wanton destruction - they were unfit to be lived in, and while we might not liked the estates they built in the sixties to replace them, there was nothing romantic about them. My Grandparents were glad to get out.

So no Lowry romantic Northern idyll for me then.

Khyam Petworth Tent and Excelsior Annex Review

We're selling our Khyam Petworth tent and the Excelsior Annex that goes with it (but also fits other Khyam tents), so I thought I'd do the decent thing by explaining to anyone who visits the Ebay auction, why we are selling it and what we really think of it.

The thing with tents is that no matter how good they are - and this one is good - they are only any use if they are the right tent for you, and this one isn't. We've camped in it for a total of fourteen nights and it it is a lovely space to live in, especially with the Annex as the kitchen area. It is big - I mean over 5 metres by 3 metres, and almost 2.5 metres tall - it is a lovely airy space. And there lies the problem. Lovely and airy is a great thing for camping throughout June, July and August when you can sit out in the evening watching the stars with a glass of wine.

If, however, you want to camp in the Highlands of Scotland (or the Isle of Skye, like we did) in early May, it is not the right tent. The bedrooms are snug, like most inner tents in most tents, it is in their nature to be snug; but with that huge airy space to heat, even with the sown in ground sheet and the additional layer of the footprint groundsheet, it is just not warm enough.

So, all that said, who would I recommend this tent to.

• It is a great summer tent for a couple who like lots of headroom and wouldn't mind a bit of space to entertain a couple of friends, without the annex it's great for a weekend, with the annex it's superb for a trip of a week or more.
• It is big enough for a small family, especially with the annex; and the Khyam Quick-Erect system really works (once you get your head round the method, the video is a good way of doing that), so if you want something large that's easy to get up, this could be right for you.
  
• The annex is a worthwhile investment for anyone who already has the Petworth, Motordome Excelsior or Longleat tents, it is easily large enough to use as both a kitchen and porch area, meaning you have even more living space on a longer trip.

My other concern with Khyam tents has been the trade-off between Quick-Erect system and frame strength, because it has aluminum poles and plastic folding joints. I was partly reassured by talking to other owners who agreed that it was a compromise, but one worth accepting. The frame is not as strong as say a geodesic type structure and you do get the odd bent pole (we did when taking the tent down on Skye a gale blew up) but because it is an accepted risk the poles are really easy to replace - secured into the folding joints with an effective push-button system - and they are not expensive to replace with genuine parts either (which we did, just in case you are wondering!).

So, there you have it it. It is a great tent so long as you remember what it is good for. We will be camping in Scotland in spring again but in our Vango Diablo which is geodesic, and has a complete inner tent over the whole tent area, but guess what? It ain't half hot in summer in it - so there you go, horses for courses.